Strada Domestica

Thesis Project by E. Bicocchi - Master of Arts in Design for Public Spaces - IED Roma In collaboration with Roma Capitale - Municipio VII

Academic year

2025/2026

Partner

Developed in collaboration with Roma Capitale - Municipio VII, Strada Domestica reimagines Via Valesio as an extension of the domestic realm, redefining the relationship between the street, its residents and neighbourhood life.

Some places remain invisible despite being physically present in the city. Elena Bicocchi builds Strada Domestica around this reflection, developing her final thesis project for the Master of Arts in Design for Public Spaces around the idea of latent spaces: courtyards, thresholds and transitional areas that hold an untapped social potential. In collaboration with Roma Capitale - Municipio VII, she identifies the future relocation of the Appio I Market as an opportunity to reactivate these overlooked spaces and establish a new relationship between the private and public realms.

The proposal is based on the idea of bringing the spatial qualities of the courtyard into the street, transforming Via Valesio, in Rome's Alberone district, into an open-air condominium. By progressively opening residential courtyards to the wider community, the project creates a network of spaces for cultural, social and neighbourhood activities, while reshaping the street into a place that welcomes both movement and permanence. Through a new organisation of public space, thresholds and resting areas, Elena Bicocchi reintroduces the qualities of proximity, protection and belonging that are characteristic of domestic life.

Supporting this transformation is a system of modular habitats, lightweight architectural devices that can be combined and reconfigured to accommodate temporary activities, workshops, neighbourhood services and cultural events. Conceived as shared public assets, these structures create a flexible infrastructure that can evolve alongside the needs of the community. At the same time, the project proposes a phased regeneration process divided into successive intervention areas, where each stage is accompanied by participatory activities that actively involve local residents and strengthen a shared sense of ownership.

Strada Domestica proposes a replicable model for urban regeneration, envisioning a network of open courtyards extending beyond Via Valesio to reconnect the hidden spaces of the neighbourhood. The project offers a new way of imagining the contemporary city, where research, participation and design converge to create a distributed infrastructure of common goods and neighbourhood relationships.