ABSTRACT
The notion of ÀkQHXU-in use since the late nineteenth century to designate writers, poets and intellectuals that critically observed people’s behavior while VWUROOLQJDPRQJWKHFURZGDQGFRGL¿HGLQ:DOWHU%HQMDPLQ¶VLQÀXHQWLDOZRUNRQ the Passages of Paris-is once again of central interest (in sociology, philosophy, OLWHUDWXUHDQGFLQHPDDVD WRROIRU LGHQWLI\LQJDVSHFL¿FPRGHRIZDONLQJDQG H[SORULQJXUEDQSODFHVDVDSDUWLFXODUW\SHRIUHÀHFWLYHUHODWLRQVKLSZLWKSHRSOH and spaces. This chapter describes the main characteristics and oxymora of the ÀkQHXU as a modern and post-modern personage and in particular similarities and divergences with other actors walking in the city: tourists, travelers, social VFLHQWLVWV KLSSLHV DQG RWKHU ¿JXUHV SHUIRUPLQJ D VRUW RI ÀkQHULH in the urban context. Linkages between ÀkQHXUV and cultural movements like Lettrism and Situationism will also be drafted. In such a framework the ÀkQHXUcan be considered DVWKHREMHFWDVZHOODVWKHVXEMHFWRIWKHVRFLRORJLFDODQDO\VLV1XYRODWLDQG therefore he or she (ÀkQHXUand ÀkQHXVHLVDQLPSRUWDQW¿JXUHWRVWXG\LQRUGHUWR understand and generate urban transformations and to address urban planning and research. At the end of the chapter an example of ÀkQHULH made with the students in Piacenza (a medium-sized Italian city) will be given.
