The quality of urban life is increasingly measured through public spaces. It is here that people, practices, and visions of the city converge; it is here that the defining dynamics of our time take tangible form: climate change, social inequalities, evolving patterns of living and mobility, and new balances between proximity and globality.Public spaces are no longer mere backdrops to urban life, but active devices capable of shaping well-being, inclusion, and sustainability.

This volume addresses such complexity through an interpretative framework based on three interconnected dimensions: flexibility, liveability, and adaptability. Flexibility refers to the capacity of spaces to accommodate multiple uses and to evolve over time; liveability concerns the conditions that make places comfortable, accessible, and socially inclusive; adaptability, finally, denotes the ability to respond to environmental, economic, and cultural change while maintaining—or redefining—their collective function and identity. Through a wide selection of international case studies—from New York to Berlin, from Milan to Copenhagen, from Paris to Naples—the book explores how different kinds of spaces can act as strategic infrastructures for more resilient and liveable cities. Rather than a simple catalogue of examples, it offers a critical tool for interpreting and designing contemporary public space. Addressed to scholars, designers, urban planners, public administrators, and policy makers—as well as students and all those engaged with cities and territories—the volume provides both theoretical insights and practical tools to understand the design, use, and transformation of public spaces today.

This volume originates from the PRIN 2020 research project Sustainable Modelling of Materials, Structuresand Urban Spaces Including Economic-Legal Implications (SUMMA) and offers an innovative andinterdisciplinary contribution to the contemporary debate on urban resilience and adaptation.

Initially focused on seismic risk, the research progressively evolved toward a holistic perspectivecapable of addressing the complex interplay of multiple, interconnected risks that increasinglyaffect territories and communities.

Moving beyond a purely defensive or emergency-driven interpretation of resilience, the book proposesa dynamic and transformative vision in which risk is understood not only as a threat to be mitigated,but also as an opportunity for rethinking, regenerating, and enhancing places. Environmental hazards,social and cultural vulnerabilities, health-related issues, loss of identity, and declining urban liveabilityare analysed as cumulative and interacting processes that shape both the fragility and the adaptivecapacity of urban systems.