Benedetta Masiani

Background

About Benedetta Masiani

Benedetta Masiani is an architect, urban planner, and researcher. She holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning and is currently a research fellow at the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence. Her research interests focus on the relationship between pedagogy and urbanism, exploring the role of schools to urban regeneration projects and the contribution of playful practices in informal educational processes, with a particular emphasis on incorporating children’s perspectives. She is a member of the research group for the NEB at the University of Florence, within the action “Educating next generation: Growing a new living”, where she conducts co-design workshops with children and teenagers aimed at improving the quality of urban spaces and school open spaces in terms of sustainability and inclusivity. For more than 10 years, she has been collaborating with the Michelucci Foundation in Fiesole, focusing on social design research projects. Since 2018, she has also been actively involved with Avventura Urbana, one of the leading participation-focused consultancy firms in Italy. She holds a master’s degree in architecture, obtained in 2012 at the University of Florence, with an interdisciplinary thesis focusing on the protection of urban heritage and the development of UNESCO sites in Central America. During her studies she participated in exchanges and visiting activities in Spain, Panama and Chile. She worked as an architect and landscape architect in many offices in Italy and abroad. During an extended stay in the UK, she engaged with Architecture Without Borders and contributed to international cooperation projects in Guinea Bissau, deepening the synergy between education and public space, as well as the relationship between schools and cities, a theme that continues to inspire her research interests.