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Lunedì 26 Ottobre 2009 Nowadays the aim of a city which wants to promote its identity is clarified by standard public events, concerning art projects, store openings, brand publicity campaigns and special celebrations. The idea is to involve both, tourists and citizens in order to give the city itself an added value and to grasp their attention, not only through a stage presence but in a deeper way, involving feelings and emotions on an experience level. Free huggers and BookCrossing are examples of this phenomenon. In that way, the impression people get about the city is better and stronger and it may convince some to come back again to live, out in front, the news and to see how the city is changing. We can number among these kind of events, the Open Air Catwalk, for example. We can also consider Busta, Mural Megazine, Zero and Paper Girl as welcoming trends, which actually use the classic “delivering method”. The idea is to pick up the customers’ curiosity about what’s going on in the city through the idea of discovering on their own this kind of underground cultural events. The target is, of course, quite restricted, and so is the area where it’s possible to find this magazine, but the idea of “not being welcome” can sometimes generate more interest in an event. The same concept is used by those web communities or blogs which ground their popularity on the exclusivity and specialness of the events mentioned where the provider gives the feeling that he has found something unique. In the area of social assistance, we find a sustainable city in order to provide more effective services for the population, for example in hospitals, and other projects that let the people have a better under- standing of others that are different: blind people or homeless. Then, welcoming comes in different shades of grey, but with the main idea of generating in people a meaningful experience. HOW TO FALL IN LOVE Carmelo Ferreri Silvia Cacciamatta WELCOMING AND HOSPITALITY IN MILAN Jeroen Otte Dulce María Robles Quiroz
