Abstract

These ethnographic notes derive from a study focused on the changes of social interaction and the use of public space among university students in the city of Padua in the early post-pandemic scenario. In particular, the emergence of interstitial territorialities and related relationalities, which can be called «social bubbles», are pointed out as a strategy for the re-appropriation of public space by young people. Such bubbles offer an opportunity to stave off the anxieties connected to the pandemic and establish a renewed sense of community and shared sociality. This dimension of social interaction entails a different perception of public space that becomes relevant for its social value rather than for its economic or commercial use