Convivial Bodies. Collective practices, Ritual and Public Space towards Territorial Regeneration.

Contemporary territories affected by depopulation, abandonment and the rarefaction of services require forms of regeneration that address not only spatial but also social, cultural and relational dimensions. This paper explores collective convivial practices, particularly those related to the preparation and shared consumption of food in public space, as embodied practices capable of activating places and producing situated spatial knowledge. Drawing on theories of conviviality, everyday practices and embodied knowledge, the research investigates how bodily presence, rituality and performance can operate as forms of social infrastructure and spatial reappropriation. Adopting a qualitative and interpretative approach, the study focuses on the processes through which collective actions shape relationships between bodies, communities and territories. Rather than considering public space as a neutral container, the paper understands it as a relational and temporal construct produced through embodied practices. It argues that convivial practices can be understood as forms of embodied architecture, capable of generating situated forms of knowledge and offering alternative ways of producing, inhabiting and transforming space in fragile territorial contexts.