Walking is a way of observing that becomes an immersive experience of the city. It is an act of unveiling, capable of grasping, through urban metamorphoses, the signs of social and climatic change. It is also an act of rewriting, a tool for rethinking and designing urban space beyond established routes. Walking with the city and its inhabitants, human and more-than-human, is at once a political and poetic, social and intimate, critical and creative gesture. As a social practice, walking activates new communities in motion that are aware of the transformative potential of their own steps.

WALC! is an invitation to walk together in our cities.

The exhibition WALC! is the outcome of the project Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures, which involved the Universities of Bologna, Padua, and Milan Bicocca. Drawing on three different disciplinary perspectives, literary studies, cultural geography, and urban sociology, the research groups coordinated by Filippo Milani, Giada Peterle, and Luca Daconto investigated the complexity of urban walking cultures through transdisciplinary methodologies.

The exhibition itinerary winds its way through the transdisciplinary restitutions of the three research units, which have interpreted their cities as living laboratories for listening to, recounting, and imagining the cultures of urban walking.

Using different languages, each city contributes to the unveiling of new perspectives for those who walk in the city and observe landscapes in constant transformation.

Between Geography and Art

The Padua research unit developed urban itineraries through an open dialogue between geography, art, and creative languages. In collaboration with the Creativity Area of the Progetto Giovani Office of the Municipality of Padua, the Padua research unit launched MAR (Mobile Art Residency), an artist residency that led to the permanent installation of public artworks by Daniele Costa and Caterina Morigi in the train station area.

Together with photographer Marco Lumini, the research unit curated the project Sulla soglia, exhibited at San Gaetano Cultural Centre.

At the Museum of Geography, we present the results of a dialogue with illustrator and urban researcher Tânia A. Cardoso, whose work explores the poetics of everyday life, using graphic art to question and co-create the urban environment.

Exhibition venues

Altinate S. Gaetano Cultural Center – Exhibition | Via Altinate 71, Padua

Opening: January 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.

Duration: January 16-February 15

Free admission exhibition

Tuesday to Sunday | 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

On Thursday, January 15th, concluding the international conference “Urban Mobility Cultures: Creative and Narrative Approaches to Moving in the City”, organized by the DiSSGeA department of the University of Padua in collaboration with the Mobility and the Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies, the museum hosted the pre-vernissage of the exhibition Dance Moves. Walking and drawing in the city, by artist-researcher Tânia A. Cardoso and MoHu member Giada Peterle.

The exhibition hosted several works by illustrator and urban planner Tânia Alexandra Cardoso, who explores the poetics of everyday life, using graphic art to question and co-create the urban environment.

The comic story Dance Moves emerges from an interdisciplinary dialogue between architecture, geography, urban studies, and graphic languages, developed over the years through creative workshops, conferences, and jointly conducted lessons. However, it is primarily the most structured outcome of the “walkshop” titled Walking with the city, a walking workshop organized in April 2025 to engage students from the University of Padua, particularly those from the Master’s Degree Course in Landscape Sciences.

This event, and more generally the conference, are part of the WALC – Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures research project, which involved the Universities of Bologna, Padua, and Milan Bicocca.

The exhibition will be open from 16 Jan 2026 to 15 Feb 2026.

On October 24th, the Geography Museum in Padua hosted a compelling book presentation titled ‘La città autistica’ (The Autistic City). The event, held from 16:30 to 18:00, featured author Alberto Vanolo from the University of Turin, with an introduction by Giada Peterle from our MoHu Centre. Elena Santi, the representative for Accessibility and Inclusion projects at CAM (University Center for Museums of the University of Padua), was also present at the event.

This presentation was part of the NaMUC – Narrative Mobilities of Urban Cultures seminar series, organised within the framework of the WALC – Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures project. The Paduan unit of the WALC project (PRIN PNRR 2022, funded by the European Union’s NextGeneration EU initiative) is hosted at MoHu.

The event offered attendees a unique opportunity to explore the concept of ‘autistic cities’ and its implications for urban studies and planning. Vanolo’s work likely delves into how urban environments interact with and impact individuals on the autism spectrum, as well as how cities themselves might exhibit ‘autistic-like’ characteristics in their design and function.

This free-entry event not only showcased interdisciplinary research at the intersection of geography, urban studies, and disability studies but also highlighted the University of Padua’s commitment to fostering academic discussions on inclusive urban spaces.”