The Manifesto // English Version

English Version!

Premise of the Manifesto of the Playing Cities



Playing is a quality of human beings

Playing is a natural activity of man and women, very precious and indispensable at any age: it is, following the words of a poet and philosopher, what “makes a man really human” (Schiller).

Playing improves the quality of life of the individual and therefore makes the town more beautiful.

The Playing Cities gather in order to guarantee for everybody the right to play, and do it in a good way.

The good game lasts the whole year round

When one plays, one should have the chance to play again. Each day is good to try a new game, not only Christmas time or the holidays. One needs to free more time for playing.

The Playing Cities guarantee places and daily services, for important and less important occasions, for players of any age.

The game is an individual object, with its own dignity and its own culture.

The game is one of the oldest activities and products of human culture. Society has always nourished itself with the richness of its games. This richness must be studied and protected, bewaring of “rich”and sumptuous games which are on the other hand poor in ideas and contents.

The Playing Cities promote the game culture with museums, exhibitions and events.

There is not the game there are the games: each game has its own characteristics

Each age may be recognised by different games, and with them it grows. Each culture develops and encourages games which are coherent with its own environment and its own vision of life. Each person finds differently interesting games through his\her particular skills. The game is plural.

The Playing Cities offer diversified services which pay attention to the specific requirements of the citizens who want to play (even those “differently capable”).

The game is in itself a place of encounter

The game educates to live together, to difference, to curiosity. The game makes one understand the meaning of the risk, it teaches to win and to lose but also to cooperate. The game requires some rules and their observance. It allows a fully conscious transgression, too. The game is, for all these reasons, a peace bearer.

The Playing Cities support social and cultural projects in which the game is the mover of positive and constructive relations, in the whole world.

The game needs its own space; the game frees the space

The prohibitions in the game are as antique as the game itself, but the game, luckily for us, breaks all the boundaries of our lives: one plays under the school desk, on the computer, on the mobile, on the stairs and on the road. But a good game needs its own space.

In the Playing Cities there are places dedicated to the game ad the game is welcome in many places.

The game is a world of freedom

The game is a system of rules which requires to be respected, in which it is allowed to make mistakes. A game is chosen, one cannot be forced to play. The game allows to make new rules, to invent new games.

The Playing Cities make the game one of the tools of the teaching of democracy; democracy is

The game is a place of exploration and discovery, it is a place of learning

The game allows to explore the world and its possibilities, the self and its power. The game helps to comprehend and to learn, therefore, it is a powerful learning tool, even when it does not admit clearly that it is. The game allows the players to invent and do new things. The game helps to discover the beautiful.

The Playing Cities foster the spreading of games which help to develop new skills, following the liking and desires of each person.

The game needs also some professional people

The game is often simple: it does not require experts or animators. It is useful that there are people who study the game, who knows all its mechanisms, who choose the game as a job. It is important to spread a knowledge and a culture of the game which allow to express critical judgements on the games and on their use.

The Playing Cities offer to their operators and citizens occasions of updating, of training and of qualification on the culture and on the practices of the game.

The game is not always good

If there are not bad games, there are otherwise bad players. There are games which “become bad” (as Bateson maintains). Just for this reason it is important to require the quality of the game.

The Playing Cities actively promote games which offer occasions of personal and social growth, which involve people, which help to communicate; they offer moments of information for anybody,in particular for operators and journalists, on the charm and danger of some games.

The game is a pleasure

The freed time allows to fill our lives with pleasures. Shared, conscious, lasting pleasures which never end, real pleasures like the game.

The Playing Cities want to try and foster the right to happiness, by proposing occasions of playing, of encounter and of celebration, in order to give a sense to the freed time which, thanks to the guarantee of a job for everybody, may be freed for all the people.

Download the Manifesto.

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