This paper reports on some results from a Miur survey Public spaces, mobile population and urban reorganization processes regarding the relationship between safety and privatization in Italy. The research confirms that 1. the nature of public space should be checked from time to time, in terms of accessibility, social mix and freedom of expression; 2. public space is no longer considered an exclusively publicly owned space accessible to all; 3 there are similarities between Italian and North America cities, namely that public spaces are hybrid spaces that lie along a private-public/controlled-free continuum that people use in an undifferentiated way, until they perceive signs of disorder and explicit exclusions. This hybridization is exemplar of the changes taking place in the Italian cities that, despite their public tradition, are increasingly oriented towards privatization processes.
Keywords: Public Spaces, Safety, Privatization, Urban Changes, Accesibility, Practices.