There are three main themes around which the project revolves: the concept of the common and local good, as a heritage to be preserved and regenerated; the role of technology as a tool for transformation and dialogue; and the more-than-human, understood as the set of natural and non-human ecologies with which we share the Planet and which should be included in the construction and design of more just, responsible and sustainable futures.
Local
Italy
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Mainly rural
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Luca Last name: Botta Gender: Male Age: 26 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Italy Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Via Emilia 28 Town: Opera Postal code: 20073 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 328 148 0104 E-mail:lucaluigibotta@gmail.com
The research project hereby focuses on the role that design and, in particular, the disciplines of transition design, can play and exercise in
processes of rural (environmental and social) regeneration of wasteland.
The project focuses on nature and the relationships that can be established between human beings and natural actors; a roadmap shows a series of objectives and actions that can arise from this collaboration, in the short, medium and long term.
We are genuinely tired of a universal model that does not respect the Planet, Nature, community value, independence and interdependence of its actors; that promotes a single way of life; that does not give voice to alternative narratives capable of constructing new senses and meanings.
We are genuinely tired of a universal model, but we see and learn of several people who, starting from below, are successfully experimenting with new ways of being in the world, of reconnecting with the natural world.
We are genuinely tired of a universal model, but we believe that design can be a tool that can activate processes aimed at change, transformation and mutation, to multiply and pluralize possibilities for more responsible and just futures.
For us, the project we are going to recount represents one of the starting points for the realization of what has been affirmed: rediscovering, also by proximity and closeness, a slower and more natural dimension of life.
Community Development
Design for Transition
Futures Thinking
More than Human Design
Territorial Regeneration
Living with trouble is the condition everyone experiences nowdays: no one is immune to the macro-issues that shape our times, whether social, energetic, environmental, or political, just to name a few. We need to learn how to coexhist with the ambiguity that imbues every system where us, (Western) people, directly
or indirectly operate to achieve our goals and desires through our actions. In pursuit of universal empowerment (of one part) of the species, we have gradually
but inexorably neglected our connection and relationship with nature and its non-human actors, reducing it to a resource or, at best, an object we must be
aware of when carrying out any activity (and clearly even this vision is embraced by too few people). Among the impacts of this fracture between the anthropic and
the natural, there is an increasingly heavy process of urbanisation of lands, which is both cause and consequence of the unsustainability of the economic and social
Over the past 15 years, there has been a growing process of disciplinary differentiation in the design field, which has generated a heterogeneous ecosystem of methodologies and approaches with very different goals and objectives.
Design, more than other fields, undergoes and influences social, cultural and economic dynamics, adapting to the transformations, innovations (practical and theoretical) and thrusts that occur over the years. In the recent period, topics such as sustainability (environmental, social, economic, and energy), anticipation of potential future threats, and horizontal and diffuse forms of design have been drivers for defining new fields of design.
Transition design, co-design and future thinking are the three methodologies or approaches, that guide and fuel the presented project narrative.
Transition design is a discipline that emerged from the intersection of design for sustainability, design for social innovation and complexity theory and aims to address complex issues, such as, for example, the impacts of climate change, by generating systemic, multiscalar solutions in the medium to long term.
Co-design is an approach that aims to involve people who are not trained as designers, in participatory design processes around issues of common interest, in which designers have the role of facilitators of activities.
Finally, futures thinking is the methodology underlying the disciplines of design futures, a field concerned with the construction of desirable, futuristic scenarios and the pathways necessary to achieve them in order to stimulate critical reflection and collaborative forms of discussion
Co-design, Transition Design and Future Thinking are all processes that
involve the inclusion and participation of different actors with the aim of designing with a more holistic point of view.
The INTRA project uses the tools provided by these three disciplines to create a design model scalable to different rural realities.
The goal is to design with local inhabitants, considering Nature as equal to man, a new kind of relationship with the land aimed at 'having care in the Heideggerian sense of the term. That is, which involves a strategic planning that redefines the rules, forms, and proportions of human settlement in order to re-establish a co-evolutionary relationship with nature.
INTRA is divided into three different but interconnected moments of design with the community and a group of designers: :
1- The Design for community session, aimed at projects to bring inhabitants closer to Nature.
2- The Transition Design session with the aim of co-designing solutions with the community that add value (economic, natural, etc.) for the area
3- The Future Thinking session in which the community's future is co-designed without the presence of the design team
The current climate crisis has, among other symptoms, that of an implied dominance of man over Nature and a consequent detachment of citizens from their relationship with the land and natural aspects.
Starting from this assumption, the INTRA project aims to restore this relationship to date very frayed and to use design methodologies to rebuild bridges between man and nature through collaborative design.
Projects designed with and for the land are complex projects that include several interconnected aspects; such as, the sense of belonging, the rediscovery of local culture and values, the regeneration of a community, the design of local solutions to counter the climate crisis, etc.
In addition, the aim is to create activities that foster self-supporting dynamics, from energy to food, avoiding intensive production, but limited to meeting local needs. In this system there would be a repopulation of the area and the restarting of various sustainable and economically beneficial activities, focusing on practices and activities that develop new forms of sustainable tourism for the territory.
The stakeholders are diverse and from different technical and cultural affiliations. Starting with the project creators (in the broadest sense of the term) who are not limited to designers, but extend to a multidisciplinary group that can bring in more knowledge in dialogue with each other. Using co-design methodologies, moreover, the community also takes on a design role by actively collaborating to foster social innovation and the improvement of everyday life. Last essential actor is the territory, this plays a key role as it allows to determine what types of activities can be developed and how to do it in a way that does not harm the surrounding environment. Territorial regeneration starts with a deep understanding of where one is.
The disciplines brought into play in the project mostly refer to co-creation processes and methodologies typical of design, these are intended to trigger, then, new projects with the inclusion of new disciplines of various kinds through the involvement of multidisciplinary stakeholder groups.
The INTRA project proposes a more holistic approach to design, one that considers the complexity of an area in each of its individual components and enhances its particular and overall appearance.
In contrast to many design processes based on a human-centred vision, aimed at meeting punctual human-related needs, the INTRA team respects a design canon that can be defined as Life-centred based on Design for the Common Good practices.
In this sense, humans are seen as part of a local ecosystem that also sees nature as a stakeholder, and design action does not have as its sole purpose to sell products or services, but rather to create widespread value for a community.
Participation, culture, sociality, integration, quality, and diversity are all key aspects to be integrated into design
The INTRA project is designed to be scalable to any rural setting.
The tools provided by disciplines such as Transition Design and Future Thinking make it possible to co-design directly with stakeholders based on real needs and the collective common good.
In this sense, the project does not provide specific, point solutions but rather a series of interconnected solutions that define a multi-temporal strategy aimed at territorial rediscovery, land preservation, and local community regeneration.
INTRA posits the discipline of design as the main driver of innovation and regeneration for the community and territory: the main structure is that of a research and development center with direct application in the field, a space of freedom, experimentation, and self-responsibility, where people establish new synergistic relationships with their surroundings.
INTRA's work is aimed at the regeneration of rural areas and spaces in a state of abandonment or semi-neglect, through design and creative processes that enhance the territory and communities from an environmental and social point of view.
The expected results comply with Goals 11(Sustainable cities and communities) and 13 (Climate actions) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the members of the United Nations; designing local resilience and sustainability means rethinking the current socio-economic model, which has fully demonstrated its unsustainability, and starting again from communities and ecosystems to propose bottom-up solutions.
