Episode 4 – Participation and active citizenship

Participation is actually a spectrum of practices, which are also defined as a “ladder” or “tree of participation” to represent its various forms: from information to citizen consultation, to more active forms of collaboration and greater responsibility in decision-making processes. Listening to the voices of those who want to contribute to tomorrow’s change is useful for achieving the transitions that our cities and territories need.

• Texts by Erica Mangione (FULL), Cristian Campagnaro, Giorgia Curtabbi, and Martina Leo (PoliTo for social issues).
• Voices of Cristian Campagnaro, Giorgia Curtabbi, and Martina Leo from PoliTo for social issues, Claudio Jampaglia

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project of the City of Turin, funded by the Piedmont Region, to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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Episode Three – The Right Transition

The just transition is not a destination, but an ongoing process that requires placing socio-spatial justice at the heart of urban transformations, guiding every decision on spaces, resources, and rights.

• Lyrics and lead vocals Erica Mangione
• With contributions and voices from young participants in the course Challenges for the Contemporary City.

Zeta _ Cities in Transition is a podcast by FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab, the research center on cities and territory at the Polytechnic University of Turin, produced for the ZetaLab project of the City of Turin, funded by the Piedmont Region, to promote participation and active citizenship among young people.

• Coordination Mauro Fontana, Erica Mangione, Manuela Ronci.
• With the participation of PoliTo per il Sociale and Lucio Beltrami.
• Post-production and editing Claudio Jampaglia at Radio Popolare studios.
• Music by Gaetano Nicosia.
• Graphics by Giuseppe Mangiola.

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The Just Transition represents the path to addressing global challenges related to climate change and technological transformations, ensuring that the transition to a sustainable future is equitable, inclusive, and attentive to the needs of all communities.
The FULL center, building on a range of ongoing or recently completed research, offers a dialogue to glimpse this path.

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The brainchild of visual artist Eva Frapiccini and promoted by Print Club Torino, Reciprocity proposes a shared reflection on issues of Just Transition through a multidisciplinary and generative approach. On the two days of September 20 and 21, 2024, there will be talks, debates, and free screen printing workshops around the aforementioned themes. In the two afternoons, those enrolled in the silkscreen printing workshops will be involved in the creation of the fabric installation designed by Eva Frapiccini, which will be exhibited on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Friday, Sept. 20, will be dedicated to rethinking urban green areas and beyond as indispensable resources to combat the effects of climate change (temperature rise, drought, etc.). Turin is a city with an industrial past, characterized by an interesting natural heritage with a system of river parks, suburban areas not yet cemented and proximity to mountainous territory, important elements for investing energies toward regenerative agricultural production and converting industrial exploitation into environmental design for the future and for new generations.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 30 there will be four thematic tables with scientific contributions from Elena Casetta (LabOnt – Laboratory of Ontology of the University of Turin), Manuela Ronci (FULL – Future Urban Legacy Lab of the Politecnico di Torino), Alessandro Tempia Valenta (Urban Lab), Ilaria Reposo and Fabio Guida (Graphic Days), Chiara Quinzii (Quinzii Terna Architecture), Stefano Olivari (Orti Generali), Paola Borrione (Fondazione Santagata) and Claudio Marciano (University of Genoa, Forwardto), followed by the workshop aimed at the production of the work together with Eva Frapiccini in collaboration with and in the spaces of Print Club Torino.

At 5 p.m. there will be a national premiere screening of the video The Rehabilitation of La Casa Invisible-Chapter I by the artistic duo Libia Castro and Ólafur Ólafsson. This will be followed by refreshments for participants.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the theme of sustainable living will be addressed: the right to housing, co-housing and urban policies; in Malaga, while the process of gentrification and touristicfication has consumed the city’s historic district, citizens defend and participate in the life of the cultural center La Casa Invisible, where Art, Architecture, Sustainable Development, Civic Engagement and Law have become tools for an alternative future. The other five tables will feature Silvia Cafora and Erica Mangione (FULL – Politecnico di Torino), Tiziana Andina and Carlo Genova (LabOnt – University of Turin), Karl Krähmer (Fondazione Porta Palazzo), Aurelio Balestra (Toolbox Coworking), Francesca Bragaglia (FULL – Polytechnic of Turin), Libia Castro (artist), Gemma Medina (Arte Útil), Carlos Sanjuan and Alicia Carrió (Casa Invisible), will be followed by a silkscreen printing workshop aimed at the production of the work together with the artist and at 6 pm. 00 will conclude the event with the presentation of the outcomes of the work to the public.

During the work of the nine discussion tables, words that proved to be most significant, or open questions, will be collected from the audience that can enrich the discussion and workshop activities in the afternoon. The outcome will be a traveling fabric installation, created with participants in the workshops to be held in Turin and Malaga. The work will be exhibited at Toolbox Coworking at the end of the Turin leg, and at Casa Invisible in Malaga in March 2025, on the occasion of the second production workshop.

Reciprocity is the brainchild of Eva Frapiccini and a project of Print Club Torino. In collaboration with the artistic duo Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, Fundaciòn de los Comunes, La Casa Invisible, Asociación de Arte Útil, FULL – Politecnico di Torino, LabOnt – University of Turin, Toolbox Coworking, Ordine degli Architetti PPC di Torino and Fondazione per l’architettura / Torino
Architects are eligible for 4 CFPs for participation in the tables scheduled for Friday, September 20.

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The Torino conference will be the first of a series of annual meetings on critical legal geography. The PhD Workshop “Explorations in Critical Legal Geographies” is also an integral part of the conference: the workshop brings together 15 PhD students with a variety of backgrounds (legal, geographical, political, sociological, anthropological, urban studies), whose doctoral thesis speaks to critical legal-geographical debates. The workshop offers participants a forum to contribute to their research development in a cross/transdisciplinary manner and opportunity to create synergies across the legal-geographical spectrum.

Steering committee
Francesco Chiodelli (Università di Torino); Daniela Morpurgo (Politecnico di Torino); Giulia Massenz (Politecnico di Torino); Giacomo Pettenati (University of Eastern Piedmont); Voltaire Alvarado (University of Concepción); Tugba Basaran (University of Cambridge); Hadeel Abu Hussein (Utrecht University); Alexandre “Sandy” Kedar (University of Haifa); Austin Kocher (Syracuse University); Gail Lythgoe (University of Edinburgh); Elya Milner (Technical University of Berlin); Matteo Nicolini (University of Verona); Andrea Pavoni (University Institute of Lisbon)

Local organizing committee
Francesco Chiodelli (Università di Torino); Daniela Morpurgo (Politecnico di Torino); Giulia Massenz (Politecnico di Torino)

The conference is supported by the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning – DIST of the Politecnico and Università di Torino and the Future Urban Legacy Lab – FULL of the Politecnico.

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The course aims to prepare students for local and global challenges by reflecting on the actions needed to make the cities of the future more equitable and sustainable through technological and social innovation. The economic wellbeing and quality of life of more than half of the world’s population depend on urban and metropolitan areas, the ability to balance growth and innovation in urban areas with social needs and the mitigation of environmental risks and social inequalities, and the concern to protect and promote tangible and intangible cultural heritage for future development.

In this context, the teaching proposes an interdisciplinary approach to the most pressing urban issues, such as: mobility, energy consumption, the water cycle, digital infrastructure, the fight against economic and social inequalities, the regeneration of economic and social inequalities, the regeneration of urban spaces through the ability to reuse the material and immaterial heritage embedded in urban forms and landscapes. Methods, technologies and best practices in the development of applications for smart mobility through the internet of things, climate control and zero energy districts in the urban environment, energy communities, ecosystem services for resilient and sustainable cities through an eco-hydrological approach, new tools for representing the city and city data, methods for assessing the socio-economic impact of policies on the future of urban populations are explored. Each topic is addressed by combining a theoretical framework with laboratory and application activities related to the Turin context.

The lectures include the participation of lecturers affiliated with the FULL centre and external guests, and will explore in detail the research conducted both within the Interdepartmental Centre of the Politecnico di Torino and internationally, success stories, and the analysis of some experiments in pilot cities. The disciplinary areas involved are urban studies, planning and architecture, energy, environmental, network and electronic engineering, and geomatics. The first edition of the course ran from November 2022 to June 2023. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Chiara Foglietta, Councillor of the City of Turin for Ecological and Digital Transition, Innovation, Mobility and Transport.

The third edition is underway for 2024/25.

2022/23 Course program

INTRODUCTION

– 04/11/2022 Presentation of “100 Climate-neutral Cities by 2030,” the case of Turin (with Councilor Chiara Foglietta) + presentation of the course and exercise (Loris Servillo, Caterina Quaglio)

MODULE I/a – Physical and social infrastructure

– 11/11/2022 NZEB, Nearly zero-energy buildings (Maria Ferrara)

– 11/18/2022 Integration of renewable sources and energy communities + visit to the PVZEN laboratory – PhotoVoltaic Zero Energy Network (Enrico Fabrizio)

– 11/25/2022 How food market logistics are changing our cities (Agostino
Strina)

– 12/02/2022 The Valentino Park project (Elena Vigliocco)

– 12/16/2022 Wrap-up 1 (Loris Servillo, Caterina Quaglio)

MODULE II – Ecology and circular economy

13/01/2023 – Designing Circularity – Introduction to the Circular Economy (Elena Piera Montacchini and Silvia Tedesco)

03/03/2023 – Reuse of Rainwater (Roberto Revelli)

10/03/2023 – Water Remediation (Tiziana Tosco)

24/03/2023 – Visit to Ortialti (Elena Carmagnati)

31/03/2023 – Wrap-up 2 (Loris Servillo, Caterina Quaglio)

MODULE III – Smart and Digital

MODULE II/b – Ecology and Circular Economy

MODULE III – Smart and Digital

28/04/2023 – Mobility and Vehicle Traffic Simulation Systems (Marco Rapelli)

05/05/2023 – Visit to 5T (2:00–6:00 PM, two groups)

MODULE I/b – Physical and Social Infrastructure

-19/05/2023 – Regenerating the Existing City, Bike Tour of Case Studies in Turin (Daniele Campobenedetto)

– 26/05/2023 Wrap-up 3 (Loris Servillo, Caterina Quaglio)

(TBD) FINAL EVENT: Presentation of the work and open discussion

cover photo credit: Lucio Beltrami

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The gap between the average wage and the cost of living in metropolises has led to conceiving the home as a luxury item, rather than as one of humans’ primary needs. The rentability criterion of the domestic space of the current real estate market has greatly increased the cost per square metre by partitioning spaces to increase the proportional income. In fact, smaller and more unhealthy spaces are rented at higher prices. The architectural model of existenzminimum has been corrupted by capitalist logics of profitability of space, forgetting human rights and well-being.

The present research stems from the binomial of housing and democracy. These two concepts were associated by modern architecture under the slogan: a home for everyone (CIAM Congress,1929). Over time, extreme rationalisation and standardisation of mass housing led to a strict functional segregation and a quantitative approach, whereby a sustained housing production would meet the demands of low-income groups (Tosi, 1994).

What should democratic living be like? Is it the industrial anonymity and standardisation of Hannes Meyer’s ‘Co-op Interieur’ (1926), a single generic cell that belongs to the entirety of the metropolis as a universal basic right, replicable indefinitely? Or is it tailor-made housing where a diversified offer, based on different income brackets, is combined with the design of a domestic space which reflect the needs, values and desires of each future tenant? The needs and activities of future tenants became the new criterion of relevance during the ‘housing revolution’ of the 1970s: the idea that dwelling is an act (Habraken, 1972) and the notion of housing as a verb (Turner, 1976) are key themes. As a result of this paradigm shift, the cohousing model was born. It combines individual private housing with collective spaces characterised by flexibility. It allows costs to be reduced and spaces customised through participatory design. It was born in northern Europe and then spread to English-speaking countries and continental Europe, having entered a new stage of development since the 2000s in the rest of Europe, especially in the south.

Is it possible to design a model of cohousing that can be reproduced on a larger scale, overcoming the limitation of punctual, disaggregated enclaves, to help ensure housing accessibility in an effective way? This investigation focuses on the critical analysis of this typology to meet the most diversified contemporary needs. International case studies are chosen for the innovative characteristics of the management model (software) or physical model (hardware) and then analysed regarding both replicable typological aspects and the different possible approaches in terms of supply, the role of the social manager, the contractual variety, the social mix and the guarantees offered by the service. The aim is to analyse how the paradigms of flexibility, customisation and hybridisation translate architecturally and whether a participatory process is more effective. The goal is to outline, through ethnographic study and action research, that cohousing is a model, not a typology and can therefore be interpreted differently depending on the context; public administrations, recognising the trend, can act as facilitators through dedicated policies; the inclusion of users is a tool to ensure the effectiveness of the project; sharing spaces helps to reduce costs and, together with the low cost process and tax incentives, ensures access to affordable housing that is also tailored to the wishes of future users, combining solidarity networks and social value in inclusive, adequate and sustainable housing.

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Within the global picture of financialisation of land and territory required by neoliberal national policies, housing becomes a financial tool, neglecting its nature as a common good, as reported by Raquel Rolnik, UN special rapporteur on adequate housing.

In light of this, this research reflects on the paths that commoning efforts in the housing sector can take in the complex contemporary situation, in which neither the state nor the market is fully capable of offering satisfactory solutions for a just and sustainable provision of basic urban resources as delineated by UN’s 2030 Agenda. This attempt will be articulated around the analysis of European examples, such as the Mietshäuser Syndikat, CLT, Trias and Edith Marion Foundations, showing the re-emergence of forms of community-led and collaborative housing, in order to sketch an image of the innovative models and strategies of housing tenure and provision from a common perspective.

The analysis focuses on spatial and architectural innovations that those models put into practice; on legal and economic instruments created and able to empower the communities to decommodify building stock and increase housing rights. It is important to study community-led practices, their level of autonomy and self-organisation, able to trigger new concrete solutions for housing issues and a democratic governance for a series of players involved in the complex development of housing projects, as responsible makers and users of the resource that their homes constitute.

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“René Cassin, Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the main authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has pointed the “immense part of science in the conception, content, development and practice of human rights”. Practical inventions. The development of scientific medicine, the liberation of rational research, and research freedom have powerfully contributed to soften the burdens on man and society. This is a recognition that should be remembered by referring to engineers, architects, and urban planners, who research, invent, and carry practical innovations that are the core of discoveries.

However, J. Robert Oppenheimer – a scientist who had to reflect on the consequences of what he had helped to accomplish – noted that “when you see something that is technically valid, go ahead and do it and discuss what to do with it after you have had your technical success. This is what happened with the atomic bomb”.

The awareness of powerful and positive effects of scientific research and the implementation of its innovative results risk leaving the field open to disaster. This happens when the only technical success is pursued without thinking about (every) potential consequence.

Thinking about consequences implies a cultural attitude open to human and social values. This is usually considered a field of action and study of disciplines other than engineering and architecture. Yet, this is a mistake.

Human rights and fundamental freedom are pervasive. They – either – appear demanding on every occasion of human activity. Knowing the nature, the content, and the way of working is essential. This generates respect without waiting for them to be discussed when the political, social or judicial controversy has already arisen.

The universality of methods and results of scientific research corresponds to the universality to which fundamental human rights tend. On both sides, national borders have no effect. This is a reason for understanding between the scientist and the jurist of human rights.”

The Urban Legacy Seminar Series were recorded at Politecnico di Torino during 2018.

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