farm-making - new rural [r]evolutions

Federica MandelliMajor Project 2013-2014MA Narrative EnvironmentsUAL - Central Saint Martins bindellera.wordpress.com

Federica MandelliMajor Project 2013-2014MA Narrative EnvironmentsUAL - Central Saint Martins bindellera.wordpress.com

Introduction

Calvino’s Invisible Cities is one of the most influential essays describing modern cities and the way they are perceived: a delightful allegory of the thousands of interactions, tangible and intangible, between people and places.By adopting Calvino’s lens in reading cities, I started to define the core of my project with the clear intent to understand how the city affects citizens and vice versa.Cities can be considered as layered entities in a perpetual evolution, living scenarios where history and stories constantly overlap creating new settings, new schemes and new situations with thousands of actors playing countless roles. However, it is more dif-ficult to grasp the role that citizens play today, whether they are spectators, characters or protagonists.Citizens are too often overcome by the top-down configuration of cities.In order to reverse this, I have been investigating my role as designer, which is to help foster new acts of bottom-up participation in order to perceive, conceive and initiate changes in the way we live in cities.Thus a question arises: how can we design conditions that allow people to become au-thors of the urban metamorphosis?The project attempts to be one possible process that actively engages an entire com-munity, shifting the role from passive users to protagonists of a change.1+1=3 is located in a small town in Italy called Cassina de’ Pecchi, one over many that encompass Milan’s Green Belt. The entire area covers over 40.000he and it is the larg-est agricultural park in Europe; however the 61 towns have essentially lost their rural vocation. On the contrary, they are periurban towns, places defined for the geographical position in proximity of a city, rather than for their identity.trigger new rural [r]evolutions in order to incite hope for a brighter future.The initial concept was utterly focused on the chosen farm, Cascina Bindellera. The process was more based on the subject rather than on the community, nevertheless 1+1=3 soon shifted its focus from a mere collection of ideas to the co-creation of a more

pragmatic vision for Cassina, where the farm stands as the starting point.The main aim was to design a process so that new collective city-narratives can unfold, in order to open up glimmers of genuine participation. The impact of citizens’ direct par-ticipation has the ambition to generate the equation 1+1=3, where bottom-up practices act as crucial ingredients for the development of a new proactive and cohesive commu-nity, in order to re-design a city in which everyone has a place.In fact, a sense of stasis and paralysis occurs in Cassina de’ Pecchi since the 80’s: the rural environment is nowadays disregarded and the urban transformation is a long way off, henceforth inhabitants are rather detached from their living environment. Moreover an unstable political situation led Cassina to a complete lack of agency.1+1=3 attempts to provoke a change. It seeks to be pioneer of a new practice that alter the way the environment is understood and planned by suggesting bottom-up acts of re-appropriation.A farm-making process has been designed to enable citizens to engage with the forgot-ten rural environment and speculate on its possible future development. An abandoned public farm acts as catalyst to attract citizens and trigger new rural [r]evolutions in order to incite hope for a brighter future.The initial concept was utterly focused on the chosen farm, Cascina Bindellera. The process was more based on the subject rather than on the community, nevertheless 1+1=3 soon shifted its focus from a mere collection of ideas to the co-creation of a more pragmatic vision for Cassina, where the farm stands as the starting point.The main aim was to design a process so that new collective city-narratives can unfold, in order to open up glimmers of genuine participation. The impact of citizens’ direct par-ticipation has the ambition to generate the equation 1+1=3, where bottom-up practices act as crucial ingredients for the development of a new proactive and cohesive commu-nity, in order to re-design a city in which everyone has a place.

Federica MandelliLondon, May 2014

INDEX

Intro+ Abstract

Personal context+ City, citizens and the role of the designer

Background+ Cassina de’ Pecchi+ Parco Agricolo Sud, Milan’s Green Belt+ Abandoned spaces and abandoned farms+ Milan today

The project+ Project’s diagram+ Description+ Structure+ Cascina Bindellera

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Personal context

1+1=3 is a community design project placed in a small town near Milan.

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intro

Abstract

1+1=3 is a community design project placed in a small town near Milan.

The project aims to empower citizens to take control of their environment and stand up for their community through active participation.

In order to overcome the sense of stagnation that occurs in Cassina de’ Pecchi, inhabit-ants are invited to participate in the co-creation of a new community through a farm-making process.

1+1=3 is a series of community gatherings where an abandoned public farm acts as a catalyst to attract citizens and trigger new rural [r]evolutions.

By stimulating the discovery of forgotten (hi)stories and the renewal of ancient rural traditions, the project aims to build up a new collective identity.

In order to recognise the transformative power people can have in shaping their living environment, 1+1=3 wants to enable positive responses to our changing urban fabric by inspiring grassroots actions of re-appropriation.

PERIURBAN TOWN IN MILAN’S GREEN BELT

ENGAGMENT

STAGNATION

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CITY AND CITIZENS

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

bottom-uptop-down

FARM-MAKING

IDENTITY < COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COMMUNITY < EMPOWERMENT EMPOWERMENT EMPOWERMENT EMPOWERMENT EMPOWERMENT < REAPPROPRIATION REAPPROPRIATION REAPPROPRIATION

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Is the city affecting citizens’ identity or is citizens’ interaction with and within the environment that defines the identity of a city?

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City, citizens and the role of the designer

I started to define the core of my project in early summer, and right from the outset I knew I wanted to deal with city and citizens, understanding how one affects the other and vice versa.

I have always been interested in the relation between people and their living environ-ment and I personally see cities as layered entities in a perpetual evolution, where citi-zens are alternately spectators, characters or protagonists.

Cities can be considered as living scenarios where history and stories constantly overlap creating new settings, new schemes and new situations with thousands of actors play-ing countless roles.

However, a question arises: is the city affecting citizens’ identity or is it citizens’ interac-tion with and within the environment that defines the identity of a city?

Cities draw inhabitants together into common spaces where they can interact and be-come socially active, establishing multiple connections and nurturing the city with mean-ings.

However, if it is true what Lefebvre claimed in its 1970 masterpiece “The Urban Revolu-tion”, that “Urbanism makes situations, conceals operations, it blocks the view of the horizon. It accompanies the decline of the spontaneous city”, then it is true that even more in our society the exchange between city and citizens is not that equal.

People are too often beaten by urbanisation, by a progress that they cannot prevail nor revise.It means that there is a so-called spontaneous city that is generally unable to grow;

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“Urbanism makes situations, conceals operations, it blocks the view of the horizon. It accompany the decline of the spontaneous city”

rather, people need to adapt on what is over imposed. Citizens are too often overcome by the top-down configuration of a city.

In order to reverse this, I have been questioning my role as designer: to help to conceive and foster a new grassroots civic culture.Socio-political acts of re-appropriation should be noticed, articulated or even advanced, in order to trigger and enable bottom-up acts of re-appropriation that tackles the cur-rent society of the spectacles (Guy Debord, 1967), towards spontaneous socio-political modes of participation.

We urgently need to give back to people the power to transform their own living envi-ronment according to their needs and desires, “to seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of Inferno, are not Inferno, and make them endure, give them space” (Italo Calvino, 1972).

Citizens need to participate more meaningfully in the urban development, becoming protagonist; spatial qualities define a city, but citizens actualise it.

As Teddy Cruz claims, “What we need is an urgent imagination: how to intervene in the gap between the top-down and the bottom-up, while reconnecting art to the drama of the socio-economic and political realities of a world in flux”.

How can a community perform and suggest new modes of living together?

Bottom-up processes of re-appropriation have arisen all over the world in the last few decades, paradigms of grassroots ventures are leveraging and suggesting new systems of coexistence that tackle top-down planning.

But this is not yet the praxis, or if it is, it is more often seen in an urban context rather than in smaller realities, so I decided to run a community-engaging project in my home-town.

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SITUATIONIST’S GRAFFITI, PARIS 1954

How a community can perform and suggest new modes of living together?

The impact of citizens’ participation has the ambition to generate the equation 1+1=3, where community’s practices act as crucial ingredients for the development of our town.

How do you design situations that allow people to become protagonists of a city that is falling into stagnation?

I decided to start from the history of our place, digging out the narratives that are em-bedded within our shared environment.

A new affection should be re-discovered, a stronger sense of belonging should be em-braced, ultimately a new feeling of transformative power should be infused in citizens’ minds so that they can suggest themselves a successful progress.

In his theory of Creative Cities, Charles Landry proposes “to think of our city as a liv-ing work of art where citizens can involve and engage themselves in the creation of a transformed place […] and to create the conditions which are open enough so that urban decision makers can rethink potentials, revolve hidden assets, reconceive the social capital”.

By undertaking this project I aim to design the conditions so that new collective city-narratives can unfold, in order to open up glimmers of genuine participation, in a city in which everyone has a place.

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Space belongs to thought, to action;

space is creation and holds the promise

of liberation, liberation into desire.

Henry Lefebvre

‘‘

Background

CASSINA DE’ PECCHI, 2013

CASSINA, THE UNDERGROUND

In the 80’s Cassina has completely lost its agricultural vocation

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Cassina de’ Pecchi

Cassina de’ Pecchi is a small town in the province of Milan with 13,324 inhabitants, 20 km from the city-centre.

It takes its name from a farmers’ family that used to live there in the Middle Ages; in-deed, Cassina de’ Pecchi can be literally translated into “Pecchi’s farmhouse”.

As it is now organised, Cassina de’ Pecchi was born from the fusion of two rural villages: Cassina and Sant’Agata, in 1870. At that time the agricultural vocation was very strong and the town was an agglomerate of typical Milanese farms: square-yarded and located at the centre of a large piece of cultivated land.

From an economic point of view the land has always been fruitful thanks to its fertile soil, good weather conditions and the extensive presence of water. In particular, the ir-rigation system designed by Leonardo da Vinci, who made the canals navigable in 1470, shortened the distance with Milan.

In fact, the proximity with a big city has been crucial for the development of Cassina, which in the ‘60s has been affected by an overwhelming economic boom. The industrialisation doubled the population in just two decades: from 5.000 to 11.200 inhabitants.

As a result, the urbanisation caused the closure and the subsequent abandonment of the farms: less human resources, technology development and working migration moved citizens of Cassina from fields to industries.

In the 80’s Cassina has completely lost its agricultural vocation.

1931

1951

1961

1971

1981

1991

2001

2011

1936

1861

1881

1901

1911

1921

1871

1921

2960

5503

11196

13.344

15.000

10.000

5.000

2013

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DEMOGRAPHIC TREND

SOURCES wikipedia

cassinadepecchi.gov.it

CASCINA PONTE, 2014

DETAIL

Cassina is often defined as a dormitory city with a “bedroom community”

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Despite the industrialisation, Cassina has never been “urban” and it is not “rural” any-more, it can rather be considered a detached town in stagnation for 30 years and with no peculiar identity.

Indeed, Cassina de’ Pecchi is defined “periurban”, so it is described according to its ge-ographical position and its relation with the city, rather than for its local distinctiveness.

Cassina is often defined as a dormitory city with a bedroom community.

The current political situation is also quite peculiar: the last two legislatures, Left-wing first and Right-wing after, didn’t complete their 5-year term because of controversies on the urban planning proposals.

From August 2013 Cassina is under a technical government, waiting for the next political election planned for the 25th-26th of May 2014.

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VIEW OF THE FIELDS

PARCO AGRICOLO SUD

PAS’s main goal is “the development of governance within the criteria of environmental compatibility along with the respect of agricultural vocation”

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Parco Agricolo Sud, Milan’s Green Belt

Cassina de’ Pecchi’s territory is half urban (56,2%) and half agricultural (46,8%) and it is strategically located within two parks: exactly at the heart of Martesana Park and at the entrance of Milan’s Green Belt.

In fact, Cassina de’ Pecchi is one of the 61 towns of Parco Agricolo Sud, the Green Belt that hugs Milan from East to West.

Since 1991 Parco Agricolo Sud (PAS) is the association that manages the 40.000 hec-tares of land and undertakes programmes aimed to safeguard and enhance the environ-mental heritage.

PAS’s main goal is “the development of governance within the criteria of environmental compatibility along with the respect of agricultural vocation”.

Indeed, PAS is an extended suburban area of agricultural land cluttered by thousands farms: a green lung but also an incredible resource that has marked the history of the economic development in the Milanese province.

PAS stands in a delicate position: on one hand, it needs to cope with the most industri-alised area of one of the greatest Italian metropolis; on the other hand it must take into account the wider social, cultural and environmental function that it used to play over the years.

However, analysing Cassina as a case study for the dozens dull towns that encompass the Green Belt, it is questionable the role that the rural environment is currently playing both in the local context and in the bigger picture.

CASSINA DE’ PECCHI

MILAN

PARCO AGRICOLO SUD

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MILAN 2013

MILAN 1600

The past rural vocation is nowadays disregard

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The past rural vocation is nowadays disregard.

Hectares of agricultural land are today neglected and the majority of the farms is run down.

Along with its curating role, PAS is a formal institution that can only approve or reject urban planning that goes against the principle of its manifesto. So a change is in the hands of the local community or in town’s municipality.

MILAN

PARCO AGRICOLO SUD

CORNRICE

MIXED

SOYBEAN

CEREALS

OTHER

1955-2007

+10,5& URBAN AREAS

-6,3% RURAL AREAS

SOURCES piano agricolo 2003

corriere agricolo oct/2011milan-edible city (pavarin, 2012)

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MILAN, THE NEW SKYLINE

“Waste products of a functionalist administration”, witnesses and victims of the changing urban fabrics

Abandoned spaces and abandoned farms

Milan is growing fast.There is a Milan of dozens building sites with cranes that are changing the image and the city skyline.

There is an active and vital city in the process of urban and territorial transformation with massive interventions disseminated within its borders; waiting to start the new exciting phase of Expo 2015.

However, there is also a silent city that is falling into oblivion.Thousands of square meters of abandoned spaces stand next to the new skyscrapers: “waste products of a functionalist administration” (Michel De Certeau, 1984); witness-es and victims of the changing urban fabrics.

Places with no future, that often shout incredible stories.

Isa from Temporiuso, an association that in behalf of Milan’s Municipality is mapping all the abandoned spaces in the city, strongly believes that is urgent “to commit and allow spontaneous practices and pilot projects to enable practices of socio-political participa-tion.”

So that the top-down EXPO’s financial architecture is accompanied by contents gener-ated by bottom-up processes of participation growing within local communities.

Milan is plenty of what has been defined “spazi in attesa” (pending spaces): houses, of-fices, factories, hotels, shops, railway stations, warehouses, even cultural and historical places such as theatres and cinemas.

There is also another typology of such spaces that harbour history and culture of our

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ABANDONED MILAN (TEMPORIUSO, 2011)

ABANDONED FACTORY, MILAN 2014

NEW DEVELOPMENT, MILAN 2014

CASCINA CUCCAGNA, MILAN (BEFORE THE RENOVATION)

CASCINA CUCCAGNA, MILAN 2014

Farms can be inspiration for citizens’ to exercise an influence for a better communal living environment

society more than anything else: farmhouses.

Abandoned farms are cluttering the Green Belt standing like monuments of a past and almost forgotten lifestyle.

If it is true that vacant spaces can be considered “state of possibilities”, then farms could be the stimulus to foster citizens’ and local communities to create new situations (Guy Debord, 1957).

Farms can be inspiration for citizens’ to exercise an influence for a better communal liv-ing environment.

To prevent of just being a reminiscence of a remote life, citizens could start imagine their own place where to live, work, produce and disseminate their socio-cultural and political expression.

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CASCINA DEI POMM, MILAN

MILANESE FARMS, HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH (L’UNITA’,2011)

MILANESE FARMS, HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH (L’UNITA’,2011)

MILANESE FARMS, HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH (L’UNITA’,2011)

MILANESE FARMS, HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH (L’UNITA’,2011)

Milan is currently living a moment of great urban development

Milan today

As briefly mentioned above, Milan is currently living a moment of great urban develop-ment.

In 2015 Milan is hosting EXPO2015, the world’s exhibition that was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, for the very first time in 1851; the same event that 38 years later gave birth to the Tour Eiffel; in one line The International Gathering which at-tempts to develop our society towards a brighter future.

The role of EXPO in fact is, by definition, “oriented towards interpreting the collective challenges to which mankind is asked to respond”; it is aimed to foreseen a better soci-ety engaging with very specific cultural themes.

With the tagline “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, the entire Milanese project is focused on the respect for the natural environment and its communities, in order to en-sure health nutrition to everybody, promoting sustainability and a new agriculture, along with revamping rural traditions.

As all the international EXPO, Milan will have a main site and an absolute calendar, but the strengths of such projects should lie in the long-term programs that unravel before, during and after the actual exhibition.

In behalf of that, in 2009 has been produced an interesting publication funded by the Municipality, drawn out by multiple associations and a group of students from Politec-nico to trigger a new program for the Milanese farms. They started to map and think about the future role of the farms: “The farms of Milan, towards and beyond Expo 2015 - a system of sites devoted to agriculture, food, housing and the care of the land”.

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MILAN, 2014

“The periurban agricultural space has an innovative character that can develop more creative socio-economic models that come from the transformation of the rural world, but especially from the proximity of the city”

So far, interesting mixed projects of rural requalification are slowly arising, embedded with extensive values that fulfil new modern needs.

Farms are gradually turning their role as environmental garrison houses: able to satisfy the upcoming needs of a different liveability, becoming places for meeting and sharing, where to develop new models of sustainability.

Particularly, the periurban farms seems to harbour an even stronger value, as they entail tangible and intangible qualities such as variety and flexibility. They combine multiple relationships and networks in a more innovative and compelling way.

“The periurban agricultural space has an innovative character that can develop more creative socio-economic models that come from the transformation of the rural world, but especially from the proximity of the city. In some ways it is a new form of periphery, located midway between urbanity and rurality” (Mariavaleria Mininni, 2005).

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MILAN, VIEW

MILAN, AERIAL VIEW

Revolution is not ‘showing’ life to people, but making them live.

A revolutionary organization must always remember that its objective is getting them

to speak for themselves, in order to achieve,

or at least strive toward, an equal degree of participation.

Guy Debord

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The project

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FROM A DETACHED COMMUNITY TO THE CO-CREATION OF A NEW COLLECTIVE IDENTITY FOR THE FUTURE OF CASSINA

A SENSE OF STAGNATION OCCURS IN CASSINA DE’ PECCHI

Inhabitants aredetached

The town nolonger has an

identity

The politicalsituation isunstable

The past ruralvocation isdisregard

Cassina is currently defined as“periurban town”, thus

identified by its geographycal proximity to a big city: Milan.Cassina is often cosidered

as a dormitory town.

While in the past Cassinahad a strong rural connotation and was cluttered by farms,

today, due to the industrialisation,the majority of agricultural activity

shut down. Cassina is no rural anymore, but will never be urban.

In the last years both the Left and the Right Party

didn’t complete the5-year term.

Cassina is currently under a technical

government till the next election: May 2014.

Cassina’s territory ishalf urban and half

agricultural, although the townis part of Parco Agricolo Sudthe rural area is compleately

neglected and farms are run down.

CO-CREATION OF A NEW COMMUNITY THROUGH PARTICIPATORY ACTIVITIESWHERE AN ABANDONED PUBLIC FARM ACTS AS A CATALYST FOR

NEW RURAL [R]EVOLUTIONS

Moving from indifferenceto

empowerment

Moving from blandto

exciting

Moving from topdown stasisto

bottomup proactivity

Moving fromunderutilised resources

toa productive landscape

FARM-MAKINGCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATION FOR A CHANGE

Designing community gatherings fostering activeparticipation and triggering

lateral networks

Stimulating the discoveringof forgotten (hi)stories

and the renewal of ancientrural tradition

Empowering citizens tostand up for their community

and take control of theshared environment

Adopting an abandonedpublic farm as the playground

for people’s imagination,to start rethinking the future

1+1=3

FROM A DETACHED COMMUNITY TO THE CO-CREATION OF A NEW COLLECTIVE IDENTITY FOR THE FUTURE OF CASSINA

A SENSE OF STAGNATION OCCURS IN CASSINA DE’ PECCHI

Inhabitants aredetached

The town nolonger has an

identity

The politicalsituation isunstable

The past ruralvocation isdisregard

Cassina is currently defined as“periurban town”, thus

identified by its geographycal proximity to a big city: Milan.Cassina is often cosidered

as a dormitory town.

While in the past Cassinahad a strong rural connotation and was cluttered by farms,

today, due to the industrialisation,the majority of agricultural activity

shut down. Cassina is no rural anymore, but will never be urban.

In the last years both the Left and the Right Party

didn’t complete the5-year term.

Cassina is currently under a technical

government till the next election: May 2014.

Cassina’s territory ishalf urban and half

agricultural, although the townis part of Parco Agricolo Sudthe rural area is compleately

neglected and farms are run down.

CO-CREATION OF A NEW COMMUNITY THROUGH PARTICIPATORY ACTIVITIESWHERE AN ABANDONED PUBLIC FARM ACTS AS A CATALYST FOR

NEW RURAL [R]EVOLUTIONS

Moving from indifferenceto

empowerment

Moving from blandto

exciting

Moving from topdown stasisto

bottomup proactivity

Moving fromunderutilised resources

toa productive landscape

FARM-MAKINGCOMMUNITY PARTICIPATION FOR A CHANGE

Designing community gatherings fostering activeparticipation and triggering

lateral networks

Stimulating the discoveringof forgotten (hi)stories

and the renewal of ancientrural tradition

Empowering citizens tostand up for their community

and take control of theshared environment

Adopting an abandonedpublic farm as the playground

for people’s imagination,to start rethinking the future

1+1=31+1=3

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1+1=3 is a series of community gatherings where an abandoned public farm acts as a catalyst to attract citizens and trigger new rural [r]evolutions

Description

1+1=3 is a series of community gatherings where an abandoned public farm acts as a catalyst to attract citizens and trigger new rural [r]evolutions.

The core idea of the project has been defined around two main themes: the bottom-up re-appropriation of the public space by its community and the concept of co-creation as a tool to stimulate citizens in thinking more actively towards the environment that sur-round us.

An existing reality of stagnation in Cassina opened the opportunity to develop a commu-nity-engaging project that could foster people in direct participation for a change.

The narrative approach of seeking existing stories and valuable qualities of the environ-ment, along with an accurate research of the current situation in the local and broad context, led the project into the so-called farm-making process.

Stimulating the discovery of forgotten (hi)stories and the renewal of ancient traditions, the project aims to spark a new affection for our rural environment in order to prompt a stronger sense of belonging that can culminate in spontaneous acts of re-appropriation.

Ultimately, the main aim is the co-creation of an active community through the design of a series of events, in order to build up a collective identity for a brighter future for Cassina.

To recognise the transformative power people can have in shaping their living environ-ment, the project has been structured to empower citizens in being protagonist of a change, involving them in the co-authorship of new possible rural [r]evolutions.

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SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE, SZU AN YU

Three different workshops involving different audiences have been designed in order to stimulate the entire local community to actively participate in the process

Structure

The starting point of the farm-making process is the farm itself: Cascina Bindellera, the abandoned public farmhouse that act as a playground for citizens’ imagination.

Three different workshops talking to different audiences have been designed in order to stimulate the entire local community to actively participate in the process.

1+1=3 started with an informal gathering in the barnyard, where locals has been invited to share their memories, thoughts and desires for Bindellera.

Along with that, an on-line community engagement has started through a Wordpress blog and Facebook; so that 40 ideas and a clear direction for the future of the farm have been collected.

Few months later, the second gathering involved children in a workshop of guided im-agery, aimed to collect the view of future generations, what their desires and what their needs.

At a later stage, the outcomes of the workshops have been analysed and presented to a group of local professionals with different expertise, in order to ground the ideas and funnel them into a clear vision.

In May a final event in the barnyard will gather the community together for a public con-sultation, giving them back the outcomes of the three workshops.

A launch of a new phase will take place: a call to action to empower the community to fulfil the accomplished vision.

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THE STORY: FARM-MAKING, NEW RURAL [R]EVOLUTION

1 2 3

METANARRATIVE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION FOR A CHANGE

SUBNARRATIVES

1. DIRECTIONS everyone FREEDREAMS2. LEGACY children NEXT LANDSCAPES3. VISION professionals HANDS-ON BINDELLERA

CLIMAX 18th MAY 2014 FINAL EVENT IN THE BARNYARD launch of one-year program

FOLLOW UP WAITING FOR EXPO2015, let’s bring the hay back to cassina

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CASCINA BINDELLERA, 2012

Cascina Bindellera is a cultural and historical heritage of Lombardy Region: abandoned since 1979, public for 10 years

Cascina Bindellera

The Italian name “Cascina” (in English “farmhouse”) comes from the ancient name “cacio”, a peculiar Italian cheese. The etymology tells us the role of a place where to breed and milk cows to yield milk, cheese and butter.

Cascina is a typical agriculture building of Lombardy Region that usually is located in the middle of 40-50hectars of fields.Inside the Milanese farmhouse there are stables, silos, barns, wells, furnaces, ware-houses, mills and farmers’ houses together in a unique structure: a self-sufficient place where a micro-community live and work.

The farmhouses, public and private, in the territory of Cassina and its hamlet Sant’Agata are a dozen.The condition of the farms depends on the ownership and the uses that have taken place over time.

Currently in Cassina and Sant’Agata there are: 2 public farms, one is in the process of re-qualification as houses, while the other one hosts community facilities such as a library and a series of multifunctional spaces not really successful; 4 private farms in activity; 5 derelict farms.

The municipality of Cassina owns one of these abandoned farms: Cascina Bindellera.

Cascina Bindellera is a cultural and historical heritage of Lombardy Region abandoned since 1979 and public for 10 years.Its location is crucial and strategic: it is equidistant between Cassina and Sant’Agata, it is located at the North-East entrance of Milan’s Green Belt and it is in the middle of

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1,5KM 1,5KMCASSINA

SANT’AGATA

BINDELLERA

PRIVATE FARMS IN ACTIVITY PUBLIC FARMS TURNED INTO SOMETHING ELSE DERELICT FARMS

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CASCINA PIROTTA, PRIVATE FARM IN ACTIVITY

CASCINA COLOMBIROLO IS TURNING INTO HOUSES

CASCINA MALACHINA, PRIVATE DERELICT FARM

CASCINA BINDELLERA, PUBLIC DERELICT FARM

“There was a sense of cohesiveness, common problems used to tight us together, sharing tools and resources in case of emergency fos-tered mutual aid and cooperation”

Martesana Park. Along with all the traditional cartographic and bibliographic research, site visits and in-terviews, the most important discovery about the role of Bindellera, its history and its narratives, has been drawn out thanks to social research.

Through interviews with key stakeholders, it was possible to read the environment by direct stories of actors who lived in the farmhouse and were protagonists of the past rural life.

The Vimercati family has been the last that lived and worked in the farm from1957 to 1979, producing milk as the pay for the rent.

Luisa, the daughter of the chief-farmer, remembers with affection her life there, where winter arrives with fog, where autumn has orange and brown shades, where summer means hard work and the spring has the smell of cherry flowers.

”The rhythm of nature was the rhythm of life, you were part of a whole system”she says.

Luisa lived there for 22 years with other 50 people, a village within the village, whereas the community used to be fluid and open: “In the past” she remembers, “there was a sense of cohesiveness, common problems used to tight us together, sharing tools and resources in case of emergency fostered mutual aid and cooperation”.

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CASCINA BINDELLERA, 2012

VIMERCATI FAMILY, 1974

CASCINA BINDELLERA, 1974

VIMERCATI FAMILY, 1974

VIMERCATI FAMILY, 1974

If you don’t know where you are coming from,

you won’t know where you are going. The deepest the roots,

the highest the branches.

Bob Marley

‘‘

#1 FREEDREAMS

directions

INDEX

Freedreams

+ What and why+ Description+ Where and how+ Outcomes: 40 dreams for the farm

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FREEDREAMS is one-day event of active participation

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What and why

FREEDREAMS is one-day event of active participation aimed to:

+ Raise the issue of Cascina Bindellera among the community, that recently fell into oblivion + Understand the affection of citizens towards the farm

+ Trigger the conversation about our environmental heritage and its potential

+ Collect information about the farm, its stories, memories and possible future projects

+ Actively involve citizens in a public discussion about the future of the farm

LEVEL OF COMMUNITY ENGAGMENT

LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION

LEVEL OF CO-PRODUCTION

AUDIENCE TAKE OUT

PROJECT TAKE OUT

What’s your dream for Cascina Bindellera?

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Description

The first community gathering has been conceived during the summer, before the pro-ject was shaped into a defined structure, thus it rather started as an action research.

At the dawn of the project, the intervention wanted to test out the potential of aban-doned space as state of possibilities: how a farm could become a trigger for people’s imagination and how existing narratives could further develop.

With a simple question, “What’s your dream for Cascina Bindellera”, inhabitants has been invited to come and see the farm, to discuss together about its history and stories, digging out memories together, but especially sharing ideas about its future.

People have been asked to bring along an object as the transposition of their dreams into something tangible; it was an effort to let them be punctual in their proposals. The intent was eventually to visualise their dreams in the beautiful setting of Cascina Bindellera, to build up a collective scenario that unveiled people’s imagination.

my dream is

MEET IN THE BARNYARD WRITE YOUR DREAM ON THE LABEL

PLACE IT ON YOUR OBJECT SHARE AND DISCUSS YOUR IDEAS

BRING AN OBJECT AS THEMETAPHOR OF YOUR DREAM

DREAM SCENARIO

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The event took place in the barnyard:35 people attended the workshop, of which 5 of them didn’t participate actively

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Where and how

The event took place in the barnyard of Cascina Bindellera in September: 35 people at-tended the workshop but 5 of them didn’t participate actively.The workshop has been rather successful and 24 dreams have been collected, while only 14 people brought the object.

Participants were quite various in terms of age and background: 2 children and 2 elder people, 4 adults between 31 and 45 and 12 between 46 and 60 year-old.The event has been filmed and the video has been posted on the project’s blog and in specific Facebook groups with the intent of carrying out the conversation among the community.

bindellera.wordpress.com is a blog that has been created as a platform to collect and share the project’s work-in-progress and further engage with people, updating and invit-ing them to actively get involved.

For the first workshop, the on-line engaging has been as much important as the event itself, loads of people watched the video (365 Youtube views) generating further discus-sion among the community.

As a retrospective comment, the most effective social media is certainly Facebook, both for its fame and power, both for the usage frequency by the project’s audience. Although the blog is carefully organised, allowing a better understanding of FREEDREAMS’s purposes in relation with 1+1=3, the exchange with and within the community wasn’t enough satisfying.

Nevertheless, the final outcome of the first workshop, carried out both on site and on-line, is a list 40 ideas for Bindellera’s hypothetical future development.

40 dreams have been collectedand categorised under 4 genres

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40 dreams for Bindellera

Dreams have been categorised under 4 genres: 1. Ideas with a predominant rural vocation2. Ideas mainly related to art and culture3. Ideas mainly related to education and training4. New businesses for the farm

RURAL CONNOTATION1. Reactivate Cascina Bindellera as a farm2. Farm3. A farm in the heart of Parco Agricolo Sud can only have a rural connotation.My dream is to have an agricultural and cultural centre to safeguardancient rural traditions4. I would rather live here! With chickens, pigs, cows, a tractors to cultivate the fields. I would restore the watermill to grind the grain…there is nothing better that a farm fully functional and perfectlyworking!5. A farm that is alive and perfectly working with a school of agriculturefor young people6 . Farm with animals and a bat-house7. Handlings

ART AND CULTURE 8. Art-hub with workshops such as wood, ceramics, botanics, computer...9. A cultural centre to line up the thoughts10. Cultural centre for sustainability to bridge Cassina and Sant’Agata11. My dream is that in the next future cultural activities will be mentioned in such cata-logues and newspapers

ISTRUZIONE & FORMAZIONE

ART &CULTURE

RURAL CONNOTATION

NEW BUSINESS

EDUCATION &TRAINING

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THE DREAMS CHART

16 ART & CULTURE11 NEW BUSINESS8 RURAL CONNOTATION6 EDUCATION & TRAINING

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12. Creative space13. An open-space for creative people14. A place to play music with art galleries15. A cultural centre with eco-literacy school16. Event place for music, festivals, exhibitions17. Set live music for events, gigs, festivals18. Multicultural youth centre19. My dream is to create a social centre for associations and cooperativesworking within Martesana. And social gardens20. The House of Italian Parks: where to gather documents, maps, videos, produces where to narrate stories and peculiarities of ourland. A place for talks and conferences on the most beautiful heritage that represents the soul of our Country.21. Eco-museum preserving history and rural traditions of our land ascultural heritage for future generations22. Ethnographic museum23. Eco-museum

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 24. A school of arts and crafts where young can learn and pass down ancient trades25. Workshops for agricultural studies26. Playroom and library27. Educational farm28. To restore the farm according to green-building rules with multifunctional spaces, a hub for training new micro-enterprise, a start-upsincubator, a secondary school to study foreign languages, marketing,business administration, media communication, computer…for youngpeople to learn new skills29. A school of agriculture in collaboration with the University of Milan

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NEW BUSINESS30. Restore the watermill to produce and sell organic flour, bread andartisanal pasta31. I want to live here, eco-co-housing!32. I would love to see a project of co-housing in the heart of ParcoAgricolo Sud. With a common library, meeting places for thecommunity, the “everybody’s barnyard” where children can learn andplay ancient street games. It’s a shame that this place is running downso badly33. Youth hostel with playgrounds34. Brewery of artisanal beer35. Start-ups incubator for young people under 35, offices (residents first)36. Organic restaurant37. Shelter for unfortunate animals38. Youth centre with playrooms40. A family-house, a place that embraces the needs of people with mental health dif-ficulties in a schizophrenic society!

To seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of

Inferno, are not Inferno, then make them endure,

give them space.

Italo Calvino

‘‘

#2NEXTLANDSCAPES

legacy

INDEX

Nextlandscapes

+ What and why+ Description+ Where and how+ Outcomes: stories and drawings

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NEXTLANDSCAPES is a workshop of guided imagery for childrenbetween 6 and 10 years old

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What and why

NEXTLANDSCAPES is a workshop of guided imagery for children between 6 and 10 year-old that attempts to:

+ Reconnect children to our rural environment and the farming history+ Make children aware about the fact that we live in an environmental heritage: Milan’s Green Belt has always been very important in the past and moreover will be in the future+ Gather the point of view of our future generations, what their desires and what their needs+ Involve children in a playful process of rural redefinition to give them a voice as impor-tant part of the community

LEVEL OF COMMUNITY ENGAGMENT

LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION

LEVEL OF CO-PRODUCTION

AUDIENCE TAKE OUT

PROJECT TAKE OUT

A journey to stimulate children’s imagination

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Description

Believing in the principle that children are sources of innocent energy and optimistic creativity, the second step of 1+1=3 wants to include the next generation in the farm-making process on the one hand as a source of inspiration for inventive design and on the other hand to contribute to children’s reconnection with the rural environment.

NEXTLANDSCAPES follows the technique of Guided Imagery, where the main host, an art teacher, leads children through a journey to stimulate their imagination.

The workshop is addressed to children between 6 and 10 years old, the age of bright madness, when the cognitive thinking is perfectly balanced with the fantasy world.

Children’s imagery is stimulated through different media in a playful way, allowing them to discover the hidden riches of our land in order to trigger speculative future scenarios.

A weird and mysterious object activates the space: light off and a

candle is placed inside a funny wooden object to create ambience and a sense of se-crecy.

On the big wall the journey starts: from the heart of PAS to Cascina Bindellera and the past rural life.The story of Leonardo starts to unravel in the space: a hang-glider driver that flies over Milan is looking for the best farm of PAS.The video gradually shows the landscape from the heart of Milan’s Green Belt, to slowly reach Cascina Bindellera in the middle of our fields.

Kids gradually get aware about the geography of our land, watching beautiful panoramas

WATCHING THE EMOTIONAL VIDEO LEARING FARMERS’ TOOL

WHEAT TASTING DRAWING THE FUTURE BINDELLERA

READING THE MAP

TELLING STORIES

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from an aerial point of view.They read maps of our territory: from the city to the countryside, from the buildings to the fields, following the great system of canals designed by Da Vinci in the 13th century.

Once metaphorically reached Bindellera, children get in touch with its spatial qualities and its facilities thanks to a series of pictures that shows the farm and its functions.

The second part of the workshop is more physical and performative: in order to explain the rural life, kids are involved in a playful demon

stration of the farmers’ tools and how these have been designed to cultivate the soil.Then children touch the soil from a jute bag, taste some seeds of wheat and eat focaccia to understand the importance of agriculture and the process of production from nature to mankind.

After a small break, kids are finally invited to draw their imaginary landscapes on big sheets of paper, telling their own rural imaginary stories over their drawings.

Children are invited to draw their imaginary farm

The video has been edited assembling different clips, building up a fantasystory to dip children in an imaginary journey

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Where and how

Ideally the workshop would have been undertaken on site, but unfortunately the weath-er conditions and the inaccessibility of the farm made this impossible.

The workshop has been designed in collaboration with an art teacher and has been fa-cilitated thanks to the voluntary participation of three young educators.

NEXTLANDSCAPES took place in an empty room on the top of a pub in Sant’Agata.The place has been chosen for its strategic position (from the balcony it is possible to spot Bindellera) and for the social role that it plays: a great meeting place for the entire local community.

The room is cosy and informal and the space itself has no particular features, which al-lows more freedom and no visual interferences with children’s imagination.

The setting was simple: the video has been projected on the big white wall, where all the maps have been placed; the food tasting was on the opposite side of the farmers’ tool corner.All the children were sitting on the floor.

The video has been edited assembling different clips, building up a fantasy story to dip children in an imaginary journey.Furthermore, the series of props have been specially designed looking at the ancient rural style, but with a modern touch that follows the 1+1=3’s aesthetic grammar.

Crayons, markers, pencils and big sheets of papers to share or to use individually have been left on the floor, so that kids had the maximum freedom of movement and expres-sion.

The new lifestyle for the farm of the future

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Stories and drawings

Every kid or group of kids finally show their drawings to the group, telling their imaginary stories.The entire process has been filmed and edited into a short video that collects children’s vision into a short narration: the new lifestyle for the farm of the future.

Once upon a time a group of girls was getting boredliving in a farm, so they decided to build a treehouse where all their dreams could come true.But one day it was raining so hard that they couldn’t climbdown the treehouse, so they started to dream about the sun and theyimagined a rainbow to play with: they ride it with unicorns,they slide on it up and down and they fliy high enjoying theiramazing day.

Beatrice, Elena, Federica, Silvia

Once upon a time there was a wheat fieldwhere grain was good, yellow and crispy.There was a mill that used to spin the waterto hose the fields to let the yellow wheat drink.Then the watermill pours the water left and right.And there was a tree with a owl and then other wheat fields.And there was a tree with a squirrel,the owl and the squirrel were good friends,and then more wheat before Cascina Bindellera.

Claudia

Once upon a time there was a family who wanted to move to a farmhouse to stay closer to natureThe farm had gardens with vegetables and a watermillThe farmer works all day in the field enjoying the sun, but someone is just enjoying staying in the great green lawns....During the week-end the family loves to to fish in the canals that surround their house.

Renato e Denis

Once upon a time there was a farmer working hardin the fields. It was a hot summer and the farmer wasexhausted: he wished that his tools could do all the work forhim.The farmer went to sleep and during the night the toolsgot alive!The showel urged his friends "Comon’ guys let’s help theThe sickle started to cut the wheat, the barrow brought it tothe watermill, which milled the flour.The day after the farmer couldn’t believe his eyes: on histable the flour was ready! So he put water and he started tobake the best focaccia ever made!

Emanuele

If there is hope for mankind in wisdom and help,

this help can only come from children,

because is in them that you build the man.

Maria Montessori

‘‘

#3HANDS-ON BINDELLERA

vision

INDEX

Hands-on Bindellera

+ What and why+ Description+ Where and how+ Outcomes: Cassina dei Parchi

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A discussion with professionals

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What and why

HANDS ON BINDELLERA is a discussion with experts that aims to summarise and ground people’s dreams into an accomplished vision.

LEVEL OF COMMUNITY ENGAGMENT

LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION

LEVEL OF CO-PRODUCTION

AUDIENCE TAKE OUT

PROJECT TAKE OUT

A group of expert from Cassinahave been invited to ground ideas into an accomplished vision

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Description

A group of professionals living in Cassina de’ Pecchi have been invited according to their background to discuss about the role Bindellera can play for the future of Cassina.

The forum starts with an introduction about the project’s aims and the explanation of the previous outcomes.

The documentation with the analysis of the directions collected during FREEDREAMS, along with NEXTLANDSCAPES video telling children’s story, triggers the conversation.

Each participant shares the vision for the farm according to their expertise; the analysis covers the following scopes: agriculture, culture, education, information, management, design and politics.

The discussion ends up with a vision for the farms, a series of ideas and a program that stands not only as the legacy, but also as call to action for the community to carry on with the project.

MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION

POLITICS

EDUCATIONAGRICULTURE

COMMUNICATION

CULTURE

1+1=3

The forum took place in a pubfor a cultural and historical reason

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Where and how

The forum took place in the same pub where the second workshop was set.

The decision of using that space has also a historical meaning: in the Italian tradition bars always played an important social role within the community. In particular during the 50’s, all the farmers of Cassina used to gather in a bar nearby to meet, share and discuss, but especially to do business.

At that time farms were micro-communities of around 40-50 people, independent micro-villages. Hawkers used to go on weekly base in every farm selling goods, while the farmer, to sell his produces, used to go to a bar to do affairs.

There a mediator called the warrantor had the role of matching supplies and demands. Likewise, for the third and last workshop, the pub has been chosen as the place where to match the collected ideas into a more grounded plan.

The space was set as an informal conference table; rather the most important aspect of the meeting was to find the participants to discuss on specific topics.

Here are their profiles:

POLITICS, Massimo MandelliBorn and raised in Cassina, he is a human resource with extensive local knowledge of our community, its dynamics and its history. He has always been politically and socially involved, both in local associations and in the public administration. Massimo is running for being mayor in the next political election.

INFORMATION, Salvatore GiannellaEminent citizen of Cassina, he is the old director of the first magazine of nature and civi-lization ”Airone“. Salvatore is a journalist and has been former director of ”Europeo”, he wrotes for “Oggi” and “Genius”…just to name a few magazines. Among the many publications: ”Need a change: the beauty that illuminates our Europe”.

CULTURE, Massimo GrecoActor, director and drama teacher. A prominent role in our cultural scene for the last 20 years, not only in Cassina, but all around Martesana. He regularly organises successful events, festivals, theatre performances and cultural activities often involving schools and local associations.

EDUCATION&TRAINING, Manuela CuoghiGraphic designer, art teacher at secondary schools, the most beloved tutor in the history of Cassina for her passion and expertise. She owns the imagination and the ability of large visions that belong only to true artists.

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MANAGEMENT, Rodolfo PrincipiPassionate citizen, he studied zootechnic, he has been mainly working as manager and coaching. Rodolfo was also a university teacher and a singer.Charismatic and multifaceted dreamer, he is always updated on what is happening in the world and the tools needed to improve it.

AGRICULTURE, Rossella ChiarellaThe most active and passionate citizen of Cassina. Extensively informed about our terri-tory, she is majoring in “Agricultural Science” with a thesis on alternative ago-ecological food production. If she has a dream, she knows how to make it happen!

COMMUNICATION, Salvatore Di FrancescoEarly graduate in Product-Service-System Design, he studied in Milan, London and Shanghai. A visionary citizen of Martesana, with an eye on and from the outside world.

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We need to tight the community togeth-er and prompt a retrofitting project to reorganise the existing resources

The Vision

“To metaphorically reactivate the watermill of Bindellera means to start up the heart and the engine of the farm.To move Cassina towards a change we need to tight the community together and prompt a retrofitting project of contents, to reorganise the existing resources and inspire new modes of living.

First we should reconnect with our environment: on the one hand organising meeting with influential hosts to understand its importance and its potential, on the other hand initiating spontaneous practices of social gardening.

Such acts of re-appropriation of the land could easily tight the community together, trig-gering socio-cultural activities that can ultimately involve local associations such as “Il Germoglio” for social-gardening involving people with disabilities or “GAS, Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale” (Solidal Purchaising Groups), to sell products and generate a micro-local economy.

Gradually, from small collective actions, people will get closer to the heritage of our en-vironment, acknowledging about its history and culture. A more systemic practice could blossom, such as a local Eco-literacy school where to learn biodiversity, the importance of the cycles of nature and the relation between all the living entities.

The discovery of our land and the ancient rural traditions could trigger new art practices: small workshops or atelier could host a new trend where old craft meets modern design. Then local associations, artisans and designers could establish a bigger institution for a new relation between art and market, inspired by the German Werkbund.

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Yet, they could collaborate with schools, fostering the interaction between theory and practice, between intellectual and manual knowledge.

A proactive cultural life will start to infuse a better sense of belonging and cohesiveness, enclosing the existing resources and all the local stakeholders into a thrilling network: a small, local, open and connected network (Manzini, 2010).”

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SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL GARDENING

ECO-LITERACY SCHOOL

WORKSHOP, ATELIER AND THE ITALIAN WERKBUND

+ Organic gardening following the principles of biodiversity.+ “The Educational Farm”: an opportunity for meeting and sharing; bringing citizens, associations and schools closer to rural life.+ Stimulating a critical approach and sug-gesting a different lifestyle among the com-munity.

+ To teach and learn a systemic view, where all living organisms are related to each other within the cycles of nature. It is a vision strongly rooted in rural traditions along with the knowledge of agriculture, nutrition and the im-portance of natural systems.

+ Art and craft as the results of our geography: a boulevard with atelier and workshops where artists, artisans and designers can work together.+ A series of small shops where to buy unique crafted objects and to learn ancient traditions and techniques: “The wise hands” a course to retrieve “how to make things”.+ “The Italian Werkbund” will be the associations that unify all the actors and stakeholders of the artistic scenario in order to es-tablish a new relation bewteen art and market for a sustainable economy.

A.D.D.A (ACADEMY OF THE ARTS)

HEADQUARTER OF “CASSINA DEI PARCHI”

SMALL, LOCAL, OPEN, CONNECTED

ARCHITECTURE RENOVATION

+ Conservative renovation of the farm following the rules of Green Building, based on renewable energy such as: wind power, hydro power, solar en-ergy, geothermal energy, rain recycling... towards zero-consumption and zero-waste.+ The building will stand as the symbol of sustain-ability and will represent a learning trail for schools and green tourism

“There is no hope for designing sustainable solu-tions without starting from the twin notions of local and of community. Conversely, there is no hope ofimplementing sustainable solutions without consid-ering the greater framework of a globalised network society.” (SLOT, Ezio Manzini 2010)

+ The goal is a new socio-economic model which is Small, Local, Open and Connected. A new scenario of well-being based on the production consumption system: a network of locals in which solutions re-fers to local community and local resources, but that is placed in the global framework.+ The new socio-economic model should pursue the goal of promoting a place that acts as the nexus for young people for both their training and their future. A place where to invent and reinvent themselves.+ The rural environment is a place of tangible and intangible production: local resources and a new life-style needs to be able to circulate worldwide where products remains in the hands of the locals, but the principles have resonance worldwide and out of its context.

+ The school of art disciplines where educa-tion and training is equally based on theory and practice.+ Workshops where to experiment with open spaces that foster the interaction between disciplines and local knowledge.+ A cultural centre that encloses the most im-portant places such as: theatre, library and co-working spaces that enable self-creation and social networks

+ “Cassina dei Parchi” (literally: The Farm of Parks) the new utopian name for Cassina de’ Pecchi, the master-association of the new Bindellera+ Reception, info point, small B&B+ Auditorium (conference room) where a series of talks will regularly take place to discuss about prob-lems and solutions, projects and ideas for the future of our environment.

We have to do nothing less than design our culture, to redesign our cities.

Dan Hill

‘‘

1+1=3 THE FINAL EVENT

legacy and follow up

INDEX

The final event+ 19th May 2014

Making of+ A cinema in the barnyard

1+1=3 legacy+ The event+ Call to action+ Politicians, a secondary audience+ Conclusions

+ Collaborators+ Bibliography

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022-023024-027028-031032-037

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The process culminates with a community gathering in the barnyard for a screening event

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legacy

19th May 2014

The process culminated with a community gathering back in Cascina Bindellera for the grand finale of 1+1=3.A screening event in the barnyard was the final celebration of the farm-making process, but at the same time a new beginning. All inhabitants have been invited to attend the screening of the 1+1=3 docu-film in order to learn about the process and the outcomes of every stage. But most significantly, to get further involved.

For each workshop a short video has been produced (about 5 minutes each) describing the thinking, the process, the execution and most importantly the outcomes collected.Every short video has been previously shown online on social network and on the pro-ject’s blog as viral promos and powerful engaging tools to further connect with citizens.Moreover, videos are a compelling legacy for the entire project, which allows a direct and persuasive communication of it.That is why all the short movies have been edited in a docu-film (about 20-minute long) with an introductory info-graphic stop-motion that explain the project and contextualise it within the big picture.

Foremost, the final gathering is aimed to give back to the community the new rural vi-sion that has been co-created by citizens through these months of active participation. Yet, the goal is also to launch 1+1=3’s following up.

A story where the main aim is to empower citizens to take control of their environment and stand up for their community cannot fade away with film credits.Since the final goal is to provoke a change for the future of Cassina de’ Pecchi, what is needed is an even stronger participation.The community must take the project over.

Making ofa cinema in the barnyard

1+1=3 legacy

The project itself could become an incubator and a pioneer for further projects

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legacy

The event

The screening event has been organised in the barnyard of Cascina Bindellera, simply setting a screen and chairs and exhibiting all the outcomes of the three workshops on the fence. All the 40 dreams have been written on labels and all the children’s drawings have been shown along with the experts’ vision; the exhibition attracted the participants and encouraged them to engage easily with the three stages of the project.More than 60 people attended.

A brief description of the course’s principles as well as my personal goals and motivation introduced the project in its context. Later, the entire process has been described accu-rately and all the videos have been shown followed by further explanations and details.

Before revealing the metanarrative and launching the call to action I invited two girls, who undertook their thesis on Bindellera, to talk about their proposal for the farm.Beatrice and Veronica found the event on Facebook and propose me to examine and use their research and findings about that abandoned farm that has been the site for their degree in architecture few years ago.I decided to invite them to explain their architectural proposal for Bindellera as an ad-ditional part that enriched 1+1=3. I wanted to prove how such a collective and participatory project can acts as a catalyst for further insights, ideas or proposals.

Their contribution wanted to strenghten the principle that a community engaging prac-tice where the co-authorship is the crucial ingredient, can become an incubator of both further projects and motivated people.Their presence has been the perfect transition that allowed me to then reveal the met-anarrative. The renewed interest and the rediscovery of a true committment for the commons should fuel the belief that people can actively contribute and change the way the shared environment is understood, planned and conceived.

VERONICA AND BEATRICE’S ARCHITECTURAL RENOVATION PROPOSAL

5 small activities to push the project furtherarise from people’s ideas and the farm-making process that has been designed

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Call to action

Revealing the metanarrative afterwards created an element of surprise even in people who was following the project right from the start. They felt part of something slightly bigger and more meaningful that a project aimed to revive Cascina Bindellera.However, in order to keep people actively on board, five small long-term activities have been proposed to carry on with the project.

People have been invited to fill a form and to express their level of interest and the de-gree of active participation that they can offer for each activity.The five small projects proposed are rooted in the 1+1=3 principles and arise directly both from the farm-making process and from all the ideas collected.

1. FREEDREAMS 2.0: a platform on-line to share interesting projects that could be rep-licated in Cassina

2. REALANDSCAPES: the workshop of Guided Imagery organised as the second step of 1+1=3 is conceived as a artistic/educational path. On a regular base children will be involved in further rural activities, perhaps with a joint collaboration between the youth centre “Ludoteca GiocaPecchi” and school

3. HANDS ON!: act of re-appropriations of the fields around Bindellera farm that be-longs to the Municipality, to start to cultivate the lands

4. CASSINA DEI PARCHI: a series of talks, conferences, forum and symposium with experts to discuss and learn more about our environment, the heritage and its potential

5. EXPOCASSINA2015: How would be our Expo in Cassina? The idea is to organise an annual gathering in the farm celebrating the rural life, our environment and its heritage, its potential, its products along with an alternative modes of living together.

legacy

CALL TO ACTION!

FREEDREAMS 2.0Building up a platform on-line to share interesting projects and propose new ideas that could be replicated in Cassina.

REALANDSCAPESThe workshop of Guided Imagery organised as the second step of 1+1=3 is conceived as a artistic/educational path. On a regular base children will be involved in further rural activities, perhaps with a joint collaboration between the youth centre “Ludoteca GiocaPecchi” and school.

HANDS-ON!Starting act of re-appropriations of the fields around Bindellera farm that belongs to the Municipality, to start to cultivate the lands.

CASSINA DEI PARCHIOrganising/participating to a series of talks, conferences, forum and symposium with experts to discuss and learn more about our environment, the heritage and its potential.

EXPOCASSINA 2015How would be our Expo in Cassina? The idea is to organise an annual gathering in the farm celebrating the rural life, our environ-ment and its heritage, its potential, its products along with an alternative modes of living together.

your mail

AUTHOR ACTOR SPECTATOR NOTINTERESTED

1+1=3 wants to be just a beginning, Bindellera needs everybody’s contribution Fill the form with your level of interest and write your email to get further involved.

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The aim is to start to address the project also to politicians and local institutions, as a secondary level of audience

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Politicians, a secondary audience

The final event has been carefully organised right before the political election in Cassina.The reason in doing so is to start addressing the project also to politicians and local insti-tutions, as a secondary level of audience.

As mentioned before, Cassina was under a technical government since August 2013, when the Right-Wing Mayor has been distrusted by his own collaborators.The same fate happened in 2008 to the Left-Wing Mayor, who didn’t complete the 5year-term due to loads of criticism to the urban plan proposed.Both the master plans for Cassina had been contested by citizens, the Province of Milan, the Lombardy Region and PAS; complaining about the inadequate soil consumption, the fragmentation of agricultural land, the excessive overbuilding and the redundancy con-struction of unsuccessful community facilities.

The political situation in Cassina is simply unstable.

The intent of the final event was also to open up a public discussion with the political candidates and the local institutions, to advocate a different way of engagement with and within the community.

The aspired outcome of the enitre process is a joint collaboration between the com-munity and the Municipality of Cassina, as the best representation of the Marxist utopia where the state becomes “the executive committee of the bourgeoisie.” (Communist Manifesto, 1848). As a secondary audience, the 4 candidates for Mayor have been personally invited to at-tend the event as spectators of the entire process so that they are prompted in seriously considering citizens’ commitment towards the subject.

legacy

CASCINA BINDELLERA

#1

#2

directionseverybody

legacychildren

#3vision

professionals

#4Reviving thespirit of the

farm, nurturingit with

programmes

ISTITUTIONS

CITIZENS

RE

SO

UR

CE

S

SENSE OF COMMUNITY

WORKSHOPS

SOCIAL GARDENING

PLACE OF PRODUCTION

STAGNATION = OPPORTUNITY =

NEW RURAL DEFINITION

ART ACADEMY

ECO-LITERACY SCHOOL

CONFERENCES

MUSEUM

CULTURAL CENTRE

START UP

FAR

M-M

AK

ING

29

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legacy

The project could trigger new political protocols for urban-planning to be investigated further as a collaborative and steady procedure, fulfilling what Harvey defined as utopia-nism of social process (the farm-making) and utopianism of spatial form (the production of the farm from collective imagery to its realisation).

“The materialization of a utopianism of process requires that the process come to ground someplace, that it constructs some sort of space within which it can function. How it gets framed spatially and how it produces space become critical facets of its tangible realization.” (D.Harvey 2008)

A DVD DESCRIBING THE ENTIRE PROJECT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO POLITICIANS

There is a hope in which lies the ambition that such design can impact or, even more, jolt the static setting of Cassina.

Conclusion

At the very final step of the project there is a hope in which lies the ambition that such design can impact or, even more, jolt the static setting of Cassina.

This is possible when all the actors connect to each other and cooperate actively.1+1=3 wanted to be the conceptual force for a process that tends towards a new col-laborative direction that is fuelled from the bottom.

By interweaving art and design as playful and powerful instruments to engage with peo-ple and by the interaction between the top-down and bottom-up, 1+1=3 finally attempts to rouse to action citizens and institutions in rethinking the processes and the agencies that change cities.

Nevertheless, with the belief that “genuine community engagement in urban develop-ment means putting many of the tools of design in the hands of citizens to construct their own everyday city” (Dan Hill, 2013), 1+1=3 finally succeeds in its intent of design-ing a process where collective narratives were able to breed and advance new modesof living together.

The role of design as supporter of socio-political change stands from a privileged point of view from which new situations can be created by connecting theoretical analysis and hands-on engaging practices to create processes of socio-cultural collective production that changes cities from within.

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“When city dwellers produce space together,

when they reclaim the commons and decide

rather than participate, that’s what we call social design”

Urban-Think Tank

‘‘

Collaborators

CONTENT DEVELOPMENTManuela CuoghiMarie JamesMariana Martinez BalvaneraMOTION GRAPHIC&PHOTOGRAPHY / Davide VallaGRAPHIC DESIGN / TwinbeaksVIDEOMAKING /Dario DaleffeWOOD DESIGN / Alberto OrnaghiPSYCHOLOGY / Lucrezia Bravo

A SPECIAL THANKS TOInigo MinnsTricia Austin

Rossella ChiarellaMassimo MandelliCarlo BergaminiAndrea MandelliFabio IngenitoMartina DubiniAnna GalbiatiManuele VailatiLuca MidaliAlessandro AllegriniStudio ColtoPiero, Aldo, Tonino and all the builders and volunteers who made this project possible

Bibliography

BOOKS+ Calvino, I. (1972). Le città Invisibili. Mondadori+ Lefebvre., H. (1970). The urban revolution. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, c2003 + Landry, C. (2006). The art of city-making. 1st ed. Sterling, VA: Earthscan+ Certeau.de, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley, Calif. London : Univer-sity of California Press+ Abbott, H. (2002). The Cambridge introduction to narrative. 1st ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press+ Home, S. (1996). What is situationism? a reader. Edinburgh : AKPress+ Till, J. (2009). Architecture depends. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.+ Lefebvre, H. (1974), The Production of Space. Malden, Oxford, Carlton: Blackwell Publishing+ Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press+ Phillips, A. and Erdemci, F. (2012). Social housing--housing the social. 1st ed. Amster-dam: SKOR, Foundation for Art and Public Domain+ Cumberlidge, C. and Musgrave, L. (2007). Design and landscape for people. 1st ed. London: Thames & Hudson+ Knight, D. (2009). Sub-Plan : a guide to permitted development. [U.K. : s.n.] + Schonfield.,K (2001). This is what we do : a MUF manual London. Ellipsis+ Martin, B - Hanington, B. (2012). Universal methods of design : 100 ways to research complex problems, develop innovative ideas, and design effective solutions. Beverly, Mass. Rockport+ Potteiger, M. - Purinton, J. (1998). Landscape narratives : design practices for telling stories. NY .Chichester+ (2007) Urban regeneration toolbox : a guide for all regeneration practitioners. London: Property Week+ Debord, G. (1994). The society of the spectacle. 1st ed. New York: Zone Books+ Debord, G. (1990) Comments on the society of the spectacle. London Verso

PAPERS+ Latour,B (1997) On actor-network theory - A few clarifications, + U-TT (2013). SLUM Lab - The social deisgn public action reader, + Landry, C. (2007). Creativity and the city, thinking through the step, The Urban Reinventors Paper SeriesThe Urban Reinventors+ Heeswijk van, J. (2013). Stop waiting, start making: Lessons in liveability+ Harvey, D. (2005) Megacities. Twynstra Gudde Management Consultants, Amers-

foort, The Netherlands+ Bishop, C. (2006) The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents+ Manzini, E. (2010) Small, Local, Open and Connected: Design Research Topics in the Age of Networks and Sustainability, Journal of Design Strategies, Volume 4, No. 1,+ Clemènt, G. (2003) Tiers Paysage, + Quick, K. (2013) The narrative production of public engagment processes+ Multiplicity Lab (2009). Le cascine del sistema milanese: verso e oltre Expo2015+ G.Brunori (2008). Sviluppo rurale sostenibile, + Harvey, D. (2008). The Right to the City. New Left Review + Psychogeography - Framing Urban Experience (2008)+ Mattioli, C - Treville, A (2013) Le cascine come presidi e nodi di reti relazionali: pratiche di cura del territorio periurbano milanese,+ Pavarin,G. (2013) Milan-edible city, + The Architecture Foundation (2012) Legacy Plus

WEBSITES+ < http://davidharvey.org/media/righttothecity.pdf>+ <http://theurbanreinventors.net/>+ <http://www.desis-network.org/>+ < http://clairebishopresearch.blogspot.co.uk/>+ <http://www.sustainable-everyday-project.net/about-sep/>+ < http://thesaurus.narrative-environments.com/>+ < http://diytoolkit.org/>+ < http://eng.partizaning.org/?cat=3>+ <http://www.cohstra.org/>+ < http://pathtothepossible.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/invisible-cities/>+ <http://www.provincia.milano.it/parcosud/>+ <http://expo2015.org/>

MOVIES+ Olmi,E. (1978). The tree of wooden clogs, GPC/RAI/Italnoleggio Cinematografico

AND ALL THE AMAZING SOCIAL DESIGN TALKS IN CSM