Identity at the center / Identità al centro

associazione culturale santacroce 422 E I - 30135 Venezia

IdentitĂ al centro A collective creative process cured by artway of thinking in collaboration with love difference and snark space making

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Identità al centro A collective creative process cured by artway of thinking in collaboration with love difference and snark space making

Collective action Identità al centro (Identity at the Centre) Identitàal Centro is a participatory process carried out in 2010 in Montevarchi (Arezzo) -Italy, funded by the Regional Office for Participation of Tuscany ( LR 69/2007) and sought to identify the indicators of quality of life in the Old Town of the City, through a dialogue between Citizens and Public Administration.

Identità al Centro was the main urban participatory action created by Ginestra Fabbrica della Conoscenza * of which artway of thinking oversaw the start-up and eventually the artistic direction from 2009 to 2012.

Video vimeo.com/17840539 vimeo.com/22797136# vimeo.com/19788205 Web site www.identitalcentro.info Document issuu.com/identitalcentro/docs/iac_110131_dai_cittadini_all_amministrazione

* Ginestra Fabbrica della Conoscenza is a physical place and a multidisciplinary network of parties: a centre of creative activity, a place of experimentation based on learning by doing approach. It is an organism for the production of cultural ideas, exchanges between generations and ethnicities. The purpose of Ginestra Fabbrica della Conoscenza is to generate knowledge, to experience together, to give voice to the social, cultural and creative capital of society.

The research activities aim to develop and manufacture: • Best practices for co-working, co-creation • Economic and legal forms for innovative and sustainable cultural production • Documenting and archiving forms of participatory processes and public art activities. www.fabbricaginestra.it

Place of action / the historical centre of Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town of about 25.000 inhabitants, with an old city Medieval structure. In the late twentieth century, it has experienced an unusual phenomenon for the Italian cities: the abandonment of the residences of the old town by the residents - owners, in favour of a new urbanization of the suburbs. In less than twenty years the old town deteriorated: reduction of the maintenance of buildings, many interventions ​​changed the medieval structure of the buildings, real estate properties lost value. Over the years, new classes and disadvantaged ethnic groups settled in the old town, increasing the perception of ‘loss of urban quality “ and “unsafeness”.

This degradation of the private space was soon reflected in the deterioration of the public pace: poorly lit streets, lack of public services, with the result of a low-quality living space.

A vicious circle generated: • Abandonment of the historical buildings and poor quality housing • Weakening of the social structure • Reduction of the commercial and cultural activities • Degradation of public spaces.

Usually the historical centre (old town) of an Italian city is seen as a place of identity and representation, where people meet in the main square with its bars and shops. The old town of Montevarchi -despite its uniqueness- was experienced by indigenous people as a place with no identity: crowded with foreigners, with a loss of function as a meeting place.

Participants Strategies of group work, dialogue between different points of view and cultures, were the red thread of this participatory process.

Group Coordinator A multidisciplinary group was set up to: read the complexity and design creative participatory methods suited to involve the population; translate the contents emerging from the process both in technical language (for the Public Administration) and empathic language for the general public.

• artway of thinking (multidisciplinary organization for an art -life practice) - overall coordination • Love Difference (organization for an intercultural dialogue) • Snark Space Making (organization for public space design) • MACMA (local video makers group) • Linking People Experiences (local intercultural group) • Francesco Manetti (author and theatre director) • Kantestrasse (local theatre group) • B.And (local graphic design agency) • Alessandro Panichi (local graphic designer) • 7 representatives of the PA: culture, urban space, social, communication, public relations.

Table of Supervision A group of 20 representatives: local government, organizations and unions, teachers, pastors, doctors, social workers had the role to support the co-creation process and act as a megaphone in the territory.

512 citizens participated to the collective creative process: 333 - 65.04% people of Italian citizenship 179 - 34.96% foreigners Of which: 9.26% Dominican 1.59% Romanian 5.4% Senegalese 0.45% Tunisian 0.23% Pole

6.35% Albanian

1.36% Indian

1.68% Venezuelan 0.23% Cuban

11.79% s not received

2.3% Moroccan 1.36% Brazilian 0.45% Ivorian 0.23% American

8,000 people (approximately) took part in various participatory activities and performances.

Co -creation methodology (developed by artway of thinking) The vision underlying the methodological approach considers creativity as a value, a resource, a propulsive energy for change; it needs a conscious participation, that has to be qualitative, critical, made up by individual contributions to meaning and significance.

Trigger (or mend) a constructive dialogue between (new) residents of the historical centre and Public Administration meant primarily to create a platform of trust, a “ cultural bridge “ based on listening, transparency of information and intentions, the simplification of the technical language used by the Public Administration.

The methodology is structured in four phases: 1) observation of the current situation and identification of needs 2 ) comparison and collective elaboration of the new vision 3 ) action (in this case the drafting of “indicators of quality of life” in the old town ) 4) integration of the achieved innovation. People are organized in interconnected thematic working groups (in this case composed by citizens, cultural facilitators, experts and representatives of the PA).

In the participatory process IDENTITÀ AL CENTRO, the challenge was adding the qualitative approach to the statistical one provided by law (Tuscany LR 69/2007 ) , which requires a substantially quantitative participation, where citizens are called upon to express their consent with “raise hands” , losing the opportunity to start a dialogue, an exchange of ideas and meanings, which are the basis to create common good and culture (in this case of living together in the historical centre) .

The program of participatory events in the historical centre enabled us to integrate the statistical approach proposed by law on participation of Tuscany, with the qualitative approach that is the core of the co-creation methodology, allowing the citizens an experience of active participation in the decision-making process and of feeling a sense of belonging and community.

To integrate the collective experience, all the instances and solutions identified along the process were spread and shared with different media and languages: video, television and radio programs, blog, info-graphic, theatre performances, guided simulations.

Activities Inform and train We organized various formal and informal meetings with the aim to inform, share and engage. Formal = public meetings.

Informal = individual meetings, small groups in private or public spaces where project coordinators, facilitators, citizens and public administrators shared visions, ideas and practices. Other meetings were dedicated to train participants on group work and tools useful to co-create.

Participate (be part of) In the participatory process we developed creative and performance activities that enabled people to discover, analyze, learn, talk and choose without pre-judgment.

ANDAR PER CASE (From house to house) 10 dinners and 31informal gatherings in private homes in which 115 people attended.

The dinners were the means by which we came in contact with small groups of people to an encounter with those who infrequently participate in official public events: foreigners, young couples and the elderly. The food was prepared by people belonging to different ethnic groups. Inside the dinners we used a map of the historic centre as a tool to engage the guests to talk about the emotional places of the centre, it was composed as a love map.

Il centro che vorrei (The centre that I would like) From the experience of “Andar per case” and data collected emerged the need to reflect on public services and activities that were missing in the historical centre. We chose a participatory performance. In the square of the centre we reproduced a giant map of the historical city centre of Montevarchi. Through coloured cards with the images of 66 types of services required by the citizens, people could take the cards and place them in the desired location within the map. From this action we could identify the desired services that help to re-qualify the centre. andar per piazze (From square to square) “From square to square “ was a perceptive walk in which people were asked to walk in the old town and to photograph what they perceived as beautiful and what they perceived as ugly. The participants were divided into two groups: one photographed only the beauty spots, the other only the ugly ones. All digital cameras were adjusted at the same time, so with the help of a GPS we later managed to reproduce the journey and build a virtual map in the web representing the beauty and ugliness perceived. It was clear from this map that the paradigm of beauty and ugly needed to be redefined in a multicultural community. sportello simulazioni incentivi (Office for incentives simulations) A temporary office where citizens could expose their housing problems and experts could simulate how citizens could improve their homes and have tax breaks and exchange equalization. From this experience the Public Administration understood the need to have a place where to talk with citizen of the Historical Town and developed a project for the New Urban Centre. insieme si sceglie (Together, we choose) Workshop of co-creation in which a group of “representatives” citizens summed up all the data collected and the priorities chosen in terms of improving the quality of public and private living space of the centre of Montevarchi.

The formal result of this co-creation was the Document presented to the Public Administration “Dai Cittadini all’Amministrazione _Linee guida per la riqualificazione del Centro Storico di Montevarchi”.

Il centro si fa teatro (The centre as a theatre) A theatre workshop as a participatory form of expression were the participants translated all the data and experiences collected along IDENTITÀ AL CENTRO in a public performance.

artway of thinking

Main results The artistic practice applied is still having an influence on the community. It can be noticed especially in the quality of cultural production (design, methodology, participative aspects and values). Today this community implements more easily shared processes, giving value to culture as an energy needed in changing process.

Citizens in agreement with the PA have begun to use the historic centre as Theatre of Events, animating it with an ongoing cultural program. Some foreign participants (inhabitants of the historical centre) were elected to the City Council in the last local elections, many new citizens associations were started after IDENTITÀ AL CENTRO. The main tangible results: 1. The City of Montevarchi Signed the “Memorandum of Understanding between Region - Local Authorities for the Promotion of Participation”.

2. The Public Administration with Resolution 42-43-44-45/2011, included in the Strategic City Plan all the citizens recommendations for better quality of life in the Old Town of the City, presented in the document “From Citizens to the Administration. Guidelines for the requalification of the Montevarchi Historical Centre”. http://issuu.com/identitalcentro/docs/iac_110131_dai_cittadini_all_amministrazione 3. In the Public Administration Mission of Montevarchi for the years 2011-2013 two of the five strategic points are coming as results of IDENTITÀ AL CENTRO: 1) Urban Requalification of the Historical Centre 2) Development of tools to help citizens for an active participation in the public life. [page 16 of the “ Three-Year Plan Performance “ of the municipality of Montevarchi ] http://www.comune.montevarchi.ar.it/ftp/Trasparenza/Performance/Piano%20della%20Performance/ Piano%20Triennale%20Performance%202011%20-%202013.pdf 4. The capital budget for culture has increased from € 20,000.00 in 2011 to € 8,646,025.00 in 2012 and € 2,000,000.00 in 2013. A tangible data that investing in culture becomes a key factor to increase the quality of life of citizens. [page 14 of the “ Three-Year Plan Performance “ of the Municipality of Montevarchi ] http://www.comune.montevarchi.ar.it/ftp/Trasparenza/Performance/Piano%20della%20Performance/Piano%20 Triennale%20Performance%202011%20-%202013.pdf 5. Development of the projects PIUSS (Integrated Plan of Urban Sustainable Development) and PUM ( Urban Mobility Plan ) by the PA of Montevarchi, which received 30 million Euros by the Region and the State for the development of many projects requested by citizens with IDENTITÀ AL CENTRO, including: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Building Renovation of the Empire Theatre New Nursery San Lorenzo New Urban Centre and “The Bank of Time” Building Renovation of the Palazzo del Podestà, space for events and congresses Building Renovation of the Anthropological Museum New lighting of the Historic Centre New flooring and furnishings of the Historical Centre New parking areas Approval of the incentives for the restoration of private property in the Historical Centre Approval of the equalization plan that helps restoration of large private and public real estate in the Historical Centre New Bus Station New city law that encourages the opening of Temporary Shops in the Historical Centre Building Renovation and restyling for the new incubator for creative and participatory Ginestra Fabbrica della Conoscenza and New City Library.