Potential for Circular Autopoietic Economy in High River Po Valley

This Gigamap aims to describe and summarize a student work carried out during the semester course Open Systems Design at Politecnico di Torino. This is one of the outputs from an analysis of the High River Po Valley area in the Italian Piedmont (Southwest of Turin) and subsequently an in-depth study of the relationships and “flows” with certain “currencies” between some selected economic and public actors. The analysis was conducted through five economic sectors: nature & ecosystem services, tourism, mobility and infrastructure, local craft activities and agri-food. The investigation of the territorial economy was carried out by giving particular attention to the production sectors characteristic of the territory and examine their production lines. The holistic diagnosis has highlighted the existence of several problems related to the linearity of the production processes. Through the five types of system flows (material, CO2 emissions/energy, water, economic and social flows), we designed new opportunities, new activities and new potential companies, thinking circularly and systemically. The Gigamap will be presented to stakeholders in a public hearing and used to illustrate and incubate a more circular economy that is more resilient and more regenerative. Reading the map The reader can find in the first part an abstract with the aim of the Gigamap, the five topics for the investigation and actors’ selection, a timeline about important events and some peculiarities of the territory. In the middle, the territorial map of a suggested improved territorial economy based on circular flows: the 16 actors are localized on the territory with new circular flows “designed in” between them. The boxes describe connections for new circular opportunities, with flows explained under the territorial map—finally, some data about the territory and the three main outputs emerging from the new circular linkages