Urban spaces’ commoning and its impact on planning: a case study of the former Slaughterhouse Exchange Building in Milan

Thanks to several foundational contributions (De Angelis 2010; Hardt and Negri 2009; Harvey 2012; Ostrom 1990), the topic of urban commons has recently gained much interest, as indicated by a number of publications and international conferences (Dellenbaugh et al., 2015). While these have variously analysed the topic in relationship to its fundamental elements, this paper further investigates the relationship between urban commons and planning and local governance processes (Muller 2015). On 5 May 2012, the artists’ collective M^C^O (henceforth Macao) drew public attention to the massive number of unused and vacant spaces in Milan by squatting in the iconic Galfa Tower, a private property that had been abandoned since 1996. This event, recalling ideals and actions of the social centres that flourished during the 1980s and 1990s in Italy, represented the first public manifestation of the complex and hidden scenarios of the social movements animating the cultural life of Milan. Due to their intimate awareness of urban spaces (Molinari 2012), these artist-led informal initiatives have been able to stand opposite to globally oriented political choices and could thus be interpreted as symbols of community values and local resistance. Symbolically, squatting in the Galfa Tower served to shine a light on the need for a radical change in urban policies regarding the reuse of the massive patrimony of abandoned sites in towns, which could accommodate un-revealed spatial and social needs (Valli 2015). Unlike the current planning tools and practices adopted by the City Council of Milan (Oliva 2001), Macao’s activists developed and proposed the Constituent City manifesto (Macao 2015), which sought to guarantee that vacant and abandoned properties within metropolitan Milan, whether privately or publicly owned, could be directly managed by self-organised groups of citizens. In their alternative proposal, the Macao activists were striving for the possibility for these self-organised communities to manage the available spaces for non-profit purposes through public assemblies. Starting from these premises, the paper interrogates the issue of how urban commoning can challenge conventional planning procedures. Using a case study of the former Slaughterhouse Exchange Building (henceforth SEB) in Milan, also squatted in the by Macao movement, the paper seeks to identify the mutual influences between commoning practices, local governance and planning policies. Drawing on these insights, we conclude by offering a reflection on the roles that commoning practices may have in defining innovative governance and planning processes

Urban analysis techniques and role of morphology in post crisis urban design: the case of Rubattino and Ortica districts in Milan

Urban spaces and towns are facing different and contradictory dynamics, between "endless" expansion and "shrinking" trends. Post financial crisis urban renovation also deals with different practices, between real estate development and temporary use entailing reappropriation of urban areas. It is nowadays almost impossible, at least in Europe, to realize major town plans similar to those carried out in the past decades, but new forms of urban renovation, much more complex and fragmented, or temporary and low cost, are now spreading. They allow the participation of different actors (public /private partnerships), flexible timing and spatial organization, with the not secondary goal of reusing urban territories and buildings. The aim of renovation projects is more and more focused on social issues and challenges, for example in terms of quality of life and health, also by means of innovative housing programs, and sustainable layouts over the years: which will be the effects of this "programmatic" architecture on urban morphology? The completion of elaborate programmes requires deep and integrated urban analysis, based on a "reading of the town" through multiple and complementary methodologies (i.e. considering the town as combination of layers, the town seen as an archipelago or a "town within the town"). Urban morphology plays an important role in defining urban strategies, especially within fragmented or superimposed layouts. Rubattino and Ortica districts in Milan represent a meaningful case study for research and design: it could be described as a multi-layered and multicomposed scenario, considering its various parts and their "complementary", "separated" and even "contradictory" status, as opposed to a homogeneous and uniform one

Spatial practices, commoning and the peer production of culture: Struggles and asprirations of grassroots groups in Eastern Milan

This paper reports on a case study of the Milan-based collective Macao to examine whether its commoning practices and governance model allow for processes of cultural peer production and their degree of engagement and inclusiveness on various scales. In 2012, Macao occupied iconic spaces in Milan and became rapidly a significant urban movement that gathered a large number of members and supporters. The activists eventually settled in the former Slaughterhouse Exchange Building in the Molise-Calvairate-Ponti neighbourhood, an area characterised by a large number of abandoned and underused sites, inadequate provision of affordable housing and issues around the social integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities (Milan City Council, 2010; Caffa, 2016, 2017). Drawing on foundational studies on urban movements and the role of the creative sector in urban struggles, the paper first contextualises Macao within the broader framework of grass-roots initiatives in Italy since the 1970s before investigating the controversial relationship between the collective and the local community. The gaps we note between them provide a better understanding of the complexity of the actual social, economic and political struggles in Milan, and how ‘right-to-the-city’ aspirations are differently interpreted. By analysing Macao’s experience through the lens of the commons, the paper provides insights into whether its key features and governance aim at activating inclusive practices of cultural peer production. During two field work periods in February 2016 and April 2017, data were collected through mixed methods that included visual mapping, semi-structured interviews with representatives of Macao and local stakeholders and a multi-activity participatory session with a group of Molise-Calvairate-Ponti social housing tenants

Urban analysis techniques and role of morphology in post crisis urban design

Urban spaces and towns are facing different and contradictory dynamics, between “endless” expansion and “shrinking” trends. Post financial crisis urban renovation also deals with different practices, between real estate development and temporary use entailing reappropriation of urban areas. It is nowadays almost impossible, at least in Europe, to realize major town plans similar to those carried out in the past decades, but new forms of urban renovation, much more complex and fragmented, or temporary and low cost, are now spreading. They allow the participation of different actors (public / private partnerships), flexible timing and spatial organization, with the not secondary goal of reusing urban territories and buildings. The aim of renovation projects is more and more focused on social issues and challenges, for example in terms of quality of life and health, also by means of innovative housing programs, and sustainable layouts over the years: which will be the effects of this “programmatic” architecture on urban morphology? The completion of elaborate programmes requires deep and integrated urban analysis, based on a “reading of the town” through multiple and complementary methodologies (i.e. considering the town as combination of layers, the town seen as an archipelago or a “town within the town”). Urban morphology plays an important role in defining urban strategies, especially within fragmented or superimposed layouts. Rubattino and Ortica districts in Milan represent a meaningful case study for research and design: it could be described as a multi-layered and multi-composed scenario, considering its various parts and their “complementary”, “separated” and even “contradictory” status, as opposed to a homogeneous and uniform one

Towards a definition of ‘place’. Cross-disciplinary methodology for interpolating architectural and sociological data in Claremont Court, Edinburgh

This paper introduces our novel cross-disciplinary methodology developed under the research project ‘Place and Belonging: what can we learn from Claremont Court Housing Scheme?’. This original methodology integrates research methods from architecture and sociology in order to investigate the relationship between place and sense of belonging to a community, using the case study of Claremont Court, a post-war housing scheme in Edinburgh. The research’s theoretical framework defines ‘place’ as the physical space together with the spatial atmosphere, or phenomena that give meaning to it (Norberg-Schulz 1996, Gieryn 2000). Through individual and collective spatial practices, people attach meanings to a place that they can then claim belonging to (Benson & Jackson 2013). Thus, the meaning and (co-)production of place become critical in the presentation of the self (Cooper 2004), and in establishing belonging to a collective identity. Consequently, our methodology is underpinned by the theory of non-verbal communication, according to which people generate the meaning of a place through ‘personalisation’ (Rapoport 1982:21) of their environment. Drawing on these premises, we developed a qualitative research design which combines architectural research methods (laser-tape survey, photo-survey, contextual mapping and visual narratives); with research methods from the social sciences (biographical, walk-along and photo-elicitation interviews). Through visual (or non-verbal) methods, we study physical cues from which we infer inductively the meaning of place. Through interview (or verbal) methods we study verbal behaviour, which further uncovers the meaning of the place through thematic analysis. From the synthesis of both analyses we elicit the meaning of place for the dweller. The variety of research strategies, from architecture and the social sciences, that we have applied to the Claremont Court case-study, responds to the understanding of place as a physical and socio-cultural reality. Therefore, the research design is structured upon the idea of considering visual methods as cross-disciplinary means, which are able to integrate the physical and socio-cultural aspects of the research problem, enabling the dialogue between different disciplinary areas. The findings of this work are two-fold. First, as part of our original methodology, this paper introduces ‘contextual mapping’ as a novel research method for visualising and interpreting the data collected in relation to the lived spaces and their phenomena. ‘Mapping’ is here intended as suggested by Deleuze and Guattari (1980: 13) in opposition to the action of ‘tracing’: “the map does not reproduce an unconscious closed in upon itself … it fosters connection between fields”. We assume here that architecture can be an interpretative tool for the situations of daily life: thus, it follows that drawing is “a way of re-presenting those situations, […] of communicating a plot, of revealing a situation” (Troiani et al., 2014: 6). Secondly, this paper questions commonly used methodologies to study environmental meaning that rely on linear models (such as those studying semiotics or symbols); we suggest instead that visual methodologies can support the synthesis of physical and socio-cultural data in a cyclic model that brings together research approaches coming from two different, yet interconnected, fields of knowledge such as architecture and the social sciences

Consciously uncontrolled: a psychogeographic approach to urban mapping

This paper focuses on the potentialities of mapping urban spaces through a ‘consciously uncontrolled’ action of walking, observing, recording an unknown place. In particular, the paper is a reflective narrative of a particular technique developed by some postgraduate students at Sheffield School of Architecture to interpret Debord’s theory of drifting as a qualitative tool for mapping the “unexpected” within the post-industrial neighbourhood of Holbeck, in Leeds. Located south to the river Aire, Holbeck, is known for being the centre of industrial revolution in Leeds. In the late 18th century, Holbeck developed from a small village into an important industrial site with a large number of mills and foundries manufacturing flax-based textiles. The prosperity however, did not last for long and from the late 19th century Holbeck saw a decline in heavy industries and consequently experienced a huge decrease in its population, becoming a ‘wasteland’. Within a range of investigative spatial tools developed within the MA in Architectural Design, it seems particularly consistent with the aim of this workshop the method elaborated by Haddadian and Zhang who used a double-view recorded walk to discover simultaneously the place from multiple observation points, using their bodies as a recording device (Fig.1). At first, the idea was to use multiple cameras installed on different parts of the body at different heights and directions. The idea was to give a multidimensional image of Holbeck and come to a new understanding of the place by putting all these movies together and comparing them. However, during the design of the recording technique, the number of cameras was reduced to two: the front and the back camera. While the front camera was recording images and scenes consciuolsy selected by the holder, the rear camera was not focusing on anything deliberately. This status of ‘not being consciously controlled’ lead the walkers to see things that they rarely pay attention to or – actually - never do. While the movie recorded with the front camera was showing the glorious façade of an historical building, the one from the rear was an unxepcted close-up of brick texture. In other words, using the rear camera was an invitation to see differently (from another perspective) or an attempt to remember scenes that are replaced every second by the rush of new ones. The paper will finally introduce a reflection on the possibilities and challenges to use the data collected through this method to shape the design process

Negotiating the modern cross-class ‘model home’:domestic experiences in Basil Spence’s Claremont Court

This article investigates the spatial articulation of architecture and home through the exploration of current domestic experiences in Basil Spence’s Claremont Court housing scheme (1959-1962), Edinburgh. How architecture and home are both idealized and lived is the backdrop for a discussion that draws on the concept of “model home,” or physical representation of a domestic ideal. The article reads Claremont Court as an architectural prototype of the modern domestic ideal, before exploring its reception by five of its households through the use of visual methods and semistructured interviews. Receiving the model home involves negotiating between ideal and lived homes. Building on this idea, the article contributes with a focus on the spatiality of such reception, showing how it is modulated according to the architectural affordances that the “model home” represents. The article expands on scholarship on architecture and home with empirical evidence that argues the reciprocal spatiality of home

Anales del III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad "Debate en torno a la nueva agenda urbana"

Acta de congresoEl III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad “Debates en torno a la NUEVa Agenda Urbana”, ha sido una apuesta de alto compromiso por acercar los debates centrales y urgentes que tensionan el pleno ejercicio del derecho a la ciudad. Para ello las instituciones organizadoras (INVIHAB –Instituto de Investigación de Vivienda y Hábitat y MGyDH-Maestría en Gestión y Desarrollo Habitacional-1), hemos convidado un espacio que se concretó con potencia en un debate transdisciplinario. Convocó a intelectuales de prestigio internacional, investigadores, académicos y gestores estatales, y en una metodología de innovación articuló las voces académicas con las de las organizaciones sociales y/o barriales en el Foro de las Organizaciones Sociales que tuvo su espacio propio para dar voz a quienes están trabajando en los desafíos para garantizar los derechos a la vivienda y los bienes urbanos en nuestras ciudades del Siglo XXI

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Architects of the “Silent Revolution”: Empowering Local Communities through Commons-Based Resilience Strategies

Self-organised communities are more and more often actors of urban change. Through awareness of social, political, and economic dynamics, community-led initiatives of urban commoning are challenging market-driven modes of spatial production. These initiatives represent a contemporary “silent revolution” aimed at producing socially sustainable and resilient ways of living by addressing the needs and aspirations of groups that would not currently sit at institutional negotiation tables. Drawing on the creative use of resources, a horizontal decisional structure, and the flexible use of space, urban commons can offer one possible and non-commodified response to today’s environmental and social challenges. This speculative essay questions how architects can support and eventually empower grassroots groups to tackle social and environmental challenges through commoning practices. The four case studies discussed outline a wide range of scenarios and suggest four possible responses to this question. More broadly, this essay aims to intervene in the public debate around the role of architects in radically sustainable urban transformations, introducing and discussing architects’ contributions to a selection of actual case studies that have been chosen for their agendas and radical approaches to sustainability issues. They demonstrate how at least part of today’s architectural practice has indeed shifted towards new directions where communications, negotiation, and knowledge-sharing skills are the foundational principles of a new way to (co )design and (co )produce places