Our research group, which includes the Department of Architecture at the University of Roma Tre, the Municipality of Nepi, Rimond, and the Biodistretto della Via Amerina e delle Forre Foundation, recognised the axis of Via di Tre Portoni as a strategic area for the Italian lighthouse district. This axis stretches from the city walls to the elderly social centre and the public clinic, extending further to the Alessandro Stradella school nucleus.
The initial phase of the activity aimed to familiarise the children with key buildings in the neighbourhood using a scale model provided by the Department of Architecture at the University of Roma Tre. Once the children had a grasp of the spatial layout, they engaged in an activity divided into four working tables, each focusing on a different core area of sustainability: water, food, energy, and mobility. The children actively participated by sharing their own experiences, particularly related to food (such as cultivating small vegetable gardens) and mobility (using bicycles or scooters for short trips around the city). Overall, the children understood the relationships between water, food, energy, and mobility and their importance in achieving sustainable practices.
For the second part of the workshop, the participants were divided into four working groups, each focusing on a specific sector:
- The water group identified various points where water could be collected from different sources, including rainwater and an underground stream that flows through the district and eventually forms a waterfall near Nepi’s historic centre.
- The food group identified areas suitable for an urban garden, greenhouse, composter, orchard, and chicken coop.
- The energy group focused on selecting buildings or areas suitable for installing photovoltaic panels to generate sustainable electricity for the district.
- The mobility group worked on developing a sustainable mobility infrastructure by creating bike paths that connect the key points of interest in the neighbourhood.
In the final phase, the work of the four groups was combined and overlapped in the model, demonstrating how the children’s ideas could coexist and interconnect with each other. The model represented an initial example of co-design that will be further developed based on the results of future meetings with the citizens of the elderly social centre in Nepi.
Discover more about the workshop by reading the report here.
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