Torino (IT) - Fifth ULG Meeting, March 17 2022

The ULG focused on the main topics affecting the Beeozanam case study for the Springboard Plan (SP) writing phase. After an introduction and overview presented by Elen Ganio (Beeozanam Community Hub) and Emanuela Saporito (OrtiAlti association), the group focused on the potentialities and criticalities of the case study based on the SP objectives. The discussion captured multiple points of view, highlighting the complexity of the issue from an administrative, political, and managerial perspective.

The genesis of Beeozanam Community Hub

In Beeozanam, everything started again from a green roof.  Since 1970, the futurist building (ex Opificio Simbi Factory) has hosted various public, private and no-profit sector services, but without an organic plan from the policy, urban planning and functional perspective. In 2016, the building hosted different activities but the indoor and outdoor spaces (some of which are the responsibility of a District of Turin and the other of the Social Services of the Municipality) are affected by separate dynamics and separate restructuring processes. A part of the building is still degraded, while other spaces are occupied by associations that have been working in the neighborhood for a long time.

From the dialogue with Meeting Service cooperative (Le Fonderie Ozanam restaurant) and from funding received from private foundations, Ortialti association identifies the rooftop above the restaurant as a perfect place to create an urban garden and an apiary. The goal is to develop a programming of social and cultural activities in which the environment, urban system and social system coexist for the urban regeneration of the entire building.

The candidacy for the Co-City project in 2018 becomes the pretext to develop a broad project in which to involve the present functions and build a common vision for the care of the spaces. The initial group includes: OrtiAlti association (leader), Meeting Service Catering social cooperative, European Research Institute (ERI) association, Pakistan Piemonte (AAP) association, Parco del Nobile association, DinamoCoop social cooperative, Impresa e Territorio association, Minollo association. 

The initial proposal for the recovery of outdoor spaces (courtyard and rooftop west sleeve) includes, during the co-design phase, also the internal restructuring of a sleeve to allocate space to the incubation of the Community Hub Beeozanam.

However, during the co-design phase, one of the initial proponents broke away from the group in order to autonomously start his activity in the spaces allocated to him by the District. The project therefore undergoes a reformulation in terms of subjects and activities proposed. This event highlights two fundamental elements that affect and influence processes of this kind.  The need to find a common language (and a shared vision) is a key factor to identify oneself in a non-traditional process and to recognize a space as an urban common, understanding the meaning and perspective of the work. To abstract the specific situation and understand the general problem, it seems clear that the proposed configuration is not always optimal for all the actors involved and that the sharing of choices is necessary for the process of care and co-management to be lasting and sustainable. The heterogeneous management of the spaces has probably limited the collective recognition of the urban common by the whole group. A second element concerns the different timing of procedural processes between a municipality and an association. The timeliness with which the association responds to urban and social challenges and the need to sustain themselves economically over time don’t always coincide with the timing of the public administration, which requires vertical steps, between central and decentralized structure, and horizontal steps between sectors. This disconnection, aggravated by the pandemic emergency, has led the signatories of the Pct of Collaboration in 2020 to start activities in anticipation of the imminent signing of the Pact.

The governance of space, areas of intervention and ongoing projects at Beeozanam

With the start of the activities, the Pigmenti association, which has been working for years in the design and creation of artistic products at local, national and international level, joins the actors of Beeozanam. The new Beeozanam configuration works on a double level. On the one hand some organizations have established their work and developed a cohesive local network (Minollo association, Meeting Service Catering social cooperative), while others are projected to a global level (OrtiAlti association, European Research Institute (ERI) association and Pigmenti association). This double level of work adds value to the action but, at the same time, represents a challenge related to the Community Hub's ability to work with different languages by constituting a multi-scalar process that holds the two dimensions together. After the signing of the Pact, a 2nd level association (association of the associations) was formed among the signatories of the Pact of Collaboration and progressively the network welcomed other organizations activating collaborations in different scope (Kallipolis association, Labsus-Laboratory for subsidiarity, Or.Me. Torinesi etc). The internal governance of the HUB defines:
●    a core of actors who manage the space;
●    the groups that gravitate around the structure with peripheral roles;
●    groups occasionally involved. 
Thanks to governance and socio-spatial analyses - which have defined a complex territory with a high rate of youth and minors - Beeozanam has defined its mission: Grow a sustainable generation.

The areas of work, independent but interrelated, on which Beeozanam works to achieve the mission are:

• WELFARE OF PROXIMITY
• CULTURAL PRODUCTION
• SUSTAINABILITY ENVIRONMENTAL

The main goal is to open up and recognize the work of the Community Hub in the neighborhood for strengthening relationships between space and people. However, the recent genesis of the space means that more relationship work is needed at this stage. While some projects attract and encourage the use of the indoor and outdoor spaces of Beeozanam, others go outside and cross the streets of the neighborhood, coming into contact with the inhabitants. This is the case of the activity of informal mapping of the territory included in the first phase of the establishment of the Community Concierge, which is intended as a useful tool for the construction of a collective narrative. The same training carried out with the Network of Neighborhood Houses has highlighted how premature it is at this step to propose models without having understood the needs and requirements of the community.

Via Foligno 14 in the future: which perspectives?

The process of re-functionalization of the entire complex of via Foligno 14 - carried out with different procedures and modes of entrusting - has progressively affected individual parts of the building, neglecting the possibility of defining synergies among the actors. The inclusion of a specific function, however, can influence the others, determining a place accessible or exclusive for specific targets.

At present, the empty spaces of the building (under the competence of Circoscrizione 5 and Social Services) could host sports, commercial and social-assistance functions completely separate from the logic of the Pact of Collaboration, as reported during the meeting by the director of District 5 Umberto Magnoni and by the assistant in staff of councilor Rosatelli, Benedetta Pagotto. The requalification of the sleeve facing via Foligno supported by RRP funds, for example, will restore a reception space for the homeless. If, on the one hand, heterogeneity constitutes an interesting place in which to insert the service, given the potential relational network that can be activated, on the other hand, one asks about the future of spaces in relation to political visions and wills.

What can and will the building and Beeozanam become for Turin and for the Madonna di Campagna neighborhood? Can the Pact of Collaboration include all the organizations and become a management tool shared by all of them? With what limits and potential?

Flexible tools for dynamic communities: towards the Springboard Plan

Criticalities and potentials that emerged lead the group to think about themes useful for the advancement of the Springboard Plan. The focus of the discussion concerns the usefulness of having a Pact of Collaboration as a tool for the management of spaces and how this can ensure accessibility to all actors and wide participation. In addition, it becomes urgent to understand if there is a will on the part of the City to build a public policy in which to place attention and time. This element is essential to understand whether to talk exclusively about Beeozanam or, on the contrary, to widen the audience by including all or part of the functions  inside in via Foligno 14.

The SP intends to work on the construction of a public policy that combines different tools and models that allow an innovative management of spaces starting from the Pact of Collaboration. This will be useful to the valorization of the multi-dimensional work of the Community Hub.

In order to proceed, the most urgent questions to be addressed are reported. The goal is to try to interpret them as obstacles to overcome in order to bring about a change in urban public policies.

The relationship with the Municipality

The signing of the Collaboration Agreement defines a horizontal structure in which the public administration is on par with the other actors. This involves the collaboration, sharing and management of the activities in synergy, for the entire duration of the Pact and by all the signatories. The Pact of Collaboration therefore, in addition to benefiting the proponents in economic and network terms, requires a greater commitment than other types of administrative tools. In fact, active involvement and co-design with the municipality doesn’t take place in the initial phase but affects the entire duration of the Pact. This certainly involves the use of time and energy due to the interaction with subjects whose times, languages ​​and responsibilities are different.

The establishment of a Supervisory Group, whose meetings were sporadic also due to the pandemic, is certainly a useful tool for exchanging and sharing information. However, the scheduling of very distant meetings allows only a "passive" update on the progress of the projects. On the contrary, the Supervisory Group is conceived as a comparison and dialogue instrument in which all the actors can identify the needs of the population. This allows it to select the needs based on Beeozanam’s work areas and allows it to not overlap with existing services. The role of Administration becomes proactive thus favoring the transition to co-programming and the hierarchization of activities in space.

In this sense, the ULG puts forward a hypothesis: should the Supervisory Group involve all the services and activities of the building? What does enlargement involve and what steps are needed to make it happen?

Building the collective identity

The history of the Madonna di Campagna neighborhood is based on a working-class past. Textiles first, the automobile industry later outlined the conformation of spaces and collective identity. The intercepted population perceives the contours of the neighborhood and seems to feel a strong sense of attachment. The redesign of former industrial spaces and the consequent collective recognition is part of a complex process in which the impacts are visible in the medium-long term. It is therefore necessary to focus on the direction to take and work on the identity of Beeozanam, on what it is and what it will be in the future. This operation has a double significance. On the one hand it helps external people to understand the space and its potential, on the other hand it guides the internal strategy in the continuous elaboration and implementation of projects, evolving with needs. The group questions whether or not it is necessary to work on the construction of a unique identity for the building and not just for Beeozanam. Visiting or using the spaces today gives back a sense of few organicity in which the communication of what is happening and the services available is almost completely absent. This returns a place that is still not very accessible or in any case not perceived by the community as a place where you can go without necessarily having something to do.  The opening to the territory that Beeozanam intends to promote will lead to an increase in public use as a direct consequence of the relationships that will gradually be generated and strengthened in space.

Could the next step be that of a univocal communication of the complex? How to build a common identity in which each actor recognizes and values ​​his singularity as much as being part of a larger network?

The governance

The assumptions from which Beeozanam stars are different from other active experiences in the city. The presence of the public part within the Pact of Collaboration in fact conditions the processes and the outcomes.The Neighborhood Houses, in the previous European Co-City project, used the Pact of Collaboration as a medium to intercept the community, thus expanding the limits and exiting the territory. In Beeozanam the Pact instead becomes the pretext for intercepting people and involving them in the life of the space, as beneficiaries but also with the possibility of having an active role in the planning of initiatives. A very complex network is outlined in which different subjects coexist: current and potential, internal and external to the Pact, frequent or sporadic visitors. The issue of management and how to develop a model capable of facilitating multi-scalar relationships between the actors is the last element on which the ULG focused. Governance allows to define the different levels of involvement useful for organizing activities with a flexible and intermittent team. It remains to be questioned whether the urban common governed by the Pact is exclusively the physical space or the use project that is intended to be carried out.bConsidering the themes as closely connected, the theme of the representativeness of the organizations in space returns.

Should the governance model involve all the organizations present in the building or remain limited to the spaces and actors  managed by the Pact? Is expanding the network a viable process?