Project title
Description of initiative
Hear Me is an urban rehabilitation project started in 2020 and carried out in collaboration with PUSH, Fondazione per l'Architettura/Torino, and Circoscrizione 3. The project focuses on the creation of micro spaces of well-being within the underdeveloped green public area of 'Giardino Piredda' in Turin. Active listening is used as a tool for social inclusion that allows the activation of co-created practices that connect citizens, people supported by mental health services, design students, psychologists, and designers.
Hear Me is a multidisciplinary project composed of different activities spread out over a time span of 2 years; Co-creation workshops, urban explorations, and design sprints guided the participants through an in-depth analysis of the area, the needs of its users, and the shared vision for its future. Together they envisioned, designed, and built prototypes of urban furniture that could make the place more accessible, enjoyable, and attractive.
The participants developed the idea of using a module of 1 square meter to invite people to imagine a future for the area starting from a very tiny portion of it. This exercise helped each participant to confront his/her ideas with a manageable dimension in which allocate functions and objects aimed at fostering positive interaction in public space, reducing the stigma over mental fragility.
The project today presents 2 prototypes of the co-designed urban furniture that are actively maintained and taken care from the residents of the neighborhood. The next step will be the development of a stable partnership with the Municipality for the continuation of the transformative process happening in the area.
Themes: Culture and...
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Cultural field
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Results, benefits, impact and lessons learnt
A total of 25 people were involved in the activities. Among them, a group of 8-10 people followed by the Mental Health Services is still actively involved in the weekly maintenance of the structures built in the area. The project attracted the attention of other local initiatives and an additional € 5.000 were allocated to continue the process of building an extra "square meters" of urban furniture. Additionally, new workshops were carried out to develop further the project.
The beneficiaries (urban dwellers and residents followed by the MHS) are more involved in initiatives that are happening in green spaces and they are re-discovering the value of casual interaction in public spaces (disrupted during the confinement of the past years). The transformative actions operated in the area represent also a testimony of the collective work that is happening in the area and create occasions of exchange. The organizers believe that in time this project will help to reduce the existing stigma of mental fragility.