Ri-ciclo : dalle pratiche alle politiche

Dissemination of re-cycle practices and temporary re-use, besides being an expression of social innovation
and rediscovery of DIY, demonstrate a perspective shift of design disciplines. Through bottom-up actions
related to use artefacts or abandoned spaces for everyday life collective purposes, rather than consumption, the
interest focuses more on people than on things. In Italy this scenario is the background for a strong past
influence and it is affecting the way we think about the future. A number of incorrect predictions about the
building heritage have led to a massive invasion on our landscape, increasing considerably the amount of
unused building stock. This awareness increases sentiment towards social issues of design. The chance to
experience ways of acting and design emerges from meeting between the practice, which aims to change the
state of things, and the culture, which gives meaning to this change. Temporary uses open the way to
permanent effects on the context in which they occur, the aim of which is moving at double speed: on the one
hand the slow progress of planning and on other hand the swiftness of informal actions. Vacant buildings and
spaces are now an experimental laboratory in which the event becomes an instrument of anticipation that acts
as a meme, a unit of cultural transmission able to influencing behaviours and catalysing collective changes.