Circle. SLAM JAM & 2050+

• 2050+ and Slam Jam X Terraforma Journal X Circle #1 An analog version of this contribution was published in the Terraforma Journal as part of the series curated by 2050+ titled "Squatting the Digital: Beyond Tech Bros".• Deconstructed digital elements of XA projects that explore the role of hacking in both physical and virtual spaces, from an Augmented Nail Salon to a Data Deli to Milton Keynes Shopping Centre. Scan the QR code to experience our alternate digital world in 360 degrees! (via @xcessiveaesthetics)

‘The Butterfly Bridge’ is an augmented reality video game that encourages players to improve the biodiversity of urban spaces. In an example of ‘more-than-human’ interest, players collect data through their camera phones about existing and missing greenery in the urban plant grid. They use butterfly-biased plant recognition tools that identify existing butterfly habitat and food plants. The game then invites players to use the augmented reality planting function, where digital ‘seed tokens’ are transformed into geolocated planting data for the local council. In this way, players and urban managers can share information and resources to co-create travel corridors and habitat spaces for butterflies, which consist of butterfly specific food and caterpillar plants. Moving up each level of the game, players become representatives of yet another endangered butterfly species on the UK red list and its unique ecological needs, whilst also contributing to real-life efforts to improve biodiversity in general. Butterflies act as indicator species for the health of a wide range of other invertebrates, as well as the wider environment. In this way, they become an easily identifiable proxy for the natural world in this ‘phygital’  (half physical, half digital) rethinking of biodiversification strategies. (via @ausblau.studio)

Movers & Shakers has developed Kinfolk, a mobile app that serves as a centralised archive for underrepresented Black and Brown historical narratives. «We have assembled a team of researchers, historians, and storytellers to curate existing information from disparate historical archives. Our team is doing the legwork to bring it into one place. Now, we can share the stories that our history books have erased and altered. We can bring them to life in full color with augmented reality and deliver this knowledge to anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection. Kinfolk was designed to circumvent the political red tape that exists around removing and erecting new monuments. The beauty of augmented reality is that we don't need permission to honor these figures. We can just do it. Each icon will have an augmented reality monument that anyone can digitally place anywhere through a mobile phone or tablet. Kinfolk will empower both students and casual learners to delve deeper into an underrepresented figure's story, make connections on historic events that happened during their lifetime.» To watch the full video by Glenn Cantave, visit: vimeo.com/571308974/e01fc8ca3d (via @moversandshakersnyc)

The UK produces around 400.000 tonnes of carpet waste each year because it is a composite product that was never designed for disassembly. Unfortunately, there is only a small amount of carpet waste that is being fully recycled in a closed-loop system, the rest of it is sent to incinerators or gets deposited in landfills. Through hands-on experimentation with synthetic materials, of which the vast majority of carpet is now made of, I developed a technique that allows me to reshape and repurpose this material for the creation of new design artefacts, avoiding carpet from ending up in dumpsites. My final output is a collection of tables made using carpet waste collected from local shops. The aims of this project are to raise environmental awareness and demonstrate how a wasted material can be transformed into something valuable and usable again. (via @cene_____)

The advent of synthetic materials such as polyurethane and Gore-tex has democratised access to extreme climates. Human interactions with these climates are temporary experiences, lasting days to weeks, but they have lasting repercussions for the landscape left behind. Waste is a complex issue on the mountains, where climbers frequently leave behind their gear to avoid carrying any extra weight for a safer descent. There is a need to design gear specifically for short-term use: made from nature, to be experienced in nature. Purely by existing, we consume energy in the natural environment. The point of Algear is to highlight a move away from the mainstream notion of brutal energy extraction and move towards a mindful form of consumption. The ability to cultivate micro-algae allows for a sustainable form of extraction. This project harnesses the organic growth assembly of cyanobacteria, a blue-green algae which is among the oldest known phototropic organisms. Their photosynthetic abilities and adaptiveness to stressful conditions offer potential for a material that can endure the shifting/changing climates. Their simple cell structure allows the species to grow at a fast rate, making them almost infinitely renewable. Algear proposes a future where outdoor gear that protects us from the elements can be created and produced with elements that are abundant to us or with what is left from the past. This project contributes to the importance of the leave-no-trace code, through growing a material that naturally biodegrades and nourishes the land in the process, allowing for the conservation of an ecological future through our transient adventures outdoors. (via @randa2.5d)

Horror - conceived as a violent impression of repulsion, cruelty and fear - is deeply connected to our very nature of human beings since the time we lived as primates. In a way, the sensation of horror and terror can be described as an ancestral experience, our fears being rooted in a genetic reality that dates thousands of years back into our primordial past. On the other hand, its dark and explicit languages have deeply influenced its reputation across society at large, whose censorship and ‘morality’ have strictly bound it to the artistic realm. In this scenario, DOMESTIC HORRORSCAPES acts as a ‘cursed’ dark temple aiming to shatter the boundaries of respectability to fall into our daily lives and break the construction of the domestic landscape as we know it. Subverting the concept of the tent as a safe shelter, DOMESTIC HORRORSCAPES celebrates a new, sinister environment that stages nightmare as a paradigm of hypothetical living, one uncanny setting through which we may exorcise our own existences. One shadow tool with the power to eradicate the ‘sacred’, conservatory representations of our society and build new, radical narratives for our future. (via @zzzzz_project)

Low-wage blues is an experimental short movie mixing video, music, and spoken poetry. At the center of the plot, is the struggle of an enormous amount of low-wage workers. What could be defined as a new social class trapped in a condition of insecure employment, is a new vulnerable subject in front of a pervert machine of the new precarious jobs. Tech companies have exploited this space, creating a series of app-based unstable and low-paid jobs. Occupations such as warehouseman, deliveryman, taxi driver, or housekeeper, over the search for the just-one-click-away lower prices, are today exploited and deprived of their rights. The characters of the movies can be seen as the new “I Vinti” (The Vanished) from Giovanni Verga. The Italian writer has spent part of his life writing about the daily struggle of different social classes. In "I Malavoglia" ( Literally translated as "The Reluctants" but published in English under the name "The House by the Medlar-Tree ) Verga depicted the lives of low-wage workers at his time, a family of Sicilian fishermen. For Verga, “I vinti” are the ones smashed by a "machine of superstition". This machine is the struggle to survive, which pushed the characters into a life-risking job. “I Vinti” is Verga's attack on this machine, in his incapability of confronting modernity. In his novels, modernity seems to appear as utterly immoral, as ‘the age of absolute sinfulness’, against which "traditional rural communities at Italy’s Southern margins stood like many besieged sanctuaries of value.” His characters suffer the arrival of modernity, as an oppressive burden. In our story, the "machine of superstition" is an algorithmic evil app, observing us from the top. The "traditional rural communities", are the second character of the story, a new tribe of forced perpetual travelers without frontiers. The algorithm machine is interpreted in our movie by a series of 3D models, interacting autonomously with videos, music, and words. The 3D animations represent in our story the unpredictable machine driving the life of the low-wage population. At the same time, creates a parody of the glorification and marketization of smart and interconnected life, the new tech-neoliberal ideology. The work mix popular languages of social media culture, like video content, sounds, and rap, to look at the intimate stories of fictional characters trapped in the aforementioned condition. A series of stats, data, samples, and quotes, is opposed to the intimacy of ordinary lives and their stories. The final result is a hybrid short movie. Watch the full project here: https://youtu.be/VJDCFlhW0EQ (via @frankeeno_original)

"Coded Biophilia” by interaction designer Giulia Tomasello looks at women's healthcare through a DIYbio (Do It Yourself Biology) lens. ⋆ «When designing ‘Future Flora’ in 2016, I imagined a future where women were able to harvest bacteria at home in order to prevent vaginal infections, thus becoming participants in the knowledge and culture of science. In this imagined future women are completely in charge of their own bodies.» ⋆ Giulia is co-founder at ALMA, an initiative that combines design, technology and anthropology to co-create tools for a radical cultural change in female intimate care. Together with a global online community, they are building a safe and inclusive digital space where people can share their personal experiences and knowledge around female intimate care, find relevant resources on the topic and have a possibility to consult with specialists. They have just created a survey to co-design the Atlas of Experiences and captures what it means to have a female body. Access the survey by clicking here. ⋆ Directed by Giulia Tomasello Soundtrack ‘Enjoy the Void’ by Emme Download the track at verlag.bandcamp.com/track/enjoy-the-void Typeface ‘Sandokan’ by Tauras Stalnionis (via @gitomasello)

Digital infrastructure and data are the backbone of our post-millennial society. During the last forty years, they have progressively become a vital framework for mankind, sustaining most of the operations we do everyday. More recently, Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown period that most people in the world underwent exposed our strong dependency on digital infrastructure for - if not the totality - a wide range of our activities and everyday life. Though data has proven vital for our existence, very little is known about what happens behind our screens. The institutions which operate data infrastructure are most of the times unaccountable and their use of the data produced by users is often opaque as the architecture in which the same data is kept. DITTO is a strategy for constructing local and diffused mesh networks which reflects on concepts such as individual initiative, self-construction and customization as tools for defining personal and conscious relationships with the digital tools that determine more and more aspects of our lives. Borrowing its name from the infamous Pokémon that has the ability to transform itself into whatever opponent he faces, DITTO consists of nodes that can be fixed to any object populating the urban space, disappearing into it due to its characteristic of being just another layer in the over-infrastructuralized cityscape. By calling for a different relationship with data, one that doesn’t take for granted that data should flow through the established fixed infrastructure of fiber optic cables and data centers, DITTO gives to any citizen the ability to shape their own digital environment through micro-scale devices making up ever-changing configurations of low-tech networks. The potential of such a network is proportional to the ability for it to multiply across wider areas of the territory and to turn everyday urban objects into a fluid grid of active devices able to transport data. A DITTO network can be built by everyone anywhere, by attaching the nodes on available objects standing between domestic hard drives, the places of origin and destination of data packets. Nodes can be constructed through a very immediate building process and form an open catalogue of impromptu solutions that can be expanded and edited by users depending on the contexts where they operate. DITTO suggests that a new relationships with the data we produce will not pass through the larger fixed infrastructure of humming servers and data centers, but through micro-devices infinitely scalable throughout the urban and rural territory. (via @matteofranti)

Following the Green Parakeet is a research thesis that aims, in the first part, to propose a reflection on the topic of migration. This research was inspired by the question that Holden poses himself in “The Catcher in the Rye” written by J.D. Salinger: “Where do the ducks go in winter when the lake freezes in Central Park?” Furthermore the research was influenced by the observation of the green parakeets in the parks of some Italian cities. The parakeet with its green plumage, is well known for its adaptability. This bird nests and reproduces perfectly within the parks of Italian cities, therefore the meaning “invasive species” or “alien species” seems almost difficult to assign. According to some experts, the green parakeets in the parks of Milan are either off springs of those birds that escaped from aviaries or of the ones that were freed by their owners. Other experts instead argue that the parakeets have arrived to Italy as a consequence of the increasingly favorable climate of the Italian territory. The literary inspiration and the personal observation have allowed a reflection on one of the most fascinating phenomena that involves most of the living beings: migration. If one starts from the assumption that the world in its entirety migrates then the phenomenon of migration cannot be understood solely as the movement of individuals across a fixed background. For this reason, according to Brett Milligan it is necessary to talk about landscape migrations. The IPCC states that due to climate change, the temperatures of Italian cities will change irreversibly so that Rome will take the place of Tunis, Trieste of Catania and so on. Even cities are preparing to migrate. When it comes to migration science has always focused its attention on a specific animal species: namely birds. Birds are considered the first indicators of change, as they are susceptible to variations in climate and territory. However from a strictly scientific point of view scientist consider these small changes little appreciable. In fact, although the geographies and, above all, the timing of birds’ migratory routes are in constant variation, for scholars these are still slow and almost imperceptible changes. Similarly to what happens to the migrations of birds, climate change also manifests itself daily in an even slower and more gradual way (ex. the change in the light that stands out on a monument, the capacity of people who live in a public space with increasing temperatures). These variations are nevertheless capable of making their intensity felt and of changing the consistency of places. For this reason, migration can be understood as a cultural phenomenon capable of changing ecosystems and giving a different consistency to space. Although these changes in the migrations of birds and climate are yet not considered crucial by science, the very consideration of this phenomenon has led to an existential question for the future: What changes will ecosystems undergo if birds modify their routes or the timing of their migrations? Or what would it become of the cities atmospheres and landscapes if the birds stopped crossing the skies? Migration throughout the Anthropocene era have undergone a strong acceleration due to climatic change and the effects of urbanization, that have gone beyond the earth's crust and reached the atmosphere. In this context, the study of birds has allowed to understand the phenomena in a three-dimensional way because birds orbit at different altitudes. Different layers of control and occupation mark the skies. Due to this reason in the age of the Anthropocene, the concept of the world acquires a new geography. In a world in constant mutation and development, the study and the understanding of the birds’ migrations are fundamental for a designer. Birds provide important information on the conditions of the ecosystem of a place. This gives the opportunity to understand in advance how species will react to potential disturbances of a habitat and predict where there will be a possible loss in biodiversity. Milligan, B., ( June 2015) ‘Landscape Migration’ in Places Journal Daou, D., Pérez-Ramos, P., (2016), ‘New Geographies, Island 08’, Harvard University Graduated School of Design Metta, A., Berger, J., (2016-2017) Southward. When Rome will have gone to Tunis’, Libria (via @https://www.instagram.com/giuliaprg/?hl=it)

What would you do if you’d able to be anywhere and nowhere at the same time? That was probably one of the first questions we asked ourselves before we started researching and working at the intersection between art, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and new media. Even if we have a look at these subjects in quite a broad and generic way, according to a Mark Zuckerberg’s recent speech at The Information's 411 podcast, with a mainstreamed VR by 2030 we will all have an avatar and an oculus to meet people, friends and relatives or have a walk, go to work. Everything experienced from home. And that’s just a little portion of the possibilities of the so-called “last medium”. But it’s still very impressive how it can simply modify how our future will look like. Quoting a recent Esther Leslie's piece on the NYT– “In 2019 on the RusMoloko research farm near Moscow, virtual reality headsets were strapped onto cattle. The cows were led, through the digital animation that played before their eyes, to imagine they were wandering in bright summer fields, not bleak wintry ones. The innovation, which was apparently successful, is designed to ward off stress: The calmer the cow, the higher the milk yield. A cow sporting VR goggles is comedic as much as it is tragic. There’s horror, too, in that it may foretell our own alienated futures. After all, how different is our experience? We submit to emotion trackers. We log into biofeedback machines. We sign up for tracking and tracing. We let advertisers’ eyes watch us constantly and mappers store our coordinates. Could we, like cows, be played by the machinery, our emotions swayed under ever-sunny skies, without us even knowing that we are inside the matrix?” So, what would you do if you’d able to be anywhere and nowhere at the same time? (via @federicasassophoto and @emanueleamighetti)

Today more than ever, artists, musicians, and designers rely on social media as a way to increase their exposure. Sometimes this has seen as the only way to build a business network, and enter the professional and creative industry. This is also a way to escape a never-ending journey into unpaid internships or low-paid jobs. The huge amount of content shared online trying to build your own career, as side effects: first, the carbon emission connected to it. Second the spread of images that become trends and homogenize aesthetics and taste. Third, once a project is reduced to an image, almost all the time loses its significance and gets lost in archives or dusty corners of an artist's studio. Taking inspiration from the independent platform for musician Bandcamp, Antropofago Productions is an archive, a community, and an online shop. Composed of a selection of lost ideas, objects, and sounds from a wide range of personalities around the world, Antropofago Productions is a parallel market for independent and emergent artists. The community is also involved in a broader discussion through a series of podcasts and radio shows, exploring topics as such the over-production of contents, the impact of new marketing strategies into the creative industries, and the struggles for young practitioners to access the labor market. (via @antropofago_productions)

This week’s entry for Circle, "The Kick About”, zooms in on Parco dei Martiri, in the North-East of Milan. With words by Naomi Accardi and photos by Glauco Canalis, the project looks at football as a strong social binder, which thrives in the face of the harsh lockdowns of these past months. «One year and something into the pandemic that stripped us all of our ability to interact, move and occupy space freely... it seems like spring has finally sprung over the somber city of Milan. As flowers blossom and the first feeble rays of sun filter through the translucent clouds veiling the pale, polluted sky teasing summer-like weather, residents of all ages can be found looking for solace and banter at their local park. From running, to rhythmic dances and coordinated power works outs, people can be seen reclaiming public spaces and appropriating green areas as the leisure escapes they were originally designed to be. A predominant common denominator in the interaction between human and public space is football, the game of the people. The beautiful game has in fact suffered major losses at grassroots level due to the social distancing rules policed by the government and the inability to aggregate and play contact sports. Football academies and recreational centers were forced to close down with no clear intel on the chance of re-opening, pushing kids to get out in the streets and counter the governmental rulings. A phenomenon foreign to a city like Milan where team sports are usually experienced at structured facilities with intricate hierarchies, rolodexes and fixed schedules. The Oratorio (the recreational center annexed to the local parish), another staple within the football youth of Milan, was also compelled to interrupt all activities, leaving kids with no after school destination. As a consequence, people started mixing and mingling, recreating the cheerful atmosphere of a stadium in the open spaces that their city offers them. All of a sudden, age ranks, glam uniforms or talent don’t matter anymore. Football is back to its roots, the street.» (via @2050.plus)

"Furniture for humans and birds" is a project by Studio Ossidiana, an architecture, design and research practice led by Alessandra Covini and Giovanni Bellotti.  Photos by Riccardo de Vecchi ⋆ «In the past year of lockdown, Alessandra and I found ourselves working from our studio in Rotterdam, without our team, with the only company of our parrot Coco, a two years old Amazona Oratrix from Rijswijk. We had more time than ever to spend with him, and he enjoyed flying freely in the studio during work hours, perching on our chairs, mischievously playing with project models - probably picturing himself as a feathered dinosaur, attacking miniature buildings while we were distracted. ⋆ Using profiles of Douglas Fir and left over plywood boards, we built hybrids between perches and benches, chairs and bird feeders. All are variations on traditional Windsor furniture, playing on the style’s adaptability and simple detailing, rethought in order to accommodate a Parrot, along with his Human companion. ⋆ Over time, we made: A Throne for Humans and Birds, part perch, part chair, part bird, to accommodate a parrot on its tallest “branches”, hosting his featherless companion below; A Bench for humans and Birds, with space for play, and bowls for food and water; A Perched Chair, for birds and humans to sit and perch, shoulder to shoulder. ⋆ As design commissions slowed their pace during the lockdown, while interviews and online workshops became more frequent, pictures of the furniture were included in publications about our studio, often starring Coco, who, unaware of his minor-celebrity status, continues to bite his way through our work.» (via @2050.plus)

Spring vibes green (via @Wtfchi)

UMP (Urban Movers Pod) is a project by Francesco Tincani (@francescotincani) that addresses the need to carve out spaces for sheltering, replenishing, repairing, and resting in an urban environment. You can use the IG filter •here• “If we take a look at the prescriptions for office spaces according to planning norms, we realise that around 30% of the square meters of programmed space (i.e. disregarding distribution, tech rooms and back of house, etc) is organised for purposes collateral to the work itself, such as canteen/break room, changing rooms and toilets. Looking at the condition of movers in Milan, one cannot but wonder where these functions are programmed for those whose workplace is represented by the streets and squares that form the city. UMP (Urban Movers Pod) is an attempt to give a space and a definition to this instance. The Pod (similarly to the Movers) enacts a shifting relationship with the space of the city: it can be carried over in a backpack to anywhere it might be needed, inflated and used according to necessity. It provides space for shelter, storage, a shower, a supply of electricity, tools. Being inflatable, it can also morph into the elements that make up the city, for example taking the shape of a public bench, and can get stuck in-between things, providing for a solid anchoring to the city without leaving any trace behind its passage. It is able to adhere to the necessities of its users, by following them and setting up a makeshift workplace, or what is missing of it. Beyond the technical and operative challenges that the UMP poses, its aim is to provide a thought provoking instance in the much broader discourse around the Gig Economy and the condition of numerous inhabitants of the city.” You can read more about UMP here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f04wh59hz9zw652/Circle_UMP.pdf?dl=0 (via @2050.plus)

After one year of living in a constant "IDONTKNOWWHATSGONNABENEXT" mode, when insecurity and fear for the future are just overwhelming, that moment of uncertainty has brought us to such a point that we couldn't help reevaluating some essential aspects of our life that often have remained neglected. Being closed in a flat alone or whether being lucky enough to spend these hard times close to nature, no matter in which situation you had found yourself, the only thing remained unchanged: we all enjoyed staring at a blue clear sky, basking in the sunlight and making a deep breath of fresh air. Just essential things. Eternal and unchanging. The biggest presents we could ever have. Thus in a relatively empty Milan, we notice fewer cars and ordinary wanderers, though one thing is striking the eyes - the constantly growing number of waste on the streets. The waste we've seen one year ago is not the same anymore. Now the streets are overflowed with face masks that are almost constituting the greyish rainbow range. Well, what is waiting for us next? What kind of situation do we want to escalate? Are we just waiting for the moment when somebody will make digital art by imaging the photo of a blue sea where each pixel will stand for a wrongly thrown mask that ended up in a world ocean? Great chance to make some money and to get notified by Christie's, though that's a sad ending of the story we're about to tell. Maybe NOW is the right moment to start being conscious and responsible "AT THIS EXACT MOMENT" and not after the pollution crisis collapses? Let's hope that we are going to be more answerable for our actions. After all, nobody wants to hear the whispers of masks, not leaves on a Sunday morning...and by the way, this city has an ear. (via @kukla_liza)

What follows is a selection of extracts from PORTAL 004, the fourth edition of an ongoing research project by Dutch / Italian designer Elisa van Joolen @elisavanjoolen that explores the economic, social and emotional value of clothing and offers a ‘way in’ to understanding garments from a multitude of overlapping and intersecting perspectives. "What are the social and economic structures in which seemingly ordinary designs are created? Which values are central in the fashion industry, and which do we, as designers, consumers and critics, ignore? Are you also curious? You can start by studying a clothing item from your own wardrobe." PORTAL 004 is the result of a workshop in which children from public primary school OBS Twiske in Amsterdam investigated the different values of clothing. In this book, which is based on the questions and outcomes of this workshop, children can actively learn more about their clothing and the different values attached to it. In this way they become more aware of how to deal with the value of clothing. (via @2050.plus)

In a world where the digital has taken over the real, in which we are used to switch from a message on whatsapp to an email, from zoom to teams. Education has been reduced to a mere comunication, culture to an online performance, sociality to a digital cocktail and relationships to “I love u” texts. Digital has evolved to the point of being able to "move" our daily life completely online and now it feels like we could not do without it. I ask myself if the idea of being able to “be together” thanks to technology even if we are miles away from each other has strengthened human relationships or is it a lie that we prefer to tell ourselves not to suffer physical distance during these times. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us into this condition, yet it has not changed some of our habits. Most of us were already used to solving situations directly through technology, whether it was buying online instead of going to the store or having to live long-distance relationships, but have we ever pondered what impact it has on our environment? According to the study conducted by researchers from Purdue University, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, only one hour of video conferencing or broadcast emits from 0,15 to 1 kg of Co2, asks for 2 to 12 liters of water and consumes an area of land approximately the size of an iPad Mini. In 2018, online videos generated 300 million tons of CO2, the equivalent of the annual emissions of a nation like Spain. Every day we try to limit the actions that can have an impact on global warming, we think that go to work by bike and remove plastic from our lives can change the environment. We are used to think that digital will save physical, without realizing that with our normality, with our common digital actions we’re destroying the physical World. Ph: Normal People // 2020 (via @carlottaoliosi)

Do we really want to live in a future shaped for us by capitalist platforms? • Here's an extract from the Financial Times: “Uber is scrapping tens of thousands of electric bikes and scooters that originally cost millions of dollars, after selling its Jump business to Lime earlier this month. The move has prompted outcry that threatens to undermine the nascent industry’s environmental credentials, as tech companies attempt to present e-bikes and scooters as more sustainable alternatives to cars. The plan to “recycle” the Jump bikes and scooters that Lime decided not to absorb as part of its deal with Uber emerged after a series of social media postings this week.” • Ecological transition must be radical and political. (via @mattiainse)

These illustrations belong to the speculative series @2100aseaodyssey, a research project by Monica Moschini, Alessandra Paparcone and Francesca Porro. “Milan is green, but not enough. There is a lower presence of green areas and trees in the Milan Metropolitan area than in other major European cities. For example, the ratio of trees per inhabitant is 1 to 3 (Ennio Nonni, URBIT Lorenza Baroncelli, Triennale di Milano, 2020). The scarcity of green and permeable areas does not allow to carry out an effective climate mitigation action. Milan is suffering from an increase of temperature, which in extreme cases involves a difference of up to about 6 ° C between the city center and the periphery, especially in the Summer and at night. Reforestation is the first tool needed to stabilize global temperature, to protect and enhance biodiversity and to improve air quality. If we allow nature to enter inside our cities the benefits on our lives will be immense, in terms of both physical and psychological health. Implementing reforestation projects does not only mean increasing green areas and nature in urban areas, but it is an invitation to conceive of these transformations as opportunities for a new way of thinking and living the city. A radical change is necessary: humans have to accept the symbiotic relationship that exists between man and nature. 2100 firstly illustrates the need to look at nature in the city with different eyes, and proposes to increase the presence of nature in Milan by utilizing urban voids, roofs, buildings and streets. Even buses and trams could carry small forests on the top. Different transepts of landscape will occupy green islands inside the city, but these landscapes will also move through the new green links that will cross the city. Making places livable not only for humans, but also for nature would allow us to reach the presence of 1.5 million trees in the city, which in 2030 would be equal to the number of inhabitants of the city”. (via @2050.plus)

Unrolling and Unfolding Algorithm is a video essay and research project by artist Ibiye Camp (@ibiye_camp) "Many cloths such as Ghanaian Kente and Southern Nigerian Injuri and George all hold formulas in the looping of patterns binary code. Kalabari craft-woman transforms imported cloth by pulling threads to create and geometric texture. Treated cloth like this is called Injuri. Today the process of abstracting thread is applied by machine before it is imported to Nigeria, erasing the creative input of the craft-woman. Dutch Wax Print is mass-produced and is an impression of African textile. It is the result of complex globalisation processes which has had a crippling effect on the domestic African textiles manufacturing industry." To watch the full video, visit vimeo.com/522733088/06028177fb (via @2050.plus)

As most of us from Club Universo are designers, we inevitably became interested in the dynamics of the Cryptoart world. It would seem as if artists and designers have finally found their golden goose. For those who are not aware, Cryptoart is a category of art related to blockchain technology where one can sell their digital works, sometimes even for hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto currency. As artists and designers we can not but be intrigued by this opportunity as it allows cratives to earn more than ever before while simultaneously expanding the horizon of the art world; even though it would seem that from an environmental standpoint Cryptoart isn’t really sustainable. Our goal with this post is to shed light on this new phenomenon, promoting a critical research that would be beneficial to both the art world and the environment. We believe that it is very important, especially in this initial phase, to not be taken over by the speculative opportunity that this newly emerged market has but observe it as a whole, keeping close attention on its environmental impact. For example, the simple act of buying one of these arts pieces (NTF art) consumes on average 250kWh and has an emissione of 155KgCO2, which is equivalent to using Netflix 24/7 for six months. “When designing and developing new systems, platforms and habits, design and develop them compliant with the standards and expectations of the time! 130 kWh, 80 KgCO2 for a single mouse click to mint a single-edition NFT is ridiculous and unethical.” (Memo Akten, https://memoakten.medium.com/ http://cryptoart.wtf) (via @club.universo)

Changing the surface material of an object determines a shift in the meaning of the said object. So it happens that marble turns naked bodies into statues. Likewise, trees added to the facade of a concrete skyscraper make the latter a "vertical forest". (via @thepleasureparadox.jpg)

THE HILL is a proposal for an urban installation by Milan-based graphic designer and illustrator Pietro Mazza (@p_mazza). Primarily conceived for skateboarding, the project is a platform to host urban performances. Depending on its size, it can accommodate people across generations, from skaters to kids. At its core, it’s a space for encounters: a gathering venue, a place for chilling. In its design, THE HILL is inspired by pop culture. It borrows from the typical elements of non-urban environments (rocks, hills, moss), as well as from the suburbs (pipes, abandoned warehouses, graffiti). The core structure is basic, which allows THE HILL to adapt to different conditions and contexts. If made of concrete, it turns into a skatepark; while softer materials are ideal for kids that can use it as a spongy playground. When rocks and grass are applied on its surface, THE HILL becomes a public installation for people to climb on, to lie on, to play with: something that connects people to elements that usually are excluded from urban environments. (via @2050.plus)

In Milan, bike delivery is certainly the fasted way to move parcels across the city, while also being the most convenient and environmentally friendly one. Can we imagine a scenario in which we break down the energy consumption for data transmission by entrusting bike messengers with the delivery of large quantity of digital data ? This would free us from relying solely on fibre connections and other high energy-consuming infrastructures that currently keep our digital lives afloat. Can we push this speculation further, and imagine new models of data permaculture that rely on the unstable course of the sun and the winds for energy supply? Can we accept to harvest and transfer data only when resources are available? «On average, we delivery 80 packages in one morning, which amounts to 50 km by bike.» Emma Missale, bike messenger Photos courtesy Emma Missale (@e.mmina) (via @2050.plus)

META è uno spazio dove materiali e scenografie provenienti da set e allestimenti sono recuperati valorizzati e rivenduti con il fine di reinserirli in un nuovo ciclo di utilizzo e ridurre lo spreco di un sistema basato su produzione consumo e smaltimento. (via @Spaziometa)

"Felix" is ​​a Latin word that means rich, happy, fecund, sacred land. And it’s how “ The land of fire” is called today. The story begins with toxic waste left in the countryside that burns day and night. "The land of fire" is located in the south of Italy between Caserta and Naples, a corrupt land by the Camorra already for 20 years that it’s today impossible to be reclaimed. Today malformation in that area is 89% higher than in the rest of the country. In 2064 this land will be a desert field where most of the population is going to be ill or dead premature. This project was created following a precise design method created by Nike called I.S.P.A. Improvised. Scavenge. Protect. Adapt. The idea was to create a survival kit. During the process, I realized that the condition of the place were hard to change and improve, so I decided to follow a speculative approach and I designed a wearable manifesto. A survivalism kit with mask, gloves, and a clothes cover created using colors and shapes inspired by a Nike collection. The idea of ​​the mask, for example, was that its function was to protect, but while using it was impossible to breathe inside. Because it is useless to protect oneself from unbreathable air. Through the warmth of the breath, an inscription of the poster appears on the mask, created with a dye reacting to body heat. The manifesto design is inspired by Italian obituaries. ** The project was created in 2019 during my second year at DAE and is not approved by Nike

While driving back to Milan with my dad I cannot look at “my” lake without thinking about how polluted it is. I grew up waking up every morning listening to the sound of waves crashing into the shore and birds chirping. But also knowing that not far from here there was one of the main incinerator of the north of Italy that causes so many death every year. We all know what happens here but it seems that we’re living passively in this world. I look at the territories where I grew up. The countryside where my grandparents used to live. I watch all these places being destroyed by pollution or unnecessary infrastructures, it almost seems like it’s fun for Boomers to do things for the sake of doing them without thinking about pros and cons. Brescia, where I studied before university, is one the most polluted cities in Italy, more than Milan and also because of this the pandemic has had disastrous consequences and is still one of the most affected areas but, again, it seems that no one asks what’s going on here. I look at my dad, now 70yo, and I wonder what it was like to live in a different, easier world. I ask myself how the boomers lived their 20s without thinking about anything and otherwise how we feel the weight of all the consequences that our own parents did not care about. A world of retired Boomers in the hands of underpaid and intoxicated young people all living in a world that is crumbling. The new generations have the responsibility of solving the problems created by their parents, but how? As an architecture student I wonder: where did we leave our kindness to the places where we were born and raised? Where can we find the love our grandparents had for their territories and how can we save them? Why do we let all this to be destroyed? (via @carlottaoliosi)

Every day, nearly 20.000 posts tagged #milano are published on Instagram. Approximately 1.700 trees are necessary to compensate for the daily CO2 emission associated to this flux of data. Not to mention the amount of energy consumed by the world’s data centres – the repositories for billions of gigabytes of information – which have the same carbon footprint as the aviation industry (@the.independent, 2016). If the sum of each of our daily digital actions takes a heavy toll on the planet, many alternative strategies are out there to help us radically rethink our digital existence. An example? The “Sneakernet”, a tongue-in-cheek term that was coined by computer freaks in the 90’s to describe the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically carrying removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives from one computer to another. Essentially, it’s the transfer of digital information manually – hence the expression, which refers to sneakers as a possible transport mechanism. Imagine you put a portable hard disk of 500 gigabytes in your backpack and start walking (10 hours per day, 5 km/h). Compared to the bandwidth of a dial-up connection, which uses a standard phone line and analog modem to access the Internet: for transferring the same amount of gigabytes, it would take 5 years. The result is clear: a hiker is always faster than a dial-up connection transferring 500 gigabytes, even if he walks until the other end of the world. But the speed of data transmission is not really the issue here. In our part of the world, where most people have access to high-speed Internet access, the value of the “Sneakernet”is to put forward an alternative system that can make data transmission less wasteful, more sustainable, and almost untraceable. (via @2050.plus)

De Magnalibus Urbis Mediolani is a proposal that consists in two superimposed cities, separated physically but depending on each other. A tridimensional fixed grid is built above the city center of Milan and it can be cladded or freed depending on specific necessities, giving life to an always different conformation of the surroundings, immersed in green areas. Life will follow natural rhythms and be based on subsistence economy, accommodating daily and season cycles. Urbanisation will be soft, characterised by the absence of roads and infrastructures, which will be limited to structures required for energy sustainability: in fact, the city is designed as a power station, able to provide enough energy to fuel itself but also the underneath city of Milan. (via @clau.cnsi)

Go out and unite. (via @cacacis)

Take a walk in your local meadows or grasslands, that’s if there are any left in your bioregion that have not been turned monocultures or shopping malls. On the way keep an eye on the roadside, especially where the land might have been disrupted by human activity. You are searching for some unexpected alien-looking visitors. […] What you are looking for are Shaggy Mane mushrooms (Coprinus comatus), they have an elongated white bullet-shaped, shaggy cap, with brownish upturned scales and a straight fairly smooth stem. What makes them alien-like is when they mature, the mushroom begins to self-destruct in a process call ‘deliquesce’. Like a scene of a sci-fi movie the cap melts away, literally auto-digesting itself and turning into a gooey black ink. Make sure you find some that are not mature, the older the less tasty. The key is to pick them and eat it quick otherwise you will see the ‘deliquesce’ in front of you. But for this recipe we keep at least one mushroom self-destruct. Coprinus comatus is considered one of the safest mushroom to eat. […] Now we are going to eat the rest before playing with the ink. Clean the mushroom by gently wiping them with a damp cloth. Slice lengthwise. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Fry mushroom and shallot pieces gently, sprinkling them with a little salt to draw out more moisture. Begin beating the eggs. Pour them in when the mushrooms have browned. Continue as you would with an omelette, flipping the eggs over and eventually finding them with cheese inside. Now put the inky goo into a bowl of water and add some pure molasses. Put a tea spoon of salt into the inhibit bacteria. Thousand of spores will release into the mixture. These will potentially multiply and you will see the water become cloudy and white puffs of beautifully intricate structure may grow on the surface. After few days pour your misture onto a bed of 50 percent sawdust, 50 percent grass and leaves. Then at night take this little packet out to the nearest site of earth destruction, this might be where they want to built a motorway, an airport, a shopping mall. Place your little packet the ground and melt into the night. Despite its frail appearance, C. comatus can generate enough power to perform one of nature’s most astonishing weightlifting acts. Emerging fruit can burst through asphalt lifting it into the air and fracturing it. The cells of the underground mycelium absorb water, turning the stalk into a vertical hydraulic ram. By the laboratory of insurrectionary imagination. (via @fralantieri)

We expand on a design element of an introduced species impacting Milanese ecologies and culture, the Flamingo. Palazzo Invernizzi Via Cappuccini, 7, 20122 Milano MI, Italy Villa Invernizzi is located between corso Venezia and via Cappuccini. A dozen of these rare birds live in the grounds of the Palazzo, all born in captivity from ancestors imported from Chile and Africa, before the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species became enforced in Italy in 1980. Flamingos are filter feeders, and in that respect resemble whales and oysters more than they do most birds. Many complex rows of horny plates line their beaks, plates that, like those of baleen whales, are used to strain food items from the water. The filter of the Greater Flamingo traps crustaceans, mollusks, and insects an inch or so long. The Lesser Flamingo has such a dense filter that it can sift out single-celled plants less than two hundredths of an inch in diameter. Flamingos feed with their heads down, and their bills are adapted accordingly. In most birds a smaller lower beak works against a larger upper one. In flamingos this is reversed; the lower bill is much larger and stronger, and the fat tongue runs within the bill's deep central groove. To complete the jaw reversal, unlike other birds (and mammals) the upper jaw is not rigidly fixed to the skull. Consequently, with the bird's head upside down during feeding the upper bill moves up and down, permitting the flamingo's jaws to work "normally." Part of the flamingo's filter feeding is accomplished simply by swinging the head back and forth and letting the water flow through the bill. The tongue also can be used as a pump to pass water through the bill's strainer more efficiently. It moves quickly fore and aft in its groove, sucking water in through the filter as it pulls backward, and expelling it from the beak as it pushes forward. The tongue may repeat its cycle up to four times a second. The flamingo's marvellously adapted tongue almost became its downfall. Roman emperors considered it a delicacy and were served flamingo tongues in a dish that also included pheasant brains, parrotfish livers, and lamprey guts. Roman poets decried the slaughter of the magnificent birds for their tongues (much as early American conservationists lamented the slaughter of bison for theirs). Roman poet Marcus wrote: My red wing gives me my name, but epicures regard my tongue as tasty. But what if my tongue could sing? (via @deep.energies)

FLUIDSPECIES is a speculative visualization that reflects on our condition as “humans” and “individuals” in relation to the living, aiming to change our perception around the species that inhabit this planet. Until the Anthropocene, in fact, *men had placed themselves above the other beings, perhaps deceived by their own inability to perceive the invisible. What no eye was able to see. Bacteria, viruses, protozoa and millions of other microorganisms - ubiquitous and immanent, closer to Gods than animals indeed - divinities that continuously move in a perpetual osmotic flow, dwelling from space to space, from body to body, triggering and guiding our deeper instincts. FLUIDSPECIES reveals to the self that our Olympus - the human body - is nothing more than a temple, capable of hosting millions of these life forms, that we share together with the infinite Hologenetic Pantheon. Starting from the realization of this new paradigma, we no longer conceive an individual identity, but we now recognize ourselves in a collective identity, beyond bodies and species. This “fluid identity” coincides with the whole, the imperceptible, that which we cannot see: what we don’t know that we ignore. This way we can let go off our anthropogenic past and enter the early SYMBIOCENE, a new conceptual representation of multi-species’ coexistence. (via @zzzzz_project)

The sheer size of the Textile, Clothing, Leather, and Footwear (TCLF) industry is impressive and even more, its role plaid in our daily lives: besides providing cover and useful items for the quotidian, garment and textiles TCLF industry plays a vital role in culture, art and has an incredible impact on social subjects helping define who they are and aspire to be. Today, the TCLF industry is at a crossroads The problems to be solved are complex, systemic and of great consequence. From an ecological perspective, the textile industry is considered as one of the most polluting industries in the world due to use of harmful chemicals, high consumption of water and energy, generation of large quantities of solid and gaseous wastes, huge fuel consumption for transportation and use of non-biodegradable packaging materials (Choudhury, 2014; (https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/waste/resource-efficiency/textiles-in-europe-s-circular-economy). TCLF is the fourth-worst ranked pressure category for use of primary raw materials and water (after food, housing and transport). Most of the pressures and impacts related to the consumption of Textile, Clothing, Leather, and Footwear in Europe occur in other regions of the world, where the majority of production takes place. This is the case for 85 % of the primary raw materials use, 92 % of the water use, 93 % of the land use and 76 % of the greenhouse gas emissions. Another major environmental challenge relates to the end of the product life-cycle. Textile waste is a huge problem around the globe. The majority of textile waste still ends up being incineration or landfilled. Large amounts of used post-consumer clothing are exported from developed countries to developing countries, for example, from Europe to Africa. That creates a challenge for local textile production, which is not able to compete with the imported used textiles. That also shifts the textile waste problem from the developed countries to developing countries, adding to their environmental and waste challenges. In March 2016, the governments of the East African Community, which includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, proposed a ban on imports of second-hand clothes to their regional trade bloc. While there are many traders earning a living through the sale of these donations, the governments proposing this ban argue that they will be able to create better jobs within the textile industry, more than offsetting any economic loss faced by the traders. Reducing the environmental and climate pressures and impacts from textiles production and consumption — while maintaining economic and social benefits — is at our rich but it will need a systemic deep game-change, rethinking the way TCLF industry produces and consumes. Three key driving forces must be considered_ 1. The TCLF industry must jump into the sustainable bio-economy era, which is by definition circular, circularity applied to a fossil-based production model is not the way forward; 2. Investment in research and process technology innovation based on the most advanced outreaches in environmental and industrial biotechnologies and primarily novel enzyme 3. team up with the major developing and emerging economies which are an integral part of the value chain. This is what the BioCRES project aims to do. BioCRES is a project designed by 21 European Research labs and businesses, localised in 9 European countries (Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Turkey), within the framework of the programme “European Green Deal for the European Union (EU)” (100 billion euros to be spent in the next 10 years) articulated in 11 topics. BioCRES proposes to carry out an exemplary and highly transferable systemic action through the integrated use of environmental and industrial biotechnologies, ICT (IA, IoT, Digital advanced communication), and Design as powerful drivers for new sustainable industrial ecosystems and fast job creation. BioCRES proposes to transform natural resource waste into entirely new bio-based products for the textile, packaging and nutraceutical markets destinated to new generation consumers in a virtuous loop with the social development of the communities. The project endeavours to achieve this goal through the installation of a novel flexible small-scale biorefinery (combining enzyme with mild thermomechanical technologies) in 5 pilot European rural areas (in Italy, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Turkey ) as the driver of front-run innovation in circular bio-economy models with multiple effects on cross-connected industries (textile, speciality paper & packaging, nutraceutical industry ecosystems). In particular, the multipurpose modular bio-refinery technology GINEXTRA®, which is already a European Registered Brand (EUIPO Registration Number 018019052), will enable integral and innovative fractionation process to produce good-quality cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose for established or newly emerging market applications. The BioCREs project will install small biorefineries in the pilot territories to process plants and lignocellulosic waste deriving from the maintenance of natural ecosystems, fibre crops’ cultivation, and spontaneous vegetation. Local business ecosystems (bio-clusters) will emerge around the small-scale GINEXTRA® biorefineries. Such ecosystems will adhere to a social principle of sustainability which binds together aware citizenship, community identity and landscape preservation with a vibrant and fast-growing new circular bio-economy based industry. (via @liliainfelise)

How can we design cities and buildings capable of overcoming and adapting to shocks such as climate change, financial or health crises? During the Quarantine the boundaries of our homes have become a real Margin of physical separation and distancing from the external space and from our beloved ones. A micro-world where we have been forced to live in, we took care of them like never before. While the interior of our homes became a “labyrinth of the mind”, every opening, even if small, acquired an important role. Balconies, terraces, “ballatoi” have been once again the place for socializing with neighbors. Ever since the virus appeared in our lives we found ourselves living within the walls of our home for months. These walls were the skin that protected but also separated us from the external word. Beyond any technological device that we can use to keep relationships with our loved ones alive, I believe that we, as architects, could adopt new tools to investigate the definition of the house identity and the needs of its inhabitants to formulate a new “existenzminimum”. We should conceive the design not only in its functional, aesthetic and ergonomic aspects, but opening our discipline to a comparison and collaboration with other subjects (philosophy, medicine, psychologist). It is time to activate a reflection that contrasts the static nature of residential typological design of recent years with other values, other lines of meaning that, if deepened, can create new opportunities for development and also outline the writing of new housing standards. (via @nonamestudio_srl)

Let’s compare the city to a dissipative structure, an open system that works by exchanging energy, matter and entropy with the environment, in a state far from equilibrium. Dissipative systems are characterized by the spontaneous formation of ordered and complex structures, sometimes chaotic. These systems, when crossed by increasing flows of energy, matter and information, can also evolve and, passing through phases of instability, increase the complexity of their structure, their own order, by decreasing their entropy. And this is where we are now. Pandemic just accelerated the ongoing process reshaping the economical/political/social/private conditions reflected in our cities. With the lack of resources of the old model a fragmented reality emerged, led by complex factors mostly generated by the strive for a new sustainable way of living; the expansion of the city within its boundaries; new fluxes of people and energy thriving multicultural realities, if not digital ones, defining the city as a platform for different approaches and possibilities. The city is growing, structurally and substantially, embracing this energy generated by the entropy all these factors contribute to intensify, knowing that the only possible future is the creation of an open, various, multifaceted system. A constellation of fragments bound together by a common feel. "The creation of order is paid with the creation of disorder. The growth of disorder measured with the production of entropy is no longer univocally destruction of order. Under certain conditions it is also a source of order of a new type, of an activity that transforms the multitude of constitutive elements in a system of a coherent totality” (Ilya Prigogine). (via @clarettt)

The First Wave of change— the agricultural revolution—took thousands of years to play itself out. The Second Wave—the rise of industrial civilization—took a mere three hundred years. Today history is even more accelerative, and it is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across history and complete itself in a few decades. We, who happen to share the planet at this explosive moment, will therefore feel the full impact of the Third Wave in our own lifetimes. Tearing our families apart, rocking our economy, paralyzing our political systems, shattering our values, the Third Wave affects everyone. It challenges all the old power relationships, the privileges and prerogatives of the endangered elites of today, and provides the backdrop against, which the key power struggles of tomorrow will be fought. Much in this emerging civilization contradicts the old traditional industrial civilization. It is, at one and the same time, highly technological and anti-industrial. As society moves toward the Post-Industrial Age, so will the number of pure consumers decline. They will be replaced by "prosumers," people who produce some of the goods and services entering their own consumption. They can be found making their own clothes, cooking their own food, rearing their own cars, and hanging their own wallpaper. When people produce for use, production and consumption are united in the same person. (Alvin Toffler//The Third Wave, The Association For Consumer Research) (via @Rayonvert.International)

Beekeepers, also known as honey farmers or apiarists, maintain bee colonies in order to collect their honey and other products that the hive produce – beeswax, propolis, flower pollen, bee pollen, and royal jelly… – while the bees are free to forage or leave as they desire. As they operate in the unstable realm of plants, flowers, seeds and wild gardens, beekeepers put forward a powerful example of urban coexistence. «Bees have a completely different view of the world. The environment around us is much more than how we perceive it. (...) The city can be crossed in myriad of ways… many more than the ones we are used to. Beers can fly, of course,  and they are confronted with all sorts of obstacles we never think about.» Cristina Palmieri, beekeeper 1. Beekeepers often wear protective clothing to protect themselves from stings 2. Photographic reconstruction of how bee vision would see a flower, which appears yellow to human eyes (via @2050.plus)

What if we started to think about Milan as an urban forest, with a skyline punctuated by as many roofs as treetops, and with non-domesticated areas to accomodate for other-than-human species? • Arborists and tree climbers navigate the city moving among tree tops, suggesting a non invasive, regenerative way of preserving the territory and coming closer to other living beings. • «Our great advantage is the ability to work from the heart of the tree. The climber is able to touch and observe every part of the plant. (...) I unconsciously mix disciplines, before discovering tree climbing I did capoeira for many years. I never did rock climbing...» Valentina Cerroni, tree climber • «We are the only ones who climb on living beings. Trees are in movement, they evolve.» René Comin, Arrampicare gli Alberi (2013) (via @2050.plus)

Schizophonia is a term coined by R. Murray Schafer to describe the splitting of an original sound and its electroacoustic reproduction. Whilst flourishing in the context of musical production, the term is recently observed in the modern culture of gaming. Over-exposure of gamers to acoustic stimuli for prolonged periods could result in acoustic de-calibration that can limit their ability to distinguish original and electroacoustic reproductions in the physical world. [Schafer, R. Murray (1969). The New Soundscape: a handbook for the modern music teacher.] On the other hand, an article published by BBC explains how gaming platforms are used to calm schizophrenic patients. Researchers from King’s College London say “People with schizophrenia can be trained by playing a video game to control the part of the brain linked to verbal hallucinations”. This initiative involves patients that do not respond to medication, with the ambition to train them, in time, with techniques that reduce the effect of hallucinations. [BBC, (Feb 2018). Schizophrenia patients calmed by video game, article] The question is imposed on future patterns of health conditions or treatments but also the role of the hospital and the internet cafe within the cities. Are gaming arenas the therapeutic sanctuaries of the future? (via @kyriacos_christofides)

In Milan, the overall size of the public space reaches 21.000 km². 90% of this is occupied by parks and gardens (Systematica, July 2020) – a figure that indicates how access to green infrastructure in Milan is lower than the European average. At the same time, around 1.300 km² of the city of Milan is occupied by disused rail yards, located mainly along the urban belt surrounding the city walls, often in densely built environments (Mussinelli & Marchegiani, 2012). One of the tactics to compensate for the lack of green zones in the city is to expand the traditional definitions of green public spaces. Can abandoned rail yards, industrial plants, parking lots, courtyards, roofs, etc. be at the forefront of the city’s environmental regeneration? How can the potential of these unexplored urban areas be unleashed? Could they become hubs of a new way to understand the complex entanglements between human and other-than-human species? 1.isola pepe verde, Milano. @piercarloquecchia (via @2050.plus)

In light of the increased digitalisation of our lives brought forth by the current COVID-19 crisis, the future of retail has become a pressing matter in the fashion industry. As online shopping becomes the norm (both due to the pandemic and changing consumer patterns) the number of permanent store closures is predicted to continue rising even in the post-pandemic world. While the impact of this ’digital sprint’ is undeniable, it seems quite unlikely that it will lead to the complete death of the physical retail space. However, it could lead to a radical rethinking of the purpose of the store as we know it. As consumers become more and more accustomed to the comfort and practicality of online shopping, could stores be branded as discovery zones and tasked with creating emotional connections with customers? Will there be products in the store of the future? Will it even be a store? Or will brand lose their permanent addresses and replace them with seasonal events, pop-ups and experiences tailored to their communities? Where do we go from here? (via @iratassouli)

Pigeon whistles (known in China as geling 鸽铃 or geshao 鸽哨) are whistles that are tied on the tails of pigeons so that when they fly, the air that flows through the whistle creates "a symphony in the sky." • Over the last several centuries, up until the 50s, Beijing residents have liked to raise pigeons and let them soar through the skies every day. • "[When] the birds fly the wind blowing through the whistles sets them vibrating, and thus produces an open-air concert, for the instruments in one and the same flock are all tuned differently. On a serene day in Peking, where these instruments are manufactured with great cleverness and ingenuity, it is possible to enjoy this aerial music while sitting in one’s room." Berthold Laufer, 1908 • Love to see how sound can mediate the relation between human and aviary bodies. And would love to see whistled pigeons flying over Milan. (via @eri.pet)

In modern times, academic institutions, either for lack of bravery or awareness, seem to have lost sight of their basic function. Assuming the human being is a "container" to fill with information, modern education's primary aim is to transfer technical know-how to produce "highly skilled" individuals who can fit the capitalistic machine. In such a scenario, every form of knowledge that is not directly quantifiable and measurable seems to lose its value. While in the academic space prevails the aimless application of protocols that reduces the educational path to pre-fixed goals based on a binary reward/punishment model, what is the real essence of modern education in the age of metric fixation? (via @francescodaprile)

Communities of street dancers, skaters, and riders are among the protagonists of Milan’s recent urban renewal, based on multiculturalism and inclusiveness. What can we learn from a generation that juggles within the fuzzy boundaries of diverse cultural belongings? «Sometimes I take longer routes just to enjoy beautiful views of Milan. Riding keeps me fit and it doesn’t feel like I’m working.» Tim N’Guessan, food delivery rider «We train on the streets, in the subways, where dancing is free. It’s an urban dance, which really shouldn’t be, but we made it urban here.» Macha Caporal, street dancer 1. @tommasopizzolato and @joyawosika skating in Piazza Duca d'Aosta, Milan 2. A group of street-dancers practices in Passante Ferroviario, Milan 3. Tim N’Guessan, a food delivery rider, cycles across Milan (via @2050.PLUS)

[...]. Taking care of your space is not a nerd thing but something that gives you honour and merit. Not only is it an evolution; I believe it is the completion of the original spirit, the basis for growing the sense of community. D. Martinazzo (via @massimotnn)

As of 2019, some 277,773 foreign residents lived in the municipality of Milan, representing 19.9% of the total resident population (source: RSY Lombardia). These figures suggest that the foreign population has more than doubled in the last 15 years, with most foreign individuals coming from the Philippines, Egypt, and China. This has radically transformed the social fabrics of the city, contributing to create new opportunities for cultural hybridization, diversifying the labour-scape, while at the same time exposing those that are most vulnerable. The result is a schizophrenic scenario, in which Milan attracts the country’s largest number of foreign unqualified manual labourers, as well as the highest percentage of non-European workers with managerial or intellectual positions. Can urban public spaces support the redefinition of cultural identities, and create a more balanced division of labour? (via @2050.plus)

The Case against the end of the In his book “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress”– Bill Gates’ favourite book -, Steven Pinker argues that, although metaphors may be a very seductive rhetorical device, they are often inappropriately used as a tool to evaluate the state of humanity. That’s exactly what happens when we say that inequality is a form of violence. We’re using a metaphor. Whereas inequality is not “really” a form of violence. Neither is internet trolling. Nor pollution. Or poverty. And consumerism. And so on. According to the author, our times are somehow marked by a kind of bias against both present and future. Its name is progressophobia. If we take progressophobia to its very extreme, we reach the idea of the end of the world. But we also know there’s nothing older than the idea that the world will end. We've playing hide-and-seek with the end since centuries. Since the beginning. That's why there's no need to fear internet trolling. Nor pollution. Nor Poverty. Consumerism. Inequality. Divorce. It's no time for declinism. Let's come to a new awareness, stay woke: fear metaphors. (via @firing.line)

The art and culture scenes as an industry that heavily relied on events became crippled all over the globe shortly after the lockdown act was enforced by governments to curb the pandemic. Supermarkets and its relational supply chains were thriving amidst the crisis when the art workers had to upload their works to the incentive-less social media platforms to survive. This situation posed two realities defined by two conditions. One that is judged by the statecraft and another is its resiliency to survive in a crisis that is coupled with the complexities of the market economy. The failure of the arts now was resulted by an ageing system that needed to be revised so that it could ensure all art workers can sustain. On the other hand, the crisis has revealed that supermarkets and its network of supply chains still play an essential role as part of societal caretakers. In another ideal world, the multinational supply chains could be partnering with art institutions to provide a multichannel canvas for the art workers. The essentiality of arts as our part of the daily lives and the statecrafts could only be achieved via both bottom-up and top-down integration. Just For (X) Architecture seeks to rethink their roles as the partner caretakers for the arts and humanities. (via @jfxa.co)

Sometimes I think there is no need to intervene with my opinion in discussions on social media. I believe the speeches culminate in a seamless saturation of content. Yet talking about this drama of mine would be useful both to me and to others who for my own reasons or for different causes do not dare to intervene. Will I dare? (via @viperavu)

Geoengineering could be the only way to reduce our current rate of global warming, but technology, ideology and the potential for unintended consequences make it a highly contentious area. Grace Richardson Banks takes a look at historic attempts to alter the climate and finds a field that is all too easy to exploit, check the link! (via @dam.no)

Most often defined as political or legal constructs, fantasies which may follow a line drawn by nature; boundaries and walls - borders. Nature being the most natural border which only acts as a barrier due to no intention of nature itself, sometimes used by humankind to create political and racial fictions - often pinning human against human, with the natural world as collateral damage. A few moments where humankind’s intention to overcome nature leads to a momentary barrier, a fiction. Unfinished and temporary in both seasonal and geologic time scales. Working within nature's permanence to impose unnatural constructs. (via @danijellosic)

The modern man seems to have detached from his own identity a while ago. As the internet opened up a world where identities are produced on demand, the human being trapped himself in a Shakespearian dichotomic loop: to be or not to be? But also to feel or not to feel, to think or not to think. To post or not to post. We constantly seek for attention and Covid-19 accelerated this process. With the collapse of our work, life and leisure space all in the same place (namely the cyberspace), our online presence became unavoidable. We are left hanging among two worlds, a "real" and a "digital" one, as if we were in a perpetual diachronic split. With fragments of our identity now simultaneously co-existing among two very different realities, we abandoned singularity to embrace the plurality of the self. Approaching this new reality, we gave up on instant-gratification to pursue self-awareness. Staring at the broken mirror, we saw our own reflection and asked ourself: What's the value of the identity in a post-internet society? (via @francescodaprile)

la milano invasa da nessuno (via @bnctrbss)

In the rapidly changing morphology of Milan, professional climbers move on the urban walls of towers and skyscrapers. Equipped only with a rope and harness, they clean the windows of office and apartment buildings, operating in spots that cannot be reached by any other means. At those extraordinary heights, their perspective on Milan is unique, and the city becomes their training ground. •

«We know where all the hawks’ nests are. On Allianz, Unicredit and Pirellone. They cannot be touched. Nature is nature.» Dimitar Harizanov, building climber

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«Up from there, above 150m, you can see the smog line, you can see two horizons, one below and one above.» Teo Poggi, building climber

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1: Teo Poggi descending Unicredit tower, Milan. 2: Snapshot of the nest of two Peregrine falcons living on Pirellone tower, Milan. 3: Collage by 2050+. Climbing routes are overlaid on Milan’s skyline. The Diamantone building is known to be the hardest to climb.

(via @2050.plus)

Our concept of technological progress is biased towards time-saving, skill-intensive and capital-demanding means of production. As a result, humans are now living in a world devoided by time and filled with inequality. Economists, scientists and policy makers should invert this trend, restoring the natural dimension of time and pursuing collective prosperity.

Facts (via @dam.no)

The 300 million people living with a rare disease around the world and their families face common challenges in their daily lives. As a vulnerable and neglected population, they face social isolation. There are over 6000 rare diseases that are chronic, progressive, degenerative, disabling, and frequently life-threatening. Due to the rarity of each individual disease and scattered populations, expertise and information are scarce. In health systems designed for common diseases, patients face inequities in accessing diagnosis, care, and treatments. *What equity means for people living with a rare disease?* Equity in practice means meeting people’s specific needs and eliminating barriers preventing their full participation in society. For people living with a rare disease equity means social opportunity, equitable access to health and social care, diagnosis and treatment. As a long-term goal, we shall call for action for people living with a rare disease to have equal opportunities to realize their potential for participation in family, work, and social life. *** HOW? *** 1. Advocating for the social inclusion of people living with a rare disease 2. Including rare diseases in universal health coverage to leave no one behind *What can we all do to advocate for equity starting February 28, 2021 (International Rare Disease Day)?* • Write a letter to a key decision-maker in our community to highlight the importance of addressing the needs of people with a rare disease and share information with them. • Invite a decision-maker to attend Rare Disease Day events. • Hold a Rare Disease Day event that highlights a key local or national policy issue for the rare disease community. • Use media attention on Rare Disease Day to launch a new initiative for the rare disease community. (via @ncclsclf)

Hyperconsumerism tears a hole in this planet. My biggest drive in design is change, especially from an environmental standpoint. I can`t agree on working for a company that is further a part of the problem and not willing to change its perspective. The possibility to design loud, recognizable products with a certain attitude and also aknowledging vegan or sustainbable materials with a humanitarian approach made me super excited about the new generation of designers, brands and work environments that are well aware that change needs to happend and that the aesthetic of that doesn`t have to be subordinate to the current. We need to learn how to approach these challenges. I could not agree more with rombauts manifest about an optimistic future with an experimental drive and certain values at it’s core. (via @jonathanpohlco)

A welcoming space for people to rejuvenate and co-imagine the world together. (via @https://www.instagram.com/ric.hi/)

*** (via @falleronibertony)

The current climate crisis coming from the increasing warmth of the planet is technically characterised by an unprecedented amount of carbon in the air (Buis, 2020). This process is due to a particular land use change -from vegetated land cover to built up land cover-, through which carbon is being lost from the ground to the atmosphere more quickly over time (Wu et al., 2020). The Hadley cell -a large-scale atmospheric convection cell in which warm air rises at the equator and sinks at medium latitudes in both hemispheres- defines tropical climate regions and is one of the major and global engines moving air around the planet. With the rapid increasing warmth of the planet and melting of ice, an increasing volume of water bodies is however shifting evaporation rates and patterns, changing the global moisture circulation patterns in a process coined as the Expansion of Hadley Cells (Hu et al., 2018). As a consequence, extratropical storms and higher winds are expected in typical ‘non tropical’ - mid latitude areas (Catto et al., 2019). The implications of these atmospheric shifts are landing in subtropical urbanised coasts such as the Liguria and lombardy and Veneto region in Italy, where profound changes in the global climate system are being reported (Iannaccone and Valesini, 2015). Design is here used to investigate processes of change and shed light in complex socio-ecological dynamics. In this sense the city of Milan finds itself in a hotspot of climatic changes and is regarded to a special laboratory for the investigation of new possible tropical environments. (via @Black_earth_2100)

As seen at Roppongi Hills, Tokyo c/o FUTURE AND THE ARTS exibith (via @chiamureeves)

If you are sitting down while reading this book you are probably in a western country (consisting of about 2.4 billion people). However, if instead you are crossing your legs or squatting down, you likely reside in the eastern part of the world (of around 4.4 billion people). This observation communicates that human attitudes, behaviours and perceptions are shaped by their cultural surroundings, as they are deeply embedded in all aspects of human life. This especially includes objects and the way they are used in context. It’s arguable that a chair is one of the objects with a greater connection to humankind, not just ergonomically (how a chair would be if your knees bent in the opposite direction?) but also socially (do chairs define social class?). For example, its use for essential activities, such as resting, eating or communal reunions poses the question—Why is more than half of the planet sitting on the floor? If we assume that the first chair was a rock, we can analyze the evolution of the human race as it parallels the development of the chair and its use (perhaps even an AI-powered wifi connected monobloc chair), which in turn, follows the culture and not only function. The reasons for the distinction between sitting-floor and chair-sitting are not exactly proved, but the practical importance can be easily recognized within the cultural aspects that influence these two ways of sitting. The use of chairs, for example, is interconnected to the use of tables, wardrobes, side-cabinets, etc... In contrast, as the author Witold Rybczynski stated, if you sit on floor mats, you probably remove your shoes before entering the home. The individual is more likely to wear sandals or shoes without laces or loose pants to allow squatting. Furthermore, since the floor is intended to be a clean surface, sleep occurs on the “tatami” instead of standard beds, and tables are close to the ground. In India, the chair-sitting culture was introduced at the beginning of the 1800s with English colonization, but currently, the majority of people still cook, eat and work while sitting on the floor. The context of an object is what defines its use, and if there are many types of chairs, it is because there are many types of people using them. (via @crossculturalchairs)

Protecting an ego will cost you everything and leave you with nothing. (via @sofiblacker)

in every area of the exsistence (via @doriandiego)

As of January 19th, Milan was one of the most polluted cities in the world, alongside Dhaka, Kabul, Delhi, Warsaw, and Chengdu (source: @iqair). This unfortunate record is partially due to Milan’s geographical conformation and meteorological conditions, partially to the high density of industrial plants and car traffic.

Air pollution poses a major threat to natural and cultural ecosystems, it compromises biodiversity and makes open-air spaces less accessible. How does this affect the way we live in the city and the way we experience movement out there?

(via @2050.plus)