Flumen

Project

269855

Status

Submitted

Award category

You want to submit

NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

Flumen

Full project title

Description

The environment and the climate are at the centre of the FLUMEN project, that combines art with science, with a view to communicating with, educating and empowering citizens to take ownership of Climate Action and imagine a better future within the full respect of the ecosystems that we inhabit, create and protect.

Where was your project implemented in the EU?

When was your project implemented?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Which programme(s) or fund(s)? Provide the name of the programme(s)/fund(s), the strand/action line as relevant and the year.

Please provide a summary of your project

This project, which is part of a bigger concept "ClimateArt Project",aimed to celebrate rivers and their ecosystem services, to cities and communities as much as to the natural environment. It is an active intervention which develops both artistic and scientific research and analysis related to the environment. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, the project works towards these goals by implementing a collaborative and multidisciplinary working platform made of scientists, cultural institutions, social environmental and climatic activists, local groups, associations, and citizens. Through the establishment of a multicultural and multidisciplinary network of people focused on the importance of rivers and nature. In 2020 the project collected scientific data on the quality of river waters through a series of activities aimed at an audience of all age groups, with support from our scientific partners. Citizens conducted theoretical and practical lab analyses, to learn the basic techniques for water quality analysis and received an introduction to environmental monitoring. 2021 was dedicated to the redevelopment of areas through planting campaigns. Good agroforestry practices were rediscovered in a dimension that looks to the future, especially for the new generations. A green classroom has been created, a work of Land Art, a public space accessible to all, that also has regenerative capabilities for the river’s ecosystem and the quality of the waters of the Aniene river. The planting project includes two circles of trees that delineate a space dedicated to citizens coming together to partake in environmental education. The “Pantheon of Trees” that will grow over time is located near some schools whose students are able to enjoy this place, as the inhabitants and strollers of the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve.  

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

The key objective is the improvement of the river’s water quality, the river biodiversity and the ecosystem condition of green areas in the riparian context, to improve urban sustainability and citizens health.  These objectives have been met through the following actions: interdisciplinary research network;  students (from different classes and ages) and adults’ awareness;  participatory data collection with the involvement of science researchers and citizens and participatory environmental monitoring; collective art performances in public spaces; restitution of the Flumen concept and rivers importance through art installation and exhibition in museums and galleries; environmental communication campaigns; collective plantation of hundreds of trees along rivers and other green spaces as ecosystem service.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

The arts and humanities can play a vital role in engaging young people and adults. Art can also assist and transform emotions, creating hope, responsibility, care and solidarity (Ryan 2016). The integration of methods based on art and the direct and immediate emotion that it can generate with universal languages can act as a means to feed the imagination of people and empower them to create new scenarios for active and incisive change in a way that the natural sciences alone are unable to achieve. The use of artistic means can bring a message in a more immediate and understandable way and leave a lasting impression on the mind of those who use it as it is conveyed by an emotion. Art is also a powerful form of communication; it can integrate diverse knowledges through experiential learning and it can engage young people in deeper, embodied, and potentially transformative ways with the subject (Bentz and O’Brien 2019; Dieleman 2017).   This project, where esthetic is the core instrument for sharing knowledge, includes the involvement of visual artist Andreco who tried to develop a new esthetic to represent the contemporary research on climate solutions and adaptation strategies with the following actions and works: creation of drawing flags designed to represent rivers and green spaces; collective performances have been held with a choreography designed to involve in the performance itself citizens from all ages through the city; restitution in museum with flags exhibitions; land art creation through trees plantation : a Green Infrastructure has been created as a meeting place for environmental education or as a social area with open access. A wall painting in the centre of Rome who shows where the two roman rivers meet. Art and science interacted to imagine worlds, build a sense of awareness in citizens, to invent tomorrow together in a path that looks at life and its complexities.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

One of the core objectives of the project is the environmental awareness raising in citizens through the use of art as an instrument to communicate and increase attention about climate change and mitigation measures. In the last two years of Flumen project, and in a preparatory project before it, we organised more than 30 public events to involve different categories of citizens: kids and 2 schools, foundation, 3 universities with their students and professors, elder centre, local association involved in environmental education and management of natural reserva, a CSA (Collective organic farm of food autoproduction) , 2 research centres, 2 museums. The involvement and inclusion to different categories of people has been met trough the following actions Several guided tours and environmental didactic laboratories, open to the public, of the Natural Reserve Area of Valle dell’Aniene along with a sampling laboratory of the waters of the river. With the involvement of CNR and Arpa Lazio, the organization of these participatory days of scientific monitoring allowed the public to follow and learn about the different phases and techniques of water and soil sampling by taking active part in field research.   Guided tour, open to the public, of Parco di Veio and its structures. Curated by the Association Climate Art Project and CSA – Semi di Comunità, an open meeting on the topic of new sustainable practices in agriculture and on Agroforest, the good agroforestry practices which integrate agricultural production and the presence of forests for the absorption of CO2. The creation of Aula Verde in the Aniene Natural Reserve in Rome, after a long participatory process that involved scientific researchers, activists and citizens of all ages, through workshops, performances and debates.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

Considering its multidisciplinary approach and its different objectives, this project can be in line with different categories. Otherwise the impacts brought by art to create awareness about sustainable practices are the core of the project.   Some impacts gained through the involvement of citizens by art are: 62.5% of people interviewed declared the intention of participating in an activity of enhancing awareness and involvement about rivers in Rome. 43.8% of the public declared the will to take an active part in the framework of an association dealing with the care of rivers More than 50% of the interviewed are interested in participating to new events of dissemination on the subject

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

The civil society involved in the project learned methods of water quality analysis understanding how to look at chemical, physical and biological characteristics. They learned how to act to mitigate climate change, specifically they learned about nature based solutions, ecosystem services and green infrastructure (through the creation of Aula Verde) They learned the importance of maintaining the biodiversity in the city context They physically learned and acted to plant trees They learned how to calculate the direct and indirect benefits of tree plantation (as an ecosystem service)

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

The project is a transdisciplinary experience between science and art with the aim of raising environmental awareness on the possible interventions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Through impressive visual actions, wall paintings, exhibition with painted flags and a green infrastructure (called Aula verde, designed and developed in a green space in the middle of buildings),  thematics such as rivers ecosystems and water quality are presented to a non scientific public who can learn how to act to mitigate climate change, even in the centre of a big city as Rome.

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

The format of the project can be easily transferred in other cities where there are rivers( already activated  in Cuneo and already received interest requests from other italian cities).  Several outcomes have been produced and these can guide other municipalities, associations, scientists and artists to design a similar project.  The project is an environmental advocacy campaign and wants to talk with citizens and also with institutions. The project also produced a scientific paper: “Nature Based Solutions on the river environment: an example of cross-disciplinary sustainable management, with local community active participation and visual art as science transfer tool.”

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.