Le Serre dei Giardini

Project

269082

Status

Submitted

Award category

You want to submit

NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

Le Serre dei Giardini

Full project title

Description

Kilowatt has regenerated an abandoned public place, turning it into a community hub with a social impact business model. The space now breathes 7 days a week with social impact projects and cultural activities, a coworking space, a kindergarten, an organic veggie bistrot, festivals and curatorial activities that dig into sustainability issues. Le Serre boosts the activation of communities bringing together art and science, technology and humanities to address contemporary challenges.

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

In the heart of the largest park in Bologna, Kilowatt has regenerated a group of abandoned greenhouses, owned by the Municipality, turning it into a community hub of 650 m2 with a social and cultural mission: imaging collectively a sustainable future starting from present actions and day-by-day choices. Around 600 thousand € invested by Kilowatt coop that, from a startup, implementing a social impact business model is now a SMEs with more than 30 employees, 11 members and 1,5 M of revenues all reinvested in culture and social activities. Le Serre dei Giardini is a generative space of contamination and exchange, a point of reference at the national level yet rooted in its territory and deeply connected with the needs of citizens which are all the time involved in co-design and co-creation activities. In our spaces we host many activities with the aim of hybridating knowledge, know-how and networks: start-up incubation programs, with specific programs dedicated to socially vulnerable people, exhibitions, workshops and conferences, as well as offices, co-working spaces, a kindergarten, a bistrot and a community garden. Le Serre dei Giardini offers to its various communities a place of inclusion, growth, training, meeting and exchange, aiming to boost people's activation to address the contemporary challenges of climate change, sustainability and complexity with imagination, multidisciplinary expertise and a cooperative approach. We have worked to create a learning environment, open to people from zero to 99 years old, that permeates both Kilowatt internal organization and the public activities, enhancing the complex relations gravitating around our space and making desires, passions and competences emerge to develop new projects. Our approach uses community organizing tools, an impact entrepreneurship strategy, a lean management approach to sustain an organizational and business model that creates value for the community and nurtures  a complex system of relations.

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

Preserving the history of the area and looking at the present challenges, nature and sustainability have always been the red thread of the regeneration project for Le Serre dei Giardini. Learning from nature, which manages complex systems by creating incredible balances, we work daily to make Le Serre dei Giardini a place of beauty, respect, collaboration and research, a place from which to imagine (and experience) a sustainable future, a fair market and an equal society. All our strategic and operational choices derive from such a vision:  the use of organic and local vegetable in the bistrot; the substitution of all our cleaning commodities with EcoLabel certified products, completely biodegradable and not harmful to those who use them; the elimination of plastic from our packaging since 2018;  the distribution, to all our employees, of refillable water bottles;  the installation of a fountain with free chilled and sparkling water; an awareness campaign to encourage the use of bicycles, putting 63 racks and blocks for cars and mopeds at the entrance of the space; the creation of an experimental hydroponic cultivation system that feeds the kitchen, to experiment urban temporary regeneration approaches Moreover, since 2016 we have been working with the Agricultural University of Bologna and launched Semìno and GREAT Life, two projects dedicated to promoting sustainable agriculture. We manage a Fb community to enhance such awareness (GreatCommunity). Finally, we have been producing since 5 years Resilienze Festival (www.resilienzefestival.it), where we work with artists to suggest and explore new imaginaries related to a sustainable future, to prompt the understanding of the invisible bonds that regulate a wholesome relationship between mankind and nature.

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

Regenerating an abandoned space means to provide it with new signification and aesthetic, to allow new positive experiences and favor community building. Art has a great relevance in such complex and delicate processe:  we constantly work, design spaces, organize events to bridge artists, research centers, private companies, citizens and institutions, creating spaces for experimentation and sustainable innovation. Artists often contribute to this design. For instance in 2015, as a tangible spark of regeneration before starting construction works, we asked Andreco, an artist and researcher in environmental engineering specialized in sustainability, to create a work that could be an enabler of the regeneration process, Landmark. Other art installations involved artists and sculptors: we believe that art and design could create new imaginaries, favor new and more sustainable lifestyles. To stimulate critical and radical acts we organize a series of events, resulting in our summer cultural program and in Resilienze Festival, our main project that interrogates the languages ​​of art to offer a new point of view on the great planetary transformations, showing the connections between environment, society, economy and culture. All the events and cultural activities are free, open and accessible to everyone interested in exploring different points of view and solutions to the contemporary challenges. We want to investigate the concepts regarding sustainability from a systemic perspective that positions individuals at the center of the network of connections, keeping value of its relations and the strength that those interactions can generate. It is about embracing the complexity in its most positive interpretation, the one that offers us new development opportunities and new future imaginaries. Our intention is to make the citizens passionate about environmental topics throughout narrations, creative and artistic experiences.

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

Le Serre is an inclusive place that aim to create quality jobs, encounters and opportunities. For this reason we work on two levels: accessibility and capacity building. On the first hand we offer more than 120 days a year of free cultural events and a space always open, with free wifi, open electrical outlets and tables to study, work or meet. On the second hand we work to spread an entrepreneurial culture that is impact oriented and based on widespread leadership, soft skills and community organizing. We offer incubation and acceleration processes both to startups and fragile groups, to support those who believe that mutuality, democracy, social and environmental are entrepreneurial values that cannot be renounced. Since 2018 we have coordinated: CRIB, an incubation program that values the talents of migrants who have obtained refugee status and supports them in defining and putting into practice their business ideas. This project wants to facilitate the economic and social integration of migrants, by actively including all the actors involved in the management of the SPRAR program and by creating a connection with other organizations that might facilitate the development of new businesses run by refugees. Battiti, an acceleration program dedicated to startups that aim at creating a social and environmental impact. In 2018 we won the “WELCOME. Working for refugee integration” prize, a formal recognition by the UNHCR awarded to enterprises committed to foster social inclusion and integration of refugees in their country. In 2020 we developed an inclusive handbook dedicated to migrant enterprises, a practical and free access guide for the development of business ideas, and we started a course on entrepreneurial skills dedicated to people in gender transition. In 2021 we designed a project for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, with the aim of fostering the initiative of migrants who are job-looking or who want to start an entrepreneurial path.

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

Kilowatt impact vision (that can be read in our company profile and impact report and that guides our choices and strategies) says: We want to give the same quality of leisure time to working time, co-designing spaces and offices to make them inclusive, creative, generative and relational; taking care of people and making relationships a fundamental asset for the creation of value; shaping the organization and its governance in such a way that they are as empowering and stimulating as possible, to make information flow and spread innovation. Every year we collectively evaluate the approaching to such an impact, to learn, improve and make everyone involved. Here a list of our main results and impacts (data from our latest impact report 2015-2019), achieved since we had assigned the space in 2014:  we have invested € 550,000 in the regeneration of the public spaces of Le Serre dei Giardini; we have supported 12 awareness campaigns on issues related to sustainability and environmental impact; we have managed to eliminate 3.7 TON of plastic thanks to compostable packaging; we have activated and supported 20 urban regeneration projects in other municipalities in collaboration with PA; we have supported 87 startups and informal groups to create impact business models; we have invested 341,000 euros in the summer cultural programme; we have organized more than 1267 free cultural events; we have involved 194 cultural organizations and 1128 artists; we have hosted more than 460 thousand people in our spaces; we guarantee 17 permanent contracts plus 30 seasonal contracts from 11 different nationalities.

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

We believe that urban regeneration is not only an environmentally sustainable solution, but it’s also an opportunity for social innovation. Through the engagement and listening of civil society it’s possible indeed to imagine and test new solutions for current problems. Le Serre dei Giardini has been a co-designed project since it’s startup. This openness attitude, the tools adapted and experience people lives entering Le Serre favor the following results (from our latest impact report): since 2017, 46 companies have chosen us for events dedicated to sustainability; 130 People / Organizations have followed our courses on impact assessment 200 young people have attended our modules on impact entrepreneurship we have organized more than 184 workshops and free lectures for children we have held 51 parenting co-planning and training meetings Our lean impact approach implies that each year we send out questionnaires and organize focus groups with the main stakeholders, in order to understand our progress toward impact goals. Here are some of the most significant elements emerged: "Working at Serre dei Giardini changed my point of view because I have always thought that everyday life and duty were a sacrifice, then here I realized that the things that are good for the environment can also be your source of income!" "I like this place because it makes me hope that my vocation can really find concreteness. Everyone is welcomed here, with their differences and difficulties, because there are no architectural barriers and there is a lot of friendliness! Here I learned collaboration, being together, pursuing a goal and achieving it together." "The cultural program exposes the users to forms of art and aggregation that question the usual ways of understanding the consumption and capitalization of time. It emanates a strong message on the possibility of designing urban spaces in a sustainable and inclusive manner, enhancing collaboration and listening."

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

Le Serre has been, in the Emilia Romagna region, the first regeneration project based on a private-public partnership of such a scale and success. It’s a case of great interest for the whole Italy, in fact we have been invited to many events, courses and lectures in Italy and in Bruxelles to tell the model and the project. A model that aligns the “private” objectives with those of the PA, generating a sustainable project both economically, socially and environmentally. This is achieved thanks to a hybrid business and organizational model designed to undertake a great economic investment while meeting social and environmental goals. In fact Kilowatt Coop controls 100% an LtD company, dedicated to the food & beverage sector, the for profit company is owned by a non profit organization.  In such a way no profit can be divided among shareholders but the surplus is used to cover cultural activities, regeneration investments and social low profit projects. Thus, we’ve succeeded in preserving the intrinsic public value and public nature of the space by rethinking processes, identities and business models, turning insightfulness into impactful decisions and allowing all the stakeholders to play a role and be part of the process.  Le Serre dei Giardini is today largely recognized as a civic landmark and a catalyst for national activities dedicated to the connection between art, science and business. We are working to promote a model that enhances these multidisciplinary experimentations to face the great challenges of sustainability and climate change.

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

Kilowatt has always had an openness attitude, publishing and sharing learnings acquired step by step, becoming a point of reference in the italian urban regeneration discourse.  The first position paper (Community Hub) was written and published in 2016 and it generated a national debate. The learnings were also used by the Emilia Romagna Region to write the call for tenders for the Laboratori Aperti.  We are also teaching our model and our approach in the Urban regeneration and Social innovation Master of IUAV University of Venice. IUAV University asked us to share with students and future urban regenerators techniques, tools and theories from audience development and community organizing, applying them to urban regeneration to create impact for and with the community and the ecosystem. We also bring our approach in other Master Degrees such as Relational Design (IdLab - Abadir), an itinerant teaching program to discover a new approach to design and get in touch with different realities and stakeholders, IAAD institute of applied art and design and Madim a master degree in management and digital transformation.  Finally, since the beginning of Le Serre, we adopted a transparent accountability model, publishing every year an impact report. The methodology, the taxonomy and the KPI have been tough, explained and shared on many occasions. Our last impact report has been downloaded more than 300 times since 2020.  

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.