Milano Design Week 2023 – Urban Regeneration Project

For this edition of Milan Design Week, which will be held April 17-23, RUFA, SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design, and Repubblica del Design are joining forces to revive an idea of sustainability and to generate new creative and development opportunities through discussion. Thanks to significant collaborations with local institutions such as Municipality 9 and the Municipality of Milan, the experimental recycling lab Design Differente, and Gruppo Cap, SLURP – Social Ludic Urban Regeneration Project will be presented at the same time at Paper Week and Design Week, and it will remain as a permanent tactical urban design intervention.

The activity is part of a series of initiatives already developed in the design district of Bovisa – Dergano – Affori, in a logic of scalability and circularity of educational models and interaction with local communities and, in this case, also with visitors of Milano Design Week.

There are three planned interventions:

• a Landscape Design project, led by Meltem Eti Proto, designer and RUFA professor, and Davide Crippa of Repubblica del Design, to create natural street furniture made of recycled cardboard, soil, and grass that will allow greater enjoyment of outdoor spaces;
• a Visual Design project, under the guidance of Serena Confalonieri, designer and SPD professor, with the creation of a pathway of horizontal signage and pictorial works, thanks to the contribution of Arexons;
• a Product Design project, coordinated by designers Alessandro Mason for RUFA and Matteo Guarnaccia for SPD, with the creation of a series of Courtesy Chairs, made from decommissioned pallets provided by the logistics company Fercam, which will be donated to stores in the neighborhood, in continuity with the experiences of gentle urbanism.

SLURP will be developed in two steps: one of designing with workshops and laboratories in which school students participate, and the other of concrete implementation on the ground, on the northeast side of the former Scalo Farini, between Piazzale Lugano and Piazza Schiavone.

«Ideas related to an urban regeneration action – says Anita Pirovano, president of Milan’s Municipality 9 – are followed by the council with great attention. I am personally convinced that the relationship design – sustainability – territory not only allows to generate innovative paths and experiences but also enriches the neighborhood with that dynamic energy that only new generations, without filters and conditionings, can guarantee».

«RUFA – explains Director Arch. Fabio Mongelli – creates dynamic experiences and added value, generating the right synergies, planning relevant cultural and artistic initiatives, and supporting talent. In this context, we want to be not only an educational center but a place open to the sensibilities of the community, in which research and artistic production can be enjoyed in different ways. That is why we pay special attention to the so-called Third Mission and openness to the socio-economic context. RUFA, in short, proposes itself as a Creative HUB sensitive to the experiences of the territory and ready to seize the opportunities it can offer».

«SPD Scuola Politecnica di Design has inhabited the city of Milan for almost 70 years – says Amos Bianchi, the school’s Academic Director – and throughout its history, figures who have become household names in Italian and international design have studied and taught there. The alliance that SPD and Milan have forged over the years is reconfirmed through participation in the urban regeneration action planned for this Salone del Mobile, to reinforce the relationship between design and the territory while respecting sustainability and the environment. For SPD Scuola Politecnica del Design it is a source of pride to renew this relationship with the city together with RUFA and Repubblica del Design».

«Repubblica di Design is the only year-round design district active in the neighborhoods of Bovisa, Lancetti, Dergano and now Affori. We are happy to be able to participate in a new process that continues the idea of sustainability of our DaCosaNasceCosa project, now in its third edition. SLURP, Social Ludic Urban Regeneration, included in the Milan Design Week 2023 program, generates new creative and development opportunities with RUFA and SPD. The experience is based on circular economy principles and engages neighborhood realities through design» says Davide Crippa, President of Repubblica del Design.

© Illustrated cartoon: Emilio Lecce, cartoonist and professor at RUFA