P&C_S12_A1_Christopher_1
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The document summarizes Cascina Cuccagna, an experimental urban farm in Milan, Italy. It functions as a cultural probe showing Milan's possibilities beyond its reputation for greyness. Volunteer gardeners care for plots and citizens act as ambassadors to spread knowledge of the project. A small number of dedicated volunteers build trust and community through their familiar faces. Contact persons coordinate volunteers and communicate the farm's mission by challenging expectations through public access. Citizens have an opportunity to garden and question the city's governance, making a statement Italy needs. The farm is organized by Esterni and benefits from digital platforms to share its work more broadly. It was rescued from demolition in 2008 on a former family farm site.
P&C_S12_A1_Christopher_1
- 1. Cascina Cuccagna Milan, Italy www.cuccagna.org Description La Cascina Cuccagna is an experimental center for urban horticulture in Milan. It functions as a cultural probe that shows a city, known all over the world for its greyness, what possibilities and opportunities the city has. Citizen Role Volunteer gardeners care for the orti within the boundaries of the Cascina. The citizens act as the network that communicate this new and rather daring idea to the city of Milan. Perhaps most importantly, the citizen talks to others about the success of the project and gets others motivated to create their own cascine. Degrees of Involvement Cascina Cuccagna requires a handful of people to be completely dedicated to the farmhouse. This dedication, or rather a familiar face, builds trust and a sense of camaraderie that can be seen, felt, and communicated throughout the city.
- 2. Contact Person Responsibilities: Volunteers must be coordinated and made to feel useful. Coordinators must be able to identify tasks that need to be completed, and assign those tasks to able and willing volunteers. Contact persons must be able to clearly and easily communicate the mission of the cascina to the public. This means they must be able to understand the social structures and understandings of physical public space that currently exist in Milan. By inviting the public into a previously walled-off space, the public is taken out of their comfort zone and their expectations are challenged. Public Role Citizens of Milan have an opportunity that has not existed since WWII, when Piazza del Duomo was converted to a victory garden. The chance to garden, the chance to grow produce is not so much about practicality or produce, but rather questioning the capitalistic and feudalistic ways the city (and country) are being governed. Citizen participation in this organized guerilla garden are making a statement Italy desperately needs to be made. Service Diagram Enabling Systems Cascina Cuccagna is currently organized by the public space and action group - Esterni.
- 3. Formed to catalyze the appreciation for public space and land, the group works as the coordinator between donors, governments, and other financially interested parties. Role of Digital Environment The Cascina, though it could function entirely well without a digital platform, benefits from the maintenance of a blog, a Flickr account, and a detailed and updated events page that keeps those interested coming back to the cascina. Also, because of the city’s established role in leading the world in new and experimental design, a digital platform for the Cascina allows this rare and unique place to be shared with many who may either try to replicate it or find ways to make it better. Background / History The Cascina Cuccagna was rescued from demolition by Esterni in 2008. The site had been a family farm, the land of which was slowly chopped off and sold. During WWII, the site was bombed and the property abandoned. Since then, the site has been used for more purposes than most care to remember. Public & Collaborative Services: Case Study Neighborhood Care: Christopher Patten