Bees, Wisteria, Concrete

Promoting urban biodiversity through dedicated policies has become crucial in an increasingly urbanized world. In this regard, cities implement initiatives at various scales: shared gardens, large urban reforestation projects, urban parks, green roofs, and walls. However, promoting nature in cities is not a frictionless process: what happens when these policies affect a relatively small area and group of people?

The exhibition explores eight hyper-local debates generated by policies aimed at safeguarding biodiversity and urban interventions that question the relationship between a city’s need to change and preserve ecological systems.

These dynamics have been explored through the web: from the most viewed YouTube videos to the images used by online news sources, from Facebook comments to transcripts of municipal meetings.

The exhibition, promoted by the National Biodiversity Future Center, is part of a research conducted at Politecnico di Milano, involving more than 50 students from the Communication Design course coordinated byDensityDesign Lab. The students reinterpreted the most relevant fragments of these debates in the form of installations. The goal is to provide an overview of each issue: who are the actors involved? What statements do they use to promote their positions? How do they connect and interpret the concept of biodiversity to these local issues?

The installations narrate the portion of the debate visible through the web. Fragmented and occasionally contradictory narratives emerge, allowing to reflect on how the issue of biodiversity increasingly affects our lives and how digital platforms mediate these discussions.

Faculty:

Michele Mauri, Gabriele Colombo, Ángeles Briones, Salvatore Zingale, Elena Aversa, Andrea Benedetti, Luca Draisci, Alessandra Facchin, Beatrice Gobbo

NBFC (National Biodiversity Future Center) Coordinators:
Massimo Labra (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca), Maria Chiara Pastore (Politecnico di Milano)

Autors:

Andrea Burchiani, Benedetta Riccio, Bianca Bauer, Bingru He, Carla D’Antonio, Carmen Framiñán, Carolina Giacomin Da Silva, Claire Capone, Corbani Federico, Daniela Muñoz, David Hazan, De Nicolò Alessio, Diego Valdivieso, Elisabetta Como, Filippo Roveda, Francesca Mattiacci, Giada Fugazzola, Giulia Costanzo, Hanya Nie, Havrylova Kseniia, Huajie Zhang, Javiera de la Maza, Jovana Tesic, Kalita Sudipta Sagar, Luca Bottani, Luiz Carlos De Souza Junior, Maciukiewicz Helena, Maher Fatemeh, Malena Paz, Martina Balducci, Michela Chignoli, Mo Beini, Mona Abolghasemi, Nicolás Raigoso, Nima Ahmadi, Noemi Capparelli, Oasis Mignot, Paola Pia Palumbo, Qin Wang, Riccardo Fregnan, Riccardo Ventura, Samuele Anzelotti, Sara Matilda Montorio, Shegnan Zou, Shuo Lou, Shuyu Zhang, Sofia Bonfanti, Thais De Castro Lima, Tommaso Prinetti, Trabattoni Marco, Vanessa Medda, Yasemin Umac, YiYou Zou, Yuhan Zhu, Zaiarniuk Anastasiia, Zhegnan Liu, Ziqi Huang

Visual identity:

Maria Calzolari

Web project:

Luca Draisci