Cascina Falchera, Turin, Italy

Source: Desire site experience and future plans, AAU, page 13-

Cascina Falchera is an old farmhouse from 1701 located in the North of Turin, which is used as an educational area. It is seen as a Common Good of the City of Turin and was granted to the Kairòs Consortium until 2040 by ITER (Turin Institution for Responsible Education), with the aim of enhancing its educational vocation and transforming it into a biodiversity hub. 

Cascina Falchera re-opened in May 2023 and has since been running diverse projects, ideas, and events for children, families, elderly and local residents. 

The local partner sees opportunities for further exploring what the renovated farm could become and how to build its new identity with the local community and ecology. 

Within the Desire project, Cascina Falchera’s main focus is water. In particular, it seeks assistance with ‘the irresistible cycle’, a waterways re-constitution project focusing on the ‘bealere’ system, meaning small streams of water that bordered the farmsteads in Piemonte.

How can humans reconnect with nature? Together with project partners and the locals, we experiment with this as part of the Desire project in the northern part of the city of Turin – at Cascina Falchera, an old farmhouse owned by the Municipality of Turin and run by the social cooperative, Consorzio Kairòs.

Cascina Falchera works on developing a biodiversity hub, where people can explore and experiment with their connection with nature. Among the activities are water-saving camps for young people. We visited one of them. Have a look at the film. 

Meet:

• Domenica Moscato, Desire Project Manager
• Nicoletta Daldanise, Community Engagement Coordinator
• Giorgia Curtabbi, PhD student in Design and Inhabitant of Falchera neighbourhood

The filmmaker is Benjamin Hesselholdt.

Cascina Falchera conducted a workshop series for citizens focused on the role of wetlands in Turin’s history and their future potential to mitigate the effects of climate change while opening up new development possibilities at Cascina Falchera. Cascina Falchera's vision is to regenerate the area through circularity principles and support the local community, especially the young generations, in reconnecting with natural spaces, biodiversity and historical and environmental values of the site. 

The broad aim within Desire was to build a biodiversity hub that promotes environmental sustainability and social innovation. This concept was not initially planned but emerged from a participatory process involving internal staff, stakeholders, and users in Cascina Falchera. This hub is supposed to comprise five elements: a community centre, research and experimentation, landscape protection, training, and cultural initiatives. In relation to the physical space and infrastructures, Cascina Falchera strives to foster small-scale solutions generated by a community of young people between 15-29 years that collaboratively explore what the site ought to be. 

Within Desire, Cascina Falchera is working with three different Desire principles: 

1) Biodiversity to demonstrate the possibilities for sustainable and green transformation for the
local and water management system and to enhance the full potential of endogenous
resources; 

2) aesthetics to jointly design a mixed plan of functions and services that can guide
the transformation and help shape a new perception of the site; 

3) belonging to activate pathways of active citizenship among young people, families, elderlies, and residents, and to promote a culture of reciprocity, proximity and responsibility in co-creating the site. 

Cascina Falchera primarily employed participatory workshops as tools. The project began with a ‘water saving camp’ – a series of workshops facilitated by an external facilitator between June and October 2023, each corresponding to one of their core principles, with a total number of ten participants. 

Initially, the workshop series failed to engage the target demographic of young people aged 15 to 29, posing a frustrating setback and prompting discussions among the organisers on how to improve future events. The solution emerged from a desire to empower young individuals and make them feel like protagonists in the process. 

As a result, the organisers extended invitations to various young stakeholders, including an early career researcher specialising in canal studies from an anthropological perspective, another early career researcher from Politecnico di Torino aiming to test a new master plan model for Cascina Falchera through qualitative research, and a young couple residing in Falchera keen on providing tangible support for neighbourhood development. 

The first workshop focused on nature-based solutions, aligned with the Desire principle of biodiversity. It was held in a small corner of Cascina Falchera's courtyard, and aimed at elevating the local ecosystem by 1) facilitating the return of rainwater to its natural cycle by removing impermeable surfaces, and 2) planting a variety of flowers to promote the flourishing pollinators.

The second workshop focused on the topic of urban exploration. Linked to the Desire principle of belonging, the workshop was designed to promote an active knowledge of the place and neighbourhood through action research with young adults. The workshop was dedicated to collecting data and information from the landscape, particularly focusing on recording the soundscapes of nature. These recordings will be used to create a soundtrack featuring the sounds of the site, with a special emphasis on the water.

Aligned with the principle of aesthetics, the third workshop focused on ‘city branding’ and sought to improve communication strategies and tools to enhance the narrative of Cascina Falchera. Participants were encouraged to share their impressions and perspectives on the site. By employing storytelling techniques, the narratives generated during the workshop will be utilised to create a podcast series and video content aimed at promoting Cascina Falchera.

The concluding workshop featured a collective brainstorming session focused on generating ideas for future events. One notable concept that surfaced was hosting a site-specific art residency. Additionally, Cascina Falchera aspires to integrate diverse perspectives from various stakeholders, including young people, families, the elderly, and residents, through qualitative interviews aimed at eliciting a range of needs and ideas regarding the functions of the space.

In October 2023, another workshop series began, as part of an action-research process involving researchers from Politecnico di Milano, together with Consorzio Kairòs, and Cascina Falchera, as well as individuals from previous workshops, all focused on the objective of ‘Designing a Biodiversity Hub’. The first round of activities consisted of desk research to understand the key concept of biodiversity and a workshop dedicated to mapping the existing offer of Caschina Falchera. 

Thereafter, twenty on-site interviews with users and residents were conducted, providing valuable insights into the needs and perspectives of these stakeholders. A finding was the wish to enhance accessibility and openness of Cascina Falchera to external parties and the local community. 

The second workshop focused on crafting a compelling value proposition, using a value proposition canvas1 to delve into the relationship between offers and customer profiles of Cascina Falchera. The third workshop engaged stakeholders and internal staff in the collaborative development of ideas and proposals for new activities within the broader framework of the biodiversity hub initiative. 

In these workshops, Cascina Falchera benefited from the expertise of Politecnico di Milano. They guided them through the various phases of service mapping and profiling, as well as their aspiration to bring order within the perceived chaos of activities at Cascina: it is now clear what they want to be and how they want to narrate their story. 

Another 2-day workshop, facilitated by AGORA, focused on developing a new concept for an artistic residency within Cascina Falchera. Participants were a group of twelve young people who created an inspiring manifesto based on the three chosen Desire principles for the future artists in Cascina. Additionally, the workshop aimed to foster a sense of co-ownership among the stakeholders, aligning with the Desire principle of belonging. 

Participation was encouraged through the provision of a fee for each participant. The workshop ensured that every participant had an opportunity to voice their vision and contribute solutions to the overarching design of Cascina Falchera. Unexpected outcomes included the recruitment of a new volunteer with a background in biology, who will contribute to agricultural activities. 

Additionally, a student from Politecnico di Turin has proposed a thesis project, further enhancing collaborative opportunities and knowledge exchange within the community.

Story:

Water Saving Camps: How do you manage rainwater in an area that is sometimes affected by flooding, other times by drought? Our partner organisations are looking at these challenges. Click on the link to read the story.

The legacy of the project is closely tied to the biodiversity hub, which aims to transition from the old concept of Caschina Falchera as an educational farm to a new identity as a living lab. 

While the project partners do not have a clear strategy for building evidence, they recognize the importance of engaging the community and neighborhood by listening and collecting ideas and proposals from various users. The project partners have identified the need to improve internal procedures, particularly regarding lifelong learning for internal staff. 

Therefore, they are working with the Human Resource Office to establish standard procedures for internal training, ensuring staff can dedicate the necessary time and effort to the project.

Materials and helpful links

Find links below and at the top of the page.

• Transformation theme: Raise and sustain ambitions
• Tool: Value proposition canvas

Territorial Transformation Plan

The territorial transformation plan for Cascina Falchera is deeply connected to the identity of the place, which emerged as a direct outcome of the Desire activities. 

This identity envisions Cascina Falchera as a local Biodiversity Hub, built on five key pillars: a community centre, research and experimentation, landscape protection, training, and cultural initiatives. The plan focuses on realising this vision while honouring the values and principles of Desire and the New European Bauhaus.

The Long-Term Vision

The long-term vision for Cascina Falchera revolves around sustaining a thriving local ecosystem, fostering connections between locals and young people through educational activities at the Hub, and integrating contemporary artistic experimentation to reimagine the Hub’s purpose. 

This vision is rooted in a commitment to working closely with nature, creating a self-sustained ecosystem, for example, through permaculture and a shared farming approach that encourages participants to engage in gardening activities. The aim is to integrate biodiversity with services and educational programs, while also renovating buildings to adopt more sustainable solutions for heating and electricity.