7th Bernardo Secchi Working Seminar. SPACE, LIFE, AND POLITICS: COUNTER-PROJECTS AND THE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION

Marking Bernardo Secchi’s 10th memorial anniversary, the JBS 2024 extends the reflection initiated in 2022, focusing on the ecological, social, and spatial transition of modern urbanized territories. Delving into the interplay between socio-ecological Transition and radical adaptations in our practices, policies, and projects, the seminar aims to unravel the inherent tensions in navigating these complex dynamics.

As per Bernardo Secchi, European democratic culture forms the canvas for a “vaster biopolitical action”. This endeavor intricately shapes and transforms urban spaces intending to safeguard, educate, and emancipate its people. Consequently, the planning and design of the 19th and 20th centuries are characterized as techno-scientific and creative extensions of this enduring tradition. Today, this contemporary project concerning space and life, often pejoratively labeled “biopolitical” by Michel Foucault2, grapples with profound economic, social, and environmental challenges such as threats to ecosystems from excessive extraction, societal divisions, escalating spatial injustices, weakened economies, and global health risks. Redirecting designers’ focus on space, life, and politics becomes a pivotal approach to devise planning and design tools for a habitable, equitable, and healthy planet facing these complexities.

The seminar will delve into concerns such as socio-spatial conflicts, strategies for mitigating climate change, counteracting its impacts, and the emergence of new ecologies in modern urbanized regions. It is organized into three main axes:
– Concrete utopias
– Counter-actions and activism
– Radical policies