Category Archives: Projects

Winter Fest

This is an interdisciplinary format we created in 2016. To date, four editions of the festival have been organized, all in Southern Tuscany:

  • 2016 – Farma Valley + Grosseto
  • 2017 – Farma Valley
  • 2018 – Farma Valley + Tatti
  • 2023 – Travelling festival from Follonica to Pomonte

To see articles about the festival (in Italian):

For more information and festivals : micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

The pibinko.org Network in the context of the New European Bauhaus

The pibinko.org network has been acknowledged as one of the first “Friends of the New European Bauhaus initiative” by the European Commission. Below is what we wrote. For more information and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org

Contact:

Andrea Giacomelli <info@pibinko.org>

Web:

https://www.pibinko.org

About us:

The pibinko.org network operates since 2007 on interdisciplinary projects on the promotion and/or protection of lesser-know assets in the field of culture, environment, and open innovation. These projects are built with a bottom-up approach, and are always co-designed involving experts and local communities, with an emphasis on empowerment, inclusiveness, and equality. All of our activities come with a soundtrack, as we use music as a primary engagement and facilitation vehicle (and part of the network also performs in professional gigs as an art+science collective, so we actually write songs as soundtracks to our work). The NEB framework reflects a lot of the work we have been developing over the past 15 years, so we are looking forward to contribute with what the NEB community will consider as best practices, which can easily be replicated in other locations. As we are based in Southern Tuscany, we can also easily procure interesting venues for other NEB communiy members.

Our size:

10

We have a community of 30000 people

Field of activity:

Other field of activity

We work in a truly interdisciplinary mode (we need 9 fields)

Event and experience creation and management: Since 2007, and not stopping during lockdowns. Music: “ConcerPT” entertainment with the Jug Band Colline Metallifere arts+science collective. Also, providing art direction and booking in collaboration with several venues in Italy. Interesting Locations for rent (Farm houses, vacation homes, resorts, agricampings, castles, as well as research sites) Itineraries: in-depth knowledge of South-Western Tuscany for various segments of visitors “Mouthwatering stuff” produced by family-run businesses not only from Tuscany and not only from Italy Geographic information systems, websites and databases Environmental engineering and land planning Translations and language-related services: from English to Italian Production of photo sets and videos Promotion, communication, facilitation Consulting, training, and mentoring We work in Italian, English, or French, and are acquainted with other languages (Portugues, Spanish, German)

Client type:

We have a community of Culture, environment, open innovation, music people

Highlights:

We have a community of Sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion are in the DNA of our network. Since 2006 we have developed projects on the protection and promotion of lesser-known assets in the fields of culture, environment, and open innovation using mainly participatory processes, facilitation, and empowerment methods which we have co-designed putting together scientist and urban activists with citizens from marginal rural areas. Our base in in Southern Tuscany, and we operate internationally. people

Alignment with the New European Bauhaus values:
  • we offer access to labour to the underprivileged
  • we use circular approaches across our entire production cycle
  • we mainly reinvest our profit into our activity
  • we compensate fairly, without inequalities
  • we adopt open and participative governance structures
  • we adopt design-centred trans-disciplinary approaches throughout our practices
  • other

As above, we are already used to work with the values proposed by the NEB, so rather than planning on how to integrate them in our day-to-day activity, I would propose to our key collaborators to “map” the values we are currently promoting to NEB values. Should any gaps appear, we will work on covering them. In any case we have monthly meetings where these values can be reviewed, and “integration actions” can be adopted where necessary.

Motivation to become partner or friend:
  • Sharing knowledge within the multi-disciplinary community of partners
  • Taking my activities to the next level by working together with others from the multi-disciplinary community of partners
  • Influencing the New European Bauhaus concept itself
  • Influencing broader EU policy related to the New European Bauhaus
  • Gaining visibility
  • Being able to better inform my local community about what the New European Bauhaus is
  • Being able to better help my local community to apply for funding related to the New European Bauhaus
  • Being able to better help local stakeholders near me to be part of the New European Bauhaus movement and integrate its values
Engagement with the New European Bauhaus:

Acting as the hub network of small (or micro-) businesses, associations, and other local actors with a very global view of the issues we are tackling, we would like to engage with the NEB community following a process which has proved to be successful in the past with other communities. The concept is not new (it could be summarised as “what can we do for NEB + what can NEB do for us”), with the variant that (a) we use songs as a primary communication vehicle (b) In our first months in the community we will dedicate efforts to explain the NEB principles and framework to our local collaborators (and their communities, which cover roughly the South-Western quadrant of Tuscany, plus the city of Milano as base points), and propose to other NEB community members material and events (e.g. meetings, combining physical and online presence) to better introduce us. Based on this “icebreaking” phase, further initiatives will follow.

Since 2007 we have a record of an average of almost one event per month, and at least weekly updates sent to our audience via various online channels, plus “traditional” media. The plan is simply to embed NEB values (which are actually already at the core of our work since 2007, but called differently) in our awareness raising/promotion work.

We are interested in:

We work on extremely diverse projects, but – independently of the topics and locations – our priorities are on re-balancing the distribution of certain assets around Europe (and not ignoring extra-European regions). In particular, we are interested in setting up twinning/exchange operations which will help (a) citizens from disadvantage rural areas to gain expertise and know-how on non-rural issues, helping them to improve the quality of their life and to mitigate population loss in these areas (we are also based in one of these areas, by the way) (b) citizens from urban settings to learn more about “rural ways” which the can re-apply in their home environments. Since 2017 our projects are engineered to provide educational/training credits (for those who need them as a formal way to document their personal growth).

Host:

We have experience working in EU-related projects since 1994. Personally, I have been the facilitator of a working group for the creation of the INSPIRE Directive, and have acted as the Italian representative in a COST Action, worked twice as a EU project reviewer, etc. – so we are quite familiar in terms of connecting to EU-related initiatives. I am also quite familiar with the concept of acting as a “bridge” or an “ambassador” between EU-level initiatives and local communities…so I cannot be more specific at this stage, but on a case-by-case basis I do not foresee issues in providing a productive support from the pibinko.org network.

Lectures on the Application of Participatory Methods for the Design of Interdisciplinary Activities for the Protection and Promotion of the Night Sky (Spring 2020)

TO BE TRANSLATED

Il 23 marzo e 16 aprile 2020 ho tenuto un corso integrativo sull’Applicazione di metodi partecipati alla progettazione di interventi di tutela e valorizzazione interdisciplinare del cielo notturno per gli studenti del corso di Composizione Architettonica per la Laurea in Ingegneria Edile-Architettura dell’UniversitĂ  di Brescia (docente prof. Olivia Longo).

Il corso ha costituito lo sviluppo del convegno tenuto sullo stesso tema nel maggio 2019, con riconoscimento di crediti formativi professionali per ingegneri e architetti, sempre all’UniversitĂ  di Brescia. Durante il corso c’è stato anche un saluto

Per approfondimenti

Per informazioni e booking: info@pibinko.org

CORDILIT

CORDILIT stands for “Coordinamento Raccolta Dati Inquinamento Luminoso in Italia”, i.e. Italian coordination body for the collection of light pollution data. This was started in March 2011 by the BuioMetria Partecipativa project and the Veneto Stellato association to integrate SQM data collected by different stations [TO BE COMPLETED].

For more information: bmp@pibinko.org

The Farma Valley (Southern Tuscany) Community Map

The Farma Valley Community Map was created by using as a base map the current Tuscan administration official base maps (1:10000 scale), interviewing the elders of the three villages (Torniella, Piloni, and Scalvaia), in order to document points of interest and other information which does not exist in the official maps, but is relevant for the locals.

The toponyms thus produced are also published on the Regione Toscana Open Data Portal.

Following a first data base created in 2015, the work saw a second round of activity during the 2016-2017 Winter. In 2017 the map is undergoing several integrations and additions.

For more information: info@pibinko.org.

Please also refer to:

The article on the proceedings of the INVOLEN international conference on environmental education (Florence, Italy, Sep. 2015): Integrating Culture Environment and Open Innovation for Awareness Raising: a Case from the Farma Valley, Tuscany

and more posts from the pibinko.org blog:

https://www.pibinko.org/the-first-hard-copy-steps-for-the-farma-valley-tuscany-community-map/ for more recent updates

or write to info@pibinko.org for additional information.

Thank you

BuioMetria Partecipativa (participatory night sky monitoring)

(Since February 2008)

In 2008 I created and launched the  BuioMetria Partecipativa (BMP) project.

The project is a combination of awareness raising, participatory light pollution monitoring, and promotion of dark-sky areas.

It is primarily focused on Italy in terms of monitoring area, but operates on an international scale in terms of vision and relations.

The project includes a web-GIS for an interface for data upload, visualization, reporting, and download. The project also has a robust communication plan, including numerous outreach events in Italy and abroad.

The project has undergone several phases:

  • Feb. – May 2008: Idea and design (Giacomelli, Giubbilini, Delucchi)
  • Summer 2008 – Spring 2011: activities in a “non structured” mode (Giacomelli, Giubbilini, Delucchi)
  • Spring 2011 – end of 2012: continuation of the activity with the creation of Attivarti.org as a managing organisation, and launch of the  CORDILIT network (fixed rather than hand-held sensors). (Giacomelli, Giubbilini, Costa, Lombardelli)
  • Early 2013 – end of 2016: in addition to the work under the  Attivarti.org hat, we were invited in the  Loss of the Night Network (ES-1204 Action of the EU COST programme), with the role of primary Management Committee member representing Italy. (Giacomelli, Spinosi, Pocci, Bartalucci)
  • Following the Farma Valley Winter Fest, the project enters a phase, currently under definition during Winter 2016-2017. This is currently referred to as “BuioMetria Partecipativa Reloaded”.
  • In May 2017 a memorandum of understanding was signed between Attivarti.org (the NGO managing the non-profit part of the project) and the Institute of Biometeorology of the Italian Research Council. This follows a similar document signed with the University of Pisa at the end of 2015 (see article on the International Journal of Sustainable Lighting, Feb. ’17).
  • The main activity for 2018 was the organization and promotion (together with CNR IBIMET and University of Pisa) of a Symposium on protection and promotion of night sky, held on Capraia Island (Tuscany)
  • …check out the “News/blog” sections of pibinko.org and Attivarti.org (generally maintained both in Italian and English)

For more information: info@pibinko.org

Farma Valley Winter Fest (Dec. 2016)

Three days of concerts, presentations about cultural and scientific topics, laid out between the Farma Valley (half way between Siena and Grosseto), and Grosseto city itself.

The event was in collaboration with the Band of Torniella, the Riflessi photo club in Grosseto and Etruschi from Lakota.

Numerous blog posts are available on the event, which also had relevant media exposure in Tuscany (with three quasi-complete pages on Il Tirreno, which is not bad for an extremely unlikely event).

All the documentation can be traced following the fdi-vdf tag for Italian articles, and fv-wf for English articles (but several articles are still to be translated…we encourage you to check the Italian version which has lots of visual content).

Loss of the Night Management Committe member

Jan. 2013 – Oct. 2016

As principal representative for Italy in the Management Committe of the Loss of the Night network I have

  • Actively attended the MC meetings
  • Given lectures in an international Summer School for lighting designers
  • Promoted and co-ordinated, together with CNR-IBIMET in Florence, an experimental campaign for night sky quality monitoring
  • Established collaborations with universities (Scuola Superiore di Mediazione Linguistica e Dept. of Biology in Pisa)
  • Undertaken outreach activities

The revision of the trekking network in Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, Tuscany

In collaboration with IRIS Ambiente:
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A presentation of the project for the Municipality of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, South of Pisa, concerning the revision of some 80 km of trekking network.

The project implied a series of GPS surveys, the creation of a GIS data set combining the survey with pre-existing cartography, update photographic documentation, and the creation of a maintenance plan highlighting priority actions and more long-term activities for the promotion of the network.

For more information: bacci@irisambiente.it

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