The Làbas collective recently started a dialogue with the City Government about the future of the space and established a “Comitato per la Tutela e l’Affermazione del’’ex Caserma Masini Bene Comune”, a Committee for the Care and Affirmation of the former Caserma Masini as a commons, that provides them with a legally recognised infrastructure with currently 700 members. The Làbas center was then evicted and received manifestation of support from a wide array of social actors in the City. What is required for the civic and institutional actors involved in this situation for addressing it is to carry out an exercise of civic imagination, as stated by the Deputy Mayor Matteo Lepore that recently proposed for Làbas and other realities active in the neighbourhood to open a dialogue over the possibility of regenerating the wide abandoned area of the Staveco, a former …, which is going to be destined for 85% of its space to social use. Also declarations form the Mayor of Bologna Virginio Merola are open to the dialogue for finding an alternative solution for Làbas.  

To date, CO-Bologna has contributed to the establishment of a Community Association among the merchants of the artists’ streets of Bolognina; while in the medium and long term it aims to accompany local actors in the construction of an Urban Improvement District of Bolognina (DUMBO), in order to create a neighborhood direction that synthesizes an institutionalized public-private-community partnership formula, modeling the process on the successful experience of Pilastro 2016.

The next action will concern living spaces and will involve the implementation of a co-design path, involving two types of apartment buildings (public and private), for the identification of collaborative forms of management of common parts and services. The path of reflection on private spaces will be followed by discussion on public space, thanks to the involvement of the Association of Merchants and the most active players in the field of innovation, with the aim of: sharing common initiatives to promote the area; advancing proposals for community care; and identifying actions to respond to the needs expressed during the path with residents.

The process is supported by Federcasa, which sees it as a useful experiment in the innovation of housing policies at the national level. It is coordinated by LabGov and relies on the collaboration of ACER Bologna, ASPPI, Quartiere Navile and the expertise of Kilowatt and CBS-Abito.