Calliano + Rovereto industrial area - Wed, 31.12.2014
Together with Giovanna Zanghellini, we drove from Nomi to Calliano, where we left the car at the beginning of the village. We walked along the main road along the whole length of the old part of the village, passing by the modern and already crumbling library building, reaching the opposite end and returning back to the car along the state road with a detour through the new part of the town on the other side of it. In this area Calliano is currently expanding, eroding the'cultural landscape' constructed over the centuries.
Important thoughts
How to connect the project to the different production and manufacture structures that are present in the villages and in Rovereto? Maybe, if we find a clever way this could help a lot, but how to keep a distance, not be service providers for this part of the place's economy? Maybe this sounds stupid... But possibly one or more events could be hosted in this kind of setting-- this makes me think of the concert/photo projection in the wood warehouse in Olang. These companies after all seem to have an important place in the minds of the people. As soon as one of them starts having problems because of the crisis this is affecting the general mindset a lot.
Discussing with Giovanna, the fact emerged that in this region people wanting to activate something new are blocked between wanting to access(diminishing) public funds and between a general hype for entrepreneurialism(especially the term"start-up" is currently overused). Moreover, it only seems like specific sectors are heavily supported, but then only a fraction of start-ups actually makes it. But in any case this is where a lot of money is flowing now.
Giovanna told us of the difficulty she finds in bringing people together to get active. A lot of time ideas are spun and complaints are brought forward, but according to her people are still too well-off to activate something that has longevity and a certain radicality to it.
And also it seems that all these start-ups are assisted in a dull way. Tutoring(which Giovanna has some experience with as part of an association that wants to focus on reuse etc.) is trying to fit everyone into an entrepreneurial blueprint. For Giovanna's group this meant that they gave up on this and actually began to fall apart as a group.
Important observations
The quite terrible architecture of the modern building hosting the primary school and the library-- the concrete is already full of cracks, the outer cladding is deteriorating, the whole construction is ugly and not very functional.
Calliano as a whole, maybe also because of the weather, seemed rather uninviting. The main road is cutting through part of the village. Also the fact that the village is completely in the plain, there is no elevated point that gives another view of the landscape. The village is compressed between the river, the railway and the state road.
Also, most companies have amazing production facilities. Could there be a way to activate these differently? This sounds like a difficult path to go...
The train station and the nearby abandoned buildings seem to have great potential-- it looks like inhabitants are trying to reactivate the station, maybe as part of larger plans to have small trains connecting villages like Calliano, Mori, Ala, Avio to Rovereto and Trento.
Rovereto's industrial area on a holiday day is empty and desolate. There are many companies we never heard of, which are using an enormous quantity of know-how. How could we activate that know-how for the'greater good'? The experts working here have also many other personal interests and skills, but the way their knowledge is activated is only for others' profit or for personal things. How to open this up?
It looks like in the industrial area there is a power plant, possibly to sustain the different factories with extra power.
Action points
Check out accademiadimpresa.it - they are organising lots of courses in Trento.
There are many companies and factories! It would be interesting to have tours of some important ones, like Sandoz, the paper factory in Villalagarina, the waste dump etc. Just to get an idea of the industrial economy in the area, which apparently is very specialised in mechanics and metal work.
Important thoughts
Important observations
Action points