Starts
June 10, 2025 16:00
OPEN FORUM
/
Event
NARRATING TRANSFORMATION IN MARGINAL TERRITORIES
Transdisciplinary and Action-Oriented Perspectives
#enablingMarginalTerritoriesLocation
Seminar Room 1, Eurac Research Drususallee 1/Viale Druso 1, Bolzano/Bozen, Italy
Curated by
Elisa Ravazzoli (Eurac Research, Institute for Regional Development) and Alice Buoli (DAStU, Politecnico di Milano)
Participants
Elisabeth Alber (Eurac Research) Angelika Burtscher (Lungomare, Bozen) Nicola Colannino (Politecnico di Milano) Philipp Corradini & Andrea Omizzolo (Eurac Research) Alice Engl, Johanna Mitterhofer & Marcus Nicolson (Eurac Research) Daria Habicher (LIA Collective, Bozen) Peter Laner & Alessia Pilati (Eurac Research) Fabio Manfredini (Politecnico di Milano) Federica Maino & Lydia Pedoth (Eurac Research) Matteo Moretti (Sheldon.studio, Università degli studi di Sassari, Bozen) Teresa Palmieri (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) Massimiliano Pittore (Eurac Research)
With the participation of
Valeria Fedeli (Politecnico di Milano, CRAFT-DAStU) Raffaella Coletti (CNR-ISSIRFA) Ingrid Kofler (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
With the institutional support of
Center of Competence for Anti-Fragile Territories (CRAFT), DAStU, Politecnico di Milano
Contacts
alice.buoli@polimi.it; elisa.ravazzoli@eurac.edu
Tags
What narrative forms and tools do we need to represent and communicate transformation in contexts where instability, inequality, and transitions are ongoing?
How can we integrate plural perspectives to generate more inclusive and situated understandings of change? What is the transformative potential of such narratives? Who produces them and for whom? What is the contribution of research in activating processes of transformation?
This seminar invites a transdisciplinary critical reflection on how to construct effective and inclusive narratives and representations of transformation in fragile territories – such as peripheral areas, border regions, and marginal spaces – through operative and practice-based approaches. Transformation is intended as a profound reordering that challenges existing structures to produce something fundamentally novel (Blythe et al., 2018). Emerging from sustainability studies, the concept offers a productive lens to explore socio-ecological dynamics, societal change, policy processes, and significant modifications in collective perceptions, imaginaries, and practices. Yet, its broad, flexible nature requires critical scrutiny, considering its potential biases and misinterpretations, and questioning by whom and to whom transformation is enacted and addressed. This should be regarded as when transformation occurs in vulnerable socio-spatial settings and contexts. In its ambiguity and hybridity, such a notion can open a space of discussion and exchange across different academic, institutional, and societal realms.
The seminar aims to rethink the tools and methods we use to narrate, map, represent, and give voice to the evolving and often precarious conditions of vulnerable territories and communities
in the face of multiple transformations and changes (economic, socio-demographic, environmental, climate, (geo)political, etc).
Participants will share ongoing projects and experiences, such as cartographies, storylines, artistic and literary practices, and visual productions experimenting with inclusive narratives and strategies. The seminar aims to foster dialogue across disciplines and practices to enrich our shared vocabulary and methodological toolkit for engaging with fragile territories.
The seminar will feature three thematic sessions with presentations and interventions, followed by a final Q&A and collective discussion.
Thematic sessions
- Co-Designing Transformations: Participatory Narratives for Social and Institutional Change
- Storytelling Transformations: Climate, Risk, and Identity in Marginal Territories
- Spatial Transitions Through Mapping: Visualizing Change in Fragile Territories
The seminar is organized in the context of the project “Italian Borderscapes after 2020. Mapping, unfolding, and re-framing border territories in response to the Covid-19 pandemic”, funded by the EU - Next Generation EU - PRIN 2022 Call for proposals - D.D. No. 104, February2, 2022 - M4 C2 Inv.1.1 Prot. No. 20225TN2R9 - CUP: D53D23010950006