“The SkatePark SkateParkItaly” (S.P.I.) is a spin-off project from Gangcity, a cultural project supported by a program of scientific research that has completed studies, surveys and reflections on the complex world of the gangs and their spinoff cultures. It documents troubled peripheral urban areas, void of any form of control, to initiate regeneration, re-appropriation and upkeep of private and public spaces and to develop innovative and sustainable operative solutions for the problems of urban clusters. These represent the fertile terrain for the proliferation of gangs and criminal activity. SkateParkItaly is a pilot project organized by the Dipartimento di Giustizia Minorile e di Comunità (DGMC) of Ministero di Giustizia and Gangcity. Through sporting activities it identifies a model of inclusion and integration of marginalized and fragile young members of the communities. The plans can be corroborated by the creation of a common facility – the skate park – destined for leisure activities and sharing free time. A strong bond connects the educational vision of Ministero di Giustizia and Gangcity, that endorses the role of training and publicising through brainstorming between students, lecturers, artists, politicians and entrepreneurs, to join forces with the citizens to produce the mutations of the locations and to intervene on their aesthetic qualities; these can be described as actions of contrast and preventative opposition to the formation of gang cities, interpreted as undeniable ‘alternative’ devices of self-organisation from grassroots level of the physical spaces of the city and the relative social rules of management, and even dominance.
Principal Academic Tutors
Fabio Armao, DIST PoliTO, GANGCITY
Paolo Mellano, DAD PoliTO
Marco Imperadori, ABC PoliMI
Academic Tutors
Marina Bravi, DIST PoliTO
Matteo Poli, DATSU PoliMI
External institutions
Department of Juvenile Justice and Community and the Italian Ministry of Justice
External Tutors
Mila Sichera, DAD PoliTO, GANGCITY
Gemma Tuccillo, Dipartimento della Giustizia Minorile e di Comunità
Marella Santangelo, DiARC Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Paolo Giardiello, DiARC Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Claudio Bernardini, Milano Skateboarding
Patrizia Alfano, UISP
Walter Macaluso, Rider’s Academy
Roberto Grippiolo, Impresa Cavallo
Team members
Federica Pennino, Communication Design, PoliMi
Daniele Ricciardi, Interior Architecture, PoliMi
Aleksandra Katmerova, Design & Engineering, PoliMi
Luisa Viotti [Team Controller], Architecture for the Sustainable Design, PoliTo
Marco Felicioni, Architectural Design and History, PoliMI
Seda Ayvazyan Interior Design, PoliMi
Luca Bussolino, Architecture Construction City, PoliTO
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Watch the video of the Project