We participated in the fourth edition of the Biennial of Proximity on June 10 and 11, 2022 in Brescia, Italy by presenting FirstLife and its connection with CommonsHood in the session “The Digital Transition: does it bring us closer together or pull us apart?”

Our digital civic technologies are tools naturally aimed at developing proximity, territorial and value-based, from the “digital” to the “physical.” Central is the concept of place, which is one of the main entities on FirstLife.

Our digital civic network can foster the courses of action identified by the Biennial, such as networking, comparing and exchanging best practices among entities implementing proximity actions, and initiating proximity awareness actions towards citizenship.

It can also be a tool to carry out training activities in schools and more generally to train “agents of proximity” as well as being a training ground for co-design.

At the same time, CommonsHood can be used in proximity exchanges aimed at supporting local economic activities, as well as innovating local welfare services.

Twenty Italian proximity realities were presented at the Biennial, including two from Turin, the Neighborhood Houses and the Popular Culture Network, all of which are very interesting, and with which we hope to initiate future comparisons and collaborations throughout the country.

Among the researchers present, we highlight Ezio Manzini, who wrote “Inhabiting Proximity. Ideas for the 15-minute city,” the spatial organizational model we use in crowdmapping on FirstLife.

Special thanks go to Georges Tabacchi and Gianfranco Marocchi, directors of the Biennial.