SUSTAINABILITY
IN PROGRESS
From 2022
Sustainable Piedmont
The Territories and Digital Communities research group of the Computer Science Department of the University of Turin has developed a version of the FirstLife open source platform in co-design and co-management with the Regione Piemonte to concretely support and complement the activities of the Piedmont Sustainable Development Pact, as part of the ‘Activation of the Regional Forum’.
The FirstLife civic social network is designed to foster participatory planning at a territorial scale, to develop collaborative practices between public and private territorial actors and to stimulate self-organisation initiatives. It will therefore be used to structure and manage relations between territorial institutions and civil society in relation to SRSvS objectives and to organise and visualise the contributions of local policies to regional sustainability objectives.
The Piedmont Region believes in the present and the past of the social, economic and environmental fabric as a source of new visions for the future, and is aware that the only way to constructively bring about change is to give voice to all the efforts of the communities that inhabit, know and love the territory of today and tomorrow.
IN PROGRESS
From 2022
Mindchangers
Mindchangers is a European project of the Regione Piemonte that aims to improve the capacities of local authorities and civil society organisations in initiating projects and activities to engage young people in the great challenges of our time.
Together with the COP and the civic social network FirstLife, it co-designed a new and innovative way to tell about the numerous projects of the region aimed at engaging teenagers on urgent topics such as climate change and migration.
To do this, we developed an interactive map to geo-reference the initiatives implemented (as part of Mindchangers) by organisations and local authorities. The elements to develop a dynamic and engaging narrative of activities are:
- Project sheets to consult the various project initiatives of funded organisations
- Events to stay up-to-date on planned activities and events
- Stories to read news and updates about young protagonists, sustainability influencers
IN PROGRESS
From 2021
Nlab4cit
The Computer Science Department of the University of Turin is the lead partner in the European project Nlab4cit, which aims to build a network of laboratories run by organisations, research groups and institutions committed to bringing together and involving citizens in the creation of public services through civic digital technologies.
The project involves the municipalities of Collegno (Italy), Roeselare (Belgium) and Kaisariani (Greece) together with the University of Howest (Belgium), Open Lab Athens (Greece) and VVSG (Belgium).
The civic social network FirstLife and the wallet app CommonsHood will be made available to the Municipality of Collegno to co-design an intervention with young people.
More info > nlab4cit.eu
IN PROGRESS
From 2021
Pedalè
The decarbonisation of mobility is indispensable to achieve the goals of the EU 2030 Plan against climate change.
Turin, with its 207 km of cycle paths, is a highly ‘pedalable’ city, but to function effectively and allow citizens to use it in comfort and safety, the infrastructure must be properly signposted and maintained.
This is the goal of Pedalé, the project by Legambiente Piemonte e Valle d’Aosta - the most widespread environmental association in Italy - which maps cycle routes with the help of all those who want to make a difference and support safe urban ‘cycling’.
FirstLife, a civic social network and digital crowdmapping tool to support active citizenship, has made its contribution by developing the Pedalè platform through which cycle paths are mapped, services such as refreshment points (drinking fountains) and bike repair are reported, and structural problems and maintenance needs are highlighted. Pedalè staff will intervene to make them safe, thanks to the reports collected and the collaboration with the City of Turin.
The Pedalè platform gives voice to the community of citizens who want to make Turin green, safe and on a human scale!
IN PROGRESS
2020 - 2022
Tingangue Vougrè
Natural Rebirth
Sustainable development and protection of the natural heritage of the Goada Forest
The Unione Montana Valli Orco e Soana (TO) has set up a partnership with the Equiliberi Onlus association and the Computing Science Department of the University of Turin, in order to use FirstLife, previously adapted to Burkina Faso, for support its first decentralised cooperation project in Africa.
The Unione Montana Valli Orco e Soana (TO) has adopted FirstLife to map land use in the Goada Forest, in Burkina Faso, where it is taking action to defend protected land, enhancing the agro-forestry sector and promoting sustainable agriculture also outside protected areas.
The opportunities for direct interaction between Italian and Burkinabe municipalities will increase, as well as the quality of their exchanges, thanks to the use of FirstLife. They can directly share and apply best practices in public-private partnerships for the protection of the natural heritage of the Goada forest.
IN PROGRESS
2020 - 2024
Maison du Citoyen WASH+
The association Equiliberi Onlus in Turin activated a collaboration with FirstLife to support an international cooperation project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The objective is mapping and analysing data related social and health services for different kinds of public spaces as schools and hospitals, to evaluate if policies, interventions and projects over time guarantee the achievement or maintenance of the sanitary parameters defined by UNHCR (so called standard WASH). The project involves local institutions and organizations in different sectors.
Use-cases with FirstLife will start in the city of Lubumbashi to geocalize services and identify which standards they currently have. With Firstlife will possible manage different cases and variables based on the type of the project and thematic area.
In this way, it will be possible to easily collect and analyze data coming from questionnaires and surveys filled by the managers of the local structures, then assess whether or not the places have reached the standard reference parameters.
FirsLife could be a useful tool to support international cooperation in the design of life-cycle projects, from monitoring and evaluation of the impacts to the communication of the results to citizens.
CONCLUDED
April - May 2018
UniCarto
UniCarto is part of a broader project called #UnitoGo#Food#Lab, with the objective to build shared knowledge on the nutritional habits of the university community, analyzing the territorial responses to these needs, and thee link between food and city.
With FirstLife was made a participatory mapping involving 200 students to identify all places in which they buy or consume food during the five weekdays when they attend university.
120 places have been identified near the Campus Luigi Einaudi and Palazzo Nuovo. The most of them are very close to universities, proving the relevant role of the territory to respond basic need as food (especially low cost restaurant and fast service). Some other places are used to consume homemade food, showing a widespread need for spaces dedicated to this type of use into the university.
IN PROGRESS
From 2017
Atlas of Food
The project involved University of Torino, Polytechnic of Torino and University of Gastronomic science of Pollenzo.
The Atlas aims to: produce new knowledge related the metropolitan food sector; increase visibility of the system and its dynamic; support PA to build and implement food policy supporting also the ordinary management of the system; increase awareness, participation and citizen’s involvement; offer an interaction tools, enabling also integration mechanisms and cooperation among projects, initiative and activities related the food system.
Periodically will be provide updates (detailed study and annual report) in quality of Observatory of the food metropolitan system. FirstLife support the participatory mapping on the Torino Metropolitan food system.
Dal 2022
GeoNight
GeoNight is a crowdmapping platform based on FirstLife, a civic social network, dedicated to the sustainability of university life, developed by the Territories and Digital Communities group of the Department of Computer Science in co-design with the Green Office UnIToGO, the Council of and Students in the Environment Commission and the Department of Cultures, Politics and Societies.
GeoNight provides a geography of the relationship between the city and the university through the eyes of and by students and the university community who, through the interactive features of FirstLife, contribute to the emergence of places and stories about the sustainability of daily life in Turin and the university declined in the following topics:
- food (including vegan)
- public and free services (including water, toilets, sanitary facilities)
- spaces and services for disability and neurodivergence
- green areas
- social spaces
- soft mobility
- study spaces
FirstLife mapping is being populated with “bottom-up” information added not only by and from young people, but also by student associations and representatives of and from students who, in the various bodies, already play an important role in informing and relating to the university community. Social features allow community members to stay in touch with each other and receive updates, improving the usability of the city, helping them learn about the urban social and cultural life, and facilitating them in building new social networks precisely from the places mapped and frequented.
