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In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt. They are:

METHEXIS

MATHEMATICS, NARRATIVES, AND GENERATIVE SPACES FOR EXTREMELY FRAGILE CONTEXTS

Mathematical models are the starting point to create a map of nodes describing the links and interactions in a group of people. The METHEXIS project focus on a case study in this field, analysing the young-adult section of the San Vittore prison, which is an unstable reality that is uninterruptedly changing due to the rapid turnover of people and volunteering associations. The researchers aim to develop a descriptive map-model of the relationships in place, to help shaping the planning and participation policies addressed to San Vittore’s people by introducing forms of sociability and peer support. 

The figure shows a first pilot example of a network composed of 49 prisoners and keeps track of their participation in the proposed activities, so that researchers get to know who is in contact with whom and can reconstruct the link (connections) between the nodes (people) of the mathematical model. In this way, a mathematical object (graph) is constructed the properties of which can be studied. If interpreted in the light of the real situation, they give information about the social network between the people considered. The colours (shifting from red to blue as the number of ties increases) indicate the number of social relationships of each individual, while the size of the knot indicates the strength of the ties established by the individual. Interesting are the cases of prisoners who have few but all very strong relationships and, conversely, the cases of prisoners who have many but all superficial relationships. The 'number of social relationships' and the 'strength of ties' are examples of the way mathematical indicators can be interpreted in this specific context.

A second activity is the collection of qualitative data through Storylab. Quantitative and qualitative data will feed into the map-model of relationships to provide information on the reciprocal link between sociality and well-being. This work is the result of 'research through design', an interdisciplinary methodology that is an evolution of the use of experimental scientific method in social contexts. This method is common to the three research areas within the METHEXIS project: Engineering, Design and Architecture.

PROCESSING ACTIONS: STORYLAB AND THE MATHEMATICAL LABORATORY

StoryLab is a permanent participatory storytelling laboratory by Imagis Lab, a research group of the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano. It explores the imagination of prisoners, provides expressive tools and collects stories on San Vittore’s microcosm, with the dual aim of understanding this complex reality and communicating it to the outside world. In May 2023, the woman researchers in Design from Politecnico di Milano involved in Off Campus San Vittore started their activities in the Youth Adult Ward. Each weekly meeting records by about 15 participants. They take the floor and recount their life experiences, helped by the stimulus provided by images that form an iconographic repertoire from which to draw to activate the senses, memory and imagination. The images are accompanied by questions, grouped according to the different significant areas of the narrative world that is constructed and shared at each meeting: one introduces and tells about him/herself, his/her relationships and places, past and my present, values and desires. Within the framework of the METHEXIS project, Storylab allows for the collection of qualitative data on the profile of inmates in the ward, the ways they are involved in activities and the current and possible uses the ward spaces.

At the end of the project (end of 2024-beginning of 2025), an exhibition curated by Imagis Lab and Knitlab (Department of Design) will translate the mathematical model of the San Vittore system, elaborated on the basis of the collected data, into the languages of visual and multimedia representation and knitting stitches (partner: Gomitolo Rosa).

Another action already planned is the Mathematical Workshop, which will be offered in three editions of six meetings each. The focus will be on problem-solving and will involve working in small groups to encourage everyone's involvement and collaboration to solve a common problem together. The workshop will involve 2 mathematicians and about 12 participants. It is expected to start at the end of May 2024.

Each year, the Politecnico di Milano selects 5 research projects with high social impact and, with the economic contribution of donors who choose to donate their 5 per mille Irpef to the University supports them in a phase of grounding “pilot experiences” with concrete impact.

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects , though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

CHAR:ME

BIOCHAR AND BIOMASS-DERIVED PRODUCTS FROM WASTE AS SUSTAINABLE AND SAFE DOMESTIC FUEL

In developing countries, the use of wood and charcoal as fuel is one of the main causes of deforestation. Politecnico’s researchers, with the CHAR:ME project, aim to reduce it through the development and spreading of sustainable technologies for the recovery of solid fuel from organic waste. The case study examines a pilot experience on the island of Nosy Be, in the province of Antsiranana, north-western Madagascar, which is affected by intense exploitation of primary forests for the production of wood and charcoal used as fuel for domestic cooking. This practice is still causing considerable environmental and social damage: according to estimates, over the past 50 years Madagascar's forest cover reduced by 40%, with the consequent loss of biodiversity in one of the most valuable ecosystems globally, and anthropogenic emissions (a share of which is from domestic cooking) are estimated at 1-2.4 Gt CO2-eq per year, that is, 2-7% of the total. In addition, women and children spend an average of 2.2 hours per day on procuring fuel. The health risk is also very high due to the release of indoor pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide, particulate matter), with 16,500 cases of premature death each year.

It is clear that streamlining the use of fuels would benefit the ecosystem and free up resources by allowing different activities for the population (including schooling).

The solution proposed by CHAR:ME is to transform organic waste (which is currently pure waste and therefore has to be managed) into solid alternative fuels to wood and charcoal. These solid fuels will be produced in two ways: (1) biomass briquettes, obtained from the collection of waste subjected to mechanical and biodrying treatments, (2) coal briquettes, prepared by adding a biochar pyrolysis treatment into the same production chain (waste collected and treated centrally + pyrolysis treatment specifically designed and able to determine the simultaneous generation of heat for accessory uses). The fuels produced are intended for distribution to the local community for domestic use in the cooking systems currently in use, with the aim of promoting a virtuous circuit of waste recovery and processing, and preventing environmental and social impacts, including health impacts, in the context of the intervention.

Activities are conducted in close continuity with the application context and local stakeholders, taking due account of non-technical aspects. The next mission, scheduled for June 2024, will take a team of scientists and technicians from Politecnico to Madagascar.

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt. They are:

STUDMIHOME

STUDENT LIVING IN MILAN: AFFORDABILITY AND PRACTICES IN THE HOUSING MARKET

Milan is a University City. It has dozens of university centres and hosts 185,000 students per year. It ranks first in Italy in terms of number of University Departments. Every year, Milan hosts over 63,000 out-of-town students from all over Italy and the rest of the world. However, it also has another, less virtuous record, as it leads the 2023 ranking of the most expensive cities 2023. And how much does it cost to live in Milan as a student? Will Milan really realise its potential as a University City, or will it just become a ‘city for the wealthy'?

The STUDMIHOME's research team addresses this crucial issue in order to reduce the discrimination and vulnerability young people often have to face, as especially in the case of foreign or less affluent students. And what’s more, Milan attracts students from all over Italy and the world, but its attractiveness is undermined by the high cost of living, high rents and the difficulty of finding decent and sustainable housing solutions. For Milan, losing attractiveness for students would mean losing an important resource for that innovation that makes it a pool of excellence from which businesses in the area draw most of their skilled labour, and this would impoverish its industrial fabric. In short, if a solution is not found, we all lose out.

STUDMIHOME involves Politecnico’s students in a research project aimed at understanding housing demand and supply and also to foster public engagement and public action. The ultimate goal is to develop and test a new service at Off Campus Nolo. This service will help students to find decent housing solutions, and will provide them information and legal advice, practical support and guidance to University services.

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt. They are:

DROPS

SMART DRAINAGE SYSTEM FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

Every time we flush the toilet, we use about 10 litres of drinking water. Rainwater could be used instead, which in Milan is however not collected and, when it rains 'too much', is lost and can cause a lot of damage. In these months it does not sound like too much of a problem, but in August, when news will talk about drought, it will seem like a waste. And this is where the Poli researchers come in.

In synergy with Bioloop and in the context of the Nosedo Off-Campus, the DROPS project focuses on sustainable rainwater management. Through the installation of a collection and infiltration tank in the ground, it aims at two objectives: preventing sewerage network overloading and promoting the sustainable reuse of water. In concrete terms, the aim is to avoid flooding and to have a water reserve during the driest months to be used for non-drinking purposes, such as irrigation or toilet flushing.

The project addresses three main aspects: scientific and technological research, for stormwater management optimisation; education, with a field laboratory for water and soil measurements; and public engagement, by training partner organisations and raising public awareness. The data collected from November to date show that this type of water may be used for irrigating the many agricultural areas surrounding the farmstead, thus decreasing the pressure on the aqueduct . The collection tank is scheduled to be installed in May. A series of humidity sensors will measure the benefits of the infiltration system on the subsoil. The tank level will be monitored and flow regulators will allow modular use. The weather controller will also allow the system's activities to be scheduled predictively.

Every year, Politecnico di Milano selects five research projects with a high social impact and, with the financial contribution of people who choose to allocate their 5x1000 Irpef donations to the University, supports them during the implementation of concrete and incisive 'pilot experiences':

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects, though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

I-FERME – INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN FOR A MULTIFUNCTIONAL EFFICIENT FARM

In this research project, Politecnico’s researchers are tackling problems related to food poverty. The case study examines Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a city of 13 million inhabitants where the poorest sections of the population cannot afford to eat meat and suffer from advanced malnutrition. As early as the 1980s, the Catholic University of Congo (UCC) established a farm in the village of Mpangala, about 40 km from Kinshasa. This farm covers more than 400 hectares and is a multifunctional farm, i.e., it is used for food production as well as training and research activities by the UCC Department of Economics and Development. To date, the farm lacks connection to the national electricity grid, has no cold storage rooms and accessing it is difficult due to the collapse of some of the bridges connecting it to Kinshasa. The I-FERME project aims to improve Mpangala’s access road infrastructure (bridges) and upgrade the support infrastructure for food processing and storage, so that the existing farm can be fully utilised.

The Politecnico’s team is working on three fronts: the first was the electrification of the farm through the design of electricity grids based on photovoltaic panels and batteries; this was followed by the design of road infrastructures (bridges/viaducts), with low cost and environmental impact, to maximise the use of local resources; and the third is design and implementation of intelligent cold rooms for food preservation. Achieving the set objectives will make it possible to improve food production as well as to store food properly and transport it to neighbouring cities (first and foremost, Kinshasa). The end result will be the availability, even to the poorest urban population, of products at affordable prices, which will help tackle the problem of malnutrition and hunger.

With a view to prototyping and extendability to similar contexts, the researchers have developed simplified tools, such as open-access software, abacuses and tables, that are accessible and easy to use and that will also enable the students of the partner Catholic University of Congo and the local population to acquire specific basic knowledge that can be used and exported to other contexts. In particular, at this stage the team is working on the construction of a specific MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) dedicated to the simplified tools developed during the project.

In 2023, the Polisocial Awards contest (to find out what it is about, see (here) identified and selected five research projects to be funded with the 5x1000 Irpef donations, thanks to all the Alumni who decided to allocate them to Politecnico di Milano.

The researchers started in November and will work for 15 months to frame situations of gap and need in certain neighbourhoods of the city of Milan. At Politecnico, the 5x1000 contributions are usually invested in projects which can be implemented in the short term while aiming to be replicable and have an effect in the long term; they are generally case studies that concretise solutions studied in larger projects and allow students and researchers to put into practice what they have learnt.

CITTÀ-IN – INCLUSIVE CITIES AND QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICES

Access to and use of public services is a challenge for everyone - and we are well aware of that. For foreign and immigrant families, linguistic and cultural distance exacerbates difficulties and, in addition to being an obstacle to inclusion, can lead to the denial of fundamental rights. Trivially, if a person does not manage to obtain a SPID, is not digitally literate or has no access to a computer, it becomes complex for him/her to even enrol his/her children in school or be assigned a GP. What if there is no one in a family who can read Italian?

This is also what the research groups at Politecnico di Milano are concerned with: not only technological advances but innovative solutions that address the everyday problems of the fragile. We talked about this with Maryam Karimi, a researcher working on the Città-IN project: ‘Innovation does not simply mean using technology or digitising systems. It is about changing mindsets, organisational structures and policies to promote inclusion and diversity'.

Empowering marginalised people (such as immigrant children and their families, but the same could apply to the elderly) to understand their rights - the right to inspiration, growth and learning - means real inclusion; and it is one of the first steps in addressing contemporary challenges, laying the foundations for a stable future for all.

The Città-IN project goes in this direction and represents the actualisation of a broader Politecnico project: the experimental application of 'Mediation Grammar', a quality standard for public services that facilitates interaction between people and their administrative rights. This standard was developed by Politecnico di Milano itself in the context of a European research project and adopted by the European Commission.

Learn more about the Mediation Grammar developed by Politecnico di Milano for the European Commission

Karimi and colleagues are working in the Off Campus space in the San Siro neighbourhood with around 40 foreign families, three comprehensive schools in the neighbourhood, and several local authorities providing school integration services. The first goal is to provide direct support to schools, families and students; but, in the long term, it will facilitate the development of a scenario to ensure the sustainability of this interface and build a replicable model for the evaluation and application of Mediation Grammar.

Learn more about the Città-IN research project and its applications

Every year, Politecnico di Milano selects five research projects with a high social impact and, with the financial contribution of people who choose to allocate their 5x1000 Irpef donations to the University, supports them during the implementation of concrete and incisive 'pilot experiences':

In 2022, for instance, we dealt with 'Local Development and Ecological Transition'. The five selected research groups have until the end of 2024 to concretise their ideas, which are usually short-term realisable projects , though aiming to be replicable and have a long-term effect.

Five projects: one to be developed in Milan, three in Africa and one in Brazil. Their common goal is to green our planet starting with very specific contexts: turning waste into fuel without cutting down trees; tackling climate change in cities; a project for a super-efficient farm that makes the best use of the land’s assets; techniques to breathe new life into a valley in Algeria by combining ancient knowledge and state-of-the-art technology; and cutting-edge orthopaedic solutions to improve health in Lombardy while saving money and respecting the environment.

They are:

NBSOUTH - NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS VIA RETROFITTING FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION: A CASE IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

The effects of desertification are strongly felt in urban areas as well. The city of Brasilia, in particular, with its size and criticality, has been hit by frequent droughts in recent years, which have prompted the city to declare a state of emergency several times, leading to the closure of schools and parks, with serious social consequences. NBSouth explores nature-based solutions (NBS), namely the sustainable management and use of natural resources to address socio-environmental challenges such as climate change, water risk, water pollution, food security, human health and environmental disaster risk management.

The fieldwork team is developing strategies for ad-hoc green infrastructure management and contributing to the definition of policies for socio-economic development and environmental resilience. Special attention is paid to water management, thermoregulation and infrastructural adaptation of densely populated urban areas.

Find out more