The first semester of the 20/21 academic year saw the conclusion of the Workshop 'Urban Playgrounds. Designing around schools', a form of innovative didactics curated by Prof. Anna Moro of the School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering of Politecnico di Milano, directed by Dean llaria Valente, which entered into a didactic agreement with IGPDecaux, the Italian leader in Out-Of-Home communication, focusing on Brand Urbanism.

The workshop, which involved 40 Politecnico di Milano students from more than 10 different countries (including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, China, Uganda, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Georgia), dealt with a plurality of disciplines such as Urban Planning, Architecture and Service Design with the aim of designing and activating the undeveloped public spaces around schools in three specific contexts of the city of Milan (Villapizzone, Dergano, Maciachini).

Certain that cross-fertilization (i.e., dealing with different experiences and skills to generate innovative projects) is an added value to configure Brand Urbanism© initiatives, the teaching experience was shared with the mix of players that ideally make up a project team: young designers and experienced town planners, public administrations, communities of place, associations of citizens, and above all, sponsoring brands. In fact, the workshop was attended as guest speakers and jurors by four illustrious brands that have been committed to innovation and sustainability issues for years: H-Farm, Lavazza, Saint Gobain and Timberland.

Mauro Iannizzi, H-FARM Innovation senior manager comments: 'This activity together with IGPDecaux and Politecnico di Milano reflects H-FARM's human centric approach: the H in our name in fact stands for Human, because we believe that people and their needs must be at the centre of everything we do. The design of new cities and new urban contexts naturally cannot disregard this centrality and cannot but involve young people, the citizens of tomorrow, who are strongly predisposed to innovation and true promoters of green behaviour, aimed at environmental protection and sustainable development'.

Angela D'Apolito, External Communication Manager at Saint-Gobain Italia, adds: 'Saint-Gobain has always been committed to projects aimed at the sustainable regeneration of urban areas, and firmly believes in the talent of young students, as they are capable of imagining and designing the future of our cities by making sustainability and innovation an inseparable pair. Participating in the Workshop as sponsoring brand was therefore a unique opportunity to once again promote these values, on which, moreover, our Group bases its very raison d'être'.

Finally, Timberland concludes: 'Brands are increasingly called upon to play a role that goes beyond the simple marketing and promotion of their products and services, they must become the bearers of positive change, especially in the territory in which they operate. Brand urbanism fits perfectly into this context, and it was very interesting to see how the students of Politecnico di Milano took up the challenge, developing articulate projects with important value features'.

Fondazione Sodalitas, the first organisation in Italy to promote Corporate Sustainability with a multi-stakeholder approach, with which IGPDecaux is associated, also supported the Workshop and participated in the teaching. Massimo Ceriotti, Association Marketing Manager, says: 'Businesses are undoubtedly among the stakeholders from which to expect a convinced contribution to the strengthening of urban regeneration processes. Moreover, more and more companies consider attention to the community in which they operate a fundamental element of their development strategy. Fondazione Sodalitas is committed to promoting multi-stakeholder partnerships between its member companies, institutions and civil society, in the conviction that this is an effective approach to breathe new life into the spaces of our cities. In this sense, Workshop Urban Playgrounds is a virtuous example, because it activates the best energies of several players working together to improve the quality of life of people in neighbourhoods'.

This collective experience has produced valuable takeaways, such as the in-depth analysis of the relational dimension with the communities of place, the discovery of specific tools to engage them, and the evidence that sponsoring brands do not necessarily seek visibility and return of image directly at the place of intervention, but prefer to promote a strategic narrative (planned in owned media and other media including Out of Home) together with community care activities. This bottom-up value narrative is built to last, and can be communicated by the brand with all its power.

Understanding the centrality of this type of sensitivity on communities is fundamental to trigger and apply the Playtime method (the format for public space regeneration interventions in highly fragile urban contexts, the result of a research contract signed in 2018 between IGPDecaux and the DAStU, the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano). The case histories brought as examples by the participating Brands highlighted a level of advanced maturity and conscious application of the fundamental concepts of Brand Urbanism©.

The workshop experimented with an open and systemic approach to public space that was able to valorise the temporary uses and activities, already present in the contexts, traceable to local associations and networks active with respect to the specific target of children and young people, particularly affected by the pandemic. The working groups produced suggestions and design explorations for improving the quality of the public pedestrian space, enlarged and made more accessible through safe connections for slow mobility, rethought in relation to outdoor play, movement and physical activity. The potential urban playgrounds proposed by the students reactivate the underused spaces around the schools and add new small collective functions onto them, rethink the surfaces by equipping them with new materials and inserting elements that enhance communication-interaction, increase greenery, and introduce devices that allow the places to be lived in and enjoyed comfortably, always integrating them into a network of open public spaces on a larger scale.

The names identifying the proposals give an idea of the different dimensions touched upon. By way of example: the project ‘Find your corner’ (1st prize) redesigns hammed-in open spaces around Viale Stelvio-Marche as spaces for sport by reconnecting schools in the vicinity; ‘Wall as a public space’ (2nd prize) reinterprets the boundary walls of the N. Savarino park as places to be lived in; ‘The outdoor play-street museum’ (Brand mention) connects leisure and play spaces as an open-air network-museum around the Guicciardi school in Dergano; finally, ‘1Km green playscape’ redesigns the spaces overlooked by the Rinnovata Pizzogoni-Poecher schools and others as an extended green playground connected to local parks.

The first semester of the 20/21 academic year saw the conclusion of the Workshop 'Urban Playgrounds. Designing around schools', a form of innovative didactics curated by Prof. Anna Moro of the School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering of Politecnico di Milano, directed by Dean llaria Valente, which entered into a didactic agreement with IGPDecaux, the Italian leader in Out-Of-Home communication, focusing on Brand Urbanism.

The workshop, which involved 40 Politecnico di Milano students from more than 10 different countries (including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, China, Uganda, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Georgia), dealt with a plurality of disciplines such as Urban Planning, Architecture and Service Design with the aim of designing and activating the undeveloped public spaces around schools in three specific contexts of the city of Milan (Villapizzone, Dergano, Maciachini).

Certain that cross-fertilization (i.e., dealing with different experiences and skills to generate innovative projects) is an added value to configure Brand Urbanism© initiatives, the teaching experience was shared with the mix of players that ideally make up a project team: young designers and experienced town planners, public administrations, communities of place, associations of citizens, and above all, sponsoring brands. In fact, the workshop was attended as guest speakers and jurors by four illustrious brands that have been committed to innovation and sustainability issues for years: H-Farm, Lavazza, Saint Gobain and Timberland.

Mauro Iannizzi, H-FARM Innovation senior manager comments: 'This activity together with IGPDecaux and Politecnico di Milano reflects H-FARM's human centric approach: the H in our name in fact stands for Human, because we believe that people and their needs must be at the centre of everything we do. The design of new cities and new urban contexts naturally cannot disregard this centrality and cannot but involve young people, the citizens of tomorrow, who are strongly predisposed to innovation and true promoters of green behaviour, aimed at environmental protection and sustainable development'.

Angela D'Apolito, External Communication Manager at Saint-Gobain Italia, adds: 'Saint-Gobain has always been committed to projects aimed at the sustainable regeneration of urban areas, and firmly believes in the talent of young students, as they are capable of imagining and designing the future of our cities by making sustainability and innovation an inseparable pair. Participating in the Workshop as sponsoring brand was therefore a unique opportunity to once again promote these values, on which, moreover, our Group bases its very raison d'être'.

Finally, Timberland concludes: 'Brands are increasingly called upon to play a role that goes beyond the simple marketing and promotion of their products and services, they must become the bearers of positive change, especially in the territory in which they operate. Brand urbanism fits perfectly into this context, and it was very interesting to see how the students of Politecnico di Milano took up the challenge, developing articulate projects with important value features'.

Fondazione Sodalitas, the first organisation in Italy to promote Corporate Sustainability with a multi-stakeholder approach, with which IGPDecaux is associated, also supported the Workshop and participated in the teaching. Massimo Ceriotti, Association Marketing Manager, says: 'Businesses are undoubtedly among the stakeholders from which to expect a convinced contribution to the strengthening of urban regeneration processes. Moreover, more and more companies consider attention to the community in which they operate a fundamental element of their development strategy. Fondazione Sodalitas is committed to promoting multi-stakeholder partnerships between its member companies, institutions and civil society, in the conviction that this is an effective approach to breathe new life into the spaces of our cities. In this sense, Workshop Urban Playgrounds is a virtuous example, because it activates the best energies of several players working together to improve the quality of life of people in neighbourhoods'.

This collective experience has produced valuable takeaways, such as the in-depth analysis of the relational dimension with the communities of place, the discovery of specific tools to engage them, and the evidence that sponsoring brands do not necessarily seek visibility and return of image directly at the place of intervention, but prefer to promote a strategic narrative (planned in owned media and other media including Out of Home) together with community care activities. This bottom-up value narrative is built to last, and can be communicated by the brand with all its power.

Understanding the centrality of this type of sensitivity on communities is fundamental to trigger and apply the Playtime method (the format for public space regeneration interventions in highly fragile urban contexts, the result of a research contract signed in 2018 between IGPDecaux and the DAStU, the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano). The case histories brought as examples by the participating Brands highlighted a level of advanced maturity and conscious application of the fundamental concepts of Brand Urbanism©.

The workshop experimented with an open and systemic approach to public space that was able to valorise the temporary uses and activities, already present in the contexts, traceable to local associations and networks active with respect to the specific target of children and young people, particularly affected by the pandemic. The working groups produced suggestions and design explorations for improving the quality of the public pedestrian space, enlarged and made more accessible through safe connections for slow mobility, rethought in relation to outdoor play, movement and physical activity. The potential urban playgrounds proposed by the students reactivate the underused spaces around the schools and add new small collective functions onto them, rethink the surfaces by equipping them with new materials and inserting elements that enhance communication-interaction, increase greenery, and introduce devices that allow the places to be lived in and enjoyed comfortably, always integrating them into a network of open public spaces on a larger scale.

The names identifying the proposals give an idea of the different dimensions touched upon. By way of example: the project ‘Find your corner’ (1st prize) redesigns hammed-in open spaces around Viale Stelvio-Marche as spaces for sport by reconnecting schools in the vicinity; ‘Wall as a public space’ (2nd prize) reinterprets the boundary walls of the N. Savarino park as places to be lived in; ‘The outdoor play-street museum’ (Brand mention) connects leisure and play spaces as an open-air network-museum around the Guicciardi school in Dergano; finally, ‘1Km green playscape’ redesigns the spaces overlooked by the Rinnovata Pizzogoni-Poecher schools and others as an extended green playground connected to local parks.

THE SPONSORING BODIES OF THE EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION:

AUIC School: The School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering boasts a well-established tradition that since 1865 has been offering advanced training that combines the best traditions of the sector with experimentation and innovation to enable future graduates to compete on a national and international level. The focus of the School's Study Courses is the project, intended as a synthesis of multiple knowledge and an expression of polytechnic culture.  The close relationship between teaching and research, carried out in the University's Departments, makes the School a place of knowledge, innovation and advanced cultural elaboration.

IGPDecaux: working in the field of Urban Public Space, it supports the digital and infrastructural transformations of cities on the move in order to accompany them into the future and improve the daily life of citizens by paying great attention to the reduction of environmental impacts from the maintenance of advertising installations and to actions aimed at controlling and minimising energy consumption and CO2 emissions. IGPDecaux takes care of the city.

THE BRAND GUEST SPEAKERS:

H-FARM: It is the innovation platform capable of supporting the creation of new business models and the transformation and education of young people and Italian companies from a digital perspective. Established in January 2005 as the world's first startup incubator, it has been able to renew itself and adapt to market needs without ever losing sight of its core values, which lie in seizing the opportunities induced by digital innovation and maintaining a human-centric approach. Today, it is the only company in the world that combines investment, business services and training in one place. Structured as a campus, on the outskirts of Venice, H-FARM covers 51 hectares, 20 of which are wooded, and is the most important innovation hub in Europe. It employs more than 600 people in Italy and is considered unique at international level.

Saint-Gobain: Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials for the safety and comfort of our homes and the future of everyone. These materials can be found everywhere in our living spaces and everyday life: in buildings, transport, infrastructures and many industrial applications. It is present in 70 countries with around 167,000 employees and a total turnover of EUR 38.1 billion in 2020. It boasts a history of more than 350 years, in fact it was established in 1665 at the behest of King Louis XIV, to create the Gallery of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in Paris. In Italy, where its history started in 1889 with the construction of the Pisa factory for glass production, today it has 36 sites, around 2,200 employees and a turnover of 660 million euro in 2020, Saint-Gobain proposes itself as the technological pole of reference for the sustainable construction market and the global benchmark in the efficient use of natural resources, respecting the environment. All the solutions proposed are designed to construct more energy efficient buildings, to reduce consumption and polluting emissions. Through strong and well-known brands on the market, including Glass, Gyproc, Isover and Weber, it offers in particular a complete range of innovative solutions for opaque and transparent envelopes, roofs and roofing, interior architecture and walls, floors and false ceilings.

Timberland: Established in 1973, Timberland is a global outdoor lifestyle brand, headquartered in Stratham, New Hampshire, with international offices in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Best known for the original Yellow Boot designed for New England's harsh climate, Timberland now offers a full range of footwear, apparel and accessories for people who appreciate rugged style and share the brand's passion for enjoying the outdoors, but always protecting nature. At the heart of the Timberland® brand is the belief that a greener future is a better future. This comes to life through a decades-long commitment to making products responsibly, protecting nature and empowering communities around the world. The brand has committed to planting 50 million trees worldwide by 2025 and has also announced a goal to achieve a 'net positive' impact on nature by 2030, to give back more than is taken away. To share Timberland's mission of being outdoors and working together for a better future, visit one of our shops, timberland.co.uk or follow us on @timberland_eu.

Lavazza: Lavazza, established in Turin in 1895, is an Italian coffee company owned by the family of the same name for four generations. One of the world's leading coffee roasters, the Group is now present in over 140 countries through subsidiaries and distributors, with 64% of revenues generated abroad. Lavazza employs a total of over 4,000 people, with a turnover of €1.87 billion in 2018. Lavazza - already among the top 100 brands in the world for reputation according to the Reputation Institute - is the ninth company for Corporate Responsibility in the 2019 Global CR RepTrak ranking, ranking first in the Food & Beverage sector, as well as among Italian companies. Lavazza created the concept of blends, the art of combining different types and geographical origins of coffee, a characteristic that still characterises most of its products today. They are part of the Group.