I C D S
Informal City Design Studio
The Informal City Design Studio is a laboratory focused on the informal city, established in 2018 by Paola Scala, Laura Lieto, Federica Palestino, Marella Santangelo, Maria Cerreta, and Massimo Perriccioli, along with some of Diarc's youngest researchers, research fellows, PhD students, and students. This laboratory was conceived as a space for experimentation, dedicated to exploring the contribution of architecture schools to “informal” processes. The experiences developed within the laboratory are aimed at identifying the competencies and skills essential for the training of architects, who are envisioned as professionals capable of reading and interpreting the social, economic, environmental, historical, and political contexts in which they operate. These architects are engaged as co-protagonists, fully aware of their roles, in a transformation process that is neither purely top-down nor bottom-up.
The ICDS uses informality as a tool to interpret the context, to identify the needs of communities, and to recognize the limitations of authorial architecture designed as an abstract response to the universal needs of the “uomo-tipo”.
It is a way of learning from the reality around us. It is the idea of project as process. It is another chance for architecture. It’s a way of looking at the world. It is looking beyond the boundaries. It is to believing in realizable utopias. It is thinking “in between”. It is to stay in the relationship’s space between the oppositions. It’s accepting the challenge of an instable balance. It’s planning a peaceful revolution...
#informal settlements #multicultural city #commons #publicness #righttothecity #inclusive city...