DumBO
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
A new platform available to embrace and create new ideas and new artistic and creative expressions. A project that unifies social inclusion, entertainment, culture in all its forms, experimentation and sustainability, where new forms of collaborations are experienced every day.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
DumBO is a temporary space of urban regeneration in the close outskirt of Bologna, within a walking distance from the historic center, the train and bus station.
Almost 40.000 square meters belonging to FS Sistemi Urbani (Gruppo FS Italiane) previously used as railway yard and compound until 2010 and then dismissed, has been assigned in the form of a temporary rent to Open Event Srl, composed of Open Group and Eventeria, is in charge of the management of the entire area.
Warehouses and open spaces can be are destined to cultural, artistic, social, labour and sport activities, always maintaining a close connection with the territory.
DumBO is a place where institutions, cultural associations, companies/enterprises and citizens can collaborate, the main stakeholders involved are Città Metropolitana di Bologna, Università di Bologna, Arcidiocesi di Bologna, Quartiere Porto-Saragozza, aside from local organizations and third sector entities.
A new platform available to embrace and create new ideas and new artistic and creative expressions, and a project that unifies social inclusion, entertainment, culture in all its forms, experimentation and sustainability, where new forms of collaborations are experienced every day.
Key objectives for sustainability
Within Our DumBO District we welcome BackBo: a circular economy hub focused on sustainable development, the aim is to facilitate the transition towards a zero-waste Bologna and their focus is on how to overcome the throwaway culture, through best practices (specific training, providing nondisposable glasses to the DumBO events) and workshops.
Our district also hosts the Bologna RideMovi's hub, RideMovi is the leading player in the industry of European shared micromobility, their vehicles (bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters) can be seen all over the city and since they moved in our space, we have created biking paths and bicycle parking areas, and more importantly we have seen a reduction of traffic congestion and emission, both from the DumBO workers and the outside users of our spaces.
Furthermore, the theme of sustainability is not only present in the activities within DumBO, but also in the choice of the events we host: like Vinokilo, the largest vintage shop event in Europe or the Recooper conference, a meeting about the good practices of sustainability, such as the collection of circular and sustainable materials, and the subsequent distribution and sale aimed at their recovery.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
We strongly believe that things don't always need a purpose. Most of the best feelings in life come from intangible things.
That's why aesthetics can be find literally all over the place at DumBO. Whether it is with the Eden Park sport activities, a sport association focused on urban sports (skateboard, parkour, bmx, climbing, aerial fabrics) hosted inside our spaces; the art exhibitions and the various dance workshops we host with external collaborators, the music shows and festival that take place in our areas, the theathral shows, and last but not least, the street art murals you can find in almost every space of DumBO
Key objectives for inclusion
DumBO particularly cares about social and economic inclusion: for the vast majority of the events taking place in our areas we decided to apply a free admission policy, with a previous online registration as the only requirement.
Regarding social inclusion we have organized creative art workshops and sport activities for kids and people with disabilities (several murals can be found around our areas), sustainability workshop for senior citizens, and tailoring workshops for foreigners and asylum seekers. One of our main purpose is to bring people with different backgrounds together, make them collaborate and learn from each other.
Results in relation to category
DumBO it’s not just a container, we have managed to reactivate degraded and disused spaces (often re-using recycled materials coming from the same areas), with a close synergy with local public institutions, the entrepreneurial, cooperative and creative environment of the city, who became partners and economic engines.
Born to be a district dedicated to art, inclusion, culture, social innovation, creative jobs, sustainability, start-up incubator and sports, DumBO had to proceed with the regeneration in terms of redevelopment of buildings and open spaces. We have effectively responded to the widespread demand for spaces, ideas and best practices and contributed to making up for the chronic lack of suitable places to host temporary events to stimulate sociability.
How Citizens benefit
As a great laboratory of urban, social, cultural, economic, business innovation, we became an accelerator of opportunities for the activities of the district and for the city, and a new neighborhood available for free to the citizens, a disused piece of the city given back to the community.
We also have created subsidiarity with a wide range of stakeholders and created an evolved co-working space in which cultural and creative companies, citizens, associations and artists coexist and collaborate. The objectives achieved were combined and sustained within the expected economic and financial balances, even in the presence of the well-known pandemic events.
Innovative character
The innovation is inherent in the reactivation/regeneration that has transformed abandoned, disused, partially unused or re-functionalized spaces into new independent and hybrid cultural centers. Generative, inclusive and empowering spaces for the community, bringing its skills and resources. We are a space where different entities collaborate, and doing so new ways of making culture are experimented.
DumBO is a place where innovation is not only digital, but also social and civic. We work to affirm a new role for culture and the places we live in, to innovate cultural, artistic, educational and welfare practices.
