If you chanced across this post independent of it’s parent post, it may be useful to read for context where these challenges emerged from: Timing is everything – a summary of open sourcing Matera / These challenges represent the primary focus for projects submitted to the first prototype of unMonastery in Matera 2014 and were compiled from this earlier larger list with the help of those living in Matera.
It would be helpful to us to hear about projects outside of and within the EdgeRyders network that have dealt with similar issues before. This post will be cross-posted to the Matera Community website so that individuals can build on the challenges and highlight potential allies in the local area.
1) Significant lack of offline engagement or visibility for happenings throughout the city.
It was indicated that contributing factors are a lack of digital literacy and no centralised place to find out what’s happening in the city.
2) Lack of a inter-generational space.
This challenge can be understood and compacted by a series of other challenges that were previously highlighted; No space for children, No place for ‘Citizens’ (in that many of the spaces which do exist are not run by participants), No important roles for young people in business or decision making processes, No volunteer or altruistic culture from young and Old people have nothing to do.
3) Lack of a space for children focused on developing skills, specifically technology.
4) Lack of security knowledge
Pio Acito highlighted that there exists no early warning systems around or risk analysis within the local population for unforseen future crisis. This could be considered within the context of food security, energy security and naturally occurring risk management.
5) Lack of a global view on the city
This is an issue that has been repeated throughout the sessions we’ve run, because the Sassi is so beautiful tourism and attention is always paid to this area to the detriment of the rest of the city. An additional challenge previously highlighted that’s relevant to this is the ability only to attract international tourism instead of those from the local region.
What would tourism look like if you tours were not centralised around the Sassi?
6) Lack of philantropy and general inability on the part of many to raise funds.
7) Lack of accessible mobility for disabled people
8) Lack of waste management.
Poor infrastructure and literally no recycling. During our first co-design session a number of responses were highlighted in the way this could be handled or approached:
- Develop a wider understanding for a new waste narrative; from the shit of the dogs, to the whole of the waste cycle.
- Create greater transparency for the infrastructure that affects citizen’s lives through mapping exercises - Waste System Analysis - Of Existing System - Utilising tracking of waste.
- Introduction of composting
9) Renewable Energies
Because currently there are none.
10) Water Systems and Sustainability
- Water Extraction Techniques -
Matera has a history and database of many existing processes, how could these be translated, built upon and potentially open sourced and redeployed as an intellectual export of matera?
- Potential for developing new water catching techniques
11) Many houses and buildings are not in use and there is no architectural innovation.
This issue is at the core of the unMonastery model and the project in and of itself seeks to solve this problem by creating a new kind of space in buildings that would otherwise remain unused, it may though be interesting to think about how unMonastery can influence and leverage the use of other unused spaces.
12) There is no system (offline and online) where you can see the timetable and routes of public transport! > distances in basilicata are different from big cities > 30 mins look like long distances