There is a story behind

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April 19, 2018 by Liat

Via Bligny 42, “the black hole of Milan”, in the past was synonym of drug traffic, prostitution and violence. Then thanks to the intervention of the police and the hard work of the inhabitants, the building got better and better.

At the entrance of the building there is a world map that the inhabitants drew together: it represents all their mother countries. When we entered in via Bligny_42_4th floor in the bottom of the corridor on the right we saw the apartment that was owned by three people from Senegal, they used to live in a bad sanitary, economical and social condition.

The thought that three people could live in that 20 squared meters apartment was impressive. We found dirty clothes, dirty walls, some Italian books to learn the language, a DVD about fighting depression, an elastic bend with drugs, many letters from friends and foes. But the reason we were in this building was the inhabitants, we met them to interview the people who fight the decay of this building, but it looked like they didn’t recognize how much they did. Sometimes the stories of what people can do together go in background between Berlusconi and Belen Rodriguez

<We decided to make the reputation of this building a good example of good collaboration and melting pot. The inhabitants deserve a good chance to stay in

viale Bligny resisting to the gentrification of Navigli and to prove themselves to be worthy. We thought to use the cultural differences of the inhabitants as source of richness for the building, for the city of Milan and for the inhabitants themselves: we provide a wall in the room of the 4th floor of a puzzle representing the personas of the building and the story of Bligny_42.

The room becomes a food sharing restaurant where the inhabitants will be the cooks. The room follows a precise schedule and between the mealtimes the room is devoted to the free needs of everyone lives in Bligny_42: homework, making friends, playing games, drawing. We connect the inhabitants with the citizens through an app consenting to the cooks to book the work time and to decide the ethnical menù, and to the consumers to book the meal.

We are going to recreate in augmented reality how the room was before the intervention of the inhabitants. We think that Bligny_42 is going to be a good example to follow in the story of Milan.