Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) Alternative Forms of Collective Living / Queering the Future

talk
WE WILL DESIGN

Alternative Forms of Collective Living / Queering the Future is an open discussion between Canadian and Milanese thinkers on housing models that encourage solidarity, anti-hierarchy and reciprocal exchange.  

WITH

Sara Stevens, architectural and urban historian and an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Matthew Soules, Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of Matthew Soules Architecture.

Dr. Alex Wilson, Two-Spirit scholar from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. She is a professor at the University of Saskatchewan. 

AND

Selam Tesfaye, Representative of SMS — Spazio di Mutuo Soccorso, a mutual aid project located in 3 squatted buildings in the city of Milan. This experience was born in 2013 thanks to a committee for city rights that fights against eviction and gentrification. In this place, SMS, there are different projects: a gym, a swap market that fights fast fashion and promotes recycle and reuse, a university with different subjects and a languages school, a buying collective that connects customers with farmers, a playgroup for children, a bicycle repair and much more. SMS is a resistant community in which inhabitants and volunteers cooperate to build up the possibility of experience, a life outside of business logics, in which exchange and solidarity practices are the guidelines to reach autonomy and freedom.

Rossella Asja Lucrezia Ferro, Urban planner and researcher at the Politecnico di Milano with a background in activism in social movements and housing struggles. She has been coordinator of non-formal education and intercultural exchange projects for young people. She carries out social research and public policy design on housing and living in marginalised contexts. She is involved in the promotion of innovative area-based cultural and youth policies. Co-founder of Mobile Fringes.

Silvia Cafora, architect, Post Doc Researcher at the Department of Architecture and Design of the Polytechnic of Turin. She carries out research activities mainly in the field of community-led housing models and territorial fragilities with a focus on community practices and regenerative access to the building-housing heritage. She graduated in sustainable architecture dealing with informal spaces and the right to the city, at the Politecnico di Milano and the Escuela de Arquitectura y diseño of Valparaiso in Chile. Researcher at the latter, she studies the architecture and the radical housing processes of Ciudad Abierta. Visiting lecturer at IUAV University, Fondazione Feltrinelli in Milan, Università Federico II Diarc in Naples, Legambiente, Politecnico of Milan, Venice Biennale 2021, ETSAB Barcelona, Humbold University Berlin.  Scientific consultant for Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan, on Alternative housing models.

Bio

Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) is a collective formed in 2021 that started Not for Sale! as a campaign to end housing alienation. The Organizing Committee enlisted Campaign Collaborators who have contributed their talents and expertise to realize the campaign. The campaign is centered on the work of ten teams, from across the land now known as c\a\n\a\d\a, who have created demands and proposals. The Team Members include activists, architects, and advocates who bring expertise, experience, connection, and compassion to issues of housing justice. This collaborative effort aims to add momentum, new synergies, and a shared focus to the ongoing and remarkable work to create a radically new housing system. Join the campaign!

Credits

This event was realised thanks to the contribution of the Embassy of Canada

  • Duration 90'

So... is this getting serious?

Subscribe to our newsletter: you will find all the news on what we do, what we like and where we want to stay.