Founded in 1863, Politecnico di Milano is regarded as leading research and
educational institution worldwide. Offering innovative programs at all levels within its
schools of Engineering, Architecture, and Design and nowadays, it is in the top 10
worldwide of the ranking by Subject in Arts & Design of the QS ranking. Its Design
Department was founded as the first Italian Department for Research in Design. The
Design Department promotes the significance of design as a key element of research
and education, able to act within the various processes of production of tangible and
intangible goods, focusing on the central role of individuals, communities, and society as
a whole, and with a leading role in the interplay between industrial settings, public and
private sectors, public administrations, and universities. The research team involved in
the Human Cities research project is part of the Polimi DESIS Lab within the international
DESIS Network – Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability, a group of researchers
adopting a strategic and systemic approach to design, with a specific focus on design
for services and design activism.
People involved:
Davide Fassi
Associate professor in design at the Politecnico di Milano. Coordinator of the Polimi
Desis Lab. He published “Temporary Urban Solutions” (2012) and “In the neighbourhood” (2017).
His research is about the relationship between space and service with a community
centred approach. Awarded with XXV Compasso d’Oro in 2018 for the project “campUS – incubation and
settings for social practices”.
Annalinda De Rosa
Post-Doc Research Fellow at the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano, she is part of the Polimi DESIS Lab. She is Adjunct Professor at the School of Design of Politecnico and at the MSc Innovation and Technology Management of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Her research interests mainly concern the relationship between spatial and service design and on advanced training models for PhD in Design education, with specific focus on design-driven models for the incubation of innovative processes and strategies for the cultural and creative sectors.
Laura Galluzzo
PhD in Design, she is Assistant Professor at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano. She is operational manager of POLIMI DESIS Lab. Her research focus is on participative projects of (public) Spaces and Services. She has a specific expertise in the co-design of spaces as activators of collaborative actions, community hub, incubators of social practices. She has been a researcher in various national and international research programmes on this topic. She works on the relationship between Spaces and Services (S+S) design with a focus on temporary interventions, domestic and urban transformations. She is the author of The Legacies of Interiors and many other scientific articles.
Paola Russo
Research Fellow at the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano, she earned her Master’s degree at Politecnico di Milano in Product Service System Design, with the thesis "Coltivando from theory to practice, diary of Paola Russo's co-design activities" concerning Coltivando, the convivial garden at Politecnico di Milano. The thesis focuses on the co-design activities developed during the first months of the project, to tackle the crucial problems of the orchard system, together with the garden community. She is also a small entrepreneur and she manages her ironic and colorful papercraft illustration brand “Le Paolette”.
