Who is developing the project?

Danissini Community

Brief description

Danissini Community is composed by several community spaces, a Parish, a Library, a Garden, a Didactic Farm, a Theatre, a Circus, a Social Museum and an Educational centre, all of them located in the neighbourhood Danisinni of Palermo. The local actors and stakeholders, mostly the local priest and the religious community of the parish, local activists and third sector actors, work together with the residents to develop the community and finance the socio-educational activities, with a specific attention to the most deprived children and adults living in the area.
All the spaces of the community are open to the inhabitants of the area, most of them facing precarious living conditions and socio-economic problems. In the last two years many activities and services have also been opened to a general audience, in order to give more visibility to the community and to provide funds to its activities. In particular the circus shows are attended by children and adults not only residents in the neighbourhood and with different socio-economic background.s.

Objectives of the Project

The main objective is to involve the community of Danisinni neighbourhood in a shared process and vision of urban and cultural regeneration.

Tools and Methods

Social development and educational activities as after-school lessons, leisure activities for kids, drama activities, circus workshops and shows, urban gardening and didactic farming, religious activities, community activities, cultural activities.

What methodologies does the project use?

• participatory processes
• digital tools
• cultural heritage
• collective mappings (open cartographies)
• social innovation tools
• design thinking
• others: community engagement

General context

It is the only presidium and community space present in the district. Over the decades it has taken on the needs of the neighbourhood together with the Tau Center (a pedagogical and educational center) and day by day had included different realities that have begun to take an interest in Danisinni neighbourhood up to create a real social workshop, an incubator of projects and visions aimed at promoting processes and action of urban regeneration in which primacy is given to people and, consequently, to the environment in which they live.

Selected tags about the project

#communityengagement
#participation
#nonformaleducation
#urbanregeneration
#socialinclusion

How does it develop in time?

no time limit to the action

Beneficiary

Citizens of Palermo and citizens in general with a focus on kids and youth involvement.

Results

• overture of several community spaces for public use
• citizens involvement in a continuous process of urban regeneration

How is it evaluated?

no specific info

Links and references

Videos integrate the platform with useful information on Danisinni Experience
https://www.facebook.com/diDanisinnisono/videos/879946899051769/
https://www.danisinni.it/teatro/
https://www.danisinni.it/biblioteca-di-rione/
https://www.danisinni.it/fattoria/
https://www.facebook.com/chapitopalermo/