Cities don’t lack spaces.

They lack active relationships. Across Europe, we see the same pattern: empty public spaces, closed shops, fragile local economies, fragmented communities. We keep talking about urban regeneration, but too often, nothing really changes.

Avanguardia Streetwork is a mobile, self-sufficient urban unit that temporarily settles in public spaces and works directly within them. It is not an event. It is not a workshop.

It is an operational presence that: listens to real problems, transforms needs into concrete actions, produces objects, services and relationships, activates local economies.

In 2011, I started working with prisoners and unemployed young creatives. We brought together people who normally never meet. From that experience, a new figure emerged: the intellectual craftsman, someone who thinks and builds, using their own hands and often working with reclaimed materials. That was not just training. It was a way to rebuild trust, skills and connections. Today, that experience evolves into Avanguardia Streetwork.

Each intervention runs as a 90-day operational cycle: listening and observation, on-site production, activation of the space, emergence of real activities.

The goal is simple: turn real problems into real use and real value.

First activation

The first full-scale activation will take place in southern Italy. This will be a case study to demonstrate that a different approach to urban activation is possible, one that is: practical, relational, economically grounded.

Why this campaign

This campaign will activate the first 90-day cycle. It will allow us to: transport and install the Streetwork unit, upgrade the structure (energy + internal systems), sustain 3 months of on-site activity, document and develop a replicable model.

Why support this

This is not just a local project. It is a replicable system that can be applied in many contexts where the same issues exist: underused public spaces, weakened local economies, lack of social connection.

This is not about creating another project.

It is about building a system that can actually work.