The Rural Commons Festival was curated by Maddalena Ferretti and Bianca Elzenbaumer along with Cristina Dalla Torre and Sara Favargiotti. It took place in three territories in northern Italy - Giudicarie, Vallagarina, and Terragnolo - from May to June 2021. The festival aimed to enable mutual learning between different rural commoning practices through participatory action research, design thinking, and transdisciplinary collaboration among over 30 partner organizations. It explored how rural commons can galvanize local communities and economies while respecting the needs, resources, and values of each place. Challenges addressed included tensions between local and global issues, political challenges,

1. Rural Commons Festival
Maddalena Ferretti and Bianca Elzenbaumer
Co-curators of the Rural Commons Festival with Cristina Dalla Torre e Sara Favargiotti
RURAL COMMONS ASSEMBLY, Public event
4.09.2021 - Innsbruck (AU)

2. BIANCA SARA MADDALENA CRISTINA
WHO WE ARE

3. WHERE?
From West... ...to Est
Vallagarina Terragnolo
Giudicarie

4. WITH WHOM?
CO-DESIGN Starting from a core group, a starting definition
of Rural Commons, enlarging the group of practices through
snowball techniques and through action-research on field.

5. HOW?
design thinking > conceptualization
transdisciplinary approach > co-design
participatory action research > go on field, learn from the
practices, contribute
goal: enable mutual learning processes

6. WHY RURAL COMMONS?
By rural contexts we mean those areas that show peripheral and or fragile
conditions, that are mostly devoted to silvo-pastoral and agricultural
production, and that are often characterised by decentralized and
polycentric settlement structures (Schröder 2017, pp. 25–26).
Rural contexts need commons to galvanise the ideas and energies of people
living in rural areas and enable them to take the social and economic
matters of their lives into their own hands, which in turn enables them and
other living beings to thrive in place (Brave New Alps 2019, p.90)
WHICH CONCEPT?
RURAL COMMONS? 3 fundamental aspects:
1. community of people recognizing and
negotiating access to
2. material and immaterial common goods:
elements, goods, needs, ideas, resources,
habitats/spaces to be cared for
collectively and being reproduced by
3. acts and practices of commoning:
organizing, agreeing, governing, managing

7. WHICH ACTIVITIES?

8. RURAL COMMONS &
RESOURCES
rethinking values
and innovating
collective
institutions
GIUDICARIE
21–23.05.2021
3 REFLECTION THREADS
3 TERRITORIES
RURAL COMMONS &
COMMUNITY
ECONOMIES:
a practice and
theory exchange
RURAL COMMONS &
HERITAGE
REGENERATION:
collective design
approaches for
new forms of
habitat
VALLAGARINA
28–30.05.2021
TERRAGNOLO
4–6.06.2021

9. Co-Funded by:
Caritro Foundation
Municipalities of Comano Terme, Rovereto e Terragnolo.
Cassa Rurale di Rovereto
EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie
Eurac Research, University of Trento, Polytechnic University of Marche
With the engagement of more than 30 organizations: associations, social
enterprises, informal groups and the collaboration of the students Nicole Faiella
and Vivian Rustige of MA in Eco-social Design (UniBz).
WHICH FUNDING?

10. WHO ARE THE COMMONERS?

11. WHICH VALUES /
POTENTIALS?

12. ● Tensions between local action and global challenges
● Political challenges at local and national level
● Seriously considering commons as a new way of rethinking community
organization, provision, spaces and livelihood
● Involvement of people under the age of 20
● Involvement of large parts of the community
● Funding
WHICH CHALLENGES?

13. MANIFESTO
BOOK
OTHER EDITIONS OF THE FESTIVAL?
FUNDING APPLICATIONS
INSIGHTS ON SPECIFIC TOPICS > Rural Commons Assemblies 2022
...
WHICH FUTURE?

14. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CARE!

16. Rural Commons Festival
An idea by:
Cristina Dalla Torre (Eurac Research, Università degli Studi di Padova),
Bianca Elzenbaumer (Eurac Research – Brave New Alps),
Sara Favargiotti (Università degli Studi di Trento),
Maddalena Ferretti (Università Politecnica delle Marche).
Co-Funded by:
Caritro Foundation, Municipalities of Comano Terme, Rovereto e Terragnolo, Cassa Rurale di
Rovereto, EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie,
Eurac Research, University of Trento, Polytechnic University of Marche.
With the engagement of more than 30 organizations: associations, social enterprises, informal
groups and the collaboration of the students Nicole Faiella and Vivian Rustige of the MA in
Eco-social Design (UniBz).
Photos: Francesca Dusini & Marco Razzi and of the festival co-organizers
Video: Nicole Faiella e Vivian Rustige
Graphic Design: Marameo Lab

17. ● What are needs and desires that should be taken care of
through the rural commons?
● What are emerging and resisting rural commoning practices
in rural contexts?
● Which values should rural commons be based on, in order to
contribute to such a vision in action?
OPEN QUESTIONS
FOR DISCUSSION