Introduction Why working for and with the local community? The vision of the project is to recover and strengthen the local community working on three vertical main topic (defined as pillars) which are Services & Commerce, Mobility and Requalification and two main horizontal dimensions of interventions: space and time. According to Wikipedia – that proposes a commonly shared as well as easily understandable definition of the concept – a local community is “a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household. The word “community” is derived from the Old French communauté which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, “with/together” + munus, “gift”), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.” The concept of community and, in particular, the one of local community is complex, not easily definable and, at a later time, not simple to be addressed by a project. However, building a strong and dynamic local community is necessary to give life to a 15-minute city and, in general terms, to create the conditions for a liveable city. Thus, the effort of the project is, first of all, to understand what a community is and what the concept of local community means in the context of Vimodrone, and secondly to promote the enhancement of Vimodrone’s community through very different interventions working on the physical space of the City as well as on the times and schedules of its services and facilities.
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But why would be significant to strengthen local communities in order to bring about a 15MC? According to Carlos Moreno (2021) a 15-minutes city can be sustainable only if it is just, viable and liveable at the same time. This means generating an urban model able to create value through the convergence of three components: the environmental, the social and the economic one. Moreover, the 15-minutes city is a model for reconnecting people to their locality, bringing activities into the neighbourhoods (not people to activities), restoring the concept of proximity. 15MC aims to engaging an inclusive approach to planning in order to achieve socially sustainable urban environments. Thus, a sustainable community is an important feature that should be built through equal access to facilities and opportunities, local social interaction, participation in local community activities, community stability, pride of place, sense of belonging and feeling safe and secure. ((Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021) In short, a 15-minutes city is a place which environment enhances opportunities for residents to interact and built connections and a sense of familiarity. Vimodrone’s local community Historically, Vimodrone has always been strictly linked with the agricultural production that took place in the territory and shaped it (particularly Naviglio Martesana is one of the main territorial assets of the area). Agriculture, that represented an important economic revenue, also helped shaping the identity of the city and the community: rural houses and courtyards represented, in fact, almost autonomous communities structuring the organization of the territory and society and defining its boundaries.
