Co-designing Action Plans for Vigne Nuove

Vigne Nuove is a social housing complex built in the 1970s in the north-eastern periphery of Rome. Over time, due to a combination of factors, it fell into a cycle of institutional neglect, isolation, and degradation. This prolonged neglect has had cascading effects on the local population, which are particularly evident today in a deep distrust of public authorities and local administrations, a weak sense of community, and a higher-than-average incidence of mental health issues, especially among local residents and Generation Z youth.

What it feels like to give up
[...]
To realize they are really on their own
And there's no one left who cares
About the future
[…]
There's a feeling that the human race,
Has seen the checkered flag

Generation Z, NOFX, 2016

Empowering people in the process of co-design, building, and management of the district they live in is at the core of the We-Z project, as a means to develop and strengthen community ties and enhance wellbeing and mental health.
In doing so, the project experiments with an innovative approach whereby community-building and capacitation are merged in the activities of the so-called Healing Community: a group composed of people with diverse (mental, social, cultural, etc.) conditions, conceived as a diverse, porous entity with a deliberately "blurred" composition that extends beyond the geographic boundaries of Vigne Nuove.¹ Over spring 2025, this empowerment process took a hands-on turn, with the Healing Community actively engaged in the co-creation of four thematic Action Plans to guide upcoming project activities in Vigne Nuove.

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^{1) We-Z Deliverable D.5.3.3 Healing Community Action Plan, February 2025}

We-Z envisioned the co-creation of four Action Plans, each focused on a specific thematic strand: (i) green infrastructure; (ii) public spaces; (iii) welfare spaces; and (iv) services and products. Accordingly, the co-creation process was structured into four parallel workshop pathways, with a dense calendar of activities running over the course of nearly three months, from the end of February to the end of May 2025.

An overview of the four workshops

Green Infrastructure Workshop

Timeframe: 26 February – 30 May 2025
Total duration: 65 hours
This workshop focused on the co-design of specific elements and green spaces of the We-Z Progressive Park using nature-based and artistic approaches. Participants explored urban green areas as commons and learned about ecosystem services, public spending, and green infrastructure. Through a series of theoretical and practical sessions, including the “Tree Room” method (Aule Verdi), the group developed shared visions and co-designed thematic micro-spaces (insulae) centred on topics like food, health, education, and leisure. The process culminated in the collaborative planning of park elements, including the selection of plant species, design of attractors, and the creation of park furniture using recovered materials.

Public Spaces Workshop

Timeframe: 28 February – 30 May 2025
Total duration: 40 hours
This strand invited participants to critically engage with the neighbourhood’s public spaces through artistic exploration, bodily awareness, and collective memory. Activities included sensory mapping, emotional storytelling, and theatrical improvisation aimed at reimagining places in Vigne Nuove. Participants created visual and emotional maps, designed convivial spaces, and engaged in collaborative street painting as a form of symbolic and cultural expression. The process emphasised the connection between body, space, and community, and resulted in a collective urban narrative expressed through a “Map of Urban Connections.”

Welfare Spaces Workshop

Timeframe: 28 February – 30 May 2025
Total duration: 53 hours
Centred on well-being and care, this workshop offered creative tools for reinterpreting lived spaces. Participants engaged in body expression labs, highlighting human artistic potential as a driver of community transformation. They explored upcycling as a way to rethink waste as a resource and developed design prototypes from reclaimed materials. Another stream, “Narrating Objects,” fostered reflection on everyday heritage through interaction with archaeological artefacts, linking personal identity and collective memory to the urban environment. This workshop positioned cultural and emotional heritage as key components in shaping healthier, more inclusive spaces.

Services and Products Workshop

Timeframe: 12 March – 18 June 2025
Total duration: 43 hours
This workshop explored how community-led processes can inform local economic and social initiatives. It began by forming a shared working group and co-producing a community map reflecting realities, desires, and future visions for the Vigne Nuove district. Through research and thematic reflection, participants contributed to an action plan including thematic clusters and stakeholder roles. A final validation session enabled feedback and collective review. The workshop concluded with a strategic focus on service and product development to be further explored in upcoming project phases.

Who joined the workshops?

Members of the Healing Community were engaged from a range of entities, chiefly the education system, with students from three high schools and Roma Tre University, and local mental health services provided by ASL-1, including the TSMREE²  and Polo Lumiere³.  A small number of local residents not affiliated with any of these institutions also took part. Initially a total of 82 people subscribed to the co-creation workshops, with 78 of them actively partaking. To encourage the continuity and the active presence of the HC members, the project formalized their participation in two ways. High schools signed school agreements (PCTO)⁴  with Roma Tre University, including We-Z activities in their own extra-educational program. Seemingly, credits were recognized to Roma Tre students as "Additional training activities". On the other hand, TSMREE and Polo Lumiere users, and other Vigne Nuove residents did not formally join a specific program. Nonetheless, TSMREE and Polo Lumiere users are supported by specialised operators, which connected We-Z activities with individuals’ therapeutic mission.⁵ 

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^{2)  TSMREE (Mental Health Protection and Rehabilitation Service for Children and Adolescents) provides prevention, protection, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and support for school and social inclusion for individuals in the developmental age range (0–18 years).
3)  Polo Lumière “Il Casaletto – Centre for the Promotion of Health and Socio-Cultural Inclusion of People with Disabilities” is a hub offering activities for adults with disabilities resulting from neurodevelopmental disorders (such as intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders), aimed at promoting health and socio-cultural inclusion.
 4) PCTO (Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation) is an Italian school programme combining classroom learning with practical experiences to develop soft skills and career awareness.
 5) We-Z Deliverable D.5.3.3 Healing Community Action Plan, February 2025}
 

The co-creation process encountered several critical challenges along its way, and these offer insightful lessons for other urban authorities interested in replicating such an approach.

Allowing enough time to community building is key for meaningful co-design processes

As discussed, Vigne Nuove has a very low level of community engagement and no history of citizen participation or activism. There has never been a residents' committee nor any form of associationism emerging directly from the community. Arguably, there is no community as such. In this context, consolidating a stable and engaged working group and completing a co-design process with tangible and concrete results in just three months proved more than challenging for the project partners.
Indeed, within such a short timeframe, partners observed that by the time a good workflow is established and a satisfactory level of participant engagement is reached, the programme is already coming to an end. This is particularly true when working with young people from diverse backgrounds, interests, experiences, and goals. The initial effort largely goes into capturing their attention and creating a collaborative environment that facilitates interaction among the different groups.
In all four workshops, it was noted that the limited time only allowed participants to begin feeling at ease in the participatory setting, just enough to start opening up and engaging in meaningful exchanges. Interaction between groups from different areas or backgrounds takes time to develop, as trust and openness cannot be rushed. However, once these dynamics begin to take shape, rich exchanges occur, characterised by a strong level of cross-contamination and collaboration, where different perspectives are brought together constructively. Non-local participants in the Healing Community also offered fresh perspectives, enriching the dialogue and expanding the scope of reflection and co-design.

Collaborative pathways with schools offer a valuable basin for recruitment, but with limitations

The strategy of developing collaboration agreements with high schools through PCTO programmes undoubtedly proved effective in securing the participation of a large number of young people in the activities of the Healing Community. Indeed, more than half of those who took part in the co-design workshops were recruited this way. Nonetheless, this approach also comes with a number of critical aspects.
PCTOs are formal agreements that schools sign with external entities to complement the traditional curriculum with more practical, hands-on experiences. This implies a lengthy preparatory phase and rigid bureaucratic procedures which, particularly within the limited timeframe of the school year (from mid-September to early June in Italy), significantly reduce the actual time available for implementation.
Moreover, these agreements must be renewed annually. This not only adds further demands in terms of preparation, but also raises concerns about continuity: there is no guarantee that students who participated in one cycle will be able – or allowed – to join the same programme the following year. This poses clear challenges for the consolidation and long-term stability of the Healing Community group.
A further issue lies in the mandatory nature of PCTO participation. On the one hand, it ensures a steady presence of students throughout the programme. On the other, it does not guarantee genuine engagement or personal commitment. Much depends on the facilitators’ ability to design a programme that captures students' interest and connects with their experiences.

As most participants in the Healing Community joined through a compulsory school-related activity, retaining their involvement once the formal programme ends or during off-schedule periods can be particularly challenging. Engagement tends to be more sustainable when the topics addressed are closely connected to the participants’ “known world” and when their priorities and interests are actively acknowledged.
A key challenge, therefore, lies in finding ways for those who have taken part to continue their involvement on a voluntary basis. If the goal is to build a genuine sense of community, maintaining and nurturing these groups beyond the initial mandatory phase is essential. Success is measured not only by participation during the PCTO, but by the ability to keep the group active and engaged once the formal structure is no longer in place.
At another level, after the summer break, We-Z and its Healing Community will move into the next phase, where the Action Plans will be validated through focus groups involving experts and stakeholders before moving towards final implementation. Two key challenges lie ahead. First, the configuration and composition of the Healing Community remain undefined and will require renewed efforts in outreach, recruitment, and engagement by the project partners. Second, the way in which the proposed transformations are received by local residents is still uncertain, and it remains to be seen whether any latent conflict may emerge.
All in all, however, there is strong engagement and commitment from the Main Urban Authority and all project partners to successfully deliver the project and generate meaningful positive change, both in the physical and environmental quality of the Vigne Nuove district and in the wellbeing of its residents and beyond.

Stay tuned!