Fostering community cohesion through collective memory

This article delves into the project’s efforts in developing a Memory Archive and a Memory Hub, spanning the underlying principles and methodologies, early findings, and challenges, with the goal of drawing compelling insights for other urban authorities interested in pursuing a similar approach.

Vigne Nuove is a complex neighbourhood that lacks real social spaces and a sense of community. Decades of hardship have left many residents withdrawn, fostering a culture of individualism where interactions are often marked by tension rather than connection.

The housing struggles of the past were instrumental in shaping Rome’s urban policies. However, in Vigne Nuove, the early community lacked strong grassroots mobilisation. Unlike other areas where housing movements led to the formation of active neighbourhood committees, many residents of Vigne Nuove arrived through different pathways, often driven by personal need rather than political activism. As a result, a collective identity never fully emerged

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

Therefore, as part of the effort to promote a comprehensive urban regeneration process in the area, one of the main goals of the We-Z project is the development of a Healing Community.

Urban regeneration should never be just about infrastructure. It must also address the people who live in these spaces. Focusing only on physical structures neglects the social fabric that gives a place its character. By recognising and amplifying residents’ voices, we can create a truly inclusive regeneration process

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

However, bringing people together and fostering participation in such a disconnected and often conflict-prone context is no easy task. To achieve this, the project is strongly relying on the potential of memories.

Memories play a dual role: they are deeply personal yet inherently collective. By sharing and connecting individual memories, we foster a sense of belonging, identity, and shared history. This sense of connection is fundamental for building stronger community ties

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

By validating and valuing intangible cultural heritage – such as personal memories – We-Z indeed acknowledges that urban spaces are, first and foremost, defined by the people who inhabit them. Recognising and understanding these residents is key to initiating genuine, bottom-up urban renewal. With this in mind, the project is developing a multimedia Memory Archive and a physical Memory Hub at the heart of the neighbourhood.

Under the guidance of Project Partner OZ – Officine Zero, the We-Z project is developing both a digital and a physical place dedicated to local memories and cultural heritage. 
On the one hand, the Memory Archive will be a publicly accessible digital collection of video interviews and a range of primary and secondary sources documenting the history of Vigne Nuove and its urban landscape.
On the other hand, the project is establishing in the area a physical space – the Memory Hub – within one of the historic farmhouses of the Casali di Faonte, that already host valuable archaeological heritage related to the area's historical past. The Memory Hub will be a dynamic venue managed by the local community, serving as both a storytelling space and a place for social interaction and reflection on the neighbourhood’s history and future.

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Archive's Sources and Methodology

Video-interviews will be the core elements of the archive, but they will be complemented by a range of additional sources and materials.
For the interviews, researchers from OZ – Officine Zero have chosen to adopt the oral history method. This entails unstructured video interviews, without a predefined set of questions, fostering a dialogical relationship between the interviewee and the interviewer. While the researchers will steer the conversation towards topics relevant to the research, it is good practice to let the interviewee speak freely, even when they diverge from the main themes. This allows to identify which topics and connections are meaningful from their perspective and may introduce valuable insights for future research.

Exploring memory means navigating ever-changing landscapes, where suppression and distortion play a continuous role. Our aim is not to collect anecdotes but to grasp a particular state of mind

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

To gain the broadest and deepest possible understanding, the project will also focus on archival research to provide a continuous counterpoint to memory-based sources. In this sense, the archive will include more “classical” materials, such as administrative and political documents, and press articles. The research will thus involve periodical libraries and a range of archives, such as the State Archive, the Capitoline Archive, the ATER archive, the MAXXI Museum's Architecture Archive, as well as the archive of the Istituto Luce.
The research, however, will not be limited to institutional archives. OZ’s historians are also working to implement a crowdsourcing practice, aiming to engage local residents in sharing documents related to their history. Photographs, diaries, letters, tenancy agreements – any material that can enrich the archive will be of interest, serving as a valuable piece in understanding and attempting to narrate the history of the place and its inhabitants. The shared documents will be digitised and incorporated into the archive.

Early results and findings

 To date, researchers have conducted more than 20 interviews, resulting in approximately 15 hours of audiovisual material. These testimonies reveal recurring themes, particularly the experience of moving to Vigne Nuove in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many interviewees recalled their initial excitement at securing new, well-built apartments, especially after enduring inadequate housing conditions elsewhere. However, over time, they also observed how the neighbourhood became increasingly isolated.
Memories emerge on multiple levels. The interviews reflect both the joy of children playing together in the early years and the fear that developed as the neighbourhood’s atmosphere became more hostile. Notably, the issue of drug use is largely absent from the narratives, with only a few mentions. It rarely appears as a significant concern in the testimonies, yet other sources indicate a different reality. This contrast between personal recollections and documented history underscores the complexity of memory and the importance of a comprehensive approach to reconstructing the past.

Developing such an ambitious digital archive doesn’t go without challenges, both on a human and on a technical level.
The human challenge is about building relationships. Interviewing people about their memories requires patience, trust, and sensitivity. And in addition to the challenges posed by the unconscious processes involved in memory construction, the researchers also had to contend with the issue of omertà.

One of our biggest challenges was finding ways to reach Vigne Nuove residents and establish trust. Our approach has been to immerse ourselves in the local community, ensuring that people recognise us and understand our work

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

As project partners report, it was not easy to convey that the interviews were not intended as an investigative inquiry. The aim was not to unearth sensational or controversial aspects in order to construct a negative narrative about the area. On the contrary, the focus was on the lives of the residents, with the intention of developing a narrative that moved away from stereotypes. 
Approaching the interviewees as historians rather than journalists allowed the researchers to build relationships based more on trust. To achieve this, researchers adopted a method from community organising, connecting with local ‘anchor’ institutions – places that act as social hubs. One of the first key partnerships was with the local senior centre, where they started conducting interviews. From there, researchers relied on word-of-mouth recommendations to encourage broader participation. It was crucial to clarify that they were not journalists conducting investigative reporting but researchers aiming to document and preserve local heritage for community benefit.

The objective was never to reach an absolute truth but rather to gather as much information as possible to construct a multi-voiced account. This account, inevitably dissonant and fragmented, aims to reflect the diversity of those who inhabit the area

(Manfredi Scanagatta, OZ – Officine Zero)

On a technical level, the digital archive is meant to be more than a repository – it should serve as an interactive communication tool. To achieve this, project partners must develop an effective metadata system that is both collaborative and intuitive. In doing so it will be crucial to involve local residents in shaping the keywords and thematic categories that will define the archive. A systematic analysis of the sources will enable a collective process of extracting meaning from them, helping to define key concepts such as friendship, fear, happiness, novelty, and anger. The use of these terms as metadata will allow the archive to be searched through specific keywords, providing users with a complex, grassroots-driven narrative. In this way, metadata will play a performative role in shaping narrative processes that move beyond stereotypes and focus on the documents themselves. 

Overall, the turning point to enter the neighbourhood and gain the necessary trust for people to open up and partake in the interviews was through a proxy: the senior citizens’ social centre. Spending time there and, more broadly, in Via Dina Galli – the central street of the neighbourhood – gradually allowed the researchers to build visibility and recognition in Vigne Nuove. Over time, they became less of an external presence and more integrated into the community, reducing any perception of them as unwelcome outsiders. Through an almost daily presence – greatly facilitated by the opening of the Living Lab in summer 2024 – it became possible to generate a small but growing interest in the project’s activities, helping to dispel residents’ initial hesitation and mistrust. Building from there, it will be crucial to keep momentum and maintain and expand community engagement throughout the implementation of We-Z and beyond.