Urban poverty and its spatial manifestations are linked to social production of cities (ASF 2012). In this direction, ASF’s understanding of exclusionary practices and processes in the built environment is based on the idea that spatial structures are the means and outcome of social relations.

ERSILIAlab is a social/urban development programme in which ASF Italia aims at overcoming Roma’s difficult living conditions in informal camps and at promoting relationships between Roma and their nearest neighbours —called gadjé, namely not-Roma.

Italian political agenda has been studying possibilities of Roma’s inclusion for long, but no shared answers have been already achieved.

Since 2017, ASF Italia has been working in a Roma camp located in South-East Milan urban fringes. After a yearlong process, Roma and some neighbours have built together ERSILIAlab’s Carriage, a mobile public space to spread overlooked Roma’s culture and to share mutual knowledge, providing a participatory opportunity for cross-cultural relations.

Authors: Silvia Nessi, Beatrice Galimberti