Borgo Futuro

Borgofuturo is an association for the social promotion and regeneration of ripe San ginesio (MC), a peripheral and fragile municipality of central Italy, located in the affected area of the earthquake of central Italy in 2016. Born in 2010 as a Festival of Sustainability, in the years Borgofuturo has collaborated with the municipality for the transformation and redevelopment of its territory with several projects aimed at attracting young people and curbing the problem of rural depopulation. Borgofuturo’s action is aimed at young people to make them aware of the importance of their role in a changing society. Borgofuturo works according to the principles of the "glocal" approach, researching and interacting with other possible sustainable models from other countries that are able to meet the needs of a modern local rural settlement. Every two years since 2010, local volunteers organize a festival that offers the association the opportunity to address the issues of solidarity, environmental sustainability, community resilience and rural development. Starting from this spark, ripe San ginesio has laid the foundations for a growing cultural interest, which has led to the generation of new projects, both creative and related to environmental, social and economic sustainability. This process has deeply linked the collective imagination of this small medieval village to a virtuous example of high environmental commitment. Over 80% of the waste is recycled, a photovoltaic system produces more than half of the municipal electricity consumption and a natural amphitheater has been recovered from a gravel quarry. Other results of the association’s activities, in collaboration with the Municipality, were the start-up of three new micro-enterprises by young people in the area, including a small craft brewery. Other craft and small businesses have recently been set up in ripe San ginesio, such as a ceramics workshop and a small publisher. The aim of Borgofuturo is the development of a project that breaks the boundaries between the ideal community generated by the festival and the true community of the inhabitants of ripe San ginesio. The objectives of the association are: 1 to encourage the repopulation of the village, in a logic of solidarity and sharing 2 to redevelop the village, fostering the revival of economic activities and orienting the local economy in a creative, ecological, innovative and sustainable direction 3 to strengthen the accommodation facilities and the collective imagination of Borgofuturo, promoting sustainable tourist flows 4 to strengthen cultural containers and creative entrepreneurial pathways, so as to improve the overall offer of the village 5 to use the imagination of Borgofuturo to provide additional relational and professional opportunities for community members 6 to generate a strong system of national and international connections with realities that could match with the Borgofuturo network. For three years the association has started a new project for the development of non-formal education activities within the walls of ripe San ginesio. Borgofuturo Social Camp, in fact, is a space where participants have the opportunity to actively contribute to the project and at the same time create a community around the issues addressed. The organization is based on volunteering, with the idea that the provision of individual skills and competences makes it possible to acquire new ones, thus facilitating the creation of a collective value.