The first edition of the forum, in attendance, in Perugia

It took place from 20 to 23 October in Perugia, in the evocative setting of the deconsecrated church of San Francesco al Prato, the first edition of the permanent forum promoted and organized by Guglielmo Giordano Foundation and Media Eventi . in partnership with In/Arch - National Institute of Architecture and ADI - Association for Industrial Design; main sponsor: Aboca, Emu, Listone Giordano and Paghera, Rubner Haus and Wyth.

The in-depth activities relating to the different areas of comparison of the Green Table community (design, architecture, urban planning, territory, economy, philosophy, environment, nature, sustainability) continue now on the digital platform forum.greentable.it with a series of cultural initiatives that will be organized in the coming months, pending the second edition in 2022.

‘Noi piantiamo gli alberi e gli alberi piantano noi perché apparteniamo l'uno all’altro e dobbiamo esistere insieme’

“Green Table è una comunità multidisciplinare che lavora per restituire un significato più profondo alla parola umanità, riportando al centro della discussione pubblica la sostenibilità sociale ed economica, lo sviluppo integrato e la qualità della vita delle persone” osserva Andrea Margaritelli, presidente di In/Arch - Istituto Nazionale di Architettura. “E lo fa ispirandosi al sistema d’intelligenza distribuita e organizzata tipica del mondo vegetale che si basa sul mutualismo e la solidarietà reciproca, quella che caratterizza le relazioni tra gli alberi in foresta. A cento anni dalla sua nascita, sono le parole di Joseph Beuys ‘Noi piantiamo gli alberi e gli alberi piantano noi perché apparteniamo l'uno all’altro e dobbiamo esistere insieme’ a guidarci e a stimolare un pensiero generativo”.

Stefano Mancuso: the solution to global warming must be sought in trees

Protagonist of the opening day, Stefano Mancuso, plant neurobiologist and internationally renowned academic, illustrated the state of health of the planet, placing the accent on global warming and recalling the need to defend nature, the primary tree heritage and all living species. “We must find solutions : our behaviors and our activities are heating the planet, our production of materials, concrete and plastic have exceeded the total weight of animal species present in the earth”, explained the scientist. “An increase in temperature of 2 degrees centigrade is incompatible with life and means a catastrophe very quickly. The good news is that there is a solution and it must be sought in the trees, which must be planted and used to build the places where we have to live”.

Over 60 forum participants

Numerous responses and proposals delivered to the forum to help build a more equitable and sustainable future, from over 60 speakers including representatives of design, architecture, science, philosophy and economics, such as Patricia Urquiola, Cino Zucchi, Benedetta Tagliabue, Dante Oscar Benini, Matteo Thun, Alessandra Stefani, Massimiliano Fuksas, Regina De Albertis, Alfonso Femia, Maria Concetta Mattei, Aldo Colonetti, Patricia Viel, Enzo Fortunato to name a few, who conversed sitting around the green table designed by Michele de Lucchi.

Symbolic architectures to preserve cultural diversity

The monumental symbolic architectures (Earth Stations) designed for the five climatic conditions are also by Michele De Lucchi - desert, temperate, continental, polar, tropical - celebrating the manual skills of man (Many Hands), welcoming places in which to preserve cultural diversity and build new mental sets and positive axioms with which to see reality, respecting the planet and all living beings. A “happy vision of the future”, as concrete as the tree-lined architectures created by Stefano Boeri Architetti all over the world, to welcome nature as an original component and propose a new balance between the urban, agricultural and natural spheres.

Contributions also from the world of economics and finance

The need to overturn the current paradigms of growth and development also comes from the world of economics and finance: Deborah Zani and Massimo Mercati, respectively CEO of Rubner Haus and Aboca, among the supporters of the event, outline the traits of companies that act as communities, contributing to the well-being of the territories. From the same table, Marco Morganti , manager of the Impact of Intesa Sanpaolo , relaunches credit inclusion as a form of support to the social economy, act necessary to reduce inequalities and contribute to the e nza distribution and to the balanced growth of the country.

Contents available online

The very rich wealth of contributions (over 1400 minutes of content), is now fully usable online on the platform forum.greentable.it, testifying to a collective commitment made of thought but also action, to promote a responsible change of our styles of life and behavior.

The numbers and appearances (physical and digital) of Green Table

There were 3,050 users in attendance and more than 3,000 subscribers on the Wyth platform who attended the over 30 appointments between live and deferred matches from Milan, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Munich. To these are added the shows and performative moments that followed one another during the four Perugia days, which recorded a significant presence of designers (52%), compared to an equally conspicuous participation of users from the world of economics, entrepreneurship, universities, public administration and associations.

“The attendance figures at the Forum are very satisfactory” claims Carlo Timio, co-creator and co-organizer of Green Table. “N despite l and strict rules of the procedure for the containment of the pandemic the community of people that has aggregated has not been stopped around the values ​​and principles of sustainability, read in their multiple dimensions, from nature to the culture of the project, and we are sure that the numbers of Green Table will continue to grow also through the cross-media platform. Deep is the sense of responsibility that we feel and that we have decided to take on to help seek solutions, identify actions and provide answers to questions, doubts, uncertainties that characterize this historical moment of ecological, economic and social transition, towards a new Renaissance, a humanism capable of putting the person at the center, a more equitable and dignified world”.

The next initiative in connection from Shanghai

Waiting to be able to meet again in Umbria in 2022, the Green Table community will remain interconnected through the digital platform.

The next online cultural initiative, open to all, is scheduled for November in Shanghai, within the project conceived and inhabited by Aldo Cibic: a 40 sqm apartment in Siping , a very populous working-class district of the Chinese megalopolis where the designer is involved in NICE 2035 Living Line, a social innovation project coordinated by the School of Design&Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai.