Riccardo Dalisi at Rione Traiano

Social redemption through the animation experience

Abstract

Riccardo Dalisi’s experience in Rione Traiano was an experimental laboratory that happened between 1971 and 1974. It involved children living in the social district, built in the late fifties and characterized by harsh conditions of poverty and marginalization. Through a mutual exchange between children and operators, Dalisi’s concept is based on widespread creativity, able to generate transformation and emancipation.
The purpose of this paper is to narrate the experience highlighting its points in common with the Radical Design movement and the participatory theories. The aim is to underline Dalisi’s research original aspects about the relation between design and pedagogy, project and creativity, the attention paid much more on the process rather than on the product and the important contribution in terms of social impact. This last point is expressed in two main relational dynamics: the disorder, considered as an interesting investigation field and the power generated by randomness, as the engine of the design process. Finally, the paper focuses on social innovation, generated by the animation practices, which represents the real value of Dalisi's research.