New Temporary Off Campus Opened
Politecnico di Milano has inaugurated the Temporary Off Campus, a new social innovation lab at Cascina Turro, in Piazza del Governo Provvisorio in Milan. After five years of activity at the Viale Monza Municipal Market, the Off Campus Nolo space is temporarily relocating, continuing to promote a university that is open, inclusive, and rooted in the neighborhoods.
The new space is dedicated to issues of equitable access to food, the recovery of food surplus, and social innovation. Politecnico will collaborate with the cooperatives Comin and B-CAM as part of the project “Reciprocità in Azione” promoted with Municipality 2, to strengthen the network between the university, the third sector, and local citizens.
Temporary Off Campus is coordinated by the Polimi DESIS Lab of the Department of Design, in collaboration with other Departments and Schools of the University. The interdisciplinary approach encourages the development of innovative solutions serving communities and territories.
With Off Campus, we have built a different way of being an academic institution - open, collaborative, and rooted in the city’s spaces. The move to Cascina Turro represents an opportunity to renew this presence, experimenting with forms of social innovation that arise from listening to and collaborating with people and local organizations. It is in these contexts that research and teaching find concrete meaning, generating shared value and real impact.
Davide Fassi, Rector’s Delegate for Cultural Activities and Public Engagement
Here, we want to strengthen collaboration with those who live and work in the neighborhood, continuing to imagine a university that builds shared value together with the city.
Francesca Cognetti, Rector’s Delegate for the Off Campus program
The inauguration saw the participation of institutional representatives from the City of Milan, the involved cooperatives, Politecnico di Milano, volunteers from Volo ODV, and local associative and informal groups actively participating in the project.
Temporary Off Campus complements the other spaces of the Off Campus program - San Siro, San Vittore, and Cascina Nosedo — confirming Politecnico’s commitment to building bridges between academic knowledge and the everyday life of the neighborhoods.