Urban conflict mapping

Polifactory will host the final presentation of the workshop Urban Conflict Mapping as a Design Research Approach for Enabling Peace Ecosystems, led by Professors Stefano Maffei, Polifactory research team and Claudio Magalhães, Visiting Professor from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

Over the course of the two-day workshop, students will collect and analyze data to populate an infovisual map of urban conflicts related to the food systems of the city of Milan.

The presentation will conclude with a collective moment of reflection, open to guests and participants, focusing on the role of design in building peace ecosystems through this experimental tool.

Workshop Description:
Two days dedicated to exploring the urban fabric of Milan—not only as a physical space, but as a complex ecosystem where tensions, conflicts, and opportunities for transformation intersect. The workshop offers graduate students in Design and Engineering a unique opportunity to experience firsthand how research and design can act as drivers of social change, by highlighting urban conflicts and contributing—through their own tools and practices—to the creation of peace ecosystems.

Through a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach, participants will map conflicts related to Milan’s urban food system, identifying the systemic, structural, social, and environmental injustices that fuel them. Students will have the chance to test and implement a purpose-designed urban conflict map, and explore strategies for data collection, analysis, and visualization.

This workshop is the first in a series of similar initiatives taking place throughout 2025, aimed at mapping urban conflicts in various cities around the world. It is part of the Erasmus KEY ACTION 171 program, involving Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Politecnico di Milano and Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

The workshop is part of the “Passion in Action” program, a catalogue of elective educational activities offered by Politecnico di Milano. These initiatives are designed to support students in developing transversal competencies, as well as soft and social skills, while encouraging a personalized enrichment of their personal, cultural, and professional growth.