Feasibility proposal for a ‘self-build community’ in the valley between historic villages in Southern Italy, shaped by several weeks of broad research whilst living alongside existing residents, as a means to unite recent refugee arrivals with existing residents, allowing for an equal exchange of goods and knowledge on the neutral low ground overlooking the sea.

The town of Belmonte Calabro is largely ageing, with younger residents often heading to larger cities for other opportunities, resulting in a gradual loss of business for existing crafts people, and a shrinking of the stepped farms which cover the slopes. There is also an increase in the refugee population, people with existing knowledge and skills which could enrich local trades and help with the intensive physical labour of farming.

In the centre of the valley bowl is an enormous football pitch build several years ago from an EU sports grant, it is used semi-frequently by local teams and groups, however due to it’s slightly detached location it has never quite fulfilled it’s potential. We proposed to adapt the existing underutilised structures, and adapt them with cheap, sustainable, light-weight timber additions partially build by the residents themselves, learning new skills in repairing the existing building stock in the future through the process.

This would allow for the continuation of existing trades within the surrounding Frazionis (small satellite settlements with a trading culture) such as farming, furniture making, and woven basket-making, through willing able-bodied workers, whilst new processes such as print-making and pottery could add new flavours to existing recipes for creativity, whilst residents old and new are able to keep their privacy and dignity.