Cecilia Colombo

KILOWATT, BOLOGNA

Kilowatt is a model of innovation, a place, an approach - before being an organisation.

Kilowatt is a workers’ cooperative which functions as an incubator of ideas and opportunities to generate social and environmental impact. Animated by diverse skills and transversal competences, Kilowatt operates within a cross-sectorial environment which touches upon innovative education, social entrepreneurship, urban regeneration, sustainable agricolture and creative design. The practice constitutes a socio-cultural infrastructure, generative of spaces for inclusion, welfare and social relations based on knowledge exchange and mutuality. Community engagement, co-design, collaborative and circular forms of economy are key elements defining Kilowatt’s identity.

Everything happens at Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita, place of culture and experimentation, which has been regenerated in the past five years for and with the local community.

The space in itself is composed of:

• A co-working space, promoting open innovation and collaborations
• A nursery, implementing innovative educational models
• A community garden, supporting local and sustainable means to produce food
• A vegetarian restaurant, spreading a culture of nutrition based on physical and mental wellbeing
• An inclusive and public outdoor space, promoting accessible and high quality artistic contents
• And cultural events

This physical, but also conceptual space, aims to involve the local community in a social system based on solidarity, community self-organisation and active participation to civic life. Kilowatt is characterised by a non-hierarchical governance inner system, where relational collective wellbeing is the principle ruling internal and external dynamics.