Totally ordinary stories about neighbours who create opportunities and resolve problems, about activities resulting from their new found social relationships, about spectacularly simple initiatives.
Originating in Via Fondazza (Bologna), Federico Bastiani’s Social Streets idea has become extremely popular and districts across Italy are witnessing all sorts of acts of kindness.

The ultimate objective is to encourage people to meet, place value on the time they spend together in the street, shed light on challenges and propose solutions and face and resolve problems in the district.
In a world where connectivity has broken down the barriers of distance and time, the paradox is that reality seems to be slipping through our fingers, the internet and social networks seem to be alienating us, making us less social.

The time is therefore ripe for social networks to start to express their intrinsic nature, their sociality, and demonstrate their desire for us to live together once more. Though cities may no longer be able to create these opportunities, Social Street aims to build relationships that are in the first instance virtual (a Facebook group) but that become real.

This is, therefore, a move from the virtual to the real – via acts of kindness. Innovation from the bottom up, where each and every person sets aside time and puts their skills on the table creating opportunities to meet the people who live in the same street and the same district as them.
People make streets social, not profiles. People wait on politics to make policies, people actively support initiatives, people go down into the street as citizens and constantly, positively, rediscover civics and civil engagement.

SMS Biblio – Spazio Open CoWo, secondo piano