Social architecture, bringing together the university community and citizens, to reflect on gender-based violence through the creation of red benches.

Goals

The "Out of the Shadow" project aims to raise awareness and actively involve the university and local community on the issues of violence against women and gender inequality.
The project primarily involves students from the departments and centres of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) area, who are invited to design and create red wooden benches. These street furniture complements are used as an innovative language to reflect on the issue, attributing to architecture a social function, with a view to increasing knowledge of the phenomenon of violence against women, which is a violation of human rights.

A collaborative project

The project, launched in 2021 as part of the University's equity and diversity policies, is currently included in the University's 2022-2027 Strategic Plan (Well-being Cluster) and is part of the actions envisaged in the Plan for positive action and the Gender equality plan for 2022-2024. It also responds to the principles of Open Science and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, in particular Goal 5 "Gender equality".
The project is made possible by the participation of the various components of the university community and a network of local institutions such as Opera Universitaria, the cities of Trento and Rovereto, the Service for Employment Support and Environmental Enhancement (SOVA) of the Autonomous Province of Trento, the G. Tartarotti Civic Library of Rovereto, the Municipal Library of Trento, the Magnifica Communità di Fiemme, and private entities including the Cooperativa Sociale Il Gabbiano, LUCE e Design Srl, XLAM Dolomiti Spa and Spazio Verde Soc. Coop. Agricola.

Evolution and results

For every project, a call for proposals was launched for students of the Department of Civil, environmental and mechanical engineering, who were invited to design a red bench. The project is offered with a training course on violence against women and promotes a reflection on the social function of architecture and design.
With the various editions of the project, several red benches were created and installed in various University locations, and a travelling exhibition was prepared with all the submitted projects for organizations and institutions that would like to display it temporarily.
Each bench has a plaque containing information about the project and the contact details of the Anti-Violence Centre.