Alter_Azioni: Designing between Biological and Artifactual. Scenarios for a Short-Term Future

The contribution describes the activities of a teaching and research experience, named Alter_Azioni. It consists of three main parts. Firstly, it introduces the lagoon context as the reference framework used to experiment with a design locally based to address the problems of the local territory and the environment. The paper moves on to discuss the design approach proposed to the students, contextualizing research and experiences based on the needs of the region and its inhabitants, by exploring a possible balance between the biological approach and the artifactual one. Furthermore, it summarizes some references about these issues to gain a deeper insight into the chances or the pitfalls of this project. The second part provides an overview of the possible design range of concerns scenarios for a short-term future, focusing on the design projects developed and mapping them following three paths. Finally, in the third part, a look back points out what has been experienced as possible alternative scenarios.