FARE LA CITTA' TRANS*FEMMINISTAQUEER

On October 22nd, 2026, at 6:30 PM, Polifactory (Building B3, Bovisa Campus, Politecnico di Milano) hosts the first meeting of the new cycle of Open Polifactory, Transfeminisms x Design. An exploration of agency, power and knowledge.
The 2026–2027 cycle is dedicated to the relationship between transfeminisms and design, and invites us to question the assumptions that guide design practice, from urban space and material culture to the history of objects, visual communication and emerging technologies. Along the way, it asks what role design plays, and what responsibility designers hold, in the construction of artifacts, realities and knowledge.

The first meeting, Fare la città Trans*femministaqueer. Sguardi plurali sulla progettazione delle città, turns to the city. Who designs the cities and public spaces we live in? How, and for whom? Which exclusions, forms of domination and power mechanisms do they reproduce? Starting from Leslie Kern’s reflections (2019), we will look at public space as a non-neutral device of power and control, telling present alternatives and imagining future utopias.

To guide us through the topic, two researchers will meet in conversation, moving between theoretical insights and case studies.

Valentina Ferreri holds a PhD in Design from Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis titled "Queer Cities. Queering participatory design of spatial urban practices". Her research explores how queer, intersectional and feminist perspectives can offer critical and speculative lenses for participatory processes and urban spatial practices. With the POLIMI DESIS Lab she has worked on participatory and social design projects at the territorial scale, facilitating workshops, research and teaching activities in dialogue with institutions, the third sector, civil society and communities.

Elisa Venturini is a PhD candidate in Political Philosophy at Università di Verona. Her research project questions the city in relation to an identity-based conception of democratic citizenship, and on the same themes she has published "Tutta nostra la città" (Asterisco, 2025). Together, they will invite us to look at the city through a trans*feminist and queer lens, and to imagine other ways of making it.

The event is organised by Polifactory, the makerspace and fablab of Politecnico di Milano, as part of Open Polifactory, an annual series of presentations, events and debates that explores complex themes in contemporary design research, with the aim of keeping the discussion as open and accessible as possible. Curated and produced by the team of researchers of Polifactory, it is addressed to faculty members, researchers and students of the Politecnico community, as well as to citizens, designers, professionals and civil servants interested in advanced perspectives on design culture.
Admission is free and open to everyone, and the event will be held in Italian.