Milan's Municipio 5 is a densely populated area with real pockets of social vulnerability and a large young population. The years since the pandemic have made an existing difficulty worse: the vast majority of teenagers today report having faced real psychological difficulties of their own.
These young people often lack educational spaces that offer an alternative to passive screen time, and the resulting lack of stimulation and concrete experience feeds isolation, lower self-esteem and difficulty relating to others. Hands-on, creative activities, especially building something together as a group, respond directly to this need, drawing participants into a state of deep focus and enjoyment often described as flow.
The project
"Progetto Mosaico" uses an innovative educational method that combines art, experiential learning and active citizenship to support the quality of young people's education. Students build transversal, cultural and organisational skills as they take part, working with recycled ceramics to create the mosaic itself and, through that material choice, engaging directly with ideas around the circular economy.
The project rests on five principles: learning through experience, valuing each person's uniqueness, collaboration, responsibility and active citizenship. The mosaic becomes an educational tool in its own right, helping teenagers develop personal and practical skills while discovering the value of their own contribution within a community, shifting how they see their place within it: not as isolated individuals, but as part of something larger, where looking out for one another becomes simply what people do.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are students from four class sections of around 20 students each, plus one additional class of 22 students focused on multimedia work.
Its impact reaches further, to the teachers who take an active part in designing the mosaic, to participating students' families, and to local residents, who benefit from living in an area visibly reclaimed from neglect.
Project name: Progetto Mosaico:'la cura: una tessera alla volta'
Proposing organisation: Fondazione MilleSoli
Area of intervention: Environment & Sustainable Communities
Country: Italy