Città Alta Calendario was the result of an exploration into how Bergamo could cultivate joy, grace, trust and hope as intentionally as it designs its experiences and service infrastructure. We focused on Città Alta, Bergamo's historic upper town and its most visited, densely packed space, where increasing tourism is changing how residents experience the places and communities around them.
We began our research with experiments across the city. Large sheets of paper were placed in the Funicolare, a gym and a bar in Città Alta, inviting people to share small moments of joy through post-it notes. We then spoke to 4 residents and conducted 26 intercept interviews. By asking about joyful moments and repeatedly exploring why these moments mattered so much to them, we found connections of joy to deeper topics like trust, grace and hope.
Through our scheduled interviews, we uncovered several connected insights.Despite the municipality workers' clear passion for their work, many of their efforts do not actually reach the citizens. Locals appreciate what tourism brings to the city, but the growing number of visitors is making everyday spaces harder to enjoy, wearing down the small, ordinary interactions residents rely on. Belonging in Bergamo grows through exactly these repeated, everyday moments, not one-time encounters, and it's through them that residents build what we see as their defining trait: a bond marked by deep trust and loyalty within their community. We can see through the obstacles we uncovered and what interviewees told us directly, that this special bergamasco bond is under strain and at risk of being damaged — and that's exactly what we want to prevent.
We looked to nature for ways of maintaining connections and explored the Wood Wide Web and the American alligator as examples of interconnected and resilient systems. This led us to ask: How might we help residents rediscover the little joys that keep them connected to Città Alta as it changes?
Our concept, Città Alta Calendario, is a community calendar where each resident can design the number of a date and leave a small joy mission for others. These could be stories, jokes, invitations, notes or activities. Each month also features a historical image of Città Alta and a resident's story about the place. We imagined the calendar as one of many small initiatives that could help rekindle everyday connections between residents, their community and the places they call home.
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