GEN V - What is a community worth? Step into the lab of the commons.

GEN V - Volunteering that transforms communities. Participatory research to build the map of Salento’s commons

https://genvsalento.it/

How do we measure the value of a community? By its economic indicators, or by people’s ability to care for one another?

GEN V - Volunteering that Transforms Communities starts from a challenge: to recognise volunteering as a genuine form of social infrastructure, capable of fostering trust, cohesion, wellbeing and local development. Volunteering is not simply a response to people’s needs: it is a resource for understanding how places are changing, building new alliances and imagining the future.

The project was formally launched at the Prefecture in Lecce on 25 June 2026 with the signing of the White Paper on Volunteering in Salento. It brings together the University of Salento, the Third Sector, public institutions, foundations, the media and youth organisations. 

Its aim is to experiment with a new way of doing research: working with communities and drawing on their experiences.

At the European Researchers’ Night, the public becomes part of the research

Visitors will not simply observe: they will actively contribute to the research through:

• Round table
• Narrative installations
• Interactive maps
• Audiovisual testimonies

Citizens, students and volunteers will be invited to identify, share and geolocate the people, places, experiences and networks that generate commons across Salento every day.

Round table (45 minutes)

Speakers:

Michele Carducci decano DiSUS Unisalento

Sarah Siciliano, referente del progetto per Unisalento 

Eugenia Congedo Tria Corda

Luigi Conte CSV

Ada Chirizzi Fondazione di Comunità

Daniele Manni GPRO

Mirko Cazzato GPRO

Vincenzo Maruccio Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia

Let’s build the Map of Salento’s Commons together

Participants can directly contribute to the creation of the Map of Salento’s Commons, one of the central tools of GEN V.

The map is a collective, georeferenced representation of the area’s social capital, created in real time on a large display. It offers an opportunity to discover, through participatory social research, how data can emerge from listening, collective memory and civic participation.

GEN V 2026 Youth Call

A dedicated space will present the GEN V 2026 Youth Call, an ideas competition for young people aged 14 to 30 who live or study in Salento. The call invites them to turn local needs and vulnerabilities into concrete proposals for social innovation.

Partner:

Tria Corda ODV

CSV Brindisi Lecce Volontariato nel Salento ETS

Fondazione di Comunità del Salento ETS

Università del Salento - Dipartimento di Scienze Umane e Sociali

Associazione G.PRO - Giovani Proattivi APS