Urbinary

POLI.RADIO

Urbinary is a podcast by PhD students and research fellows from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. Born in 2022 as a student project, it was rebranded in 2024 with a renewed mission: to make urban studies accessible to a broader audience by exploring innovative research topics and fostering inclusive dialogue. Through fresh perspectives and experimental approaches, Urbinary bridges academia and the public, amplifying young voices and uncovering new paths in urban research.

  1. S2526 / Ri-affermare la dimensione pubblica nei territori della logistica

    Jun 15

    S2526 / Ri-affermare la dimensione pubblica nei territori della logistica

    Il Workshop Younger SIU 2025 ha lavorato ad un’analisi analitico-progettuale del concetto di ‘publicness’ a partire dal caso emblematico del nodo logistico di Piacenza.   Per raccontarlo, intrecciamo le nostre riflessioni con quelle dei partecipanti, e audio raccolti durante un sopralluogo commentato nel polo Le Mose.

    45 min
  2. S2526 / Publicness, in teoria

    Jun 12

    S2526 / Publicness, in teoria

    Il primo episodio di Publicness, in teoria e in pratica introduce il tema della publicness a partire dalle riflessioni sviluppate durante la XXVII Conferenza della Società Italiana degli Urbanisti. Attraverso le voci di Maria Antonella Bruzzese, Gabriele Pasqui e Cristina Bianchetti, l’episodio attraversa alcuni dei principali nodi teorici legati alla dimensione pubblica contemporanea: il rapporto tra spazio e accesso, le trasformazioni del ruolo delle istituzioni, le tensioni tra pubblico e privato e le forme di esclusione che attraversano la città.  Più che una qualità intrinseca dello spazio urbano, la publicness emerge come una condizione instabile e relazionale, costruita attraverso pratiche sociali, conflitti, infrastrutture e forme di riconoscimento collettivo. In questo quadro, l’urbanistica non appare soltanto come disciplina tecnica, ma come uno strumento capace di interrogare il modo in cui immaginiamo, organizziamo e condividiamo la città contemporanea.  L’episodio non propone una restituzione lineare della conferenza, ma una rielaborazione critica sviluppata dal collettivo di Urbinary a partire dai temi, dalle conversazioni e dai materiali emersi durante l’evento, intrecciandoli con riferimenti teorici e riflessioni autonome.

    37 min
  3. S2526 / Below the Surface. Power, Groundwater, and BNBOs in Denmark

    Jun 5

    S2526 / Below the Surface. Power, Groundwater, and BNBOs in Denmark

    Groundwater protection in Denmark has become a growing source of conflict. Through the case of BNBOs - protection zones around drinking water wells - the episode explores how environmental regulation reshapes agricultural practices, land use, and property relations. Tracing the frictions between agro-industrial metabolism and environmental protection, it asks who ultimately absorbsthe costs of sustainability.    Written by Written by Yasemin Alma, Ali Ghanbari, Thomas Riise and Esther Swaap. Narrated by Maša Bezbradica. Edited by Stella De Luca. Post-production and sound design by Giorgio Mattina. The series was developed within the course Conflict Management and Resolution (2025–2026), taught by Carolina Pacchiand Giancarlo Vecchi at Politecnico di Milano. This episode was produced for educational and research purposes. Portions of third-party audio materials may be included for commentary, analysis, and critique. All rights remain with their respective owners.    Audio credits  DR Nyheder. (2026). Drikkevandsdebatten er skoldhed, men har eksisteret i årtier [Video]. DR. https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/reels/drikkevandsdebatten-er-skoldhed-men-har-eksisteret-i-aartierDR Nyheder. (2026). På sjette døgn er borgerne i Ledøje uden vand: “Det er virkelig skræmmende” [Video]. DR. https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/paa-sjette-doegn-er-borgerne-i-ledoeje-uden-vand-det-er-virkelig-skraemmende  DRTV_DR. (2026). Signe Molde drikker drænvand fra en mark med frisk sprøjtet gift [Video]. YouTube Shorts. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NgMbySG4I8o

    29 min
  4. S2526 / Gating the Lagoon. The conflictual decision-making process of MoSe

    Jun 3

    S2526 / Gating the Lagoon. The conflictual decision-making process of MoSe

    Venice has always lived with water. But after the catastrophic flood of 1966, that uneasy coexistence increasingly came to be governed through large-scale technological control. Through the controversial history of the MOSE barriers, the episode explores how infrastructures reorganize socio-natural relations and transform the political struggle over who gets to govern the lagoon.    Written by Quentin Baladi, Chiara Caruso, Sanjana Shankar, and Emma Veneziani. Narrated by Dafni Riga. Edited by Stella De Luca. Post-production and sound design by Giorgio Mattina. The series was developed within the course Conflict Management and Resolution (2025–2026), taught by Carolina Pacchiand Giancarlo Vecchi at Politecnico di Milano. This episode was produced for educational and research purposes. Portions of third-party audio materials may be included for commentary, analysis, and critique. All rights remain with their respective owners.  Audio credits  AGTW. (2022). Il Mose salva Venezia, i cittadini: «Migliore invenzione degli ultimi 150 anni». [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7zpx8BEgEs  INA Officiel. (2019). 1966 : Une marée historique inonde Venise | Archive INA [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=  Pellegrini, G. (Director). (2020). La città delle sirene [Documentary]. Ginko Film. Version consulted: DocuVision. (2023). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUGvnUp0lz8  TG La7. (2013). Mose di Venezia: appalti distorti, in manette ex presidente Mazzacurati [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Yiht0ceOM

    33 min
  5. S2526 / Flows of Power. How water treaties produce water scarcity

    May 28

    S2526 / Flows of Power. How water treaties produce water scarcity

    Starting from the 2020 conflict surrounding La Boquilla Dam, this episode traces the hidden workings of the 1944 water treaty between the United States and Mexico. In the Río Conchos basin, water is not simply scarce: it is made scarce. As farmers face empty canals and mounting pressure to meet cross-border water deliveries, a deeper fracture comes into view, between water as a means of survival and water as a debt to be repaid.  Written by Toka Elsayed, Laila Kouta, Alexia Lara, Lucy White. Narrated by Lucy White. Edited by Stella De Luca. Post-production and sound design by Giorgio Mattina. The series was developed within the course Conflict Management and Resolution (2025–2026), taught by Carolina Pacchi and Giancarlo Vecchi at Politecnico di Milano. This episode was produced for educational and research purposes. Portions of third-party audio materials may be included for commentary, analysis, and critique. All rights remain with their respective owners.  Audio credits   CBS Mornings (Year). Locals in rural Mexican town fault Coca-Cola for depleting water resources. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPzie3gsdUA  Colectivo Testigo Ocular (2020). Boquilla, de la sequía al saqueo. [Documentary]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1wjoeMe05M&t=5286s  @gracielaacosta8399 (2020). Boquilla 8 Sep. [Video]. YouTube Shorts. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3hyn1W1uz9k  KSAT 12 (2024). Texas’ only sugar mill to close permanently after 51 years. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMXbebDCnQw  Lyla Mehta (2025). Urban Dialogue, 24th Triennale Milano International Exhibition, curated by Politecnico di Milano. [Audio recording, unpublished].  Monica De La Cruz (2024). Mexico's Violation of 1944 Water Treaty Threatens 500 Jobs and US Food Security – Biden Must Act Now. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7J3sjwbty0

    38 min
  6. S2526 / Public space, public power / Part B - How protest reshapes a city

    Mar 11

    S2526 / Public space, public power / Part B - How protest reshapes a city

    Public space and protest power explores how protest movements do more than express political demands; they actively reshape the city itself. Through the ongoing student protests in Serbia, the series explores how public spacebecomes a site of visibility, conflict, solidarity, and collective identity. Beginning with the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse and the institutional silence that followed, the podcast examines how grief turned into mobilization, and how student-led organizing transformed protest into arecurring urban rhythm. Across both episodes, protest is approached as an urban practice: something that reorganizes streets and squares, redefines everyday routines, and turns ordinary infrastructure into political terrain. By connecting political experience to spatial experience, Public space and protest power shows how democracy is not only debated. It is performed, negotiated, and made visible through the urban space. Public space, public power: How protest reshapes the city shifts the lens from protest as a political movement to protest as a spatial force. As demonstrations become recurring in Serbia, they begin to settle into the city’s everyday rhythm,reshaping how people move, gather, and relate to the spaces around them. Drawing on the Charter of Public Space and conversations with scholars and practitioners, the episode explores how public spaces gain visibility, symbolicpower, and political function during protest. From Beirut to Madrid to Belgrade, it traces how repeated occupation can transform ordinary streets and squares into sites of memory and identity. The episode also examines how protest communication now extends beyond physical space into digital space, allowing visibility to travel and meanings to circulate. Ultimately, the main argument is that public space is not merely where protests take place. It is one of the central stakes of protest itself, and one of the last arenas wheredemocratic presence can become visible, collective, and real.

    22 min
  7. S2526 / Public space and protest power / Part A - From Collapse to Collective: Student Protest in Serbia

    Mar 4

    S2526 / Public space and protest power / Part A - From Collapse to Collective: Student Protest in Serbia

    Public space and protest power explores how protest movements do more than express political demands; they actively reshape the city itself. Through the ongoing student protests in Serbia, the series explores how public spacebecomes a site of visibility, conflict, solidarity, and collective identity. Beginning with the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse and the institutional silence that followed, the podcast examines how grief turned intomobilization, and how student-led organizing transformed protest into a recurring urban rhythm. Across both episodes, protest is approached as an urban practice: something that reorganizes streets and squares, redefines everydayroutines, and turns ordinary infrastructure into political terrain. By connecting political experience to spatial experience, Public space and protest power shows how democracy is not only debated. It is performed, negotiated, and made visible through the urban space. From Collapse to Collective: Student Protest in Serbia begins in Novi Sad, where the sudden collapse of a recently renovated railway station canopy turns a normal morning into a moment of collective shock. As accountability fails to arrive and justice remains suspended, the tragedy becomes more than an accident - it becomes a symbol of institutional breakdown. From this rupture, a student-led protest movement emerges, expanding across universities and cities and transforming grief into organization. The episode follows how students, supported by professors and structured through direct democratic plenums, became central actors in demanding transparency, responsibility, and the ruleof law. Positioned within both Serbia’s political climate and the longer global history of student movements, the episode asks why students so often become catalysts for change, and why their protests matter not only politically, but urbanistically as well. It raises an important question:  what happens when protest becomes part of the city’s fabric?

    28 min
  8. S2526 / Manuale minimo di urbanistica coloniale (come si pianifica un’occupazione) / Parte B - Cisgiordania

    12/15/2025

    S2526 / Manuale minimo di urbanistica coloniale (come si pianifica un’occupazione) / Parte B - Cisgiordania

    La seconda parte approfondisce la dimensione territoriale del colonialismo d’insediamento in Cisgiordania, dove il controllo lascia la scala urbana per trasformarsi in un progetto capillare di riorganizzazione dello spazio. L’episodio ricostruisce le radici storiche del progetto sionista, la nascita degli insediamenti dopo il 1967 e l’evoluzione della colonizzazione attraverso kibbutz, città suburbane, comunità collinari e outpost illegali poi legalizzati. Le voci degli intervistati guidano l’ascoltatore dentro le logiche di pianificazione che istituzionalizzano l’esproprio: la trasformazione delle terre in “state land”, la costruzione sulle alture come strumento ottico di controllo, l’architettura panottica degli outpost e l’emergere di università nei territori occupati come infrastrutture permanenti della colonizzazione. L’episodio affronta anche il tema della temporalità sospesa dei campi profughi e del ruolo dell’arte e della memoria nel contrastare la cronopolitica dell’occupazione. Fonte inserti audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxLDYkX7l9A https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156573118623487 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkXJwErm8DM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdldVhfbaU

    38 min
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About

Urbinary is a podcast by PhD students and research fellows from the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. Born in 2022 as a student project, it was rebranded in 2024 with a renewed mission: to make urban studies accessible to a broader audience by exploring innovative research topics and fostering inclusive dialogue. Through fresh perspectives and experimental approaches, Urbinary bridges academia and the public, amplifying young voices and uncovering new paths in urban research.

Information

  • Creator
    POLI.RADIO
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    57
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © POLI.RADIO
  • Show Website
    Urbinary