Campania region, Italy. Photo: Antonio del Giudice 2022
Antonio del Giudice
Supervisor
Abstract
Wasting the Land
Commoning, grassroots movements, and the struggle against wasting relationships in the In the Campania region, Italy.
This research examines Italy’s prolonged and complex waste crisis and the marginalisation of the communities most affected by it, conditions that have given rise to grassroots movements advocating for environmental justice. The project seeks to co-produce alternative representational methods for commoning processes (Federici, 2019) and new territorial strategies by working closely with environmental grassroots movements and situated agroecological practices in Campania. Through these collaborations, it aims to develop a counter-narrative to state and corporate neglect, one that is rooted in collective action and a profound connection to the land. In doing so, it demonstrates how community-led responses can offer more sustainable and equitable alternatives to top-down environmental policies.
The project adopts an embedded research methodology to investigate the social forces actively challenging what scholars have described as “wasting relationships” (Armiero and Sgueglia, 2019). The investigation begins with an in-depth study of the Land of Fires (Terra dei Fuochi) in the Campania region (Alberti, 2022), an area severely affected by decades of illegal waste dumping facilitated by organised crime and political corruption. In collaboration with organisations including Libera Terra and the Territorial Regeneration Civic Forum, the research co-develops tools and methods to map how practices of land commoning have reclaimed and regenerated contaminated landscapes while advancing alternative strategies for land use.
Drawing on theories of commoning (Federici; De Angelis, 2014; Stavrides, 2016) and critical spatial practice (Kunstler, 2022), informed by Campania’s back-to-the-land movements, the project argues that the ecological crisis cannot be addressed without confronting the spatial conditions and planning policies that reproduce inequality through the creation of “wasting relationships” (Armiero, 2021). Rather than treating environmental degradation as a primarily technological problem, it frames the crisis as a consequence of political, spatial, and social injustice—a perspective that is fundamental to imagining regenerative and more equitable futures.
Ultimately, the project aims to strengthen and support the ongoing efforts of communities on the front lines of socio-environmental conflict in the Campania region. Its collaborative methodology is designed to ensure that the research produces not only academic knowledge but also practical tools and strategies that are directly relevant and valuable to the communities involved.
Bio
Antonio is an architect and researcher. His work focuses on spatial politics, environmental conflicts, and alternative modes of space production and ownership. He has collaborated with several architecture practices, including Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu and June 14 Meyer-Grohbrügge & Chermayeff, as well as research institutions such as the Autonomy Institute. His interdisciplinarywork includes co-authoring the article "Extractive Landscapes" for InactualMagazine and co-curating a special issue of Panopticon Magazine titled Wasteocene. This issue explored how waste politics in Italy’s Campania region reveal deeper histories of systemic exploitation and environmental injustice. His personal and collaborative projects have been exhibited at prominent international venues, including the Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam), Galeria Municipal (Porto), Färgfabriken (Stockholm), and CIVA(Brussels). In 2022, he joined 2,3,1000-GIT(Grupo de Investigação Territorial), an action-research organisation dedicated to social and environmental struggles. Until most recently, Antonio was an Associate Lecturer for the MA Environmental Architecture (ResearchStudio 4 Anemoi) at the Royal College of Art and a Guest Lecturer at theUniversity of Brighton.
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School of Architecture, Royal College of Art
Postgraduate Research (PGR) Programme