PLAT is a platform for social intervention established in Bologna in 2022, born from the convergence of various paths of activism, research, and collective organization.

PLAT is a political and social laboratory with the goal of critically understanding urban transformations and building concrete responses rooted in local territories and the real needs of people.

PLAT is based on a simple but fundamental idea: to intervene in the present, opinion is not enough – investigation is needed. Deep knowledge of the material conditions of life and work, housing difficulties, and changes in the urban social and cultural composition are essential to imagine and practice new forms of collective action. Hence the decision to develop grassroots social research tools capable of linking analysis with organization, knowledge with empowerment.

The Platform focuses on topics such as wages, salaries, housing and environmental justice, the main aim is to fight the different forms of exploitation and isolation to promote a convergence of different struggles in the city of Bologna.

Our areas of intervention include:

1. Help desks for support and mutual aid (housing, migrants, health, work);

2. Support for tax practices and access to welfare services via a patronage office (CAF – Tax Assistance Center);

3. Support, organization, and participation in labor struggles, particularly in the logistics sector, through a structured and permanent collaboration with the self-organized workers’ union SICOBAS;

4. Eviction blockades;

5. Housing occupations (currently active: CARRACCI CASA COMUNE, a housing occupation hosting dozens of families – approx. 150 people total. This occupation prevented the sale of 3 public buildings by the Municipality of Bologna, promoting self-recovery practices, gaining recognition for the work done by all occupants to renovate the building);

6. CARRACCI CASA COMUNE afterschool program – offering activities for the children living in the occupation and for all children in the Bolognina neighborhood where the occupation is located;

7. A ROOM OF OUR OWN – a feminist self-awareness and struggle workshop;

8. Close collaboration and organization with GIOVANI PALESTINESI ITALIANI, BOLOGNA FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE, BOLOGNINA ANTIFASCISTA;

9. Artistic and cultural activities within the EX CENTRALE BOLOGNA social space.

In summary, PLAT is an experiment in metropolitan unionism and community organizing that centers listening, research, and concrete action.