What is your name, current location, and current occupation?
I am Ginevra D’Agostino, I recently relocated back to Italy where I am trying to strike a balance between work and the amazing food options!
I am also the co-founder and president of Liminal (@liminalweb), a network of young professionals that work with local communities and government authorities to contribute to the future of rural areas of Italy struggling with depopulation and disinvestment.
What was your affiliation with MIT?
M.Arch 2022 Alum
What was your thesis title, if you completed one?
Rebuilding the Edge, The case of the Sulmona-Carpinone railway and the town of Pettorato sul Gizio. The thesis process for me was a point of departure, an attempt to understand what contributions I am uniquely positioned to make when it comes to issues brought forward by the depopulation of small centers. I discovered that architecture has a relevant role in the articulation and resolution of multidisciplinary initiatives that seek to address the challenges faced by small cities and towns.
Rebuilding the Edge became Liminal Lab’s pilot project, a program through which a multidisciplinary team of MIT students and faculty collaborated with Liminal on a vision for towns along a rehabilitated railway atop the Apennines. Students lived and worked in Abruzzo for three weeks thanks to the support and partnership of MIT-Italy, Fondazione FS Italiane, MIT Urban Risk Lab, and MIT Digital Structures.
If you want to read more about the project you can visit: Salone del Mobile di Milano + Fast Company or/and Koozarch Rebuilding the Edge Interview
What are you doing today?
First of all, I like to start and end my days with a long walk with my dog: Olivia. I also enjoy spending my weekends re-energizing in the countryside, where I spend my time having long conversations with locals in front of a cozy meal and go on long walks in nature.
When it comes to work, I am 100% focused on structuring Liminal and transforming it into an institution, from fundraising to the administration, as well as creating new projects and partnerships able to catalyze tangible results in the areas and municipalities we work with. At Liminal we are committed to supporting small and medium-sized municipalities and rural areas of Italy in the cultural, socio-economic, and ecological transition we find ourselves in. Liminal’s network of talented people is in full expansion, and we are every day working to build the structure needed to allow new energies to get on the ground and translate their interests into tangible results.
How did your time at MIT affect your career path?
My time at MIT was defining for my career path. I was fortunate to encounter and engage with genuinely committed and caring colleagues, professors, and staff who are passionate about what they do, as well as making a tangible contribution to society, and supporting people and communities most in need.
At MIT I was exposed to entrepreneurial and spatial thinking as well as different ways of practicing. This has been an incredible opportunity to reevaluate the way I position myself in the vast landscape of the architecture world and more broadly the built environment.
What are you excited about in your career field today?
I believe that the technological, social, environmental and cultural changes that are taking place, require us to rethink the way we understand our role in society and the contribution that we are uniquely positioned to make.
In addition, the focus in the last decades has been so much on the expansion of metropolitan areas, that we have left rural areas on their own. Today these territories are fragile and stripped away of all the human capital, and livelihood they need to survive. I think we are at a new frontier of architecture and planning that requires us to see problems up close and from different points of view to propose concrete solutions. We have to collaborate with people from different fields, get on the ground to engage with communities and together brainstorm ways to move forward.
What is advice you would give to a new alum coming out of MIT?
Being comfortable with being uncomfortable is advice I would give. Learning new skills in the work environment, that we are not taught in school, is exhausting and requires us to be okay with making mistakes. What is important is caring enough about a given topic or idea to push through the obstacles we encounter, so that we can eventually enjoy the results of our efforts and the positive feedback of the people we help or who are going through this journey with us.
I believe it is important to get out there and reach out to people, create human connections, and most of all be generous with others.
How can fellow alums reach you if they want to speak further?
I am always looking to engage in conversation with new people and I highly encourage anyone who resonated with what I have shared to reach out to me at ginevra.dagostino@liminalweb.com or visit our website liminalweb.com