Dec. 12, 2018: Winter Fest, the Farma Valley for the Explorers of Wonder
Tag Archives: buiometria partecipativa
Andrea Giacomelli (pibinko) with BuioMetria Partecipativa at the final Stars4all meeting
Courtesy of Dácil Muñoz (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Stars4all Communications Manager
Dec. 1, 2018 – Bar Cerveceria Sidi – Waiting for the Farma Valley Winter Fest with BuioMetria in Madrid
The Madrid meet-up with the info point about BuioMetria Partecipativa , waiting for the Farma Valley Winter Fest, is on Dec. 1 at 9PM at Bar Cerveceria Sidi, in Calle Colón , angolo Calle del Barco.
Pibinko will have a (small) desk space with outreach material to explain, first of all, the light pollution issue…then we will see. We plan to close the info point by midnight.
The first announcement of the event, made yesterday, started flowing through the capital, leading to the creation of long lines of people interested as seen below:
For more information: info@pibinko.org
Take off from Fiumicino, Nov. 29, 2019, around 5PM
CAAT 2018 conference
The Third Farma Valley Winter Fest will host on Dec. 16, 2018 the annual CAAT conference. CAAT stands for “Coordinamento Associazioni Astrofile della Toscana“, i.e. the network of amateur astronomer associations in Tuscany. This comprises some forty associations spread across the region.
The local promoter of the venue is pibinko.org, handling for some years now a series of professional services concerning outreach on lighting and darkness related to the BuioMetria Partecipativa project, among other services on culture, environment, and open innovation.
The event is mainly directed to an Italian participation. However, should you be interested to know more about it, or even to propose a talk (we will provide live translation services at no cost for this specific event), please write to bmp@pibinko.org.
The deadline to submit abstracts for presentations is December 7, 2018.
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The conference is open to all those with a passion for astronomy and night skies (but please be sure to register…see below).
The location
Torniella is in the Farma Valley, about 100 km South of Florence. This is half way between Siena and Grosseto, on the former state road leading from Siena to the South.
You may reach it from the North, first heading for Monticiano, and then continuing South, direction Roccastrada for 14 km, or from the South (or the coast) reaching Roccastrada and continuing North for 13 km.
Please avoid the main state road (Siena-Grosseto). This does in fact cross the valley, but several kilometers East of the conference location.
Participants are invited to consider car sharing.
For participants arriving from the Pisa area, it is possible to reach Torniella with a very scenic drive (Volterra-Casole d’Elsa- strada regionale “traversa maremmana”, SP73 below Rosia): however, this is a very curvy road and is not recommended during the Winter if you are not a local.
The Farma Valley
The valley is where the BuioMetria partecipativa (participatory night sky quality monitoring) was born in 2008. It has very good night sky brightness conditions, as documented by various surveys conducted by Italian amateur astronomers, as well as international researchers. Among other experiences, we like to recall the measurement campaign in March 2015, with a team of twelve scientists coming from six countries (see article).
Under a very interesting starry sky, the landscape during the day brings no less surprises, with natural and man-made landmarks. We have the La Pietra, prehistorical quarry, several medieval iron work, and the Belagaio state natural reserve, at the centre of a NATURA2000 protected site, and including a horse breeding facility. Half an hour drive from Torniella we also find the more renown Petriolo hot springs.
The socio-economic peculiarities of the valley are not to be neglectedel luogo. While having a very low population (less than 500 residents over 120 km^2, concentrated in the villages of Torniella, Piloni, and Scalvaia), the area has a high number of local businesses, relative to the number of residents, and has a lively sports scene. This includes a football team, a mountain bike trophy, and -most of all- numerous players of palla a 21 (or palla eh!), an ancient handball game.
The musical scene is not less enticing, with one of the most active philarmonic bands in Southern Tuscany, a classical music Summer school, and folks who are active on innovative musical projects, such as the fusion of rock-blues and environmental outreach.
Combining these resources, since 2007 the Valley has become the hub of several original project in the field of protection and promotion of lesser known assets in culture, environment, and open innovation. Among and extensive list of media reports, this case was covered in an effective way in a recent article on Langscape Magazine.
Conference Venue
The conference venue is the rehearsal room of the Associazione filarmonica popolare Torniella (80 seats available)
Schedule (pending the publication of a detailed list of presentations)
- 10 AM – opening of the conference
- 1PM – Light lunch at Trattoria il Boscaiolo (150 m from the conference venue). This combines typical Southern Tuscan dishes with Andalusian specialties (the chef is from Granada, Spain)
- 2 PM – afternoon talk and CAAT general assembly
- 5.30 PM – conclusion
With good weather, should participants be interested, it is possible to arrange a short guided tour of the village (20-minute walk, just afert lunch)
Opportunities
- The conference takes place in the context of the third Farma Valley Winter Fest, an interdisciplinary territorial promotion event created by the same team managin the BuioMetria Partecipativa project. The Festival includes “local” features (i.e. the commong goods in the forest, the valley community map or the construction of the palla a 21 ball), as well as “global” features, such as webinars on advance 3D visualization for the creation of virtual museums, and some healthy entertainment (short walks in the woods, and indoor games, dance contests and live music).
- Should you be interested, you are invited to arrive in Torniella on Saturday, Dec. 15. There will be a space to showcase your activities, and it convenient lodging options are available in Torniella and Piloni (1.5 km from the conference venue).
Important dates
If you plan to attend the 2018 CAAT conference, by Dec. 7 2018 you should write to info@pibinko.org indicating
a- if you are interested in attending the conference (in Italian)
b- if you are interested to propose an abstract (this may be in English)
c- if you are interested in lodging.
Organizing committee
The CAAT Conference is promote by CAAT with support by pibinko.org, Pro Loco Piloni-Torniella, ad Associazione Filarmonica Popolare Torniella.
Intermittent lights in Turin, Italy
Nov. 16, 2018: Repubblica.it -A milder climate and artificial lighting alter tree resting
With and interview to Luciano Massetti (National Research Council Institute of Biometeorology), with whom we collaborate since 2014 on the BuioMetria Partecipativa project.
For more information: bmp@pibinko.org
Nov. 15, 2018- Do artificial lights alter the “rest” of the trees? (Italian Research Council press release)
This is a press release by the Italian Research Council, presenting the publication by Luciano Massetti about “Assessing the impact of street lighting on Platanus x acerifolia phenology” Published on Urban Forestry & Urban Greening in August 2018.
The press release was abridged by some national media, not mentioning the other organisations with which CNR IBIMET collaborates on the topic of light pollution (namely, the University of Pisa and the BuioMetria Partecipativa project).
Find here the full press release (in Italian, for the moment).
Thu. Nov. 22, 2018: Planning the upper half of the landscape at Politecnico di Milano with the BuioMetria Partecipativa project
Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018 from 2.30PM to 3.30PM with the landscape planning course at the Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Milano (via Bonardi), there will be a seminar on Planning the “upper half of the landscape” (pianificare l’altra metà del paesaggio, in Italian) where we will explain the BuioMetria Partecipativa point of view on this topic. The lecture will be given in English (as all of the course lectures).This is not the first time that BuioMetria Partecipativa goes to Politecnico (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017), nor is it the first time that we speak to architects (2014, Summer School in Porto). However this is the first time that we speak to architects from Politecnico, and for a Politecnico MS Engineer (and PhD) this is news.
As I think of it, actually it is not even the first time in this respect. The Politecnico Architecture Faculty hosted the final event of the m(‘)appare Milano campaign (a localized version of an OpenStreetMap mapping party), which interestingly happened in the same months when the BuioMetria Partecipativa project was being written. You may check this page on m(‘)appare and this video for a coverage of the first round of the mapping campaign (Apr. 6, 2008).
Independently of open data nostalgia (or the sense of putting a project in a perspective) please see below the abstract for next week’s seminar. Should you not be able to attend, but interested in learning more about these topics or sharing your views, please write to bmp@pibinko.org.
Planning the Upper Half of the Landscapa – A. Giacomelli
People are often used to think of landscape planning as a discipline involving elements with a connection to the ground, with the sky being merely a backdrop to our projects and our operations.
However, at night, lighting networks and installations have an impact on the conditions of night sky which is not only aesthetic (i.e. the reduction of our ability to contemplate a starry sky due to the excess of upward lighting), but also has significant impacts on ecology, astronomy, health and safety, and energy management.
In this respect, the night sky as “the upper half of the landscape” acquires an unprecedented relevance, and suggests planning indications that we can relate to elements we control on the ground.
Interestingly, we will find that mitigation actions on light pollution are not in conflict with lighting levels ensuring safety and security, and that a higher awareness on the effects of artificial light at night will indicate new directions on guidelines and regulations, which planners may want to consider.
While such an awareness has been growing over the past twenty years, lighting installations are also changing very fast, and possibly not always in a direction which is in tune with recent research findings on the effects of artificial light a night. For this reason, there is a need to strengthen an interdisciplinary approach on the topic.
The talk will provide:
(1) an overview of the light pollution issue and measures to mitigate it from various angles
(2) a series of ideas on the sustainable exploitation of night skies as a resource for tourism and education
(3) the presentation of experiences by the speaker’s team, where students may also be involved in 2019.
……
Andrea Giacomelli, PhD in Hydrology (1997), MS in Environmental Engineering (1993)
After his academic studies (Politecnico di Milano and University of Gent, Belgium), he worked for five years in the environmental modelling group at the Sardinia Science and Technology Park, for eight years for an environmental engineering corporation based in Milano, and since 2011 is operating as a free lance based in Southern Tuscany.
His activities cover a part of “traditional” services (primarily consulting on Geographic Information Systems and IT issues), and a part of innovative projects concerning the interdisciplinary promotion of lesser known resources, combining culture, environment, and open innovation.
His flagship initiative in the environmental sector is the BuioMetria Partecipativa project. Launched in 2008, this includes citizen science for night sky monitoring, outreach, and other efforts, primarily directed to the promotion of inner rural areas. Starting as a small community-based endeavour, the project has eventually triggered interesting developments, obtaining awards, frequent national media visibility, and de facto stimulating the birth of a national interdisciplinary network with significant international relations.
For more information:
Nov. 14, 2018 – BuioMetria 2018: the Countdown starts with Amish from Jack White (Il Tirreno Grosseto edition)
This is an Italian newspaper, but the title might be a Blade Runner-like neolanguage, considering “con” as the English adjective, “il” for “Illinois” and “parte” as a typo or a creole version for “party”.
Dario Canal and his Detroit friend, Alessio Ritchie, have the onus and bonus of opening the countdown to the Third Farma Valley Winter Fest.
