Plant Plastikos: Stitching Calabrian Place, from Olive Waste to Community Space Part 1 Project 2023 Hailey Savage London Metropolitan University | UK Over a stormy winter, I moved to the village of Belmonte Calabria, in the Cosenza Province of Italy to live, observe, and research a context so different from my own. The setting demanded we respect local cultural and social conditions, in particular, the villager's stories of depopulation and resilience to re-present the value of their homes within the tide of migration.The proposal thus intends to build toward hopeful repopulation of the village, which has statistically been in decline over recent decades.I too left the village, but I took its character with me. I notice its small moments in the city. The village relies on its people to keep it alive for without a bridge from the elderly to the youth – the village and its stories could be lost. During my time in Belmonte – I met with agricultural workers who deeply inspired this project. Pivoting on existing small–scale industries, Plant Plastikos takes a Mediterranean treasure, the olive, and rethinks its disposition as a building block, a steppingstone, introducing innovative examples of community-led architecture in villages. Tutor(s) Sandra Denicke-Polcher Jane McAllister