Learn to design with a place, not for it.
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre · 27–30 January 2027 · Four days · Up to 15 participants
Come with a question, an idea or a challenge. Learn with a place and develop practical responses you can take home.
A place-based design laboratory in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre. With the Patronate of Comune di Riomaggiore.
What you take home
A project you actually worked on, with a knowlegable cohort
You arrive with a question, an idea or a challenge from your own context, and leave with it developed, tested against a real place and reviewed by peers and practitioners.
A way of reading any food system
Observation, walking, conversation and living systems thinking: methods you can carry into any territory, not only this one.
A Project Manual and a certificate
Your own documented process in our designed Project Manual and on completion, you will receive a Con Viv Practitioner Certificate from Living Earth College.
A network that keeps going
You join a growing international cohort working on place-based food systems, with sister Labs in Tasmania and British Columbia.
Not a study tour. A living laboratory.
Rather than studying a place from the outside, we learn with the place itself: through observation, walking, conversation, local relationships, field visits and practical project development.
You work in Riomaggiore and across the Cinque Terre, on the terraces, in kitchens and cellars and in the village itself, alongside the people who keep this landscape alive.
How the four days work
Where we start
5pm, Tuesday 26 January · Old School Cafe, Via Lino Pecunia 110, 19017 Riomaggiore (SP), Italy
Mornings · In the landscape
Immersions in the territory: terraces, vineyards, the sea, farms and producers, with the people who work them.
Afternoons · Design sessions
Structured work on your own question or project, using living systems tools, with peer review and input from practitioners.
How we work: walking, observation, conversation, field visits, mapping, prototyping and peer review.
Who will guide you
Dr Emily Samuels-Ballantyne
Designer and researcher, founder of Living Earth College, with twenty years of work in food design and in activating local food communities and economies.
Cecilia Alessandrini
Cecilia Alessandrini is a system designer and founder of Noi Siamo Vapor, an independent studio designing public and cultural services. With a background in institutional communication, she has worked with Comune di Milano, Comune di Modena, Comune di Biassono, Fondazione Collegio San Carlo and, internationally, MaaS Global.
You learn alongside
Local residents and businesses, small and large scale farmers, university researchers and policymakers.
Is this for you?
Designers, researchers and students
You work with systems, food or place, and you want a method you can apply rather than another case study.
People working in food, farming and hospitality
You grow, cook, make or sell, and you want to see your work as part of a wider living system.
Policy, community and place-makers
You shape how a territory feeds itself, and you want tools that start from the place rather than from the plan.
What Participants Say
The Con Viv approach brings learning to life through curiosity, creativity, practical experimentation and collaboration. These reflections from participants speak to the value of learning to work with living systems and translate ideas into meaningful action in the places we live.
From Curiosity to Practice
Perrie Kaminskas — Tasmania, Australia
“What I learned at Living Earth College through Emily’s courses was how to think and act with curiosity, creativity, and integrity when it comes to food systems, community, and relational living. I feel empowered to sit with problems, collaborate to create solutions, and bring ideas to life in the place I live.”
Learning That Nourishes Change
Cynthia Hope — Mother Earth Magic Food Forest Garden, Deroche, British Columbia, Canada
“I recently completed a Regenerative Farming Certificate program with Emily. It was fun and inspiring. I appreciated Emily’s heart-based teachings which she presented in a holistic, practical and refreshing way. She shared her broad scope of knowledge with wisdom, humour and simplicity. The valuable skills I learned were easy to implement and immediately beneficial. Emily has an obvious passion for her vocation and I am grateful for her enthusiasm and willingness to share it to help change the world one garden at a time.”
Learning Together, Creating Change
The Food Systems Design Lab extends this learning into place-based practice: bringing people together to explore the living systems that sustain us, work creatively with local challenges, and develop practical responses rooted in the places and communities they know.
Part of a growing international network
Riomaggiore is one of several place-based Labs, developed alongside work in Tasmania and British Columbia. Participants stay connected with each other and with the wider cohort after the four days.
If you would like to host a Lab in your own territory, we would like to hear from you.
Choose your fee level
Two fee levels are available. Both give you the full four-day programme.
€980 · Full course fee
Includes the four days of facilitated programme, all field visits, materials and your Project Manual, meals during the programme and a certificate on completion. [TO CONFIRM: exactly which meals are included]
€480 · Supported Place
We want the Food Systems Design Lab to be accessible to people with the commitment and ideas to contribute, regardless of their financial circumstances. Supported places are available for participants for whom the standard fee would otherwise be a barrier to taking part. If you are a farmer, community organiser, student, early-career practitioner or someone working to strengthen local food systems, you are welcome to apply.
How to apply: Briefly tell us about your work, your interest in the Lab and why a supported place would make participation possible for you.
Accommodation and travel to Riomaggiore are not included.
Booking, Deposits and Cancellation Reserve your place
Places for the Food Systems Design Lab in Liguria, Italy, are limited to support a focused, collaborative learning experience.
Deposit: €100 to secure your place, with the remaining balance due by January 10th.
Booking deadline: January 10th, subject to availability.
Cancellation and refunds: Deposits are refundable for cancellations made at least 15 days before the Lab; cancellations within 15 days are non-refundable, except where required by law.
Practical details
Where
Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy. Sessions take place in the village and across the surrounding terraces and coast.
Getting there
[MISSING: nearest airports, the train route to Riomaggiore and advice on the last leg]
Where to stay
Accommodation is booked separately. Sabrina’s Accomodation: +39 340 705 6723 (whatsapp)
Food
Meals during the programme are included. Lunch is provided each day, as well as dinner on the final evening.
Language
The Lab runs in English.
Questions
Do I need to have a project already?
No. You can arrive with a question, an early idea or a live challenge from your own work. The design sessions are built to work at any of those stages.
What does the fee include?
The four days of facilitated programme, all field visits, materials and your Project Manual, meals during the programme, and a certificate on completion. Travel and accommodation are not included. Lunch is provided each day, as well as dinner on the final evening.
Is there a reduced fee?
A supported place at €480 is available for students, farmers and participants experiencing financial constraints who could not otherwise attend. Please contact us to enquire about eligibility and availability. Limited places are available.
How physically demanding is it?
Mornings are spent in the landscape, on terraces and village steps, so expect walking on uneven ground. Walking is manageable, but please be aware that the region has many steps and steep paths.
What if I need to cancel?
Cancellations made at least 15 days before the event are eligible for a refund. For cancellations made within 15 days of the event, please contact us to discuss your circumstances.
Will there be another Lab?
Riomaggiore is one of several place-based Labs. Write to us if you would like to hear about the next one, or to host one in your own territory.
Come with a question, an idea or a challenge.
Four days in Riomaggiore, up to fifteen people, and a way of working you can take anywhere.