Welcome!

My name is Davide Brocchi. As a freelance sociologist, in my theoretical and practical research I deal with processes of social transformation as well as social and cultural sustainability. After studying Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology at the Universities of Bologna (Italy) and Düsseldorf (Germany), I did my PhD at the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim.
I was born in Rimini in 1969 and grew up between the Adriatic Sea and the Apennines. In 1992 I moved to Germany, and I live in Cologne since 2007.

Professional Experience

I have been working for years as a catalyst, moderator and consultant of transformation processes in rural regions, cities, neighborhoods and cultural institutions. In my philosophy, sustainable transformation is conceived as an individual and collective learning process. Between 2013 and 2020, I organized living labs in different neighborhoods in Cologne and Berlin under the name of »Day of Good Living« (Tag des guten Lebens). In 2017, this initiative was awarded the »Federal Award for Neighborhood Associations« given in Germany by the nebenan.de Foundation and the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The »Day of Good Living« is not an event, but a narrative capable of activating neighborhoods as a building block of a »strong democracy« (Benjamin Barber) through non-commercial »new rituals«, transforming streets and squares of an entire district into self-administered shared spaces (commons). While the neoliberal globalization has been pursued through public-private partnerships, my initiatives are supported by »citizen-public partnerships« and cross-sector alliances (among social movements, environmental initiatives, alternative economy and cultural actors, neighborhoods and so on).

Publications

How is possible a peaceful coexistence in diversity on a finite planet? This is the central question of sustainable transformation, a question that concerns both internationally and locally. It is addressed in my latest book »By Disaster or by Design? From Multiple Crisis to the Great Sustainable Transformation« published in 2022 both in Italy and Germany.

My other books, published in Germany, are:

• »Große Transformation im Quartier. Wie aus gelebter Demokratie Nachhaltigkeit wird« (eng.: Great Transformation in the Neighborhood. How a lived democracy can lead to sustainability), oekom 2019.
• »Nachhaltigkeit und soziale Ungleichheit. Warum es keine Nachhaltigkeit ohne soziale Gerechtigkeit geben kann« (eng.: Sustainability and Social Inequality. Why there cannot be sustainability without social justice), Springer VS 2019.

I have written articles for anthologies and scientific papers in German and English. Topics covered are urban transformation strategies, the cultural dimension of sustainability, social inequalities as promoting factor of society collapse, etc.

Speeches, university teaching and workshops

I work as a freelance lecturer at universities and polytechnics in Germany. I am often invited as a speaker in conferences and asked to offer workshops as an expert.