Il passato, il presente e il futuro di un distretto industriale. Riflessioni su un campo di ricerca incerto

The current epoch is characterised by a series of critical events that have upset fieldwork research and continue to affect it. The industrial district of the Brianza has always proved to be resilient and capable of overcoming market turbulences, but the rapid sequence of critical events in an industrial context already exposed to other frailties is producing further uncertainty and liminality. The researcher is likewise facing his own uncertainties. The time lag between the observation of the fast changing situation and the writing moment which, occurring necessarily after the observation period, seems to be unable to keep up with the shifting reality. Thus, both interlocutors and researcher are seeking new conceptual inventories in their own ways to understand the present and imagine the future in a context of prolonged liminality.