Connecting and training participation experts in Europe

PRACTICE & THEORY CARDS

THIS COLLECTION OF PRACTICES & THEORIES RELATED TO PARTICIPATION & PUBLIC SPACES MIGHT BE A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR YOU.

Practices

Popular Assemblies

Collaborative Maps

Jane‘s Walk

Autobarrios

Open Space

World Café

Graphic Facilitation

Design Thinking

Democratic Walk

Speed Dating

Wisdom Council

Dérive Walk

Oasis Game

Collective Online

Database

Urban Rights

Community Cooking

Community Agenda

Placemaking

Theories

Roles of citizens in urban

development

Jan Gehl

Jane Jacobs

David Harvey

Henri Lefebvre

Organizations

BRAL

Cascoland

Recetas Urbanas

Local Squares is a EU funded Partnership of

seven urban development organizations in

Europe. The overall objective of this two-year

project is the training of urban planners that

aims at identifying and experiencing

participatory approaches in local urban

contexts. The training focused on strategies

and approaches to involve a broader

spectrum of stakeholders in the management

of public spaces. This collection of good

practices and theories is part of a toolkit that

was produced during the partnership. It should

provide a source of inspiration for people

working in the field of participation and public

spaces.

C O N T E N T

FOR US ALL „...in order to do something

big, to think globally and act globally, one

starts with something small and one starts

where it counts. Practice, then, is about

making the ordinary special and the special

more widely accessible – expanding the

boundaries of understanding and possibility

with vision and common sense. It is about

building densely interconnected networks,

crafting linkages between unlikely partners

and organisations, and making plans

without the usual preponderance of

planning. It is about getting it right for now

and at the same time being tactical and

strategic about later. This is not about

forecasting, nor about making decisions

about the future. But it is about the long

range, about making sure that one plus one

equals two or three, about being politically

connected and grounded, and about

disturbing the order of things in the interest

of change.“ Naabel Hamdi: Small Change.

About the Art of Practice and the Limits of

Planning in Cities.

practice

Individual intelligence at the service of the common good, creating from the

difference.

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_assembly

ABOUT

A popular assembly is a

gathering called to address

issues of importance to

participants.

Assemblies tend to be freely

open to participation and

operate by direct democracy. The term is often used to

describe gatherings that address,

what participants feel are, the

effects of a democratic deficit in

representative democratic

systems.

PRINCIPLES

Consensus

Rotatory charges

Horizontal organization

Turns to speak

Patience and respect

Positive language

Examples

• European Assembly of

Climate Justice (2010)

• 15M movement assemblies

(2011-present)

Literature

Quick guide for the dynamization of popular assemblies

[ESP]

http://bookcamping.cc/referencia/2305-guia-rapida-para

POPULAR

ASSEMBLIES // practice

Collaborative maps allow corollary, diverse, and even contradictory narratives about a physical environment.

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_mapping

ABOUT

Collaborative Maps are

made by wide audience

working in direct

collaboration.

The purpose of these maps

is to collect people’s

knowledge through a very

simple interface.

QUALITIES

Multiple visions

Participatory

representation of the

reality

Collective history

Literature

Discovering Collaborative Mapping

http://en.flossmanuals.net/openstreetmap/

// practice

COLLABORATIVE

MAPS

A collaborative map

Photo: analogueartmap.blogspot.com.es

Leaders of Jane’s Walk guide the conversation with compelling insights and encourage participants in Jane’s Walk to get

involved and share their own opinions and observations.

Further details: http://www.janeswalk.org/

ABOUT

Jane’s Walk is a series of

neighbourhood walking tours.

Named after urban activist and

writer Jane Jacobs, Jane's Walks

are led by volunteers, and are

offered for free.

The walks are led by anyone who

has an interest in the

neighbourhoods where they live,

work or hang out.

QUALITIES

Demanding your rights

Participation processes

Expressing your needs and

interests

Potentially: resistance /

protest and consent /

participation

Literature

Walk Guide Tips

http://www.janeswalk.org/information/resources/walk-guide-tips/

// practice

JANE’S WALK

CONTEXT

People who want to

participate in meaningful

conversations about the

social and built future of

their neighbourhoods.

Planners and neighbours

(e.g. neighbourhood

management)

// Basurama & Sarah Fernández Deutch Autobarrios SanCristóbal

Photo: Basurama

The collective construction of an urban imaginaire as a tool for

empowering the community as a creative body.

Further details: http://basurama.org/en/projects/autobarrios-self-made-neighborhoods

ABOUT

Self-made neighborhoods help

to create an inititative for urban

community development: it uses

the collective construction of an

urban imaginaire as a tool for

empowering the community as a

creative body.

QUALITIES

Applied creativity

Evaluation and upcycling of

local resources

Networking

Empowering people

CONTEXT

Co-creating urban places.

Facilitators

External artists & creators

Community

Social & local partners

Literature

RUS (Urban Solid Waste) [ESP]

Basurama.org/RUS

// practice

AUTOBARRIOS

SELF-MADE NEIGBOURHOODS

Open Space works because it harnesses and acknowledges the power of

self-organization.

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Technology

ABOUT

Open Space Technology is a

simple but powerful approach to

exchange, learn and develop

ideas within a big group of

people.

It runs on two fundamentals: the

passion and responsibility of the

participants. There’s one leading

question to which the

participants are invited to bring

their own topics on the agenda

and to start a self-organised

working process.

PRINCIPLES

Whoever it is that comes,

they are the right people

Whatever happens is the

only thing that could have.

Whenever it starts is the right

time.

Whenever it’s over it’s over

You are allowed to leave a

session in order to find another in which you can

contribute or learn more

(the law of the two feet)

SETTING

Sponsor

Facilitator

Participants

Different places / rooms

Literature Owen, H. (2008): Open Space Technology. A User’s Guide.(3rd Edition).Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco.

// practice

OPEN SPACE

A session developed through the OST methodology

Photo: Interactive Workshop for Europe

Conversation as a core process to cultivate collective intelligence.

Further details: http://www.theworldcafe.com/

ABOUT

People are invited to discuss pre-set topics around different tables

by following simple rules

After a fixed time all the

participants are invited to switch

tables and to look for another

one they are interested in and

they would like to contribute to.

Each table is hosted by a person

that at the end reports in

plenary about the key outcomes

of the table discussions.

QUALITIES

Collective knowledge

Brainstorming

Collaborative inquiry

Civic dialogue

20 – 200 or more people

PURPOSE

The World Café is a structured conversational process in which

groups of people discuss a

topic at several tables, with

individuals switching tables

periodically and getting

introduced to the previous

discussion at their new table by

a "table host“. It is especially

useful if you want to involve

more than 50 people discussing

burning questions on a certain

topic.

Literature

World Café Toolkit

http://www.theworldcafe.com/tools.html

// practice

WORLD CAFÉ

World Café principles

Photo: http://www.theworldcafe.com

Translating words into drawings: a supportive tool for simplifying complexity and creating common

understanding in a group conversation

Further details: www.localsquares.eu

ABOUT

Graphic Facilitation is a method

that aims at creating a

conceptual map of a

conversation happening in a

group. The Graphic Facilitator is

the visual - usually silent - partner

to the traditional, verbal

facilitator by drawing a large

scale image in front of the group.

PRINCIPLES

• A shared picture supports

group learning

• Draw just the essential, be

simple!

• Use images to support people

to connect immediately with a

complex concept

• Be colourful! Colours bring

lightness in the room.

ROLES

• Graphic Facilitator (silent)

• Verbal Facilitator (in contact

with the group)

• Participants

Literature

Agerbeck B. (2012): The Graphic Facilitator's Guide: How to use your listening, thinking and drawing skills to make meaning.

GRAPHIC

FACILITATION

// practice

Developing quick prototypes for user-oriented solutions, with team players of different backgrounds

Further details: www.localsquares.eu

ABOUT

Design Thinking is an innovative, user-oriented

approach. It brings together interdisciplinary

teams, which work on a concrete challenge.

A design thinking process goes through six

stages: understand, observe, define, ideate,

prototype, test. Within these six steps,

problems can be framed, the right questions

can be asked, more ideas can be created,

and the best answers can be chosen. The

steps are not linear; they can occur

simultaneously and can be repeated.

PRINCIPLES

• Work with interdisciplinary teams

• One conversation at a time

• Generate as many ideas as possible,

go for quantity

• Encourage wild ideas

• Build on the ideas of others

• Defer judgement

• Stay on time

• Be visual

• Stay on topic

• Prototype early

• Fail early, fail often

SETTING

• Interdisciplinary teams (max 4-

5 people per group)

• Team facilitator

• Time keeper

• Users

Literature

Tim Brown (2009): Change by Design: How Design Thinking tranforms

organisations and Inspires Innovation.

DESIGN

THINKING // practice

The „Democratic Walk“ as a tool means

drifting through the city by making

democratic decisions with green and red

cards that help to agree and decide in the

group where to go. Each participant gets

one green and one red card (green for

turning right and red for turning left) which

are held in the air so that everybody could

see who wants to go right or left at a

crossroad. By doing a Democratic Walk we

train our own comprehension of democratic

decision-making.

DEMOCRATIC WALK

// practice

During the Democratic Walk the group

is asked to focus on the following

questions:

• Which criteria or aspects lead us to

a decision?

• How long do decisions take?

• What do we have to discuss during the decision-making process?

• Does someone lead the decisions?

Further details: www.localsquares.eu

# drifting though the city as group

# making democratic decisions

1 Create the setting:

topic

experts

place

2 Invite the experts:

Explain the

process/maethod

Ask them to bring an

item fitting to their

work!

3 Invite participants

To get in contact with several

people in a short time slot

PlanSinn uses the method Speed

Dating. It gives space for

exchanging experiences with

different people in the field. You

invite several experts hosting one

table. The participants split up in

groups whereas each invited

expert hosted one table for exactly

ten minutes to introduce their own

work, experiences and insights.

After ten minutes the participants

change the tables. After all

sessions the facilitator asks the

hosts for the highlights of the

discussions.

4 Let‘s date

SPEED DATING

Further details: www.plansinn.at

// practice

WISDOM

COUNCIL

Wisdom Council Citizen Café Responder Group Report/Documentation

Political Committees

Public Statement

WISDOM COUNCIL: 12-17 randomly selected people out of the population register; invited for 1 ½ days to discuss questions of local and

regional development; moderated with Dynamic Facilitation (www.dynamicfacilitation.com)

CITIZEN CAFÈ: Two weeks after the wisdom council the participants present the results of the process in public to interested people, the administration and policy makers; similar to the World-Café design.

RESPONDER GROUP: workshop on the results; moderated with Dynamic Facilitation; politicians, administrative authorities, as well as

concerned people (the participants differ from topic to topic). Political committees: the results will be discussed in the responsible political committees.

Further details: www.vorarlberg.at/zukunft

A wisdom council is a consultative participation method where

people get randomly selected out of the population register to

discuss for 1 ½ days mainly questions of local and regional

development. // practice

Laboratoire dérive arises from the way people during the “Situationistischen Internationalen” worked. The theories

of Guy Debords as well as the ideas of psychogeography are connected to dérive walks. “Psychogeography is the

study of the effects of geographical setting, consciously managed or not, acting directly on the mood and

behaviour of the individual. Psychogeography research is carried through non-scientific methods such as the

dérive – aimless drifting through the city, trying to record the emotions given by a particular place.”

DÉRIVE WALK

Create

research/walking

groups

Document what

you see, feel, hear,

smell, etc.

Share your

research results

Decide your path

by chance and dive

into the

Psychogeography*

Psychogeography is the study of the effects of geographical setting, consciously managed or not, acting directly on the mood and behaviour of the individual. Psychogeography research is carried through non-scientific methods such as the dérive – aimless drifting through the city, trying to record the emotions given by a particular place:

// practice

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9rive

The Oasis Game has a social effect (empowerment, stronger sense of community) and a physical result (dream is

materialized during the process) and is realized in a very short time.

Further details: http://institutoelos.org/en/jogo-oasiswww.elosnederland.nl/

ABOUT

The Oasis Game is a three to six

or more day event that invites a

community to project and build

in a cooperative way a

challenging project chosen by

the members of the community

to suit their needs. Projects can

range from a square, a park, a

kindergarten to a cultural center.

The game considers a broad

definition of the community and

involves representatives from

different sectors of the society –

NGO’s, Government as well as

community members from other

parts of the city.

QUALITIES

Learning to see abundance

Fostering kindness

Valuing the dreams

Guaranteeing extraordinary

results

Recognition and celebration

Evolve on the process, to

propel new dreams

Literature

ELOS pocket manual

http://institutoelos.org/en/jogo-oasiswww.elosnederland.nl

OASIS GAME

Oasis game process

Photo: http://www.elosnederland.nl/

// practice

Collection of practices about urban informal/community/artistic planning and collaborative architecture, to be

used as an inspirational tool to launch new similar projects

Further details:

Spatial Agecy http://www.spatialagency.net/database/

Vivero Iniciativas map http://mapeo.la-mesa.org/iniciativas/

Arquitecturas colectivas network

http://arquitecturascolectivas.net/la-red

What if …?

http://ecosistemaurbano.com/portfolio/what-if-cities-2/

ABOUT

The projects collected in the

database suggest other ways of

doing architecture as Cedric

Price intended: one that moves

sharply away from the figure of

the architect as individual hero,

and replaces it with a much

more collaborative approach in

which agents act with, and on

behalf of, others.

Examples:

- Vivero iniciativas ciudadanas

- Spatial Agency

- Red de Arquitecturas colectivas

PRINCIPLES

Critical attention is shifted

from architecture as a

matter of fact to

architecture as a matter

of concern

Celebration of the

bravery, canniness and

optimism of an inspiring

group of historical and

contemporary figures

CONTEXT

Useful collection of local

artists to contact in case

of need for support,

bottom-up initiatives, etc

Inspiration for new

projects

Networking

Tips and manuals

Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture,

Ed. Routledge, 2011, ISBN 0415571936

// practice

COLLECTIVE

ONLINE

DATABASE

Spatial Agency database Image: http://www.spatialagency.net/database/exyzt

Reflection on the « urban condition » and the rights that should define it

Further details: http://declaracionderechosurbanos.com/

ABOUT

Collaborative online project that

seeks to be an urban

infrastructure to build dialogue,

to reach consensus on priorities

for the definition of the « urban

condition ».

It takes as a reference the

Universal Declaration fo Human

Rights for collectively defining:

- A right that should be

protected

- A right that should be

conquered

- A right that should be

abolished

PRINCIPLES

Analysing « trending rights »

by diagrams

Generating a critical space

of dialogue

We are all constructing the

city by thought, act or

omission

CONTEXT

A good help for launching a

collective reflection on

people’s needs for a better

urban life

General overview of human

behaviour in public space

that it’s being limited by

urban planning or security

policies

Tips and manuals

STUDIO magazine n°1, RRC Studioarchitects ISSUU eme3 festival in Barcelona catalog

// practice

URBAN

RIGHTS

Image: http://declaracionderechosurbanos.com/

Gathering for pic-nics, breakfasts and cooking in the street

Further details: http://www.desayunoconviandantes.org/

http://www.permanentbreakfast.org/?lang=fr

http://www.straschnow.com/projects/mobile-kitchen/

http://www.recyclart.be/fr/agenda/pain-publik

ABOUT

Sharing free home-made or

onsite food is a relaxed way of

occupying public space in a

collective experience.

Often it follows the snowball

principle: the attendants must

organize a new event in the

following month.

The aesthetics of the event must

be recognizable but attractive so

that new people feel free to join

in. The process and the event

must be documented: videos,

photos, audio tracks, written

testimonials…

PRINCIPLES

Free shared food

Unfolding furniture in streets

and squares

Cooking in houses then

sharing in the street or

cooking in the street

Opportunity to dream new

public spaces

EXAMPLES

Permanent breakfast,

Vienna

Desayuno con viandantes,

Valencia

Mobile kitchens

Pain publik, Recyclart,

Brussels

Bouillon Malibran, Brussels

Tips and manuals

Encajes Urbanos. ‘Azoteas Colectivas: Reactivado espacios en

desuso’, PAISEA magazine, June 2013

Desayuno con Viandantes, Encajes Urbanos, Sostre,

LaMinúscula, et al. ‘Encuentro Comboi a la fresca’, en NUEVOS

FORMATOS. Arquia/Próxima 2012. Ed. Fundación Caja de

Arquitectos, Barcelona, 2012. ISBN: 978-84-939409-8-0

// practice

COMMUNITY

COOKING /

EATING

Desayuno con Viandantes in Brussels organized by one of its members. Photo: Cristina Braschi

Instead of handing citizens a finished square, they will be able to participate in a collective brainstorming process

that will determine its new configuration

Further details: http://www.dreamhamar.org/category/blog/

Cascoland http://www.cascoland.com/2009/index2.php?cat=50&casco_cat=projects&expandable=0

ABOUT

Series of activities to engage

neighbours of a specific site in

the co-definition of the needs for

the space.

It’s about creating a process for

participatory thinking between

dwellers and planners, instead of

arriving to the context with a final

project nobody can change

anymore.

PRINCIPLES

Onsite physical laboratory

for workshops, lectures and

exhibitions

It’s necessary to have a

local contact to reach all

the dwellers and invite them

to participate

The agenda is adapted to

the season, weather other

events…

EXAMPLES

Dreamhamar from

Ecosistema Urbano

Kolenkit project from

Cascoland

Tips and manuals Dreamhamar book, Madrid-Sevilla, ed. Lugadero, 2014 ISSUU Future Hamar book, http://issuu.com/noawork/docs/future_hamar

// practice

COMMUNITY AGENDA

Dreamhamar activities https://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamhamar/sets

Placemaking is both an overarching idea and a hands-on tool for improving a neighborhood, city or region

Further details:

PPS Project from Public Spaces

http://www.pps.org/reference/what_is_placemaking/

Play the City

http://www.playthecity.nl/

ABOUT

Rooted in community-based

participation, Placemaking

involves the planning, design,

management and programming

of public spaces.

The process inherits from the

theories of Jane Jacobs and

William H. White, Jane’s editor.

The first step is listening to best

experts in the field—the people

who live, work and play in a

place. The next is to implement

firstly what is already there,

before building brand new, in a

“lighter, quicker, cheaper”

strategy

PRINCIPLES

It takes a place to create a

community, and a

community to create a

place

Think “lighter, quicker,

cheaper”, not big,

expensive, long-term

builded structures.

Working with local people, but attracting more partners

for long-term structures

Identifying potentials

11 simple principles:

http://www.pps.org/referen

ce/11steps/

PURPOSE

A strategy to study a

place with the help of

local people in orther to

make a common

agenda and process

Can help in order to

make a common

agenda, events, or

temporay uses in an

integrated,

faster perspective

Tips and manuals http://www.pps.org/reference/11steps/

// practices

PLACEMAKING

Urban orchard build on the top of a parking deck. PPS. Photo: http://www.pps.org/reference/creativity-placemaking-building-inspiring-centers-of-culture/

THEORY

ROLES OF CITIZENS

IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Further details: www.localsquares.eu

Political actors

Influence on political decision-making processes

Elections Citizens initiatives Political actions

Parties affected, involved

parties

Demanding your rights Participation processes Express your needs and

interests Potentially: resistance and

protest, consent and participation

Civil society

Involvement in associations,

collectives, ... Community based actions

(e.g. neighbourhood etc.) Projects (urban interventions

etc.) Social Entrepreneurs

Market Player

Location/Investment

decisions/preferences Consumption/mobility

preferences environmental

consciousness recreation habits

Literature Klaus Selle (2013): Über Bürgerbeteiligung hinaus: Stadtentwicklung als

Gemeinschaftsaufgabe? Analysen und Konzepte.

Citizens have different roles in the development

of a city. Often they overlay each other and do

not have clear borders. Who develops the city?

Everybody!

// theory

The “humanization” of the city: people at the center of Urban planning

Further details: http://gehlarchitects.com/story/

ABOUT

Jan Gehl started his career

during the sixties, studying how

people behave in public spaces,

in order to design spaces for

people not for cars.

His book “Life between buildings”

published in 1971 changed the

car-planned city of

Copenhagen into a bike-friendly

one as we know it now.

Gehl Architects studio works all

over the World. The office helped

in the transformation of

Manhattan in a bike-friendly and

pedestrian city, especially the

Brodway area.

PRINCIPLES

Creating cities for people,

counting, measuring, and

analyzing the spaces to

work with

Developing a public space

network that can support

the proposed public life

through scale, form and

climate “Public space, public life”

surveys to improve

Copenhagen in 1968 and

Oslo 1987.

PURPOSE

The book inspires open-

minded thinking and

« design-for-all » principles:

benches for elderly, wide

sidewalks for mixed uses…

Gehl Architect’s projects

can be used as study cases

to help transform cities with

bikes and pedestrians in

mind

Tips and manuals Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, Copenhagen, 1971 How to Study Public Life, Island Press, 2013

// theory

JAN GEHL

Jan Gehl Photo http://gehlarchitects.com/people/

The streets as places

Further details and background photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs

ABOUT

American writer who promoted

life in the cities opposed to the

ideas of international style. She

was especially against this style’s

theory of “zoning”, that

separates the functions of:

home, work, circulation and

recreation. She proposed to use

streets as places to gather and

walk, not like just for cars, and to

have little parcs adapted to

people, not big green areas

without human scale.

She influenced the work of many

sociologists as Françoise Choay.

PRINCIPLES

Pro-city: finding qualities

in the city, not only

outside of it

Streets as places

Create a good mixture

and balance of activities

in neighbordhoods

People are the « eyes of

the street »

PURPOSE

Inspiration to change

spaces into places:

placemaking

Jane’s Walk

Fighting for more

pedestrian cities, spaces

to gather, public squares

Tips and manuals The death and life of great american cities, NYC, 1961 Dark age ahead, NYC, 2004

// theory

JANE JACOBS

Jane Jacobs as activist Photo East Central Community Council. http://eastcentralcc.org/?p=4418

From the right to the City to the Urban Revolution

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey

Background photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Philadelphia

ABOUT

British geographer member of

the Interim Committee for the

emerging International

Organization for a Participatory

Society.

His book “Rebel cities “continues

the work of Henri Lefebvre

leading to an urban revolution,

being an inspiration for Occupy

movements.

Harvey asks how cities might be

reorganized in more socially just

and ecologically sane ways.

PRINCIPLES

Social justice should be at

the center of urban policies

The « Right to the city » as

the right to change

ourselves by changing the

city

Supporting Occupy

movements

PURPOSE

Anticapitalist movements

Social justice promotion

Political engagement

Tips and manuals Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution, ed. Verso, 2012, ISBN 1781680744 Social Justice and the City, 1973

// theory

DAVID HARVEY

David Harvey as activist Photo : The Daily Pennsylvanian http://www.thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/11/occupypenn_shows_solidarity_following_arrests

The Right to the City

Further details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lefebvre

Background photo: AK Press

ABOUT

French Marxist philosopher and

sociologist who created the

concept of the Right to the City:

an abstract right for every citizen

to decide about his environment,

not leaving it to change

according to private capitalist

rules.

His ideas foster the revolution of

“everyday life”: the only way of

people’s self-expression to reach

a concrete utopian existence.

PRINCIPLES

The Right to the City

The revolution of

« everyday life »

Supporting May 1968

student revolts

The social production of

space

PURPOSE

Comprehension of

capitalists mechanisms

that intervene in the

construction of the city

Social justice

revendications

Very widespread theory

Tips and manuals Critique de la vie quotidienne, L'Arche,1947 Le Droit à la ville, Paris, Anthropos, 1968

// theory

HENRI

LEFEBVRE

Henri Lefebvre Photo: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Lefebvre

organizations

BRAL: Brusselse raad voor het leefmilieu = Brussels council for the environment. Belgium

Further details: http://www.bralvzw.be/en

ABOUT

Dutch-speaking association that

gathers citizen groups,

organizations and Brusselians with

the same commitment: a livable

city where each can move, can

live and stay , in a nice way that

remains environmentally-friendly

and affordable.

They work on a local level, like a

socio-cultural center, but with

wider perspective, starting

campaigns for a more

pedestrian and cycle-friendly

city.

PRINCIPLES

Solidarity values

Integrated, participative

and transparent urban

policies

Proactive bike policy

To make Brussels pedestrian-

friendly

PURPOSE

Actions and lobbying tasks

Disseminating knowledge

about Brussels

Raising awareness about

environmental and social

concerns

Tips and manuals http://www.bralvzw.be/fr/downloads-en-documentatie

// organizations

BRAL

Building an activism park in Ninoofsepoort

Photo: BRAL. http://bralvzw.be/fr/bewonersgroepe

Artists, architects and designers acting as «activators» and initiators for projects. Creating networks between

these people and local citizens can be very enriching for the community!

Further details http://www.cascoland.nl Background photo: http://www.straschnow.com/

ABOUT

International network of artists,

architects, designers and

performers promoting

mobilization, participation and

networking through artistic

exchange and collaboration.

Projects are initiated by Fiona de

Bell and Roel Schoenmakers and

executed with multi-disciplinary

teams of artists and designers,

collaborating with other similar

structures as Raumlabor from

Berlin.

.

PRINCIPLES

Activating public space

through art interventions

Construction of

architectural

structures/objects

Use of performance and

new media

Audience participation

Projects/artwork are tools to be used by

participants and

audiences rather than

artworks

PURPOSE

Interaction between art

and public space, and

between artists and

neighbours

Starting local initiatives as

cultural process

managers

Tips and manuals

A+t magazine n°38 Strategy and Tactics in public space ISBN 978-84-615-6137-7 Isuu Cities magazine « We own the City » http://issuu.com/citiesthemagazine/docs/weown-issuu

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CASCOLAND

Kolenkit project in Amsterdam Photo: http://www.cascoland.nl

Not illegal, not really legal, but «i-legal» situations to make cities more livable

Further details: http://www.recetasurbanas.net/v3/index.php/es/

ABOUT

Recetas Urbanas architectural

studio continues the work of

Santiago Cirugeda, a spanish

subversive architect.

The studio develops different

projects: from systematic

occupations of public spaces

made with containers, to the

construction of prosthesis for

facades, backyards, roofs and

empty lots. All of these done

through a negotiation process

between the legality and

illegality, as a way to remember

the big amount of regulations we

are subjected to in the cities.

PRINCIPLES

Negotiation processes

Public space appropriations

Legal/illegal ambiguity

Strategies explained as DIY

projects: anyone can repeat

them

CONTEXT

Tools to negotiate with

public administration

Ideas for occupying

rooftops, empty buildings or

plots with neighbourhood

facilities

Tips and manuals Urban Disobedience: The Work of Santiago Cirugeda, Exhibition Catalog for the New York Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Design, Manhattan, 2007. Situaciones Urbanas, Ed. Tenov, Barcelona, 2007. Arquitecturas Colectivas, Camiones, Contenedores, Colectivos, Ed. Vibok, Sevilla, 2010.

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RECETAS URBANAS

Construction containers as playing furniture: legal as they as for its permit, but subversive in its use Photo: ecosistemaurbano.org http://ecosistemaurbano.org/castellano/%C2%BFque-tienen-que-ver-los-okupas-con-la-arquitectura/

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission (Program "Leonardo da Vinci Partnership"). This information reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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