Creative works in small and remote places: European best practices exploration Alternance slf Reykjavik, ICELAND Creative works in small and remote places: European best practices Estonian Association exploration of Designers Tallinn, ESTONIA Clear Village Trustee Limited London, UNITED KINGDOM Zamek Cieszyn Cieszyn, POLAND FH JOANNEUM Graz, AUSTRIA Cité du design Saint-Etiené, FRANCE Urban Planning Institute Ljubljana, SLOVENIA Politecnico di Milano Milan, ITALY University of the Aegean Ermoupoli, GREECE Universidade da Madeira Funchal, PORTUGAL Index A Foreword 3 - 4 C Poland 112 - 122 Introduction Co-creation of public spaces One pagers in remote places: The review Greece 124 - 134 of creative practices to inspire further Portugal 136 - 146 About SMOTIES - Creative works with small and remote places Austria 148 - 158 Slovenia 160 - 170 B Do you live in the best place 5 - 12 Articles on Earth? United Kingdom 172 - 182 Creative communities in 13 - 22 Italy 184 - 194 action: ecosystems of social innovation in remote places Iceland 196 - 206 Creative works in remote 23 - 33 France 208 - 218 places, 5 Portuguese case studies Estonia 220 - 230 The good decision 41 - 50 Two examples from Austrian practice (Un)intruding acquaintances 53 - 58 Colophon 231 - 233 Participatory techniques and 61 - 70 intangible outputs in rural Wales The wisdom of time 73 - 78 Appendix available at LINK Feeling in control of the 83 - 88 public good promotes creative works in remote places Reverberations 91 - 96 How remote is remote? 99 - 106 I II A oductiontr In III IV Foreword The publication has two main parts. Its core is the condensed description of the 50 selected case studies that were recognized as examples of good practices in the participatory and creative provision Co-creation of public spaces in remote places: of public space in remote places. Five selected practices per each of The review of creative practices to inspire further the ten contributing countries were analyzed based on the common analytical template (see the Appendix for the whole data set). Each By Matej Nikšič, Nina Goršič case is described in the format of an A3 one-pager where the basic Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia information is given in a written and graphical form. Each description starts with the overview information about the case, presents the This publication explores the co-creation of public characteristics of the geographical space where the activities took space in the populated remote places of Europe. The place and illustrates how and by whom the activities started and how variety of initiatives, actors, and their activities are they evolved. Special attention is paid to the ways the local community presented from various parts of the continent – from and creative sector were involved, as well as to the various kinds of Austria, Estonia, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Poland, improvements that were achieved in either social, physical, economic, Portugal, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. All of them or any other aspects relevant for the prosperity of the remote place. have some distinctive characteristics in common – The presentation of each case study is strongly supported by the they address the participatory improvements of public graphical materials that were carefully chosen in order to deliberately spaces in which the residents and the local communities capture the setting and nature of the activities going on. play an important role, while at the same time the actors from the creative sector are fully involved too. Special Based on the experiences, insights, and lessons learnt from the review attention is given to the innovative approaches that of the best practices each partnering country contributed an article to manage to put the variety of actors into a greater co-summarise the main messages from its own cases. They are presented operation to jointly reach the final goal through the in the first part of this publication. The focal themes of these reflective improvements of the public spaces – i.e. the stronger articles were left open to the authors in order to provide the most communities, the better local life, environments, and relevant insights into the creation of public spaces in remote places ideally improved economic prospects of the remote in their countries. They address diverse themes, from the levers to places. establish the social networks overseeing the possible futures, the importance of time given to the projects to develop and mature, to the It seems that the times for such exploration could not new forms of democratic decision making at a local level and the issues be more fortuitous. After two years of challenges raised of “measuring” the impact of creative approaches in the co-creation of by the global pandemics, the ways we live our lives have the remote public spaces. been challenged and have changed. Not only have the remote places been rediscovered as the places of one’s There are some general observations that can be made based on the living, working, and leisure time activities, but their overview of the contents provided from across Europe. Firstly, the assets have also been re-evaluated through the new remote places most often lack the institutionally provided capacities lenses. Despite the not foreseen challenges that the for the improvements of public spaces that are normally at the distant working and learning techniques brought to disposal to any bigger urban settlement. At the same time it is clear our social and working practices, the physical allocation that the communities of remote places are no less enthusiastic about from the urban nodes to the more remote places improving their public spaces when the opportunities appear. In started to be a more often considered option by many. this sense, and as many presented practices show, the importance This opens many new questions about living in remote of the creative sector is considerable as it offers the support and places, and their communities as well as their public often compensates for the capacity shortcomings and other local realm. deficiencies. 1 2 Secondly, the presented cases once more reflect the great diversity and richness of the European socio-cultural and material contexts. One of them that needs to be mentioned is the notion of remoteness which largely differs in the selected case studies and may be attributed to the (low) population density, geographical barriers or allocation, the lack of good transportation links, difficulties in accessing facilities, social specifics or divisions, economic inferiority, as well as different subjective criteria. And third general observation we would like to stress in this editorial introduction is the innovativeness that shines from the presented case studies. The actors have wisely identified and used the inner (local) and outer (from elsewhere) potentials and capacities to develop the activities and achieve the changes for better material or immaterial improvements of public spaces. It was the understanding of the local context and the ability to embed the available resources from elsewhere that make each practice unique and innovative at the same time. Finally, a big thank you to all the partners of the In order to fully understand the phenomena of the participatory and Smoties project and local actors who contributed to creative provision of public spaces in remote places, future knowledge this publication, as only together we could create such must derive from the theoretical explorations, empirical evidence, and an extensive overview of the existing practices! We reflective practice. This publication is, we believe, good inspiration for believe it will open new perspectives on many potentials any like-minded readers that see the potential and opportunities in the in remote areas, smaller places, and their surrounding co-creation of local public spaces in creative ways. As good practices natural environments, or in the virtual spaces, which are show none of the presented cases can be directly and fully replicated not yet used to develop common endeavors to build a in other and always different contexts – but they can always be a good community that will be more humane, socially inclusive, source of encouragement for one’s own endeavors in their specific more locally embedded and at the same time more conditions! We wish you an inspiring reading and hope it will initiate resilient while less exploitative to the nature and the many new innovative and creative initiatives in the future! environmental resources. 3 4 About SMOTIES - Creative works with a shared methodology that will guarantee a process of small and remote places engaging local communities for audience development, transnational mobility of creative professionals, By Davide Fassi Politecnico di Milano masterclasses and training for capacity building Department of Design purposes and an evaluation of the impact in order to generate a long-term legacy in the involved contexts. The partners are 10 nodes of creativity including public institutions, design centres, creative agencies, national This publication is one of the outputs of “SMOTIES associations, research centres located in 10 European - Creative works with small and remote places”, a cities that have been chosen for the particularity of four- year co-funded project by the Creative Europe position, cultural uniqueness, development potential, Programme of the European Union. and consoli-dated role in their creative sector: Design Department - Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy), Cité du Started in 2020, the SMOTIES project belongs to Design (Saint-Etienne, France), Clear Village (London, the Human Cities network involving, since 2006, UK), FH Joanneum, University of Applied Sciences design, art and architecture universities, centres and (Graz, Austria), Urban Planning Institute of the Republic consultancies. Spanning all Europe, it acts as a platform of Slovenia (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Estonian Association of interdisciplinary exchange, examining the livability of Designers (Tallinn, Estonia), University of the Aegean of public spaces by using par-ticipatory design as an (Ermoupoli, Syros, Greece), Zamek Cieszyn (Cieszyn, approach to supply systems of process and innovation. Poland), University of Madeira (Funchal, Madeira, Portugal), Alternance SLF (Reykjavik, Iceland). With “SMOTIES - Creative works with small and remote places” project, the Human Cities plat-form applies This publication “Creative works in small and remote its approach to 10 small European places which are places: European best practices explora-tion” is the depopulated, relationally remote, and depositories result of in-depth research conducted by the network of of a material and immaterial culture that risks being the 10 European partners that, over the first year of the undervalued, not consolidated, not handed down, and SMOTIES project, have been exploring and analysing hence lost. These small and remote places benefit 50 different cultural and creative initiatives that have by the design of cultural and creative innovations happened or are still happening in small and remote within public spaces and in collaboration with local places around Europe. stakeholders thanks to the 10 project partners, that we defined “nodes of creativity”: this definition includes The research aimed at understanding and interpreting public institutions, design centres, creative agencies, the state of the art and the strategic streams regarding national associations, research centres, located in 10 the cultural and creative sector and at inspiring local European cities. They work with the small and remote partner institutions in the development of the creative places as interlocutors, activators, and supporters of works in their the small and remote places. creative works to be anchored in public spaces through 5 6 B Articles Zamek Cieszyn Zamek means ‘castle’ — and it is a unique castle with its function Design Centre as a design centre. Castles symbolize stability and memory, whereas design embodies modernity and change. Could anything be more self- contradictory? And yet, Zamek has existed for 17 years now, in a POLAND small town on the Polish-Czech border, promoting good design and showing how to make good TNER use of it. Zamek cooperates with companies, NGOs, and AR public institutions — wherever innovative thinking is in demand. It supports any TIES P activity that can improve the quality of life, also backing SMO social innovators, who design solutions for elderly people and persons with disabilities. What is more, Zamek helps companies to adapt to ongoing changes and we accompany young people making the first steps on their career paths. By organising courses with experts it teachs how to use design thinking in practice. Zamek constantly searches for new areas of development in the fields of traditional handicraft techniques and natural materials. ZAMEK CIESZYN Ul. Zamkowa 3 abc, 43-400 Cieszyn, Poland www.zamekcieszyn.pl info@zamekcieszyn.pl 9 10 Do you live in the best Bridging the gaps with patience “You live in the best place on Earth” – the younger generations keep place on Earth? hearing this sentence, repeated by an activist from Fundacja Pogranicze (The Borderland Foundation) in Sejny, a town near the border between Poland and Lithuania. How to make the youth believe these words? For example, by making sure they have an opportunity to learn as much as possible about the place they live in. For 30 years now, the Foundation has focused on local history, discovering and reminiscing the past. The Author: Beata Mońka, Małgorzata Jarema Foundation is located in a symbolic spot: a former yeshiva (a Jewish school) and synagogue, although Jewish history is not their only field Translation: Martyna Szczepaniak-Woźnikowska of interest. Sejny is now home to about 5,000 people: for ages, Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Russians, and Belarussians co-existed there. In a Location: Poland place like this – the borderland – bridging the gaps between people of different denominations, nationalities, and cultures is no easy feat. And it never ends. With every new generation, the history must be patiently rediscovered. Ukryte Miasto (Hidden Town) is one of the latest projects by Pogranicze. Its implementation was disturbed by the Until recently, many social scientists claimed that in pandemic in 2020. As part of the project, young people were to meet 2050, up to 75% of the world population would be the oldest residents of Sejny to hear their stories about the town as living in cities. Based on the directions of migration they remembered it from the years gone by. Owing to the restrictions, flows, it seemed rather certain that was going to the form of the meetings changed and many conversations took happen. After all, cities – especially big cities – offer “Some of them will place via phone or online. Even so, the stories were told: personal much more opportunities than small towns and keep to their small testimonies, tales, and anecdotes. They were then used for creating villages. a unique subjective map of the town, presenting important people hometowns far from and places from the past. The young participants listened to their And yet, the bizarre year 2020 and the Covid-19 large centres. Are grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ stories as well, adding their pandemic, which led to lockdowns in numerous special places to the map, which made the result even more personal. places on Earth, proved these forecasts wrong. Big they bound to live An installation representing the town was created, where each cubicle cities are no longer as attractive as they were barely resembling a miniature flat was a visual reinterpretation of a story. two or three years ago. People started turning in the worse lives ?” opposite direction – this might not be a widespread Thanks to the project, young inhabitants of the town were able to see trend yet, but there are quite a lot of people moving Sejny and its history through the eyes of their close ones. It served as to less populated areas. In 2020, in Poland, the largest a great opportunity to build cross-generational relationships. All the number of building permits for single-family homes activities organised by the Foundation are based on the belief that was issued as compared to the past decade; the bridges are better than walls. Bridging the gaps is a task that requires prices of property and land soared. In the times of the time, patience, and courage to dig into history ceaselessly, asking pandemic, many people locked in cities seek refuge difficult questions – and there are many such questions, if one lives in distant and wild places, where they find escape in in the borderland. Learning about the past in not a goal in itself – it nature. Non-urban areas seem safer. With remote is supposed to help people understand the place they live in. This work and education as well as online shopping and way, teenagers become adults who know where they come from and services, living in a small town becomes a feasible what their roots are. They have something to build their future on alternative. – no matter if they stay in their hometown or move elsewhere. If by understanding their town, some of them fall in love with local history, However, this way of living is not available for they might not all leave. everyone. What is more, for the time being, it is hard to say whether the changes brought by the pandemic Experimenting makes sense will become large-scale and the retreat from big cities (which is particularly a middle-class phenomenon) Żywa Ulica (Livable Street) is a popular urban experiment in Poland, will be more extensive. Will such people turn into in which local people are involved in the transformation of their a new creative power and an inspiration for small neighbourhood. The experiment makes it possible to test ideas and try town communities? These questions have yet to be out solutions. For instance, a street may be temporarily closed to car answered. Just like another question: is the strive traffic. The residents of a given place have an opportunity to personally for safety – which encourages most people to move check whether they like the change and to consider all the possible from cities to towns and villages – enough to make outcomes. people stay in a new place for longer? It is quite likely that a majority of inhabitants of smaller localities will In 2019, an experiment like this was run in Biała Piska. It was the first still consider moving to bigger cities in the future. small town to do so; previously, the experiment was conducted only Nevertheless, some of them will keep to their small in bigger cities. Biała Piska is located in the north-east of Poland, with hometowns far from large centres. Are they bound to a population of 2,000 people. In the central part of the town, there is live worse lives? There are no ready-made answers to a medium-sized shop and a car park, which was closed to cars for one this. You might find some inspiration, though, in the day. The experiment took place in September, during the European five Polish towns that we have examined. Mobility Week. The area turned into a playground with street games, a café, a dancefloor, a poetry salon, and a photo booth, where everyone The Hidden Town project / Sejny ©Wiesław Szumiński, Barbara Karolina Kotowska, Bożena Szroeder, Michał Moniuszko could take a funny picture as a keepsake. That could have been all – just a nice day enjoyed by a local community. However, there was a continuation. The Livable Street project, initially planned as a one-off experiment, was repeated in 2021 (in 2020, it was 11 12 cancelled due to the pandemic). Exercises in imagination During the first edition, the town inhabitants took part in a survey, Olga Tokarczuk, the famous Polish writer and Nobel Prize laureate, where they expressed what they said that Stacja Wolimierz (Wolimierz Station) “managed to blur the would like to change in their boundaries between artists and so-called ordinary people, between the neighbourhood, sharing their central and the provincial, between high-brow art and art that brings joy own ideas. Some of these ideas and a sense of community, so necessary in everyday life”. In the 1990s, were then actually implemented, the village of Pobiedna in south-west Poland was visited by a group of also thanks to the support of a artists from the Klinika Lalek (Doll Clinic) theatre. Thanks to them, the special fund for local initiatives. village became a catalyst of various art activities. Their flagship event Livable Street in Biała Piska ©Biała Piska commune office The money was not big, but it is the summer festival that attract thousands of visitors from Poland was enough to fund small-scale and other countries. The festivals are organised in cooperation with interventions in public space. hundreds of volunteers, who probably would never have set foot in What mattered most, though, this place had it not been for Stacja Wolimierz. And yet, for the past was the fact that the residents 30 years, a village inhabited by slightly more than 1,100 people has of the town had an opportunity been visited and revisited by amateurs of alternative theatre and music to speak up, share their opinions and slow life adherents. The artists managed to save the buildings of in the survey, and indicate what the former train station from demolition – the station became their initiatives they care about. As headquarters and it gave its name to the organisation. The renovation a result, the people of Biała took some time, just like the process of winning the trust of the local Piska created a special leisure community. Eventually, the local folklore band began to perform and recreation zone by the local regularly at the festivals and a new tradition was introduced during the pond; they planted greenery summer events, carried out in cooperation with other participants – in one of the town’s housing the construction of natural playgrounds, which children can use for the estates; and they constructed a following months. bookcrossing cabinet in another neighbourhood. The changes The summer festivals are spectacular but what matters just as much reached as far as nearby villages. – or perhaps even more so – is the day-to-day work of the activists. In one of them, the residents set Thanks to art, they build a sense of community among the local people. up a greenhouse; in another – a Ecology is a crucial area of activity for them: Stacja Wolimierz initiates mural, an outdoor chess zone, debates and holds workshops for schoolchildren, aimed at raising their and a memorial square; and in the third one, they renovated a pitch with the help of US soldiers stationed in the area as part of NATO operations. In the past two years, five clubs of local women have been established, full of the entrepreneurial spirit. Their members combine their hobbies with ideas aimed at increasing the budgets of the organisations. The women’s club from a village which is known in the region for its ecological herbal teas began to sell them at fairs and markets. Another women’s club offers cakes, wax candles, Christmas ornaments, and floral decorations. Can we say that the urban experiment of the Livable Street worked out? Was it worthwhile? The inhabitants of Biała Piska did enjoy the idea of spending time together at the central car park, but the area is not likely to be transformed this way permanently by decision-makers. Nonetheless, the experiment provoked certain Wolimierz station/Pobiedna ©Agnieszka Prymon awareness concerning their town and region. The artists and the positive side effects – it motivated village residents have become jointly involved in a number of people to become more active, environmental campaigns and happenings, e.g. to protect old trees. as they felt that they could The unconventional character of these actions attracts the attention of really change something in their decision-makers and the media. The local community’s care for their neighbourhood. And it seems like village is also visible in simple gestures, such as clean-up events. Art is a they have not said their final word tool that helps break down barriers, provoke positive excitement, and yet. talk about difficult issues. 13 14 This is the moment by fans of modernist architecture Chełmek would certainly be a and industrial tourism. The credit different place had it not been for this popularity goes to the for Tomáš Baťa. In the 1930s, the above-mentioned group of Czech entrepreneur built a shoe activists supported by the local factory in this little village. The cultural centre. They have already town grew alongside the factory managed to implement numerous – it was the embodiment of projects, in which art is used for Baťa’s bold vision. The population discovering history. One of the increased from 1,500 to 10,000. projects was Chełmek Fabryka Chełmek was more than a (Chełmek Factory): a series of art blooming industrial centre – the events, workshops, and concerts factory workers were meant to inspired by Baťa and his legacy. have good living conditions there. The events took place in the area For them, a settlement of brick of the former factory, workers’ houses was erected. The buildings settlement, and train station, had a simple form and were where a small museum of the Bata surrounded by greenery. Leisure factory in Chełmek is about to be and recreation facilities were also opened. The project had another taken care of – the factory workers objective as well: drawing people’s had access to a tennis court, for attention to the value of the town’s instance, as tennis was a sport for natural features. Some of the masses rather than for elites. activities were connected with the The ambitious plans were thwarted Przemsza river, which crosses the by World War II. Barely seventeen town. The activists mean not only houses for workers were built to learn the history of the factory of the five hundred planned. and share this knowledge but also However, the factory remained to demonstrate the great value of Grójec Free School ©Agnieszka Mocarska In search of alternative paths the focal point of Chełmek for the river and the green areas of the many years to come. In its heyday, town. Chełmek is a good example i.e. in the 1970s, more than 7,000 of a certain mundane truth: some The children at Wolna Szkoła Grójec (Grójec Free School) learn how to people were employed in the processes need time and for ideas take care of the environment and build their social competences; how factory; 20 years later, the times of to bloom, the right moment must to develop their interests and enhance their self-esteem. They learn transformation in Poland marked come. through experience – they spend a lot of time outdoors rather than the beginning of the end of the sitting in classrooms like in a traditional school. The Grójec school is factory. It was closed in 2003. focused on community-building to encourage pupils to pursue their Nowadays, there is an industrial dreams, contribute to their neighbourhood in a positive way, and and economic zone in its area, become the voice of change. The forest surroundings of the town are with nearly a hundred companies. great for organising a variety of outdoor activities, camps, workshops, Still, when the factory founded by expeditions, and field games. They are attended by both the town the Bata Shoe Company closed inhabitants and visitors. These alternative forms of leisure are aimed at down, an important chapter in environmentally-conscious education of children and adults. Moreover, the history of Chełmek came they foster relationship-building and the development of the local to an end. For many years, the community. residents of the town lived with a sense of loss. Only recently, history Grójec, a town located 45 km south of Warsaw, has a population of and architecture enthusiasts almost 20,000 people. The initiative was launched by Fundacja Tropy supported by the local cultural Przyrody (Nature Trail Foundation). In 2013, the Foundation organised centre have succeeded in reviving a workshop as part of the first edition of Earth Day in Grójec. From then the memory of the factory. The on, people have been gathering annually at concerts, performances, right time had to come to make and fairs. They began to organise their own activities focusing on this possible. The inhabitants of the environmental protection. The group of people who cared about their town started talking about their nearest environment and ecological education of children grew bigger past – they share their memories, and bigger. As a result, a private school was established, followed by collect mementoes. They began a pre-school. The students learn more than typical subjects such as to appreciate the unique history English, Polish, maths, natural science, history, and art. Above all, the of their own, which is often visited school is a place where they learn responsibility, problem-solving, social justice, and mutual relations. Chełmek Factory project ©Paweł Waligóra Alternative forms of education are not common in small towns. However, the school in Grójec attracts even people from the outside – several families from Warsaw have actually moved to send their kids there. Perhaps the examples are scarce, but year by year, the number of people interested in non-formal education is growing, also due to the generally poor condition of the education system and the deteriorating quality of education at public schools. Alternative schools, like the one in Grójec, may serve as an important argument for living in small communities. Especially if they are aware of the significance of children’s education – it is children that will change the future of their local communities, or perhaps of the whole world. 15 16 University of the Aegean The focus of the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering is on the Department of Product and integrated design of modern and emerging products, systems, and services. It is part Systems Design Engineering of the Polytechnic School of the University of the Aegean, based on the island of Syros. It is the only department of Design Engineering in Greece. The department is a pioneer academic unit in Greek higher education in the field of Design Engineering. GREECE Its educational operation began in the year 2000 and is aligned TNER to the most modern practices and programs of study offered AR by international accredited institutions in the field of design of products and systems. TIES P At the same time, the department produces high SMO level research results that enjoy wide recognition from the international scientific community. This leading- edge research is referenced and incorporated into the educational material of the various scientific and technological courses offered, so that student teaching is always up to date with the latest advances in the field. UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN (UoA) Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering Konstantinoupoleos 1, 84100, Ermoupoli, Greece dpsd@syros.aegean.gr www.syros.aegean.gr/en 17 18 Creative communities To contextualise the case studies presented, as well as explain why they are of interest within the Human Cities Smoties context, one needs to analyse the impact creative communities and their works can have in in action: ecosystems remote places. Encompassing themes of participation and community resilience, the selected case studies underline local initiatives within remote places. The role of creative communities in the context of remote of social innovation in places, is critical as they consist of people who can put together their individual design capacity to propose new desirable futures for the remote place and appropriate practises. remote places Social innovation has a significant role for creative communities, as it encourages participation by building on tools and methods of service design, to co-create services towards a more sustainable future. One of the biggest challenges these communities face is the need to increase their resilience against the collapse of their traditional support structures. There are three aspects that seem helpful in achieving the resilience: Authors: Kyproula Bartzoka, Helen Charoupia, Spyros Bofylatos - persistence (the ability to withstand shocks or unexpected events), - transformability (the ability to move from crisis to innovation), and Location: Greece - adaptability (the ability to enact change). By applying resilience thinking and biomimetic design methods in the context of a systemic perspective, these ecosystems of creative communities can be enabled and strengthened and can better achieve their goals. The increase of the diffuse design capacity of a creative community leads to increased resilience of the systems. A way to face this challenge can be to turn to nature for inspiration Small and remote places rely immensely on their and guidance. There are several “tools” connected to nature that offer local communities, without which they slowly interesting approaches on finding ways to increase the resilience of wither, becoming socially and culturally desolate. these communities. Biomimicry is a framework that designs solutions Exploring the ways a place can grow resilient when inspired by biological systems. It is an approach to problem solving which faced with adversity, we discover an amalgam of has emerged through the integration of design with other disciplines, distributed design, whole systems thinking and the such as biology and engineering, and which attempts to translate emergence of creative communities. When we begin biological mechanisms into components of socio-technical systems. to design within the embedded networks of a place, Biomimicry offers the tools for identifying patterns and mechanisms in a heightened understanding of data collected across the natural world that have evolved to increase the resilience of a system. space and time is required. Within the framework Biomimicry can be used to inform the design of creative communities of Human Cities’ SMOTIES, the University of the that aim to be more resilient. Aegean collected and analysed five case studies that represent the best practises in the field of social Another interesting direction for increasing community resilience, in innovation in the context of creative works in the the context of social innovation, is provided by permaculture. In contrast public space. This article picks out a couple of them to monoculture, where only one type of value is the goal of the system, in order to distil and analyse the lessons that can be permaculture provides a systemic view that is focused on fostering learned from them: virtuous cycles and cooperation between different symbiotic systems. Permaculture can be utilised to increase systemic resilience when - the first case study describes a festival organised designing social innovators with creative communities. within the ecosystem of Syros Island. The initiative is contextualised within the place it was created for By looking at creative communities in relation to the ecosystem they and interpreted in terms of how it has managed to are embedded in, focusing on their interdependencies and virtuous sustain itself while producing creative works in the cycles, a polyculture of social innovation can emerge in a specific space. public space of the island. Increasing the diffuse design capacity within this given territory can be a valid exit strategy for professional designers. - the second case study describes the network of cooperatives in Tzoumerka. A fabrication laboratory, a participatory research collective and a farm, create a constellation of organisations with outstanding results when it comes to sustainable living and designing in a remote place. Culture and community intertwined at Ermoupolis, Syros Stray Art Festival is a street art celebration that has taken place in the island of Syros for the past five years. After a brief description of the remote city where the festival is taking place, this case study presents the creative works enacted with the guidance and facilitation of the team that organises it. The remote place in focus is the city of Ermoupolis. What characterises it as remote is, first and foremost, the fact that it is enveloped by the 19 20 Aegean Sea. This deems the city Inspired by the movement of dependent upon the transporting alternative tourism and aided by of goods by boat, especially in the their design studies background, precarious weather conditions of a handful of people decided to winter. When it comes to cultural create a street art festival that events, they are abundant in would happen in late September, the tourist season (starting late postponing the end of summer. May and ending beginning of During the second iteration of the September), but wane as autumn event, Stray Art Festival 2018, the rolls in and the island recedes externally neglected buildings of to slower rhythms. Therefore the Sports Center of Ermoupolis an imbalance is created, albeit were adorned with murals, while experienced less intensely offering guests three days of compared to more remote islands music, art, performances and of the Aegean. On the one hand, food. The team’s initial goal was to there are the calm and slow organize a festival away from urban autumnal and winter months centers, re-introducing different where the population of the island neighborhoods of the island while is primarily occupied with work or giving their public spaces new life. study. On the other hand, there are This encompassed their attempt the vibrant and busy spring and to strengthen the idea that there summer months where there is a can be other corners of Syros (and spike in visitors that stimulate the by extension Greece) that can economy all the while cumbering appropriate and integrate Street the environment and depleting Art Culture. resources. Motivated by this situation, a lot of the inhabitants and institutions of the island are trying to promote alternative Diagram 1: A mind map of the system of Ermoupolis tourism, that doesn’t include events in the summer months, Taking all of the above into consideration, the case of Stray Art Festival diffusing the intensity of the sheds light to how an initiative can become an important part of the tourist season. remote place it was organised in. Firstly, the people facilitating the festival’s activities are embedded in the culture of the island, living and breathing in the fluctuating rhythms of its city. This gives them the opportunity to understand deeply how the locals could react to the creative works, which plays a part in their design process. Furthermore, the physical outputs of the festival - murals on walls in public spaces, remain well after the three-day celebration has run its course. This demonstrates a long-term thinking that goes beyond the usual activities of similar cultural happenings, leaving a legacy to the locals, while symbolically representing the cultural exchange that took place over the A portion of the works done at Stray Art Festival 2018 © duration of the event. Finally, the activities that are organised are of a Andromachi Boliou wide range, engaging young and old people, of different backgrounds and tastes. The musicians that are invited include traditional folk music players, rock bands, DJ’s and everything in between. This amalgam of stimuli brings together people who would not otherwise interact. 21 22 Kaletzi Village ©Tzoumakers open lab for communities to cooperatively design and manufacture tools – photo by Nicolas Garnier, for small-scale agricultural production. Their vision is to create such sites Creative Commons licence in both villages and cities where citizens may seize technology into their own hands. These sites may be supported by municipalities and/or by multi-stakeholder cooperatives. The main and common characteristic of the spaces with creative works is their effort to revive the areas’ tradition of craft and making things by hand; recovering lost skills, giving people reasons to stay, work and This case study describes a by extension Greece) that can collection of different communities appropriate and integrate Street with various interests but Art Culture. connected through exchange of products, culture, and creativity Regarding the creative spaces with a wider scope to enable in Demati there are the “High the flourishing of the area of mountains” a social cooperative Tzoumerka. Tzoumerka is a founded in 2015 by people who live collection of villages in the north and produce in the mountainous of Greece in the region of Epirus. areas. Members of the cooperative A mind map of the system of Tzoumerka The network of two villages are farmers, food processors, Demati and Kalentzi as well as their livestock farmers, beekeepers, connection to the closest city, but also carpenters, artists, create; and injecting new energy into rural life. Therefore, one of the Ioannina, is of a special interest. makers, and scientists. “High most important elements of the physical environment is the intense Each of these places has its own mountains” give the opportunity presence of nature and rural life. Creativity, products, and constructions creative community, physical to visitors to customize a tour use natural goods, support the physical environment and most of all environment, and traditions. What to see and learn about the lands, are inspired by nature. Regarding “Tzoumakers” the infrastructure of brings them together is a common history and culture, projects, the building supports the operation of the maker space, so it is used goal - revitalizing Epirus, through productions, and live for a while by creative people. Also, in the case of “The high mountains,” there are art, tech, and agriculture. Three like them. Their vision is to boost fields that are cultivated to produce crops, and this is usually a space inspiring initiatives are drawing economy and production, revive where the community of “Tzoumakers” goes to observe the building on art, tradition, and open-source mountainous societies, protect the of farming tools and other constructions useful for agriculture. On technologies to shape a better environment, and reclaim space the other hand, the people from “The high mountains” often visit the future in the rugged mountains of and abandoned properties. The space of “Tzoumakers” to acquire a scientific approach and knowledge. Epirus. creative public space in Kalentzi Working together in “Tzouma- kers” space This exchange of knowledge is one of the most important aspects of is called “Tzoumakers” which is an ©Tzoumakers – photo by this case study. In addition, the natural environment plays a crucial role Both villages have low population, Nicolas Garnier, Creative as it provides the creative spaces with valuable materials and offers Commons licence are far from cities and their citizens inspiration for creation. have a difficulty in accessing A final note on the importance of these initiatives is the interconnected daily-life-support facilities as nature of social innovation. An important contribution in preparation there are no good transportation of this article was provided by the OpenP2P lab, the organisation links to the cities. In general, that supports the ‘tzoumakers’ space and a fab lab in Ioannina that is the population is aged with low working to found the ‘Koinergia’ cooperative. Koinergia aims to become income, the unemployment is high the collaborative energy community of Epirus. Without the existing which causes economic inferiority. ecosystem of the Don Quixotes who left the city to create resilient When the tourists leave, most of communities that regenerate remote places, this would be impossible. Tzoumerka’s villages are virtually The cascade of good that these romantics bring is the thing that makes empty. During the summer, the work undertaken through SMOTIES meaningful and hopeful. because of tourism, public spaces are more “alive” and well organized. Of course, the physical environment and green pools of leisure surrounding the villages are more than enough, and are open to the public at any time. This encompassed their attempt to strengthen the idea that there can be other corners of Syros (and 23 24 Conclusion The Greek case studies show there are lessons learnt in the context of social innovation, biomimicry and permaculture. They show how creative communities across remote places can increase the resilience of the systems they belong to through diffused design capacity. In the case from Ermoupolis, the creators of the festival are embedded in the local community, using service design for social innovation. Their exit strategy is facilitated by their embeddedness, since the locals recognise themselves and the place in the creative works, which motivates them to take care of them in the long term. In the second case study, as well, the exchange of knowledge that happens within the community of makers, farmers, artists and researchers is strengthening the diffuse capacity of the people on a systems level. When it comes to biomimicry, in both case studies nature provides the framework based on which the communities connect. Resembling an ecosystem, the interdependencies between the actors as well as redundancies among them protect the community from external perturbations, increasing its resilience. The contribution of the notion of permaculture becomes visible when considering an ecosystem, social or biological, as not being the sum of its parts but the number of connections between its nodes. The use 1 About – Stray Art Festival. (2021). Retrieved December 13, 2021, from Strayartfestival.com website: https://www.strayart-of appropriate technological festival.com/about/ means to reduce remoteness is highly valuable, especially in the 2 Bofylatos, S. (2020). Designing Resilient Creative Communities Through Biomimetic Service Design. Strategic Design second case study where the Research Journal, 13(2), 249–267. https://doi.org/10.4013/ importance of ICT for bridging sdrj.2020.132.09 the gap between the distant 3 Wikipedia Contributors. (2006). Ermoupoli. Retrieved Decem-villages is underlined. If we are ber 12, 2021, from Wikipedia website: https://en.wikipedia.org/ looking to create and regenerate wiki/Ermoupoli#/media/File:Brainsik-ermoupoli.jpg these derelict remote places we 4 Xyntarianos, P., Spyrou, T., & Bofylatos, S. (2018). Remixing need to focus on the enabling Heritage, a Case Study in the Application of Street Art in Cultural infrastructure that supports the Capital. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, CULTURE, TRADITIONS, 1(a). https://doi.org/10.26341\/ISSN.2241-4002-2018-1A-5 people in supporting each other, as well as attracting more and 5 Creativity in the Countryside: How Art and Tech are Revitaliz-diverse types of initiatives that can ing Epirus http://www.greece-is.com/creativity-in-the-country-create even more connections. side-how-art-and-tech-are-revitalizing-epirus/ Reviving areas of tradition and 6 About us-The high mountains. (2021). Retrieved December cultural interest, while creating 13, 2021, from Thehighmountains.org website: https://the-participatory design opportunities highmountains.org/en/homepage/ in small and remote places can 7 About us - Tzoumakers. (2021). Retrieved December 13, 2021, have a significant impact for from Tzoumakers.gr website: https://www.tzoumakers.gr/ generations to come. english/ 25 26 Universidade da Madeira The University of Madeira (UMa) is a state university established in 1988, organized Art & Design into 4 faculties and 2 schools: Exact Sciences and Engineering, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities as well as Health Higher School and Technologies and Management Higher School. The mission of the University of Madeira is to be a university of international level, achieving AL excellence through education, research and service to TUG its regional, national and international communities. POR Considering that a vital aspect of the mission of a university is TNER the transmission of knowledge, research is crucial for the AR quality of the teaching/learning process. Thus, a university can only ensure the pursuit TIES P of knowledge by promoting fundamental and applied scientific and cultural research, SMO enhancing its ability to establish strategic partnerships with other universities. Scientific research activities have been developed at two levels of organisation: in structured research units and in self assembled groups, which in some cases can be seen as embryos of future units. Universidade da Madeira (UMA), Art & Design Campus Universitário da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal https://www.uma.pt/sobre/facul- dades-e-escolas/artes-e-humanidades/ info@mail.uma.pt 27 28 Creative works in Introduction and methodology Located in the westernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal is remote places, one of the oldest countries in Europe, having been constituted in the 12th century. Besides the mainland, it also includes the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, located in the North Atlantic Ocean. 5 Portuguese case Its geographical location has always determined a strong connection to the sea, which has always influenced its culture and even its demographic distribution. Since the mid-1960s, there has been an accentuated studies migration of populations from the interior to the large coastal cities, leaving the interior deserted and impoverished. The same situation occurs in both archipelagos. In the last 15 years or so, we have been witnessing, all over the territory, a series of remarkable initiatives that aim to counteract this movement, creating from several remote places of the country several activities that promote culture, economy and local development, with great success. Authors: Susana Gonzaga, Elisa Given the number of cases and the geographical dimension, the best Bertolotti, Sara Patricia Abreu practices could only be pointed out by defining the selection criteria: - geographical location (the choose cases shall demonstrate the diversity Location: Madeira University, of the regions and represent the country as a whole), Funchal, Portugal - local valorisation (in terms of ecological, social and economic sustainability), - art and design as agents of change. In line with the aims of the Smoties project - and in order to establish the criteria for the selection of the best practices connected with the This article reflects on how creativity has been a key economic, social, creative and natural development of small and remote element in the social, economic and environmental villages and communities in Portugal - a group of definitions was development of small and remote places in Portugal. established to ground a set of theoretical principles and practices that The five case studies presented show how art and could help analyse the creative works within the remote places. design have generated new synergies among small The Smoties project glossary was adapted, keeping in mind concepts communities in the peripheral areas of the country such as remote places, public spaces, material and immaterial culture such as the two archipelagos of Madeira and Azores, and local network for the global analysis. When breaking down each case as well as the southwest coast of mainland Portugal. study, criteria such as population density, geographical barrier/allocation, Artists, educators, designers, environmental public transportation, accessibility, social specifics and economical activists have come together to establish nonprofit scenery were also considered. associations that throughout the years have helped In addition to the previous mentioned criteria, the existence of nodes of to engage the local communities into the emerging creativity in these remote places was taken into account. These nodes cultural endeavor of their village. These associations could be defined and found in the work made by the public sector, have contributed to an increase of the local economy, associations, activists and/or any other actors who may have had a a continuing appreciation for local traditions and particular position or cultural uniqueness that positively influenced the know-how, therefore supporting the local creative cultural, economic, social and sustainable scenario of each location. community. Acting on the countryside and peripheral regions of The chosen case studies co-relate between themselves through three the country, the sustainability and preservation of main pillars: nature, art and local culture. Therefor 1 case study comes the landscape and natural environment became an from the mainland of Portugal, 3 cases from Madeira Island and 1 from important aspect in the case studies. Azores. All have three main characteristics in common: - the remoteness (and consequent risk of being undervalued and eventually forgotten), - the predominance of nature in the territory (and its use as a resource for the creative works), - the creative interventions that involved not only the artists but the local communities, improved the quality of life of the inhabitants and paved the way for valorization of such places. 29 30 Portuguese case studies one’s knowledge of the self and Teatro Metaphora, Câmara de Lobos, Madeira Island the world, transforming the Porta 33, Funchal; children and young teenagers in A little further west on the south coast is Câmara de Lobos, where Teatro Madeira Island the protagonists of a learning- Metaphora (TM) develops cultural activities for the benefit of the local by-drawing process. The exhibit community. Based on non-formal education principles, TM’s objectives In Funchal, right in the middle demonstrated how an art involve the development of social and personal competences of children, of the city, is the art gallery gallery can be an open space for youth and adults, while promoting equal opportunities, inclusion, active Porta33, house for the non-profit everybody in the local community: citizenship and participation. The group organizes local and international Association Quebra Costas, parents, grandparents, teachers projects, training courses, conferences, seminars, lectures and other Contemporary Art Center, and friends visited the exhibition educational activities. Teatro Metaphora is based mainly on the work of founded in 1989, whose main to see their children’s work, while local and international volunteers cooperating with the local community. goal is to produce and promote discovering Porta33 as more than a A consolidated group of around 60 volunteers participate and contemporary art and work with place for artists. Furthermore, this collaborate permanently and around 100 more contribute sporadically to the scholar community. project inspired the association the activities. A Luz Que Há (The Light That to host more regular drawing The following paragraphs present the study of the several interventions activities to support children and that TM has organized since 2016, in which art, public space and teens in their growth, bringing environmental education were combined. in and networking the local Câmara de Lobos is mainly a fisherman village, known because of its community with the creative relation to Winston Churchill. In the past years is begging to attract community. more visitors for its upcoming and more frequent cultural interventions, Porta 33 is an example of an specially done by TM. The streets of the village center are often used internationally recognized as a set to exhibit their performative art installations. After organizing contemporary art gallery that several workshops in which materials recovered from local activities are opens its doors to a series of recycled, the artists and community create the thematic installations that workshops for children, teenagers are set on the local streets. Teatro Metaphora illustrates perfectly how an and adults. These activities have interdisciplinary approach can enrich culturally a small community and been proposed not sporadically, the low income population that lives nearby. but with an annual program. A Luz The development of Teatro Metafora’s projects do not have external Que Há, the aforementioned event, intervention from a procedural, methodological and artistic point of ended with an exhibition in the view. If one of TM’s missions is to foster cultural exchange between youth same gallery, generating a strong from Madeira and the rest of the world, through a series of international interest and desire for more similar cooperation projects, for this type of urban projects the heart, mind and creative exercises. The request practice are totally local. The different artistic experiences have made was not ignored: the workshop the urban fabric of the small fishing town of Madeira more colorful and activities continued, both with the beautiful, and over time have contributed to a new attractiveness of an same artists and with new local area that was in need of rehabilitation. and invited artists. This happened Exhibition “ A Luz Que Há”; Porta 33 Funchal. Credits © porta33 both in the historic site of Porta 33 in Funchal and in the new location under construction in Porto Santo, where the workshop experiences have become part of the founding work in order to involve the local community and to attract creatives to the small island of the Madeira archipelago. These workshops create a larger community than the usual audience of an art gallery and contribute to exposing children, teenagers and families to different experiences such as conferences, screenings and exhibitions that coexist in the same space. Workshop “A Luz que Há”. Porta 33 Funchal © porta33 Exists) was the title of an exhibition that took place in Porta33 in 2018. This exhibition was the result of a series of drawing workshops The streets of Câmara do Lobos- Madeira Island, with one led by a local artist, Luisa Spinola, example of the urban interventions of Teatro Metaphora. addressed to a younger public. © Teatro Metáfora This project used drawing as a mean of empowerment for 31 32 Walk&Talk, Ponta Delgada, Azores In the archipelago of Azores, in the São Miguel island there is an Arts Festival called Walk&Talk, organized by the cultural association Anda&Fala. Since its beginning in 2011, it has contributed to transform the islands into a laboratory for contemporary and transdisciplinary artistic creation. Through experimental projects in a permanent dialogue with the territory, the culture and the local community, Walk&Talk has promoted a favorable environment for sharing and co-creation. The project focuses on the involvement of local communities, migrants and visitors to incorporate a number of artistic disciplines, including dance, performance, theater, architecture, design, cinema and music. One of the specific projects is called “Casa do Quarteirão” . It was a project developed within Walk&Talk 2016 and it was born out of the community that lives and works in the neighborhood (Quarteirão) in Ponta Delgada (São Miguel Island - Azores Islands), reclaiming a physical space for convivial and collaborative use. Orizzontale (Italian Architecture Collective based in Rome) designed a wooden installation in the core center of the neighborhood, while NO-ROCKET used painted tiles (in Portuguese, “Trilha”) and mirrors to create an installation that invited people to reflect on the hidden meaning of the blurry borders of the Quinta Pedagógica dos products, based on tradition neighborhood and the system behind it. Prazeres, Prazeres, Madeira and local identity, but with an Walk&Talk 2018 Révéler, Campozaz Island innovative character, made by the ©Filipa Couto / Walk&Talk local community. Their products The third case in Madeira is in the are cider, cider vinegars, liqueurs, village of Prazeres and its named jams, dehydrated products, and Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres. infusions, their quality is widely The Prazeres Pedagogical recognised by consumers and Farm, founded on 1st October national and international entities. 2000, is a project of education, The project includes also a socio-cultural evolution and farm with animals, and gardens development of the rural of orchards, herbs and a small environment. It aims to stimulate botanical garden, the naturalist the local economy combating the Father Manuel de Nóbrega decreasing number of population. herbarium/museum center, and It’s also an educational space an art gallery called Galeria dos where local and endemic species Prazeres. are protected as well as local traditions and culture. It is widely At the Quinta Pedagógica recognized by inhabitants and dos Prazeres it is a matter of public administration as a place of a coexistence of activities: public interest. sustainable agriculture, The project seeks to preserve the production of some food endemic plants and local recipes. products, the house of the tea, the For that purpose they produce herbarium of the ancient priest- and sell Handmade and natural biologist take place in parallel with Entrance of the Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres in Madeira. the activity of the art gallery. The © Susana Gonzaga Gallery of Prazeres over time has Walk&Talk’s case is a good example of a participatory experience. been entrusted to various local The annual festival acts as an enabler of creation through a series of curators and has been supported workshops and activities, in a permanent dialogue with the surroundings, by a series of local volunteers. carrying-out the need to give new life to that transit area. It has hosted exhibitions of The project involved the local community in the fieldwork and international and local artists, participatory design initiatives, using the festival not only as a bridge some artistic residencies, guided between the requests of local associations and the invited creatives, but tours for schools, a series of also as a means to value and preserve the craftsmanship present in the screenings for the community, as area. well as a few small experimental In this case study, Art served as a tool to propose scenarios, gatherings art festivals. The gallery has always and participatory actions, as well as food for thoughts for the functioned as a contemporary experiences that continued to unfold later in the Quarteirão area of São art gallery, without necessarily Miguel. trying to put at the center issues such as participatory and public art. Slowly, through various activities, it has contributed to the circulation of a different audience in the small rural village in harmony with local community. 33 34 Rota Vicentina, might be “forgotten”. This project Odemira, Portugal stands out due to the sustainable and responsible way that the On the mainland, in the southwest organization found to value the coastline of Alentejo there’s the local culture, the communities Rota Vicentina – an Association inhabitant in these remote areas for the promotion of Nature and bring them together with Tourism on the Alentejo and everyone that dares to get to know Vicentine coast. Since 2013, them face to face in the most this is the entity responsible for peculiar spots. managing, integrating, boosting, developing and promoting the 750 The case studies according to SMOTIES’ remote km of trails and the tourist offer places analysis in this Natural Reserve. It aims to become a defining feature of the Figure 7 illustrates the relations between the locations of the 5 region, enabling its enjoyment case studies and their remoteness characteristics in terms of the through walking or cycling, and location and the character of the places. Two of the cases are contributing unequivocally to the located in city centers (Madeiran Porta 33 and Teatro Metáfora), sustainability of the rural world, but can still be considered as remote due to the geo-position on by boosting economic activity, an island and the amount of population, comparing to the main stimulating existing activities cities in the mainland of Portugal. One case that stands between and services, maintaining and an urban character and open landscape is the case of Walk&Talk strengthening local traditions - this Art festival takes place in the natural paths outside Ponta and cultures, encouraging the Delgada, the capital of island of São Miguel island in the Azores. creation of new businesses and The remaining two cases refer to examples that take place in small promoting the destination outside and rural villages - The Rota Vicentina represents a network of peak seasons. This non-profit small local business along the natural path of the Natural Reserve association is supported by one of Costa Vicentina in the mainland of Portugal. of the most important networks of public and private partners in Portugal, who, united in a joint initiative in the interests of tourism and the sustainable development Hikers talking with local farmers, in one of the Rota Vicentina of the region, are determined to paths. © RotaVicentina preserve the Southwest Alentejo and everything that makes it so special. With a network of more than 200 associates, Rota Vicentina is not only about paths, but involves local accommodation, small rural hotels, restaurants, tourism animation companies, transports, local commerce and national and international tour operators. These companies provide all kinds of services so that tourists can fully enjoy the region and contribute to the sustainability of the project and maintenance of the trails. It is important to focus on the involvement of the communities and on the strong voluntary component that the maintenance of this network requires. The network of local partners and entities with responsibility in the region, allows Rota Vicentina Association to follow the day-by-day needs as well as in keeping a strategic reflection about the region’s development. Since 2012 and on, all these paths have been traced, mapped and upgraded, creating a network of routes through nature, remote towns and even some private Diagram on the level of remoteness of each case study. properties, bringing together all those wanderers that dared to explore different cultures with the communities that otherwise 35 36 Macro areas of intervention from the remote places analysis and the nodes of creativity. All of the 5 case studies show how a remote place can be restored through the commitment of the local communities and through a hard effort of evolving people through art and nature preservation. The research of each case study brought to light how the material and immaterial culture and local network of a place is as an important asset as the willingness and initiative made in such an effort of valorization, improvement and to overcome each place’s handicaps (low population density, geographic barriers, scarce public transportation and poor accessibility, social specifics or economic difficulties). The creative and entrepreneur community play a central role in creating the opportunity for participatory practices that involve the locals in order to improve their quality of life. Adding to that, helping such communities to continue the work once the creatives have parted - either by maintaining the achievements made or potentiating new ones - is likewise essential. Education and the form of artistic performances, Community as the workshops or communion with the local craftsmanship. Similarly linking actor on to Prazeres Social Project, Rota establishing creativity Vicentina takes a great effort in and local development exploring and giving value to its territory. Rota Vicentina comes out as an effort from the organization The main diverging aspects as to enhance a variety of remote well as their common background locations along the southwest regarding the areas of intervention of Portugal. The objective is were of special interest when paying attention to the local selecting and analyzing the communities, their traditions, above-described case studies. It their values, who they are, while was important to establish the empowering the local community map of the thematic macro areas to self-sustain economically, 1 Tuomola, M. L.: A Monologue for Dialogue: Miniature Portrait and position each case study on socially and culturally. One of the of Storytelling in Social Design. in Bertolotti, E, Daam, H., it in accordance with its main Piredda E. and Tassinari, V.: The Pearl Diver. The Designer as greatest aspects of this project and Storyteller. DESIS Editions. https://archive.org/details/ThePearl-characteristics. The figure nº 8 the one that has guaranteed the Diver_DESIS. (2016) illustrates those macro themes. success of it is that the association 2 Bishop, C.: Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Rota Viventina generates a big Spectatorship. London: Verso (2012) All cases taken into consideration network and synergies between have the presence of art and local 3 Boal, A.: Teatro do Oprimido. E outras poéticas politicas. Rio the network and the maintenance de Janeiro: Editora Civilização Brasileira (1980) culture, declined in common in of the trails as well as the structure different ways: that can motivate tourist to go 4 Bourriaud, N.: Esthétique relationnelle. Dijon: Les Presses du - their relation with nature, art and réel (2001) there. Educational approaches and local culture; linking the different communities 5 Rancière, J.: The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in - the activities made related with Intellectual Emancipation, Stanford University Press (1991) along a project, help to develope the presentation of the heritage, small and remote places with a 6 Sennett, R.: The Craftsman, New Haven & London: Yale conservation of the natural sense of responsibility and with a University Press (2008) ecosystems and valorization of the considerable amount of success 7 Thompson, N.: Living as an Art Form. Socially Engaged Art natural and immaterial patrimony; impacting a cultural, social and from 1991-2011. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and economic layer of the place. - the direct work with the territory, 8 Walker, S.: Designing Sustainability. Making radical changes in These approaches lead to a more a material world, Routledge, London. (2014) the valorization of local products, sustainable result, as the projects and interaction between the 9 https://www.prazeresdaquinta.pt/ go along the years increasing in inhabitants, tourists and foreign competence and impact within and 10 https://andafala.org/Walktalkazores communities. outside the community, involving 11 https://rotavicentina.com/ not only the community but other In the cases of Porta 33 and Teatro people as well. 12 https://www.porta33.com/ Metaphora, art acts as a facilitator of moments of creation, be it in 13 https://teatrometaphora.org/pt/inicio/ 37 38 FH JOANNEUM At the Institute of Design and Communication, we train designers, who are able to think University of Applied critically, design effectively for society, inspire the community, Sciences and improve the world. Design competencies and skills, Institute Design and user-centred methodo-logies, and fieldwork are important components of the education. Communication In interdisciplinary group works, TRIA collaborations with businesses, design agencies and cultural AUS institutions are lived. The success is proven by numerous awards and successful TNER graduates. With these features, our degree programs are AR unique — not only in Austria. In the field of information TIES P design in media and interaction spaces, the institute also offers competencies in the areas SMO of visual communication, exhibition design and responsive environments. The focus is always on the user or the audience and the comprehensible experience. FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences Institute of Design and Communication Alte Poststrasse 152, 8020 Graz, Austria idk@fh-joanneum.at www.fh-joanneum.at 39 40 The good decision Example Stanz in Upper Styria Breaking down political party lines Two examples from An essential aspect that led to the successful implementation of the projects was to break down party boundaries, since, at least in Austria, the phenomenon of mutual blocking of ideas of the respective Austrian practice opposition party often dominates. In firmly established traditional party landscapes, beyond reason and the interests of the citizens, many things are not implemented only because the protagonists are driven by the desire not to grant the competing party any success. This can be circumvented by means of a citizens’ initiative and active Authors: Erika Thümmel citizen participation, and a new dynamic and climate of change can be and Anke Strittmatter created. In the case of Stanz, the incumbent mayor emerged from a citizens’ initiative against the amalgamation of the municipality. The independent mayor, Fritz Pichler, who was nominated by the Citizens’ Location: Austria List and is now in his second term of office, could not be counted as belonging to any camp, and this made it possible to work together across the traditional party lines of the Social Democrats and the Conservatives. “The citizens are As soon as the first representatives of the traditional parties agreed to his projects, the others joined in, and he was able to implement it with left with frustration a large majority in the municipal council. Mayor Fritz Pichler saw it as and the question: a logical success, “when a local councillor from the Social Democrats volunteered to drive the new e-taxis, I knew that we had won. The resentment between the parties had dissolved in favour of the village.” 1 A small association tries to revitalise a what did I get myself neighbourhood, organises events with the residents involved for?” Working groups and setting priorities and the operators of small shops, asks for and In order to act in a solution-oriented manner as a citizens’ initiative, develops suggestions for improving the quality of life. the most important topics were framed and working groups were Committed citizens discuss, think, and dedicate part established. In total, a group of about 80 committed citizens in the village of their free time to the project and then notes lie in with 1855 inhabitants (as of 1.1.2020) were involved, with the inner circle a drawer and nothing happens. The association does of activists comprising 13 people. In a first phase, five topics were agreed not have the opportunity to intervene in the city’s upon (missing centre, bathing pond, culture, quality of life and energy) traffic planning, in the management of green spaces and working groups were formed. It was essential to focus on these few or the furnishing of public spaces, and proposals that topics and to implement individual milestones that are actually feasible. have been discussed for a long time go up in smoke “This created a sense of achievement and was able to pull people from and are forgotten. This is what happened in the behind the stove,” Fritz Pichler remarked. Jakomini district in Graz, but probably also in many other places. The citizens are left with frustration Economical use of everyone’s time was essential for success. This means and the question: what did I get myself involved for? small group sizes, clear focal points, and adherence to the principle of In the case of the redesign of the traffic dominated “one thing after another”. This showed that it is possible to help shape and chaotic Griesplatz in Graz, such participation one’s own environment. It is a process of change that started 8 years ago processes were initiated again and again over 15 (2013) and is still on-going. The success keeps the group alive. years, but nothing was implemented. Frustration turned into massive anger. Was that an employment In order to devote working time to solving essential problems, the mayor project to channel the energy of dissatisfied citizens? explained that he does not go to every event and if he does, he does not Do you also know of such examples? drink alcohol there. “If something takes too long, people break away.” This is because the difficulties of balancing work and family life must be In researching best practice examples for the taken into account, especially if you want to keep good contributors in SMOTIES project, Austrian team were able to observe the participatory processes over a longer period of time and prevent a better and more successful approach in the small them from dropping out after a short time. But too great a pace of Upper Styrian community of Stanz, which is presented change also overwhelms many, and so small but continuous steps have in the first part of this article. In the second part, a proven successful. But a tight organisation is also necessary to make it all completely new form of voting, “Systemic Konsensing work out. (SK)”, which has won several awards, is presented, as it is used very successfully in Munderfing in Upper To free up energy, it was important to make the municipal administration Austria. The method of Systemic Konsensing is so far leaner and, for example, not to fill positions that became vacant due only known in the German-speaking countries and it to retirements and to implement radical digitalisation measures. But would be desirable if it could be disseminated beyond perhaps the most important aspect was the increased cooperation within these countries. the community and the awareness of many citizens that they themselves are responsible for shaping their environment. However, communication in the community is also necessary on an informal level, and to make room for this, space for exchange with and among customers was deliberately created in the newly designed local supplier. 1 Much of the information comes from an exten- sive interview the authors conducted with Mayor Fritz Pichler on May 3rd, 2021. 41 42 Involving specialists has set for itself until 2025. Every Steiermark” (Styria Rural Development) say: “Experience has shown A wise approach was to involve citizen is invited to get involved that the best ideas usually come from those affected themselves, i.e. one external specialist in each in the future development of from the population.” 5 And further: “Citizen participation is one of the of the working groups. They their community. By finding central issues for the future of municipalities. The citizens work out goals were selected based on their common goals, it is possible to together and participate in the implementation of the projects. Every professional competence as create sustainable projects in the contribution is a valuable part of the whole and only in this way common well as on their personal ties municipality that are designed and goals and implementation projects can emerge”. to the region and their social implemented at the community competence in dealing with level. All plans, decisions and Among the Agenda 21 communities in Styria, there are besides the groups. It turned out that these actions are characterised by a spatial planning and citizen participation in Stanz, for example, the people also invested their heart strong “we-feeling”. “The personal children’s community council and youth council in Krieglach “Young and soul and their knowledge led commitment of each individual citizens plan with the big ones” and the revitalisation of the centre to feasible proposals. The horizon creates a high level of personal of Mautern by its inhabitants. Sandra Höbel, Managing Director of was broadened, and it was ensured responsibility and pride in what has Landentwicklung Steiermark: “The participation process of the present that high-quality and forward-been achieved.” 3 and the future is compact and solution-oriented”. 6 looking concepts emerged. In the knowledge of the importance of New forms of democracy design, external experts in this field In the context of the premiere of with a personal connection to the the film “Reitet das Dorf!” (Safe the place were involved in questions Village!) by Teresa Distelberger, the of local development in Stanz from municipality of Stanz invited to a the very beginning. For example, conference entitled “Village of the the mother of the architect Werner Future as a Global Impulse-Giver” Nussmüller comes from the on 11 February 2020, the managing village and the sociologist Rainer director of the “European Rosegger, who was consulted, Forum Alpbach”, Philippe has family ties to the region. Narval, who has been dealing The external communication of with questions of the renewal of the project was designed by the representative democracy for graphic designer Manfred Derler. many years, mentioned three concrete examples of how citizen Feasible goals participation concepts bring Self-confidently, the citizens’ about great changes. “We have initiative thus advertised with the to look past the dogma ‘It doesn’t slogan “Our record - EVERYTHING depend on me’, because that is that was promised has been simply not true,” as he pointed implemented! ... down to the last out, using the example of a full stop” in the election campaign Vorarlberg kindergarten teacher after the first legislative period who set up the first democratic (2015-2020). Some of the bigger kindergarten. “Democracy has projects were: Malburg pond to evolve and be rethought. We secured by long-term lease, flood have to make democracy tangible protection implemented, new local from childhood,” said Narval, who supplier Trixi’s Dorfmarkt opened, advocates creating places where new housing for young and old in people can develop ideas and the village centre established as think freely. Regarding citizen well as citizens’ projects such as participation in Stanz, he was a Kost-Nix shop (Costs Nothing particularly impressed by the Shop), an e-taxi service, the village strong focus on volunteering: “The workshop and the “Bankerl- feeling of being part of something express” (low-threshold carsharing is very strong here.” 4 service) from Kindberg to Birkfeld supported. Furthermore, the Agenda 21 in Styria 1 Much of the information comes from an extensive interview the authors conducted with following is listed: “Municipal office The activities in Stanz are part Mayor Fritz Pichler on May 3rd, 2021. renovated, afternoon care for our of the participation process children introduced, planning for Local Agenda 21 in the Province 2 https://fuerdiestanz.at/unsere-bilanz-alles-was- versprochen-wurde-ist-umgesetzt/ (14.12.2021) Internet broadband expansion of Styria, which explores the completed - implementation in possibilities of cooperation 3 http://www.stanz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/ 2021 and planning for an “Energy between political leaders in the images/Amtliche_Mitteilungen/61er/61_02_online. pdf (14.12.2021) Community Stanz” approved by municipalities and the citizens. the Research Promotion Fund in With their strategies for active 4 https://www.meinbezirk.at/muerztal/c-lokales/ dorf-der-zukunft-als-globaler-impulsgeber_ the amount of € 720,000.00”. 2 citizen participation, Styrian a3920910, Redaktion Bernhard Hofbauer, municipalities play a pioneering (15.12.2021) Pulling together role in Austria. Thanks to the 5 http://www.stanz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/ A self-confident model professional support and the images/Amtliche_Mitteilungen/61er/61_02_online. municipality for rural areas, tried and tested process, the pdf, authors: Alexandra Kulmer, Johanna a high quality of living and a participants reach their common Reinbrecht, Landentwicklung Steiermark, (15.12.2021) good basis for a lively village goal more quickly. Alexandra community - these are the goals Kulmer and Johanna Reinbrecht 6 http://www.stanz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/ images/Amtliche_Mitteilungen/61er/61_02_online. that the municipality of Stanz from “Landentwicklung pdf 43 44 “The SK principle is V-votes mean: I have no resistance to this venue. 10 V-votes mean: This respect for fellow place is unacceptable to me. human beings cast Each participant should therefore make a personal ranking of all the in a procedure.” locations and enter them in the list with the corresponding points. The results are then compiled in an overall list. (Fig. 2 shows the result of this Dr. Erich Visotschni imaginary vote). Fig. 2: Voting list So, the least resistance in this case is to a Transnational Meeting in Rome. According to the developers of this method, it is important that Fig. 1: The principle of Systemic Konsensing all participants are aware of the concerns and resistance of the whole group and take these into account in order to be able to look for better solutions if necessary. It can happen, for example, that a place is ranked first, but overall The Munderfinger using it as a creative potential. resistance is high. This is why the developers work with the concept of Citizen Participation It can be used in private, “standardised resistance”. Experience has shown that a viable decision professional, and political can be made when this value lies between 0 and 5 points. It is determined Model contexts. by dividing all V-votes by the number of people. In our example, this would be 9 V-votes for Rome divided by 4 persons/institutions, which The “Munderfinger Citizen “The SK principle is respect for results in 2.25 votes of resistance. This is a value that lies within the Participation Model” seems fellow human beings cast in a acceptable range and therefore does not require an alternative proposal to be particularly interesting procedure.” for a location. in regard to involving citizens Dr. Erich Visotschnig - Inventor In general, experience with the SK method has shown that finding in the decision-making of the SK Principle solutions that generate little or no resistance from all participants have a process of municipalities. The strong conflict-solving effect. Upper Austrian municipality Basically, Systemic Konsensing of Munderfing 7 is the first is about determining how much municipality in the world to have resistance the participants have made the principle of “Systemic to a particular decision. Here Konsensing” 8 an integral part is a simple example: Assumed of its municipal policy. 9 Before a group of researchers and we go into more detail on this designers want to vote on citizen participation model, where in Europe the next however, the SK principle with Transnational Meeting should its main features should be take place. In a conventional presented in a simple form. vote, alliances might be forged, and a traditional democratic Systemic Konsensing vote might produce a result that The SK principle is not based some would be very happy with, 7 The municipality of Munderfing is an “Agenda on conventional democratic and others might be very unhappy 2021” municipality and is one of the 12 voting, which is based on with. “Austrian places of the future”. Cf. https://www. majorities and ultimately also zukunftsorte.at/, Austria Wirtschaftsservice, Vienna (15.12.21) leads to winners and losers. Systemic Konsensing is different: It is a method of decision- Ideally, the vote should take place 8 The SK principle was developed by Erich making in groups that seek the without any discussion, otherwise Visotschnig, an Austrian mathematician and physicist, together with Siegfried Schrotta, a closest possible approach to existing and already entrenched special-ist in systems analysis. consensus. Consensus exists in a opinions might be deepened 9 Dominik Berger, BK-Business Konsens (editor), group when no one has serious again. Each participant in the vote Das Munderfinger Bürgerbeteiligungsmodell, objections or fundamentally receives a piece of paper on which Graz, 2019. https://www.munderfing.at/wp- rejects the decision. all the venues are written. Each content/uploads/2019/04/Agenda21_Projekt_ Abschlussbericht_Das-Munderfinger-Mo- dell.pdf person or institution should now Systemic Konsensing is a new assign a so-called resistance value 10 Cf. Institute for Systemic Consensus - culture of togetherness that is to the locations in the form of 0 ISYKONSENS International OG. (Publisher): The SK Principle and the Good Decision. Graz. www. based on respecting a NO and to 10 resistance votes (V-votes). 0 sk-prinzip.eu/sk-prinzip (15.12.21) 45 46 The use of Systemic “voluntariness; equality; respect Konsensing in Munderfing for the wishes and the NOs of citizens; consideration of Since the 1990s, the municipality the existing legal framework of Munderfing has been and the municipal code; joint intensively engaged with decision-making by the citizens the possibilities of citizen concerned; iterative procedure: participation and has stipulated wishing and dreaming, planning, in the Agenda 21 future profile acting, reflecting, and learning of the municipality that the as a cycle; separation between citizen participation model process and content level; should also be developed with involving citizens also at the the participation of the citizens. process and procedure level; linking practice and theory, The process of developing a learning to participate in real model tailored to Munderfing cases; and learning together was led by Dominik Berger, at both levels, process and Managing Director of BK- content - understanding citizen Business Konsens. 12 The participation as a collective “decision-making working learning process”. 13 group” consisted of 30 volunteer citizens of the Without going into more detail municipality, including the on the concrete contents and mayor and the head of office. In process steps, it should be noted several workshops, this group here that the chosen approach dealt with the topic of group has proven successful and the decision-making in general and decision-making working group Fig. 3: Blueprint of the Munderfinger citizen participation the method of SK in particular. has adopted the procedure model V1.0 The whole process ran over a developed as the “Munderfinger period of one and a half years. Citizen Participation Model Further workshops followed, which dealt in particular with how this V1.0”. 14 model can be adapted so that individual citizens can also bring their In the process, concrete tasks concerns to the municipality and have them discussed in the municipal in the village were worked out council, because so far it was always the municipal council that brought as examples. These included a current issues to the decision-making working group. project dealing with the traffic calming of a road and another How can a procedure now look like, in which every citizen can raise his or dealing with railway crossings. her concerns and yet the WG decision-making is not summoned because of every little thing? The procedure provides for a kind of threshold at The following principles and which the relevance of the request can be checked. values have been applied here: “Citizens of Munderfingen can now raise their concerns as follows: Citizens with concerns and ideas for change must win over two active councillors for their topic so that they convene the decision-making working group. No majority is required. Party affiliation is also irrelevant. If two councillors are of the opinion that the issue is suitable for citizen participation and that the effort of the decision-making working group is justified, the working group is convened. The working group decides on the procedure for the issue, as shown in the model.“ 15 “Systemic Konsensing creates the prerequisite for a new political culture of 11 cooperative interaction, in which collective Gemeinde Munderfing (publisher): Bürgerbeteiligung. https://www.munderfing.at/ intelligence is activated. The “WE” feeling kundenservice/wahlen-und-buergerbeteiligung/ buergerbeteiligung/ (15.12.21) of the community representatives and 12 The inventor of the SK principle, Dr. Erich Visotschnig, also belongs to this company. In the citizens is strengthened, individuality order to disseminate SK in a quality manner, authorised SK training institutes train people and diversity are used as a resource in SK. An optional SK certification process has been developed in recent years. This information for successful cooperation. This new comes from telephone conversations with Dominik Berger of BK-Business Konsens in form of decision-making can support November 2021. the municipality of Munderfing in its 13 Dominik Berger, BK-Business Konsens (editor), Das Munderfinger Bürgerbeteiligungsmodell, development towards a liveable, conflict- Graz, 2019. https://www.munderfing.at/wp- content/uploads/2019/04/Agenda21_Projekt_ capable community life.” Abschlussbericht_Das-Munderfinger-Modell.pdf 11 14 Ibid. 15 Gemeinde Munderfing (publisher): Bürgerbeteiligung. https://www.munderfing.at/ kundenservice/wahlen-und-buergerbeteiligung/ buergerbeteiligung/ (15.12.21) 47 48 Fig. 4: Munderfinger citizen participation model V1.0 The Munderfingen model has spectrum, this has changed been implemented in its current significantly in recent years. The form since April 2019. Citizens positive experiences of many can submit their concerns orally municipalities - also or especially or in writing to the municipal over a longer period of time - council. An online form has also have shown that the problems been set up on the municipality’s and issues dealt with in this way webpage for submitting the have often led to successful concern. It is also possible to projects supported by a large hand in signature lists directly to majority of citizens. the municipal councillors or to drop them (also anonymously) in an ideas/concerns box. The decision-making working group is still active but has now been reduced in size and consists of 10 people, including one representative from each of the political parties. The reasons for this are not known to the authors, but it happened in the context of the inauguration of a new mayor. Since 2019, only one request has been submitted by a citizen, but the decision-making Figure 1: The Principle of Systemic Konsensing. Own visualisation based on the German drawing working group continues to take from www.acceptable.at up virulent topics on its own Figure 2: Voting list. Own visualisation. The figure initiative and discusses which is based on a similar example from the book: topics are suitable to be used Systmisches Kon-sensieren. Der Schlüssel zum in committees or the like by gemeinsamen Erfolg by Georg Paulus, Siefried Schrotta and Erich Visotschnig. P.17 Danke-Verlag, means of citizen participation Holzkirchen, 2020. procedures. Figure 3: Blueprint Munderfinger citizen participation model V1.0. Own visualisation based Whereas in the past decades on the German draw-ing by DI Dominik Berger- in many municipalities in BK-Business Konsens OG Austria citizen participation Figure 4: Munderfinger citizen participation model processes were often viewed V1.0. Own visualisation based on the German with scepticism and attributed drawing by DI Dominik Berger-BK-Business Konsens OG to the left-wing political 49 50 Urban Planning The Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS) is the central Slovenian research organ- isation in the field of spatial plan- ning and design and related disci- VENIA Institute of the plines. Founded in 1955, UIRS was O transformed into a public research SL Republic of institute in 1993, a status which continues to apply to date. Its basic activities are research, education, publishing and policy advising. It TNER also operates a public library with AR Slovenia an extensive literature stock and a large collection of other references in the field of spatial planning. TIES P The UIRS performs basic and appli- cative research projects at interna- SMO tional, national, regional and local levels, addressing various issues and processes of the urban and spatial development of Slovenia and the wider area. Research activ- ities also includes the advancement of methodological and practical solutions for the development of urban areas, as well as planning of settlements and the countryside. Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia Trnovski pristan 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia info@uirs.si www.uirs.si 51 52 (Un)intruding This may all sound contradictory, but describes the urban-rural relation within the Slovenian context well. There are no clear borders between the urban and the rural in the functional terms anymore, as well as not acquaintances between the central and the remote. The goods, knowledge, habits, customs, inter-personal relations etc. that historically typically belonged to either urban or rural territories, can nowadays be found in both places – e.g. highly innovative enterprises can be allocated in some remote however easily accessible areas; similarly the once fresh and locally grown vegetables can easily be part of the everday in the urban centres. These Authors: Matej Nikšič, spatio-functional connection seem to be a prevailing pattern nowadays. Nina Goršič, Gurvan Seite Creative practices in participatory public space (re)invention in remote places – with a touch from the outside and a Location: Slovenia flavour of the local tradition and heritage When Smoties Ljubljana searched for the good practices of the participatory and creative (re)invention of public places in remote spaces of Slovenia, a special attention was given to the aspect of how the good practices have evolved. It turned out that no matter how distant or how close the remote place with an interesting practice was to the nearest urban node, there always were rather clear tights of the remote place to the bigger node. The connection was most often based on the personal relationships between the actors and the places as well as between the actors themselves. The aim of this article is to review the three case studies to illustrate these relations, namely to highlight how strongly they Urban and rural intertwined are embedded into the local environment, but at the same time tightly interlinked with bigger settlements and their actors that helped to bring According to the scholarly findings, the wish of an the public spaces of the remote areas to a higher level. average Slovenian is to live in a detached house at a distance from the others but somehow close to a Smlednik is a village in the vicinity of Ljubljana of less than 600 node of an activity. When describing the prevailing inhabitants. When asked, the inhabitants of Smlednik have the self-living-style desires of the Slovenians, the urban impression of being remote while at the same time just next to the capital sociologist have coined a term proti-urbanost, which city. Indeed, they lack public transports links to Ljubljana and encounter translates into anti-urbanity and has more to do with difficulties in accessing daily-life-support facilities, but at the same time the way of living then the spatial characteristics that they are never too far away from the city. The settlement had only few would condition it. Even if the spatio-social relations public spaces, all of them poorly developed. This was one of the reasons in Slovenia seem to be changing fast and the cities for the Society of Oral History to launch a project of a community remain the most vibrant places, there seems to be a garden. One of the main initiators was Urška Sešek, who spent her sense of glorification of the living outside the urban childhood in Smlednik but nowadays lives in Ljubljana. The garden was centres, somewhere close to the nature where not too built in honour of the 900th anniversary of the first mention of Smlednik many other people would bother one’s privacy and and aimed to contribute to the enhancement of the distinctive historical peace. This notion has grown bigger during the covid village core by participation of the locals. In spatial terms the garden restrictions according to some reports (Breznik et is designed in terraces because it allows for better use of space, but al, 2021). The term proti-urbanost thus describes the also because it respects the topography of the settlement. If the first general attitude of an average citizen that is aware of visible function of the garden is to grow local herb and plant varieties all the assets that urban living brings, but at the same to preserve them, it also serves educational and social purposes. It is a time dislikes all the negative sides of urban living such new place to connect locals, to preserve and share old knowledge on as noise, pollution and crowdedness and therefor gardening. The main yearly event is “flancanje”, where visitors exchange prizes countryside over the urban environments. seedlings, prepare an exhibition of herbs and discuss about gardening. The garden was built by locals and volunteers with the support of local At the same time the clear distinction between the societies and the municipality of Medvode, but it attracts visitors from a urban and the countryside is vanishing in Slovenia. much wider area, including the nearby urban centres in the Central and The reasons for this can at least partly be found in the Alpine regions of Slovenia. polycentric spatial development model of the country (SPRS, 2004), and even more in the fast development Not far from Smlednik is the settlement of Žlebe. Although located of the transportation and communication A group of volunteers maintaining the Village Garden in Smlednik (Urška Sešek, initiatior of the project, in the center) also in the vicinity of Ljubljana, Žlebe is less accessible as it is located infrastructures that nowadays connect the national ©Janez Strojan in the Polhov Gradec Hills, a distinctively hilly landscape. Cut from the territories better than ever. This allows the inhabitants public transportation one can hardly move around the stretched village to exploit the advantages and possibilities offered without a vehicle. Moreover, the village does not have neither a village by the nearby towns and cities while living in the centre nor a proper public space, except maybe the St. Margaret church remote areas. Consequently this means that the self-and its courtyard. It is this place of the church that Zvonka Simčič, a identification of the people living outside the urban contemporary artist, decided to address to give more dynamism to nodes is not necessarily linked to the characteristics of the village and to create a place for gathering. She did so by bringing their residency-location anymore – while living at the contemporary art and invited locals to participate in the process. Zvonka countryside they may feel the belonging to the nearby in a way connects Žlebe to the wider world too – even if she used to city or town too, and vice versa. live in the sexton’s house next to St. Margaret’s church with her family when she was young, she is an outcomer with her art-activities as she left the village to perform her art elsewhere. However, seeing her childhood place perishing, she decided to use what she discovered and learned in the broader world to revitalise the place. It is with a sense of 53 54 tradition written by Jasna Majda local place. This would not be possible if she was not native to the place, Peršolja, archaeological and her according to her own observation people of the hilly hinterlands were ethnological research. rather reluctant to the art in a remote place from the beginning and her Project was developed in tactful, step by step approach that took into account all the specifics of cooperation between the residents the character of locals brought her to the success. It is after hard work of Rodik and the experts from the and long conversations that progressively the locals started to look at outside with the goal to preserve the exhibition with interest and decided to join and contribute. Similarly and transmit the legends of the Urška’s experience in Smednik shows that her “view from the distance”, region to the locals and the visitors. while at the same time knowing the local circumstances very well, helped Made of two circular trails starting her organise the whole process of setting up a new central public space Founders and conceptual and ending in the village centre and of the village in a form of the participatory maintained village garden. authors of the House on the running through the surrounding Hill Zvonka T Simčič and Franc Cegnar at the opening forests and grasslands, the two of the exhibition House on trails are nowadays the main public the Hill 2020 path in the area that attracts both ©Zavod CC locals and tourists. The distinctive indebtedness that she decided to feature of both paths are the stone bring contemporary art to the local sculptures that were made by church and its vicinity and thus also young sculptors and give shape to take care of the cultural heritage of the local legends along the paths. the village. In each of the three cases a “local In the Karst region, next to the outsider” can be found. This is Italian border and the city of a person that is deeply linked Trieste, lies Rodik, a village of with the remote place either 350 inhabitants with regionally through the personal history distinctive low density. Rodik or the professional interest has a train station with few strongly rooted in the remote trains stopping per day, good place. All these projects would road infrastructures with the A1 not have flourished without this motorway passing nearby, there movement of the main initiators is also a community centre. But coming back and forth, their link House on the Hill 2019 in Sexton’s House next to the Church of St. Marjeta people of Rodik feel at least partly with the outside world but at Nest: community creation under the leadership remote because of the absence the same time also a profound of Mateja Kavčič ©Zavod CCC of a school as well as the open insight into the local place and landscapes that surround them its community. These actors and have a typical rural character. were enough legitimate to take Nevertheless, as Rodik is located in contact with locals and activate a highly touristic area of the Karst the local network, while at the region, it benefits from the tourism same time had the connections All these cases are also linked through the importance they gave which is based both on natural and to bring inspiration, energy and to cultural heritage. It seems that the cultural heritage, tangible or cultural heritage. The initiative to not least the funds from the intangible, as the above illustrated cases show, is one of the base-improve its public spaces came outside. It is not a coincidence stones that attracts the local outsiders to trigger the process in the from the outside from the nearby that all these settlements lie next remote place. Rodik Mythic Park relies on the legends and stories Katja Hrobat Virloget’s twenty-regional urban centre of Koper, to a city, local outsiders took carried through time by the inhabitants of the village and the region. year long research on Rodik’s Smlednik garden preserves and promotes old native plant varieties and mythical landscape made the where the ethnologist of a local profit of it to learn new things but realisation of Mythical Park origin (from the nearby village) then returned to do the favour old gardening techniques. While in Žlebe the exhibition takes place in possible and brought her to the church which dominates the whole settlement and is a reminder of become Rodičanka – a resident Katja Hrobat Virloget from the to their original rural place that of Rodik University of Primorska proposed was important in their previous the past times. At the same time the importance given to the cultural © Samuel Virloget Hrobat to create a project around the personal or professional paths. heritage and the will to preserve it might have been one of the main narrative tradition and mythical Their journeys show once more factors that made the locals participating in the projects. Firstly, because landscape shared by the locals. the rather strong interconnection it brings memories that can then bring ideas of action. Secondly, because The base for the Rodik Mythical and interdependence between the cultural heritage is common to every local, more or less, and it surpasses Park was the book of local oral rural and the urban in the Slovenian present quarrels. Thus, it can gather different people around the same context. In the case of Rodik an project. Finally, because it involves what is often seen as a common internationally well-networked belonging, locals feel an interest in modelling the project to avoid any institution and its expert, who is transformation of their heritage that would displease them. It seems this at the same time coming from the anchor in the local heritage is also a safe place for the new ideas from local area, saw an opportunity for outside to land in the remote place – it helps diminish the fear among the the place, and by linking the rich locals that they will be dispossessed from their local traditions if some heritage and local knowledge of new, not foreseen ideas arrive. This is well illustrated by the case of Žlebe the place to the internationally where Zvonka and her team of artists had to convince the locals to lend available funds managed to change her the church for the exhibitions - she had to call on history and argue the local public space for better. that artists already came in this place in the past to ornament the church. In Žlebe, the contacts of Zvonka Again, embedding the new art into the pre-existing context of the Jasna Majda Peršolja contrib-with artists all around Slovenia and cultural heritage of the village made the locals less suspicious and slowly uted in the field of collecting Europe gave her material to feed embrace the whole process and take part in it. and preserving folk tradition her artistic programme through of the old tales ©Petra Mezinec/Primorske various exhibitions, which were novice however tightly embedded into the 55 56 Looking into the future and the open questions The village garden in Smlednik started thanks to the enthusiasm Nevertheless, once the project of a local outsider and the wider successfully starts, the question group of people with interest in of its perpetuation and long- the local history. Even if there term sustainability appears. Who is no institution that is namely will oversee its continuity? Is a responsible for the garden, the continuity in such projects needed high number of proactive actors or can they simply be a one-time make it thrive on, which rises the or short period happening? Should expectations that the project will such actions be institutionalised, persist through time. If one actor or should they rather stay stops taking an active part, the spontaneous? What does the project should not be threatened relation between the local and due to the wide-spread network the coming-from-outside mean of active residents co-creating the in terms of sustaining the good village garden. At the same time, The instalment of stone sculpture in Rodik ©Mitski park; photo practices in a longer period – can the diversity of participants and by Jan Antonac, VSŠ Sežana rural places be empowered to the their high number increase the Discussion and conclusion level when the “help” from outside possibility of new ideas emerging, will not be needed anymore? ideas that would permit the garden To conclude, these three different projects have been highly successful The contemporary exhibitions project to thrive despite any new thanks to both the outside and the inside factors. The so called local in Žlebe currently strongly rely obstacles. This also means that outsiders made the bond between the locals and the outside world. on Zvonka in many regards – the initial push that came from the This enabled to get new ideas and funds from urban areas or distant especially in terms of the contents outside got very good resonance institutions, while respecting the locals’ customs and social order as well as well as the financing. If the within the local community and as traditions and heritage – by doing so the presented cases managed to project has been a success until by including the new local sources take the advantage of the urban and rural intertwinedness at its best. The now due to Zvonka’s presence, made the project sustainable in a projects strongly relying on the cultural heritage and personal bonds to keeping the artistic activities alive long term. the place may appear to be more likely legitimate in the eyes of local, no demand a change as Zvonka is not Miza: Last dinner. The installation was designed by Mojca matter of how far the initial idea or the initiator comes from. In a longer eternal. The question of how to Senegačnik and Zvonka T Simčič for the exhibition House on term such approaches may also result in a diminishing anti-urbanity the Hill 2021 find someone or a group of people ©Zavod CCC sentiment mentioned at the beginning of this article – the ideas and to take over the project is still resources spread from the urban centres to the remote places may not pending. be bad at all even in the eyes of the most traditional village residents at On the opposite side, Rodik the end of the day if passed on in a proper way. Mythical Park managed to become a highly institutionalised project that now involves very different types of organisations: from universities to tourism associations, a business incubator, Breznik, J. et al (2021) Delo na domu v drugem valu epidemije municipal structures and the covid-19 . Ljubljana: FGG. is due to this diversity of actors Hočevar, M. (2013) Protiurbanost kot način življenja . Ljubljana: FDV. institutionalised in order to be SPRS (2004) Spatial Development Strategy of Slovenia, functional and manageable. Thanks accessed online on 3rd of February 2000: https://www.gov.si/ to this rather advanced framework assets/ministrstva/MOP/Publikacije/sprs_eng.pdf the Mythical Park seems to have a clearer future. Nevertheless, in case of a shortage of funds by the municipality, the project could regress. 57 58 Clear Village Clear Village is a London- based charity which helps communities build a better Trustee Limited future through creative regeneration. We work together with landlords, municipalities and community groups to identify local challenges, build on existing assets, bring in external expertise as needed, and co-create solutions with local residents and other stakeholders. Since no two communities are the same, our projects are varied too. Our recent work includes running a co-working space in central London focused on supporting UNITED KINGDOM the local community; creating a series of online hackathons to develop circular approaches TNER for the built environment; transforming a neglected AR walled garden on the fringes of London into a community food growing hub; and TIES P helping to establish a centre for agricultural technology in Malawi. What unites all SMO our projects is our focus on empowering local communities and igniting resilience from within. Clear Village Trustee Limited Location: Block A Vauxhall Peabody Estate Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1TA, UK info@clear-village.org www.clear-village.org 59 60 Participatory techniques Cosmic Colliery THE PROJECT The Cosmic Colliery project is located in the Penallta and intangible outputs Colliery which closed in 1992 becoming abandoned like many coal mines across Wales. The aim of the creative work was to use the mine once more to bring the community together, by imagining it as an astronaut in rural Wales training camp. To alter the perception that young people held for both themselves and their own futures, encouraging them to “think big” by imagining different possibilities for the area and how they are perceived. Cosmic Colliery, initiated by designer Hefin Jones, was an experiment in using speculative design to alter the attitudes of a remote place. The project’s aim was to create an astronaut training centre in an abandoned coal mine in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales. Although fictional, the training centre was the tangible vehicle for the intangible goal of creating Author: Josie King, Kristine Luke community networks and changing the way that individuals in this town considered their own futures. As one of the locals said in the film Location: United Kingdom documenting the process, ’We have forgotten how to think big’. Cosmic Colliery is an exemplary use of participatory techniques. In just a few months the individuals involved took ownership of the project, working together to achieve this unattainable goal in the name of dreaming for the sake of dreaming. The process methodology was highly “...creating long co-creative; decisions were made using a journey approach, informed lasting networks by individuals who became a part of the project organically. Often a relationship with one individual led to a connection with another; this between people expanded the network around the project and created opportunities to that can change incorporate more community assets. For example, when Jones asked for a zero gravity haircut in a local salon, or went on a pub crawl, or The chosen case studies from the UK are highly individuals’ wandered around a place and engaged with different spaces, individuals community-led projects employing a wide range were slowly introduced to the project and felt they could take leadership of participatory techniques. In each, the project relationships to a and incorporate their own ideas and interests. Another example of this instigators find ways to take a step back as the place.” is the ‘rave’ inside the old colliery. In forming a close relationship with the work becomes self-driven, creating longevity colliery’s owner, Jones discovered that he used to DJ acid house in south and sustainability. In each, the project’s legacy London, and had a keen interest in the extra-terrestrial. This unexpected is not necessarily about leaving a landmark or development led to a spontaneous DJ performance in the abandoned piece of urban design behind, but creating long colliery. Although this intervention was not connected to the main goal lasting networks between people that can change of creating a discussion around making the abandoned mine into a space individuals’ relationships to a place. station, it was key to the relationship with the property owner, who from that point onwards took a keen interest in steering the project. This article looks at commonalities across the case studies that highlight potential challenges one might face when working with remote communities. The interviewees with the actors of the presented case studies pointed out the perceived power imbalances in relation to the roles of insider and outsider, urban and remote. They have also raised the problems that can occur when a project is viewed through a lens of tangible impacts and processes when it in fact champions intangible ones. We will be looking at the community-driven, long term, process-based values and intangible impacts inherent in an ex-coal mine turned astronaut training camp, a pandemic-era digital network for imagining small scale utopias, and a waste wool collective operating out of an ex-schoolhouse. All of these projects take place in rural Wales, UK. 61 62 The main issue faced by this project was measuring impact, partly because the project took place over a short period, was supported by the design museum as a residency project and was carried out by an individual. Furthermore, no impact measurement was required from stakeholders, nor was there time allotted for it. However, if there had been allocated time and impetus for such measurement, one of the most pressing questions would have been how to record the long term impact of encouraging individuals to start to dream bigger, or to foster Map by Lee Reynolds connections. ©Hefin Jones Cosmic Colliery’s most poignant lessons are not taken from the spatial intervention itself, as this was merely speculative. They are, rather, In this speculative project in the spontaneous co-created interventions that led to unexpected a majority of the impacts project developments and created more meaningful experiences for were intangible, but that participants. They came from the way the designer moved through the did not mean they were left community, connecting individuals and gradually relinquishing control. undocumented. One example We can gain more from learning about the process of building and of an intangible impact was nurturing relationships in rural spaces in this project than we can from its the physical mapping of the physical outputs. There needs to be a way in which we can record these network of people connected intangible impacts and uphold them as equal and vital aspects of our own through the project, which rural projects’ successes. stretched across South Wales. Another was the numerous Film still, Cosmic Colliery documentary film participants who gained Filmmaker - Liboni Munnings agency and ownership over ©Hefin Jones the project. Examples of this were wide ranging - one of the final interventions was led almost entirely by people Jones had met along the ‘journey’. They came together to lead their own open forum about the future of the community, during which Jones removed himself completely, changing his role from designer- instigator to observer. Penallta Colliery Acid House Festival poster ©Hefin Jones 63 64 Utopias Bach between these two concepts. “We seek questions Utopias Bach (UB) defines The form of this Utopias Bach itself as ‘experiments that experiment is a series of rather than answers, explore ideas for the future, migrational meetings, each or at least we constructed/presented/framed hosted by a different individual in a small scale (physically, or in a different space to focus on will avoid rigid as a microcosm), that in some a new line of inquiry. The form conclusions.” way might help us imagine the of this kind of intervention world a better place for humans resists definition and is not and more-than-humans of all tied to a specific process or UB eagerly awaits the end of marketised and transactional modes kinds, especially those who output. This allows it to be of human interaction, carrying out projects according to success are most badly affected by the adaptive to constantly changing versus failure, or a ‘beginning and end’ dichotomy. UB also behaves current state of the world or its circumstances and contexts. like something from a quantum physics experiment - when you try to transition.’ More importantly it also gives measure it, its nature is changed by the act of measuring. Furthermore, space for further idea creation, the constraints brought about by the nature of our interview questions, Started during lockdown allowing the work to expand just positioning us as the ‘experts’ from ‘urban centres’, created an 2020, this project uses the like that strawberry plant. uncomfortable power dynamic. So it is not surprising then, that when notion of Utopia to tackle the we asked UB interviewees questions based on the SMOTIES case uncertainties now facing us. It is study framework, we often did not get straightforward answers, but easy to become overwhelmed were instead met with further questions: What if small communities in thinking about Utopia in the rural locations weren’t automatically labelled ‘remote’? Why does the wider sense, so instead this definition of remote inherently mean few people and lots of ‘nature’? work focuses on creating micro “We have come to Who is the insider and who is the outsider in participatory projects? utopias that celebrate noticing What if there weren’t only human participants? What if projects did not the little things that make life think of Utopias Bach have an end? What if they valued intangible over tangible outcomes? better for all. The project is like a strawberry Were not measured in terms of impact or success and in fact deliberately formed by anyone who wishes resisted measurement? to take part, and explores new plant, with the core methods of digital collaboration. partnership and Is a project’s aversion to definition and constantly adapting nature one It has no geographical centre that we should consider an issue, or is the issue in fact with the way that but most of it takes place in Collabatory nurturing we measure? Does a project need to be entirely visible and legible to Wales - it is located wherever an external ‘public’? The co-created nature of the work, as with Cosmic the participants and activities offshoot plantlets Colierry, means that its ‘impacts’ are unable to be predefined or planned. are happening. until they are strong However, UB’s non-hierarchical and inclusive participatory techniques are exemplary. If UB purposefully evades the categories of impact UB is an open, flexible, non-enough to live measurement we normally think of for remote participatory projects, yet hierarchical group based independently (or it’s still achieving many of the aims that other SMOTIES case studies are, on trust, sharing, and a then is it not worth considering the implications of this for how we assess commitment to the arts as a that gently wither the impact of SMOTIES interventions? supporter of wellbeing. The away), while ‘seeding’ project was initiated in the middle of the pandemic, so its ideas further afield.” ©Utopias Bach - Lisa Hudson participatory approach had to adapt to this, with in-person and online participation happening on equal terms. It consists of artists, writers, researchers, therapists, and the non-human. The nature of its ‘impacts’ is very broad. It is mostly community arts-based and ranging from physical artworks to workshops to discussions to festivals. One key intangible impact is the use of Utopias Bach as a conceptual framing device for the activities and people it connects. Under this umbrella, dialogues, events and artworks that do not operate according to neoliberal notions of scale, visibility, circulation and quantification are highlighted and brought into focus. One example of a UB project is Merched y Tir, translating to ‘Women and Land’, which explores the relationships 65 66 Hand loom ©Ema Howe for Pentredwr and District Community Association keeps the momentum of the project going. The interview with Gwlangollen leads and the Women in Agriculture wool weaving group (initiated by Gwlangollen) revealed that the key participatory techniques Wool event at Ysgol Pentredwr © Ema Howe for used in this project are only Pentredwr and District Community Association possible because of trust, The solutions offered by the Gwlangollen project work so well relationships, and hyper local because they are born out of long term and intimate knowledge knowledge accumulated of this community. The project has many tangible impacts, from over decades - of the history, waste wool products to the creation of jobs, but it is the intangible language, and socio-economic ones that are the most contingent on individual people’s ‘intangible’ particularities of the community qualities. of Pentredwr. The team has a deep understanding of the Familiarity and solidarity are the backbone of the project. There was no designer, artist, or instigator ‘brought in’ from the ‘outside’ Gwlangollen & Pentredwr needs of sheep farmers, from as such - it came about through slowly developing relationships Community Hub the diversification of income streams due to the falling between people who all live locally, and from challenges identified Gwlangollen is an ongoing price of wool and government by them. Actually the part-takers estimate that a strength of project exploring ways agricultural subsidies (ie. setting the project was that it initially had no ‘outside’ support or help to repurpose waste wool up glamping pods in their whatsoever. They also felt that the common Smoties case study produced by North Wales sheep fields), to widespread cases format failed to capture the most valuable aspects of the project, farmers. It was born out of a of isolation and depression and they resisted answering questions about whether the project strong relationship between amongst farmers as their had any ‘failures’, as they did not want to judge the project on Gwlangollen, a wool workshop, families move away to find these terms. For recording their own impact, they are keen to use and a community hub in better paying jobs. They also methods of capturing and recording that don’t feel, as they put it, Pentredwr. The project’s main understand the importance of like a ‘bureaucratic exercise.’ activities are doing outreach trust and relationships: for the work with struggling local renovation of the schoolhouse These intangible qualities of the project - trust, relationships, and farmers, alongside a vibrant into the community hub (where local knowledge, also mean that it has anticipated and dealt with community craft and activity most of the activity happens), challenges, namely engaging with groups with little free time and programme. They have created the project leads, both of whom the uncertainties around adequate long term funding. However, a social space for farmers to have lived locally for decades, these have been met with the project’s strengths, which are the meet, share their challenges, were able to enlist the help of community’s enthusiasm and drive to address a need that the concerns, expertise, and those who had even moved community had identified themselves, and the conviction that the collaboratively find alternative away from the area. This project would continue even without funding, just on a different income streams from waste was because of their strong scale. wool so that their survival is connections to the school and not solely dependent on the memories of attending as young tourist industry. This project is children. Gwlangollen also driven by necessity, by genuine delivers the project bilingually, relationships between different in Welsh and English, which actors with different interests creates another connection with (sheep farmers, craftspeople, the project participants, through community hub groups), and a shared understanding of the by the energy of particular importance of preserving this individuals, whose enthusiasm major aspect of Welsh identity. 67 68 Conclusion data that frames even intangible impacts according to consistent Whilst all three case studies standards. However, the employ a range of participatory challenges we met when trying techniques in different ways, to interview for these case one thing they have in common studies, and then representing is co-created practices. In using their responses according to co-creation the individuals’ a standardised framework stake in the work increases, based on quantification, raised which leads to sustained and questions and possibilities in-depth participation. One beyond choosing the correct issue we face as designers and framework. These challenges socially engaged artists is how suggested that perhaps a to sustain a project after we more nuanced flexibility and leave a place, and there are responsiveness is required no more funds available. This for our encounters with, and often requires individuals from re-telling the stories of, the the community involved in the people involved in these case project to volunteer their time. studies, and their radicality, Co-creation may provide a mutual aid, experimentation, route to sustainability, allowing affect, and other subtle the designer to slowly take a shifts. This responsiveness step back, and for participants would furthermore support to increasingly steer the the complexity and project. Yet co-creation also interdisciplinarity of the means surrendering control SMOTIES project, and the as a designer to the people communities with whom we you meet, allowing a project engage. to be led by the individuals Geocache Bach, Treborth ©Utopias Bach - Lindsey Colbourne with whom you are developing relationships. It means letting go of your vision and what you believe is best. It can be argued that co-creative projects create barriers to more traditional impact measurement and process methodologies, which often require the interventions and parameters to be pre-defined. It can also be argued that co-creation can inhibit decision making, a sort of ‘death by committee’ that can be avoided when other parties are not involved in steering the work. However, we believe it is possible to be able to create short, medium and long term project impact goals that allow for the flexibility and spontaneity of co-creation. We should push ourselves to use a broader understanding of social design methodologies when we assess the impacts of highly co-creative and participatory case studies, as well as our own projects. It is these kinds of intangible impacts that account for a project’s hidden, under- acknowledged strengths. Of course there are many frameworks for measuring wellbeing, happiness, even creativity, and these could be applied to a diverse range of case studies to achieve a set of 69 70 Politecnico di Milano Founded in 1863, Politecnico di Milano is regarded as a lead- ing research and educational Department of Design institution worldwide, offering innovative programs at all levels within its schools of Engineer- ing, Architecture and Design. Today it is worldwide among the top 10 in the QS ranking by Subject in Arts & Design. Its Design Department was found- ed as the first Italian Depart- ment for Research in Design. It promotes the significance of design as a key element of research and education, able to Y act within the various processes of production of tangible and ALIT intangible goods, focusing on the central role of individuals, communities, and society as a whole, and with a leader role in TNER the interplay between industrial AR settings, public and private sec- tors, public administrations and universities. TIES P The research team involved in the Human Cities project is SMO part of the Polimi DESIS Lab within the international DESIS Network – Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability, a group of researchers adopting a strategic and systemic ap- proach to design, with a specific focus on design for services and design activism. Politecnico di Milano, Department of Design Via Durando, 10, Milan, Italy https://dipartimentodesign.polimi.it/en Polimi DESIS Lab www.desis.polimi.it 71 32 The wisdom What do we mean by time, a word that can have so many facets and interpretations? In our research, the concept of Time has emerged in all five Best of time Practices selected as a fundamental and transversal element. In particular, we found it declined with three different meanings: - Time as a symbol of a community’s ancestral knowledge that is worth to be preserved and narrated, as well as valued against the contemporary transformation of suburban environments; - Time as the period needed to get in contact with a community, to be welcomed and acknowledged by it, in order to establish long-term Authors: Annalinda De Rosa, Paola interactions with the territory; Russo, Manuel Maria Ruas Costa - Time as the small and remote places’ “slow pace” that needs to be respected and preserved. In this sense, time as historical and cultural progression has generated Location: Italy the sense of belonging and the relational values that make a community out of a group of people; a community that embodies this wisdom continuously alive through its local traditions, memories, and human “ A long temporal heritage. commitment is The five case studies are illustrated below, showing how these concepts needed, and it support and unfold in the different case studies through these three requires hope, interpretations. determination, and In most of the explored projects, we have noticed that in small and What does it mean to look for innovation processes a very clear vision remote places the greatest heritage lays in the ancestral knowledge of through culture and creativity in European small and the locals, in their witness presence as inhabitants of places. Small towns remote places? about what can guard treasures, precious traditions, rituals from the old times, specific The five Italian best practices selected and presented, possibly be built craft techniques. Unfortunately, small and remote towns’ material and spanning northern and southern Italy, provide a immaterial culture often risks being undervalued, not consolidated, not fundamental finding: a design-driven process must together. “ handed down, and hence lost. take into consideration the strong social fabric and the ancestral knowledge embedded in these territories In reversing this process of loss, creative people may play a crucial role. to enter in dialogue with the local communities, to In the five Italian best practices, in fact, creatives have acted as triggers, engage them towards a transformative and inclusive supporting locals in recognizing and differently valuing their heritage, regeneration of their tangible and intangible heritage. and have worked as enablers to foster their immaterial culture and to A long temporal commitment is needed, and it turn it towards a long-term perspective. requires hope, determination, and a very clear vision about what can possibly be built together. The project “Arte all’Arte” (Ed. Art to Art), with the artwork by Anthony It is, therefore, necessary to envisage experimental Gormley “Fai spazio, Prendi posto” (Ed. Making Space, Taking Place), actions with a long-term perspective: in fact, the embodies this side of the concept of Time. “Arte all’Arte” is a public art acknowledgment of the relationship between cultural project taking place in 1996-2006 in Tuscany. It revolves around the idea production and participation, and between wellbeing, of creating, through the work of artists, a new balance between the city social cohesion, and innovation must include the and the countryside: whereas in the past cities were like islands within importance of local traditions and of its human the countryside, now it is the other way around. The expanding city is, heritage to co-create new narratives to address new in fact, turning remote areas into deserts. The project is long and rich visions. To grow this sense of purpose in a community in contents, but we found of particular interest the artwork by Gormley and keep it alive, genuine connections have to be “Fai spazio, Prendi posto”, which took place in the town of Poggibonsi in established. 2004, during the 9th edition of “Arte all’Arte” project. Gormley’s chose Involving communities in projects and initiatives, Poggibonsi as the site for his ambitious project because, in contrast to honouring their stories and their desires, engaging the charming, picturesque character of the other towns where creative them through co-creation tools that enable their works of Arte all’Arte took place, Poggibonsi had an anonymous expression of imagination, and their view of the character that appealed and stimulated him, as if it was seeking a world are timeless ways of bonding and co-creating new sense of pride and identity. Poggibonsi is a town where tourists that may lead to a true meaning that will only grow pass through on their way to San Gimignano, and that went through a stronger through time. continuous process of construction and reconstruction from the Middle Ages till now. In this article, the Polimi team explores these insights under a transversal lens of interpretation, a Gormley’s project consisted of the production and installation of seven fundamental concept in all Italian best practices: the iron sculptures produced from body casts of volunteers recruited to have wisdom of time. plaster moulds taken off their bodies and then cast in iron. The seven iron sculptures have been placed in seven different spots in Poggibonsi, The Italian five best practices presented are Forno representing familiar places of present times and forgotten places of the Vagabondo (northern Italy), Arte all’Arte (central Italy), past. They ranged from squares, parks, railways, and supermarkets. Also, Foghìles, and A Cielo Aperto (southern Italy), and the artist has worked on the creation of a map of collective memories as The Big Bench Community project (spreading the a complementary part of his project. Ethnographic research has been country). conducted by asking inhabitants which memories they instinctively associate with specific places of their town. The resulting map was displayed in a tourist information centre together with historical pictures of the town and with photos of the sculptures’ manufacturing process. According to Gormley, “the role of the statues is to serve as a catalyst 73 74 they had a dense and strong cultural heritage made up of interesting aspects. From that point on, the perception of the locals changed, and new cultural associations were founded in the town. Artists and curators got closer and closer to locals, listening to their stories and building artworks together: this demonstrated how much a long-term and personal commitment is needed to start co-creating new visions and to capitalize on this process. In fact, the commitment of a few people with ties to the village, such as Pasquale Campanella and Bianco-Valente, acted as catalysts in the development of projects. They were able to act as bridges, giving the involved artists a sense of familiarity with the place and the relational fabric. Their presence helped to bring out the potential of Latronico, which was then exploited by the artists thanks to their strong sense of community. One of the sculptures of Antony Gormley in Shopping center Valdelsa (Poggibonsi, Tuscany), realized as part of the artwork ”Fai Spazio, Prendi posto” within the project “Arte all’Arte”. ©Associazione Arte Continua - Ela Bialkowska for unacknowledged thoughts and collaboration and social innovation. feelings, coordinated to reconsider This is also accompanied and the collective condition of the fostered by the presence of town”. Gormley has related his local activists who work as a project to psychogeography: the fundamental link between creative study of how physical surroundings people and the local community of have an impact on human small and remote places. emotions and behaviours. The core concept of “Fai spazio, Prendi A great example supporting this posto” is to enable local inhabitants concept is “A Cielo Aperto” (Ed. to express themselves within the “Open-air”) case study. This public fabric of the town. art project, curated by the artistic duo Bianco-Valente and Pasquale This artwork is a great example of Campanella, started in 2008 how cultural heritage can be valued within the cultural association thanks to close collaboration Vincenzo De Luca in the town of among creative people and locals, Latronico (Basilicata region), with and then translated through the the idea of realizing a widespread language of arts. open-air museum, where various permanent works could dialogue The inauguration of the flag of Latronico (Basilicata), co-de-When getting in contact with a with the natural environment signed by Eugenio Tibaldi and Latronico’s inhabitants as part of the workshop “Una bandiera per Latronico”, within the community, it is fundamental to through shared and participated “Forno vagabondo” (Ed. “Wanderer Oven”) best practice also underlines project “A Cielo Aperto”. take the right amount of time to processes. Every year, one or two ©Associazione Culturale Vincenzo de Luca - Pasquale the importance of long-term commitment. It is an itinerant social oven access its strong social fabric and artists are invited to Latronico for Campanella that, since April 2020, has travelled through Alta Vallagarina (Trentino-work constructively with them to an artistic residency to design their Alto Adige region) on an electric cargo bike. Stopping in public spaces of establish a long-term and impactful interventions by involving local small villages, the oven becomes a meeting and experimentation point commitment. Coming into a small inhabitants in the process. This for the local community, thanks to sequential and collective activities community from the outside, project, after more than 10 years, linked to bread production. The aim of the project is to convey issues trying to bring innovation and co-is still ongoing with a stronger related to environmental education, through a simple and familiar creation processes, might not be impact year after year. Pasquale practice such as making bread together. In the interview with Flora the easiest thing to do because of Campanella said in an interview Mammana, one of the project’s designers, she stated that the initiative the complex ancestral conflicts or that, after initial incomprehension was very well welcomed by the small communities of Alta Vallagarina, social internal dynamics that may about the scope of the initiative, also thanks to the strong and active network of participating local lay behind and that are invisible local inhabitants became associations. For this reason, despite the complexity of the current to external observers. This is the familiar with the approach and situation (“Forno vagabondo” was designed and started right before the reason why a certain amount of contributors of “A Cielo Aperto”, beginning of COVID-19 pandemic), the designers were able to activate time is needed for external creative understanding that they could be further collaborations and encourage the community. However, the team people to enter a community and primarily bearers of culture and noticed that, mostly due to the short amount of time they had to carry to be acknowledged by locals and that this was not only limited to on the project live, they were not able to be more inclusive in terms of then be able to start processes of big cities. They discovered that cultural diversity. To access the different cultural layers of a community, 75 76 a longer commitment is needed to during the year, and they relate to the local practices and the creation of build trust. new rituals, following the seasonal rhythm. During every event, young volunteers and participants temporarily become part of the community, Long-term commitment has a in a context where time is marked by the tolling of bells and space is lot to do with the impact that shaped by scenarios of learning and conviviality. these projects can generate in small and remote places. Creative Foghiles’ project aims to extend and enhance the life of the little Village collaborative processes can have of Semestene bringing in active people eager to organize convivial an incredibly positive effect over events as occasions to imagine the future of a place together. Working time if they are built and carried on on such a small territory and community allowed the Foghiles team to respecting and cherishing these concretely acknowledge the social complexity of the village being part territories and the needs of the of it. Antonio Vincenzo Sotgiu, one of the project designers and native locals. of Semestene, showed that this is possible. Initially, Foghiles aimed at reaching its scope by becoming a big festival, collecting a lot of people To examine in depth this aspect, a from Sardinia and abroad for ten days. This didn’t happen for different good case study is the “Big Bench reasons. However, they realized afterward that this “failure” became Community Project” (BBCP), a an opportunity: bringing in Semestene a large crowd would have non-profit initiative - promoted by disrupted the pace and altered the intimate network they were able to the American designers Chris and create. For example, the team engaged the community to the events Catherine Bangle - that replicates through physical postcards and posters, that turned to be important typical park benches all over Italy touchpoints to value the importance of an invitation in person. In fact, and abroad, but in an out of scale A bread-making workshop in Villa Lagarina (Trentino Alto Adige) during the interview, Antonio showed us a picture of a small altar in dimension. As demonstrated by organized within the project “Forno Vagabondo”. a private home in Semestene. In the photo, it is possible to see the the Big Bench placed in 2009 in ©Julia Wagner respected and preserved. Foghiles invitation postcard together with the holy cards that elderly the town of Clavesana, Piedmont people usually preserve in their homes. This same old woman, once she region, an artistic installation with The best example among our cases had received the agenda of Foghíles festival from Antonio, used to call such a great resonance can actually supporting this aspect of Time is him every day to check if they were respecting the schedule. She also support local enterprises, tourism, “Foghiles”, which started in 2018 in participated in providing food to the participants of the events, together and craftsmanship. How does the Semestene (Sardinia). It promotes with her neighbour. This is a sweet anecdote to represent a kind of initiative work? The designers and organizes opportunities for complementary impact that was not foreseen but that was reached also freely provides the bench builders meeting and experimentation in thanks to the respect of local traditions and rhythms that the Foghiles with designs and instructions, only the rural area through constant team demonstrated to Semestene inhabitants, where intergenerational requiring the bench to be placed research, reflection, and practice gatherings also work as cohesion builders. in a scenic location, on public on the organic relationship open land, aimed at becoming between the human being and part of a collective experience its surroundings. Foghíles means for locals and tourists. BBCP has “fireplaces” in the local dialect. In managed to improve the local the past and still today, meetings economy of the places where around the fire represent a new Big Bench is installed, the occasions for knowledge drawing attention and increasing transmission through tales and the number of visitors from local experiences. Directly connected and non-local communities. with the territorial context of Moreover, local craftsmen got Semèstene, a tiny town of 120 and continue getting involved in inhabitants, the meetings have the construction of these Giant been aimed to reinterpret places Benches, which grow in number and traditional knowledge, moving month after month. “beyond the museification” of rural life and the empowerment of The BBCP also somehow countryside collective celebration. strengthened the sense of The events all follow the agrarian pride and belonging of the calendar over solstices, equinoxes, community, increasing the and several punctual occurrences engagement of craftsmen and locals and enhancing the sense of community. Furthermore, it offered ordinary active citizens a simple and feasible possibility to provide a public service for their community – as an occasion to “give back to the community with pride”. The last but not least concept of time that emerged as a fil rouge The preparation of the fire for the “Celebration of the Place”, from the Italian five case studies is a practice carried out in Semestene (Sardinia) as one of the events within the project “Foghiles”. the most intangible but probably ©Associazione Culturale Po.PS. Rurbana the most precious and transversal one: Time as the small and remote places’ “slow pace” that needs to be 77 78 Conclusion Based on these observations, are small and remote places hopeless and all destined to become lost forgotten deserts? Absolutely not. They are steady living museums, patiently guarding human and natural treasures, hidden portals to new possible realities that can be co-created. This valuable impact could be achieved through the activation of a virtuous engine of human and social relations thanks to a knowledge sharing with the ecosystem of local actors that goes beyond mere information and data but rather towards stories and a sense of care of local identity. In this way, brand-new interactions between inhabitants of small and remote places and creatives, whether they are part of the community or newcomers, could meet the scope of creating new narratives and addressing new visions for these valuable but sometimes hidden territorial identities. Creatives could detect those hidden potentialities and materialize them into unexpected and participated cultural ideas and solutions to become futures narratives for the territory. Small and remote places are, in conclusion, wise heritage keepers quietly waiting for renewed attention to re-flourish, to be lived at their own pace, not ours. They are wisely inviting all of us to come back and slow down again. 79 80 Alternance Architecture Alternance Architecture and Urban Planning was created in 1999 and is based in and Urban Planning Reykjavik. The scope of action covers practice and applied research. Regarding practice, Alternance field is very large in the project size way, which goes from urban planning to furniture events. Quality wise we essentially work on very challenging projects that ask for a lot of creativity. Alternance is currently developing “Hovering trails” – paths made out of aluminium that are especially made for the sensible naturals reserves of Iceland. Regarding applied research, Alternance is developing a project called MAPS – multidisciplinary assessment TNER ICELAND of a public space. It’s a methodology intended AR to assess the quality of public space and to provide recommendations for the TIES P public authorities to improve them. This methodology is developed by a multidisciplinary SMO team specialised in urban planning: a historian, an architect, a social psychologist, and a planner. It’s a multidisciplinary methodology combining social sciences, architecture and planning that consider the environmental and social aspects of public space. Alternance joined SMOTIES and the European team of Human Cities with the MAPS project. Alternance slf 51A Vesturgata - 101 Reykjavík alternance@alternance.be www.alternance.be 81 82 Feeling in control of the Iceland is a small country, situated on an island on the edge of the Artic Circle. This has two major consequences, namely that the country as a whole can already be considered remote, and that Icelanders have a public good promotes special relationship with water. Because of the geography of the island, practically all Icelanders live close creative works in to the coast, and if further inland, often close to a river or other type of lower lying water. Going from one end of the island to the other side requires one to drive around the country, following the coastline. Apart remote places from private car transport, there are some long-distance buses going between places once a day on average, and there are planes and ferries. In winter, roads may be closed due to severe wind and snow, which means that not all villages along the coastline are always accessible. Therefore, living in those villages requires both independence and cooperation. The proximity to the sea made fishing for trade and livelihood the main Authors: Marjolein E. Overtoom, resource for many villages, sometimes this developed further into the Astrid Lelarge main industry. When different parts of the country became better connected by road in the last century, the fishing industry sometimes relocated for scale benefits, meaning that some towns lost their main Location: Iceland industries and many associated jobs. The centre of the country consists of uninhabitable highlands, parts of it covered by glaciers and volcanoes. The volcanic activity of the island means access to hot water springs which are used for heating The exploration of creative works in Icelandic remote buildings, producing electricity, growing crops, and bathing. Without the places offers food for thought in many ways. This geothermal activity, living conditions would be quite harsh. This might be leads to an examination of the notion of remoteness, one of the reasons that most public spaces, such as hot pods and pools, how public spaces can be sometimes transformed are designed around geothermal sources. In Iceland, these spaces are with very small creative works (nature and size of not just public spaces that are accessible to everyone, but also the places creative works), the crucial role played by non-experts to meet people. Other types of public spaces are often of poor quality. in the success of projects in small remote places, There are multiple explanations possible, of which we will highlight and therefore the delicate role experts and public two: First, the climatic conditions are quite harsh making outside authorities can play in the different phases of creative public spaces unattractive to be in for longer periods of time. Second, works. urbanisation only started about 200 years ago and the developing towns focussed on other things. Nonetheless, it is apparent now that there is a Urbanisation only started from the end of the 18th need for good public space design, also in the smaller and more remote century, which means that all cities and towns, towns and settlements in Iceland. even rural towns, are relatively recent. The capital, Reykjavik, is by far the largest place. The characteristic Let us now describe five remote places and their environmental of Icelandic urbanisation in the 20th century lies opportunities in more detail, highlighting how public spaces in these in the scope of the metropolisation phenomenon towns have been created or appropriated. which geographer Anna Karlsdóttir likens to those experienced by some urban settlements situated in peripheral, sparsely population regions of the globe, in particular the Arctic1. In 1902, Reykjavík had a population of 6.667 inhabitants, i.e., ca. 8.5% of the population of the island; in 1950, the 56.251 inhabitants of the city constituted ca. 39% of the overall population; in 2020, the population of the metropolis (Capital Region also called Greater Reykjavík) stood at 233.034 inhabitants, i.e., around 63-64% of the total population (364.134). The only two “alternative urban” municipalities, Reykjanesbær and Akureyri, had only 19.421 and 19.025 inhabitants at that time. Another interesting feature of Icelandic urbanisation is the small size of most of the ninety-five localities listed by Statistics Iceland in 2020. Of the sixty-three “urban” localities having at least 200 inhabitants, only 3 had more than 10.000 inhabitants, 2 localities numbered between 5.000 and 9.999, 9 numbered between 2.000 and 4.999, and 49 localities had fewer than 2.000 but more than 199 inhabitants. Finally, thirty-two rural localities had a population of between 50 and 199 inhabitants2. 83 84 Five examples following The next case study is in Seydisfjorður, a place in the East of the country, the ring road where cruise ships can dock and the ferry to Denmark sails regularly from the harbour. With a population just under 700, it is significantly Travelling clockwise around the bigger than the previous example. However, the main access road to country, Akranes is the first town the town goes over a mountain, and it can be difficult in winter to get in (app. 7.600 inhabitants) you come or out of the town, thus making the town inaccessible for parts of the across after leaving Reykjavik. year. Tourists from the cruise ships spend some hours in the town before The specific place of interest is sailing to a new destination. One small street in the centre caters to these a stretch of sandy beach and is tourists, with old houses that are used as cafés, restaurants, and shops used for recreation. Even though on both sides, and it leads up to a small old wooden church. The street Iceland is an island, most parts is closed off for car traffic and has pavement made from local stone. In of the coast are not suitable for 2016 the organisers of the local gay pride decided to liven up part of bathing or have an accessible the route of the parade and painted the street in rainbow colours. Since beach. In Akranes, this part of the then, the street has been repainted annually to have the colours on the beach (Langisandur) is sandy and street permanently because people like the way it looks, and they want to relatively sheltered. Additionally, support the LGBTQ community in remote places. there is geothermal activity which heats up the otherwise An initiative by a local which was thought of as temporary turned out to very cold water. Through the be permanent and became a popular image for visiting tourists. Again, years, this part of the beach has the small size of the community made it easier to contact the people become the place for more and necessary to get permission to paint the street and to find volunteers more activities. These include to help with painting. The tourists visiting help maintain the shops and sports, play, bathing, healing, and restaurants on the street and increase the visibility of the message. socialising, and more facilities have Again, a small initiative grows into something bigger, which is reinforced been built to accommodate this. by the number of people visiting. The environmental characteristics ©Birgir Þ Jóhannsson set this piece of land apart from ©Birgir Þ Jóhannsson the rest, fulfilling a need from the residents to recreate and connect different roles within the village with the natural environment to keep everything going. through bathing. Because more Consequently, it is easy to find people started using it, it became someone who can influence and more interesting to invest in the assist with town planning, to make area and build more facilities. In something happen. An accidental turn, this attracted more people, find required some creative and so the cycle continues. thinking and using what was there to make that find into something Continuing clockwise, the next for people to use. Because it place of interest is Drangsnes, worked, more people started using located in the West Fjords. With a it, in turn making new investments shrinking population that counted worthwhile. The story is similar just over 70 inhabitants in 2021, to that of Langisandur, except this is the smallest place of the that the scale of the town and the case studies. After leaving the project is smaller in Drangsnes. main ring road, it is still a 20km Nonetheless, the same principles drive to get to the village. There seem to be at work, indicating is no public transport, and the that good things can happen in closest village (with slightly more settlements of different sizes. People in the hot pots on a windy day © than 300 inhabitants) is 32km by Díana Jóhannsdóttir road, and people must go there for shopping, health services, sports, and music. Most jobs in the village are related to the fishing industry. In the late 90ś geothermal water was found by accident, just on the side of the road leading into the village. Empty fish tanks were placed close to it so they could be used as hot tubs. Since then, two changing booths, toilets, and a shower were installed, and the baths were updated and decorated with artwork in the 2000ś. The place has become more known, and there are now visitors from outside the village using the baths. Being such a small village, the inhabitants need to take on 85 86 The next stop going clockwise The last case study completes the tour in Greater Reykjavík, in around the country is Djúpivogur, Hafnarfjorður. This used to be a separate town but has grown together with just under 400 inhabitants, in an urban area with Reykjavík and other suburbs. It has about 30.000 also in the East of the country. inhabitants, which means it is considerably larger than the other case The town is close to the ring road, studies. The old centre has gone through some planned changes, but but the closest next town is still they have unfortunately not proved to be working well in providing 60km away, and towns with more the town with its own identity after becoming part of the bigger facilities are in either direction metropolitan area. The previous changes to the centre were large and after a 1.5-hour drive. Roads can be mostly initiated by politicians, not by the inhabitants. Now a new project closed due to severe weather, both is planned, designed by JVST architects, partly involving the inhabitants in summer and winter. The majority and with lessons learned from the previous changes. The plan still has of jobs are related to fishing and to be built though, and time will tell if this project will be successful at aquaculture. A concrete slab in the improving the identity of the old centre. town centre was used as a parking lot, where there used to be a gas station and car wash. The town did not really have a main square for people to sit and meet others, and thus a meeting was held, led by an expert, to ask residents for ideas. Part of the parking lot is now closed off from car traffic and provides space to sit and enjoy the view over the bay. This change is more recent than the previous case studies, but it seems to follow the same structure; a small change in public space is made, which then is used by locals and tourists, increasing the attraction for other people too. Having more people use the space, makes it more interesting to invest in the space, and so on. Hafnarfjordur draft project ©Orri Steinarssonm founder of JVST Re-using and improving together as main drivers for change The first feature standing out is that the objects and places were re-used. In Drangsnes, Djúpivogur, and Seyðisfjorður, new opportunities arose because the town changed through time. This change may have been due to a declining population, changing main industry, or finding new resources, but the essence is that there was a change. Something from that change was part of the creative process, and an opportunity was seen to realise the idea; a geothermal spring was discovered and there were empty fish tanks available, a nice even platform with a view close to the centre was unused, or a central pedestrian area could be made centre stage for an event. The creativity necessary for the projects to be realised, originated from a need and an object or a place that could help fulfil that need. Each of these projects became a success because the person(s) acted on that creativity and did so in public space. The small scale of the towns may have provided more creative freedom and better opportunities to realise something because connections to other people are closer: A person might feel more confident in pursuing realising an idea because he or she has a more positive perception of what can be done and how to get there. In the case of Hafnarfjorður, which is more densely populated, Djúpivogur ©Páll Jakob Líndal there might be too many people involved in decisions on the built environment for residents to realise their ideas on public space. If the population reaches a certain threshold, different methods are necessary to realise changes initiated by residents. This might make the process longer, more complicated, and with slimmer chances of success, which in turn inhibits creative behaviour from residents. 87 88 Feeling in control is an important Creating longer-lasting creative works in remote part of predicting behaviouri, and places in Iceland people in smaller places might feel more in control of adjusting public spaces than people in larger places. Recent urbanisation, climatic and geographic characteristics, and a Consequently, the ideas people changing work society have provided opportunities in Iceland to improve have to re-use or re-purpose the design of public spaces in remote places. Most importantly however, objects and places could be acted the changes and remoteness sparked the initiatives from residents of upon more in smaller places. This those remote places to realise their ideas for improving their direct leaves the opportunity to learn living environment. The small size of a town makes residents feel more from small remote places and in control, which stimulates the realisation of ideas. Being a resident in empower residents in larger towns a small town, it is more likely that you know who to contact to make a to realise more of their ideas in change, and the process would likely be less complex than in a bigger public spaces. town. Additionally, it is easier to imagine how the idea of the change would be perceived and received by the other residents, which in turn The second feature that stands out makes it easier to decide if and how to realise it. However, without the from our cases is that the creative original intention of making a change for the public good, the change initiatives grew after they were first would not last long. It is necessary for other people in the community to realised. In the Drangsnes case, see and enjoy the benefits of the change, so they in turn will try to keep where first a fish tank was installed and improve it. as a hot pot, this was done with the idea that bathing in a hotpot is public good. As such, inhabitants of the town made sure it was maintained and freely accessible for everyone. In turn, to keep it there, everyone is willing to contribute, exactly because everyone can benefit from it. In the other cases too, for a longer or shorter period, there was a simple start which in some way grew; made more permanent (Seyðisfjorður), expanded and developed with more functions (Akranes beach and Drangsnes), or improved functionally (Djúpivogur). Concerning Hafnarfjorður, the improvement is in including the residents in the project development. The participation in itself could be considered the idea that grew into realisation. The reason the creative initiatives became something is because the value of the idea for the residents was worthwhile; it gave something to everyone without expecting anything but acceptance in return. 1 Karlsdóttir A. (2013), Aftermath of growth in Reykjavík Capital region – land use and values inherent in Icelandic urbanization. In: Hansen K. G., Rasmussen O. R., Weber R., Proceedings from the First International Conference on Urbanisation in the Artic (Conference, 28-30 August 2012, Llimmarfik, Nuuk, Greenland), Stockholm. 2 Statistics Iceland (2022), Localities by size class 2001-2022, year 2020. https://px.hagstofa.is/pxen/pxweb/en/Ibuar/ Ibuar__mannfjoldi__2_byggdir__Byggdakjarnar/MAN030103. px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=53d40287-d016-4b60-84a8-61685dedbbd7 89 90 Cité du design Cité du design of Saint-Étienne is a platform for research, higher education, economic Ecole Supérieure d’Art et de development and promotion of art and design, supported Design by the city of Saint-Étienne, the metropolitan government (Saint-Étienne Métropole), the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the State (Ministry of Culture) and private partners. Since 2010 the Cité du design has formed a single institution with the Saint-Étienne Higher School of Art and Design. Led by the Cité du design, Saint-Étienne and its FRANCE agglomeration are relying on design as a driving force for the development of the territory. TNER Saint-Étienne was designated in 2010 as a UNESCO creative city AR of design. Every two years, Cité du design organises the Biennale TIES P Internationale Design Saint- Etienne. Since 1998, designers from all over the world, French SMO and international design enthusiasts, as well as the public of the Saint-Étienne Métropole get together to discover emblematic examples of design production and innovation. The chosen themes, openness to the world and access to creative works characterize the Biennale, recognized by all experts. Cité du design - Ecole Supérieure d’Art et de Design 3 Rue Javelin Pagnon, 42000 Saint-Étienne, France info@citedudesign.com www.citedudesign.com 91 92 Reverberations The culture of design has gradually permeated the local landscape and a form of practice open to the contributions of different actors has developed in Saint-Etienne over the last 10 years. Very often with an underlying commitment to improving the living environment for local inhabitants, creatives soak up the context of the places where they are working and go out of their way to meet the people. The interviews, the Authors: Juliana Gotilla, Josyane Franc co-design workshops and the co-manufacturing sessions - these are just and Nathalie Arnould some of the ways designers take the time and make the spaces to work in different ways, upturning the classic methods, integrating a sensitive approach based on benevolent listening. The aim is to take account, in Location: France their process of creation, of everyone’s expectations and knowledge. By tapping into their imaginations as well, they are also able to access a local repertoire and reference base that is on a more emotional/subjective level. Saint-Étienne Métropole is one of France’s 22 Métropoles, or metropolitan districts, and has a population of 400,000. The centre of this territory is the city of Saint-Étienne, which has been profoundly transformed in the last 30 years. Its redevelopment began in 1989 with the École des Beaux -Arts, which was followed in 1998 by the Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne and in 2005 by the Cité du design, to Reverberations. The influence disseminate the culture of design across an entire district. The expertise of Saint-Étienne actions of the Cité du design, a public institution created in 2005, has become a around the Métropole driving force, and since Saint-Etienne gained UNESCO Creative City of ©Juliana Gotilla/ Cité du Design Design status in 2010, it has become a node of creativity which attracts designers and partners, both local and international. Although the implementation of projects carrying through this ambition may be a little slow in getting going in the urban territory, its reverberations around the Métropole are well worthy to be noted. Medium-sized towns, small towns and villages have been keen to open up to experimentation that helps to move their public policies forward. The selected case studies are a good illustration of the interesting results that have come out of the synergy between municipalities hungry for innovation (drawn in by their desire to improve their appeal to outsiders as well as the quality of life of their inhabitants) and humble designers who have decided to work “elsewhere” with the aim of putting something previously unseen into practice. From this observation of what is happening, many questions arise. - Is the management of these so-called remote municipalities, more flexible, so that it facilitates experimentation? - Is the urgency of innovating in a more “rural” setting felt or experienced more strongly? - Does the wish to co-build and keep a trace of the immaterial pull people together more strongly in towns and villages that are further out than in dense urban centres? A series of experimental and participatory design projects organised in Highlights of the development of design Designers’ work and social dynamics for social innovation in Saint-Étienne the Saint-Étienne urban area, many of them “bottom up” initiatives, have ©Juliana Gotilla/ Cité du Design become part of the City’s DNA. Marginal projects at the outset, they have Depending on the setting of each commission, the designers (working nevertheless become very important vectors of social innovation, and independently or as part of multidisciplinary teams) have been able, the designers’ work has been recognised and rewarded internationally. each in their own way, to put into place some finely tailored projects, with a close eye on the local social dynamics. Furniture linked to the In order to recognise and give this practice an official status, a post landscape, hiking milestones, emotional mapping, urban signs and of design manager was created in 2011 based at the Cité du design. scenography etc. are examples of the creative works that come out of The aim was to integrate design into the projects implemented by the innovative, participatory processes, which materialise through different local authorities, the city of Saint-Etienne and Saint-Etienne Métropole temporalities and media, bearing witness to material and immaterial and to develop the practice of commissioning work from designers. forms of culture. The impacts of each of these actions thus go beyond Additionally, in February 2014 a new law (the Lamy Law) came in, which the tangible aspect of the realisation, the processes involved being imposed public consultation for all urban development projects. just as important as the final project (or the deliverables). More open commissions give rise to sensitive, engaged creations. The designers appreciate this setting, experiencing it as a breath of fresh air. Out of a 93 94 desire to go further in trying to The landscaping project offered a reorganisation of the street: understand these projects as well pedestrian areas for journeys on foot round the town and to facilitate as the profile of each designer, access to the small shops in the town centre in a pleasant way; a strip 20 a series of case studies and their to 40 cm deep for a frontage design in front of the houses, consisting of specificities are presented here thin metal structures to support plants in pots or climbing plants. under and organised in reverse chronological order (from the most The workshop phase and the ensuing collective implementation project recent to the oldest ones). helped to forge and strengthen ties between the residents of the street, who live here, but often work elsewhere and sometimes barely ever 2021, Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez bump into their neighbours. The project regenerated the entrances to CHEMIN DES ROCHES À the houses, created landmarks on people’s everyday journeys, CIEUX/ STONES OF THE embellished the street and became a source of pride for the town. HEAVENS TRAIL The inhabitants played an active part in the transformation of their living environment, whilst re-appropriating the public space adjacent Based in Paris, designer Isabelle to their homes. Their involvement and that of the town’s green spaces Daëron is used to working on department led to the creation of a co-management charter for the the projects in both urban and greened spaces, which is essential to ensure planting and the long-term more rural environments, with connections to the landscape. She care of the plants. answered a call for a designer’s residency launched by the Culture 2020, Dunières department of Saint Étienne The designer’s creative process. and chance encounters between LOCAL PEOPLE TELL THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF 1. Immersion ; 2. Benevolent listening/exchange Métropole* (SEM) whose theme inhabitants and tourists around a with inhabitants; 3. Local census: Actors/ DUNIÈRES was “Living at the Chartreuse de sensitive and natural heritage and a know-how/ materials ; 4. Co-creation / Collective Sainte-Croix en Jarez”, with a view Prototyping; 5. Local and institutional validations. shared history. © The Atelier Captain Ludd is a collective of designers and urban planners Juliana Gotilla/ Cité du Design to developing the tourist appeal of based in Saint-Étienne. With a method that combines socio-spatial the old monastery site. This intervention has brought back strategies and graphics, the team’s work is very anchored in Saint-to the table an old plan to work on Étienne, especially in the densely knit city centre neighbourhoods. During her residency, her work remembrance of the Chartreuse, was organised with some time a desire within the Municipality Following a project conducted with the Coop/roch team on revitalising spent researching the history to go further in the register of an old neighbourhood of Saint-Etienne, a few of its members (NOVAE, of the Carthusian monks, the the immaterial heritage kept alive ADHOC, IEM) decided to get together again and this time put in a bid for Chartreux, who were here until orally by the villagers. The designer a public contract under the auspices of the Department of Haute-Loire. the Revolution, but also a period was asked to take part, this time The study mission on creating a town plan (“Guide Plan”) with the aim of where she met with farmers, trades with a team of sociologists to delve revitalising the centre of the country town of Dunières really appealed and craftspeople, restaurateurs, into the story and try to formalise to the team, who were curious to see what it would look like working local elected officials, facilitators, in some way, with a publication or outside the inner metropolitan area. municipal workers, etc., who an exhibition or something else. live now in this village with 480 inhabitants. 2021, Génilac Through an exploration of the FRONTAGE, REVELER LE notion of the “spaciement”, which VEGETAL/FRONTAGE, was a weekly walk practised by REVEALING PLANTS the Chartreux — the designer has imagined a pathway punctuated A designer and architect, Sara by poetic and sensory installations de.Gouy is based in Lyon. She that dialogue with the past and has an inter-disciplinary practice, present of Sainte-Croix en Jarez. working on the design of collective On an hour’s walk around the spaces, either public or private, Chartreuse, the route highlights and often in urban settings. viewpoints of the ancient monastery and dialogues with the At the initiative of Saint-Étienne natural flows of the environment: Métropole and the municipality of the wind, the light, the water, Génilac, and under a scheme called and its inhabitants, the plants ‘Multi-local community facilities” and animals that populate its (ECM), a public contract was put Remote places : Landscape, local life, and projects landscape. out for the development of the ©Juliana Gotilla/ Cité du historic centre of this small country Design The in-situ installations are town. Sara was selected with a intended to be ephemeral and team of architects and landscapers Against this background, the team proposed a sensitive and will be in place for a few months. (Zeppelin Architectes and Seitt, participatory approach in parallel with a plan to harvest objective data. Some of them are immersive, a landscaping consultancy) to During the Urban Diagnosis phase, a sensitivity mapping of the territory others invite you to interact, such conduct a design project in was drawn up based on 2 simple requests (“mark your favourite place” as in front of the Jurieux chapel, conjunction with the landscaping and “tell us about a memory you have”). The challenge was to identify and where lithophone (a musical project and to reflect on solutions situate the immaterial heritage of the town linked to people’s memories, instrument made of stone) invites for a very “mineral” - i.e. not very to the purely emotional attachment that shapes imaginations and visitors to ring the stones. The green - public space consisting of constructs a narrative of the town. route becomes a place of crossings narrow streets with no pavements 95 96 Through this work it has been creation of a new park in Unieux. “Could this be the possible to discover information This is public contract put out by that is not necessarily verbalised SEM, also benefiting from the ECM turning point in at public consultation meetings scheme. The commission that was the evolution of for urban development projects. formalised was for the creation of The information included on the an “identity element” in the new the practice of the map has revealed a history and park. In this context, a monumental designer and public vernacular heritage of Dunières, circular bench (measuring nine a cultural and human potential metres across) was created and policies allowing that fed into and enriched the the red colour was chosen after a orientations of the town plan number of meetings with young the construction of project that was completed and people. The bench also encircles truly collective public delivered in autumn 2020. a fine tree, a sculptural Catalpa whose dense foliage provides spaces? ” 2020, Saint-Genest-Malifaux shade. and Bourg-Argental RENOVATION OF SHOP Suitable for all types of users FRONTS thanks to its seats at different heights - less than 30 cm for the Typotopy is an association of little ones and a standard height graphic designers, architects and of 45 cm - and the different film makers based in Saint-Étienne. postural possibilities it offers, Well-known in Saint-Étienne the bench serves as a catalyst for for their multiple interventions multigenerational encounters. It Conclusion in the city centre, the team also offers a 360° opening onto the answered a call for tenders for a entire park. Depending on where The five case studies around Saint-Etienne bear witness to a policy design consultancy mission for you sit, the scenery you can see of public commissions and a practice of design that are proactively the Mont du Pilat community of is different: meadow, playground, innovative. Designers who have been used to working in urban municipalities run by Cité Services. petanque courts, so many options environments are taking advantage of the Saint-Étienne Reverberations The challenge was to upgrade the to choose as the mood takes you. and putting in tenders for projects out of the main cities. With great urban landscape by giving the shop The agora bench has now been enthusiasm and a willingness to get involved on the part of municipal fronts in two small country towns, in place for a number of years. It teams, they are succeeding in developing some exemplary missions and Saint-Genest-Malifaux et Bourg-has been well appropriated by demonstrating the positive externalities of this new way of doing things. Argental, a quality makeover. inhabitants, especially children, who also use it when playing The creation of an urban (sliding). scenography is not limited to a 2D treatment of the façades, but rather proposes a genuine interaction with the public space with the installation of a range of multi-purpose street furniture: vegetable tubs, orientation table, outdoor café tables, etc. This project is still in its early stages. The consultancy mission was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the proposals that came out of it have not yet been implemented. Nevertheless, the study has allowed the local actors to realise the visual importance of shop signs and fronts, and how they contribute to the quality of the living environment for local people in their town. 2014, Unieux LE BANC À PALABRES/THE AGORA BENCH Reverse reverbs.The successful practices in Relevant and rewarding, these actions are now serving as remote places are now serving as a benchmark The designer Sara de.Gouy (who to encourage innovative projects in denser urban “demonstrators”. They are (again) swelling the ranks of successful is also working on the Frontage environments. practices, serving as benchmarks to encourage and support the setting ©Juliana Gotilla/ Cité du Design project in Génilac presented up of equally ambitious actions in denser urban environments. earlier) was part of the urban project management team (with Could this be the turning point in the evolution of the practice of the Big bang paysage, Bureau 205 and designer and public policies allowing the construction of truly collective Studio by Night) working on the public spaces? 97 98 Estonian Association The Estonian Association of Designers (EAD) is a non-profit organisation governed by of Designers public law and representing 160 designers. EAD activities are focused on raising the society’s awareness of the efficiency of design and developing user-friendly environments, organising competitions, seminars, workshops, and exhibitions. It collaborates in projects focused on issues like inclusive design, health care design, human cities, and design management. The main design event of the year is the International Tallinn Design Festival (DISAINIÖÖ) which has received the TONIA European quality label EFFE. From 2006 EAD gives out the ES Estonian Design Award BRUNO. For promoting Estonian design abroad EAD has received an TNER award from the Ministry of AR Foreign Affairs. For helping to introduce local makers EAD has established an Estonian Design House (2010). Estonian TIES P design has been exhibited in Scandinavia, Baltics, Central- SMO Europe, UK, China, Russia, USA, Japan, etc. On the initiative of the EAD a joint project was launched to develop and implement design policy. EAD has participated in European design policy projects. It is a member of BEDA, EIDD Design For All Europe and WDO, and has initiated projects dedicated to relaxing in wilderness and in the city like the Tallinn For All project, which received the DME Europe Award. Estonian Association of Designers (EAD) Marati 5a, Tallinn, Estonia edl@edl.ee www.tallinndesignfestival.com www.estoniandesignhouse.com www.edl.ee 99 100 How remote is remote? However, Aegna is far from the city and especially from the fast-paced city center. In contrast, there is complete peace and quiet. The island is covered with thick ancient forest, which is traversed by good and walkable trails. The drive to the island takes about an hour and it takes about a couple of hours to criss-cross the whole island on foot, so the island is an ideal place to get away from the city buzz. Author: Karl Joonas Alamaa In 2014, the psychologist and therapist Dr. Andrus Kahn became the first Theravada monk in Estonian history. He was ordained as Venerable Thitañāna. Estonian Theravada Sangha was established on 01.07.2014, Location: Estonia by Venerable Thitañāna and Venerable Dr. Piyaratana Walmoruwe (Sri Lanka). Originally the organization was called Buddhavacana and was renamed to the Estonian Theravada Sangha on 07.06.2016. Their aim was to create a meditation center in Aegna, which is an ideal place for peace and self-development. Kahn’s story is special in a way, having studied both medicine and psychotherapy, and having had a successful career with the latter, he felt that it was not quite enough to achieve contentment in life. Due to surprises and life’s twists and turns, he finally got back to university and this time studying buddhology. He came back to his homeland with the goal of promoting Buddhism and meditation practices in Estonia. Thanks to a donation from an influential Buddhist monk, he was able to establish the center by purchasing a house in the very poor condition at that time, on the secluded island of Aegna. Ironically, the house was built for soldiers, and it was also at “...storytelling and the disposal of the soldiers guarding the border throughout the Soviet communication are occupation, but twenty years later there are people in the same house who do not fight but make peace. The goal of the Estonian Theravada vital to maintaining Sangha is not only to improve the life of Aegna, their goal is broader and not related to worldly and temporal issues, but to increase people’s Estonia is larger than the Netherlands or Denmark, vitality in small self-awareness. All of their activities are based on donations from both but there are many times fewer people here, only 31 places.” Buddhist organizations in Asia and locals who go there to meditate. people per Km2. This poses a kind of question for Gradually, without doing direct and loud advertising, various people have all residents, including city dwellers, “how remote found their way to Aegna with the aim of stepping away from the usual is remote?”. What does it mean to be far away and path and finding time to develop themselves and their minds. Despite isolated in a country that is already more reminiscent the fact that their activities are not connected to the economy at all, of a community than a country? In this respect, it their activities are important for the tourism of the small island, giving is similar to most of small and sparsely populated Venerable Thitañāna and Venerable jobs to sailors and even a local pop-up kiosk. There are currently two counties. All the more so in places like Estonia, Thitamedha in front of ETS, Aegna. monks at the development center. Thanks to donators and constant ©Kirke Tatar there is a great deal of weight in creative citizens’ work, the center can now operate all year round. In the past, however, grassroot initiatives so that life does not disappear the monks were forced to move temporarily back to Thailand during the and young people do not leave. Unfortunately, these winter because it was simply not possible to live in the building during are few of the biggest problems that illustrate the the winter. However, there are not only supporters to their activities examples of Estonia. Finding an answer to how to - only two permanent residents lived on the island before them, who make life valuable for young people in their home unfortunately are not so open to change and have not participated in the village is a question that needs a special attitude and community activities like maintaining the local road network. The island consistency. And definitely an old house, because still has many obstacles, creating normality which is true to the island but what has become clear from our case studies is that makes living there difficult. For example, there is no first aid or grocery one special and inclusive community requires an old store on the island, which means that it is necessary to go to the mainland house where stories will be born. A little coincidence to solve every household issue. However, due to their role, monks are just, but that’s the way it is. However, storytelling and forbidden to own practically anything, including the food they eat. It must communication are vital to maintaining vitality in be donated or purchased for the donated money. Construction supplies small places. Universal perhaps even, but in remote for the renovation of the house need to be brought from the mainland. places where there are few people there is a need for The water supply of the building is based on spring water. However, those who would say “let’s do something together”. according to them, their activities will last as long as there are donors. Involvement is necessary not only in small places, but When the donations end, they go back to Asia to the temple, but it seems in the form of microuniverses in remote places, it is that their activity is becoming more and more popular and more people good to understand the importance of human society are finding their way there to both retreats and contemplation camps, and the functioning of human relations more broadly. the latter being organized for young people. Right now, they want to develop the center, create basic amenities and, if possible, hire a few You’re going to a lonely island, what are the three people to deal with both visitors and household. Among the major goals things you would take with you? At the first moment is the establishment of a Buddhist temple in Estonia, to translate Pāi I might be in trouble, because as a descendant of a Tipinaka into Estonian language, to reconstruct the house in Aegna and late capitalist society, I am used to the mindset of establish an WDS Aegna International Meditation Center and to built up those who own the most items by their death are the an International Buddhist Dhamma-Vinaya Institute in Estonia. However, winners. But the island of Aegna offers the opposite, once they have achieved their goals, they plan to hand over the center to maybe not even three items are needed? the next experts, who will take the center forward, keep the island small An island that is officially part of the country’s capital, and help people to develop their minds. The ultimate goal of the current Tallinn and the municipality Kesklinn, which literally monks is to return to Thailand. means it is the city center. 101 102 Ave Vita! is an NGO that is a Unfortunately, Ave Vita! does not community house that values seem to have a long future ahead. culture, where several members of the community come together Close to Hiiumaa, on the other to spend time and make culture side of the water, in mainland together. For decades, Ave Estonia, in Pärnu County, Lindi Alavainu has invested her energy in village is a particularly active enriching cultural life and making village society that stands out local young people spend their from other village societies. Lindi time meaningfully, especially the Külaselts is a non-profit association street youth. Her work, which founded in 2003 to contribute could also be considered a life’s with its organizational and material work, is probably at the end purely resources to the preservation of due to Ave Alavainu’s own high the village of Lindi, the support age and declining health, which of economic, social and cultural no longer allows her to organize development, and the protection events as actively as she used to. of the interests and needs of the Nevertheless, her contribution as villagers. The village society brings a promoter of cultural life is almost together people from the village irreplaceable in the context of and surrounding small settlements Hiiumaa. A writer by profession who want to contribute. In 2019, and charismatic in nature, Alavainu with the help of the Civil Society received an old courthouse, an Endowment, Lindi Village Society Art Nouveau wooden villa, which, started its self-analysis in order like the monks’ building, has been to further increase the sense of in constant repair. Young people community and quality of life in the who could not do anything after future. school in their time became her The first step was the project People of Lindi during cleaning up day. heartache. They didn’t want to go “Preparation of an action plan for ©Taavi Tamberg home, they didn’t have hobbies, the development leap of the Lindi so they ended up in the streets Village Society”, during which Several different methods were used for the self-analysis of the village in gangs. There are also not several activities were carried out society (McKinsey analysis, mapping of previous activities, meetings), many opportunities and choices with an external expert Evelyn based on which the project team got a very good overview of the in a small remote settlement to Eichhorst. strengths and weaknesses of the village society. Various methods were satisfy everyone’s interests and also used to study the needs of the target group, such as online surveys get an idea of one’s own interests and face-to-face meetings, which allowed the project team to receive through a variety of hobbies. There input from many different target groups. The participation and interest just aren’t various possibilities in the meetings was very high. A summary or analysis was made of each around. In general, in Hiiumaa, project activity, which allowed the information to be clearly seen and Kärdla, the options avaliable are used to fulfill the purpose of the project. Subsequently, a project has at a high quality, but there are been undertaken to develop a comprehensive funding model for the not many. Ave Alavainu’s wish partnership and to develop communication channels that would promote was to do something with these the exchange of information between businesses, residents and visitors. young people, to make their The regular activities of the society include workshops and various joint time a more meaningful. Poetry activities, like spring harvestings or outdoor social activities during the and theater evenings were held summer and wintertime. The building in which it operates is, in fact, an regularly at Ave’s, garden parties old primary school that is of symbolic and close-to-heart to many locals. were organized, which attracted Today, a village society operates there, and it also has the function of a hundreds of people. Cultural community center, where various hobby groups run. There is also a local activities flourished in this house. café and even a small hotel. The passion and great inclusiveness of the Otherwise, the doors of the house village society have shown the success of these projects, activities and were always open to young people, the unifying power of the community. The village society, being an NGO, but due to the COVID-19 situation stands at Pärnu City Council for the needs and interests of the villagers. and the age of the housewife, it is After the administrative reform, the village of Lindi was merged with now much quieter. Ave Alavainu the city of Pärnu, despite the fact that the village is actually kilometers also constantly invited well-known away from the city. The city of Pärnu has therefore become one of the cultural figures from all over largest in Europe. The aim of the reform was to reduce the effects of Estonia to Hiiumaa and also held marginalization and to consolidate management structures into larger professional poetry and literature units. Unfortunately, many people living in remote places feel cut-off competitions, where several from the results of the reform because their voices are no longer as professionals from different parts loud as they used to be. Lindi village is severely lacking in a proper street of Estonia came to participate. network, pedestrian and cyclist trails, modern street lighting and lower Thanks to her work, Ave can speed limits. However, the small community must stand up for these also be considered the center decisions, so that the decisions as well as money do not remain only in of Kärdla’s cultural life. Many of that part of the city of Pärnu that really is the city. the young people Ave worked with turned from the streets and got a decent life, while some did not do so well, some of whom were imprisoned later in life. 103 104 On the other side of Estonia, in come to help tidy up the house Käru Museum of Good Deeds, which operates in Käru village, has Viitina, Võru County, Mari Kalkun as well as for the concerts. Rural developed rapidly during the time when they have been part of the , a folk musician recognized by people inevitably need to take care case studies of the Estonian Human Cities program. The non-profit the Guardian, is actively engaged of the field, the animals as well as organization is headed by film documentary director Aljona Suržikova, in reviving and enriching the local the forest, the culture does not who decided to move from the capital city of Tallinn to the village of traditional culture. She could seem to be so important next to Käru in Central Estonia a few years ago. The museum is a local history also be considered the custodian them. Inevitably, seeing culture museum created on the initiative of the locals, the aim of which is to and ambassador of Võro culture. as well as, for example, going to preserve, introduce and raise awareness of the history of Estonia in the Evaluating her roots is her heart’s the theater as something elitist 20th century in the form of various exhibitions, art and social projects desire. In the home village of and distant, despite the fact that and camps. The idea of the museum came a few years ago when Aljona Viitina, an old barn of an inn was Estonians are one of the most and her family acquired two old houses near Käru railway station, inherited, which is now becoming active theater-goers in Europe. which date back to before World War II, when the Republic of Estonia more like a cultural garden. Thus, (Reference) On the other hand, still existed and the Soviet occupation had not begun. The windows in for a couple of summers, public there are more and more open- these houses were closed with wooden boards. In the summer of 2018, concerts have been held in the minded summer vacationers the NGO decided to acquire these buildings with the aim of arranging barn, which have reached both who have roots or a cottage in them with the involvement of the locals. After the acquisition of the locals and those interested from Võru County, but who no longer houses, an active discussion began in the Käru community on how further afield and from other live there permanently. Moving to restore the buildings and what should be done there later on. The cities. What makes these events to a rural area has also become special is that a local farmer as popular, many young people have well as a minister could sit next recently moved to the area with to each other in a very direct and their families. They have mainly humane atmosphere. However, been the ones who helped Mari admission is donation-based, with her events. The natural beauty everyone pays according to their of the area has made it attractive conscience. The music and word and has also made real estate event is called Aigu OM, which prices rise. The municipality and means “There is time” in Võro welfare services are very open and language, which would include a supportive to new residents, as lecture, chat room or workshop fresh blood is urgently needed in in addition to concerts. The aim depopulated rural areas. Despite of the event is to make people the fact that there are numerous take more time and moments for cultural events in Võru County themselves, stop their fast pace during the summer, the area is of life for a moment, look and quite quiet in the wintertime. experience the surroundings, A lot of Estonian creatives are enjoy what life has to offer. Make from Võromaa (Võro Land) or people feel more time-saving and have moved there so have Mari nature-friendly. However, Mari imagined of creating a “creative has received almost no financial village” one day. However, the support for events, a few years ago sustainability of the project Käru Museum’s volunteering staff, in the a project was written to apply for depends a lot on Mari’s initiative, middle stands Aljona Suržikova. idea to create a museum of baby trolleys was born and a campaign to money, but unfortunately it did but its impact on the introduction ©Käru Museum – photo by Sergei Trofimov collect trolleys was launched. Currently, more than 60 trolleys have been not receive support. In this way, all and popularization of local culture collected, the oldest of which dates back to the 19th century. One of the the activities around Viitina Kõrtsi cannot be underestimated, thanks oldest trolleys is from the 1930s and several others from later decades. Küün have been more of a project to which many tourists from The connection with baby trolleys is logical, because in Estonian Käru that unites the community and Estonia and further afield have litterally means a trolley or a cart. During the campaign, a few dozen friends. Local people, her friends found their way to Võru County. trolleys were collected, found, received as gifts, and there were some with different backgrounds and trolleys for twins among them. Involvement in rural areas is a challenge students of the school orchestra because, as in Viitina, cultural life is often a long way off for people in from the capital have helped her to the remote places. Nevertheless, Aljona and her family have been able restore the building and organize to involve a large number of active members of the community in the events. Mari has also said that since work and development of the museum. Together with the community, all the activities around the barn the buildings have been tidied up and local volunteers are also guides are largely based on enthusiasm in the museum. Through its active operation, the museum has stood and a large part of her tightly out elsewhere, and despite its short period of operation, it has already planned schedule is spent creating “...it needs a leader gained considerable recognition. However, due to the effects of the new music and performing outside with a spark, who administrative reform, the village of Käru also feels further away than the home village, she has not been sometimes has before. The museum receives small grants because the local government able to get involved in it very much have not considered the work of the Museum and the activities involving yet. It’s more of a life project, she to inflitrate from the community important enough for the municipality. Most of the said, but Mari hasn’t done it for her the outside of the museum’s money comes from donators and ticket sales. The museum life work yet, nor is she so sure if community to show has also involved many young people in its activities, who, similarly to she wants to take it as it. It’s more new perspectives, the example of Hiiumaa, sometimes suffer from a lack of developmental of a nice and inclusive venture that activities. For example, a local teenagers broke the newly placed windows enriches the slow-paced rural area sometimes injecting of the museum, instead of calling the police Aljona asked the boy to help with a dose of traditional culture. hope for positive tidy up and repair the windows of the museum for a small fee. The work Despite invitations and small developments.” of the Käru Museum seems to have a future, because the pioneering advertisements, people from the management has in a short time helped the NGO to become active and capital rather than locals have the activities of the community have started with a new impetus. 105 106 Conclusion Based on Estonian examples, it seems that in order to activate the life in small communities, it is really necessary to have an old house where things are really going to happen. More than this it needs a leader with a spark, who sometimes has to inflitrate from the outside of the community to show new perspectives, sometimes injecting hope for positive developments. In almost all examples, however, the community has been quite active in the activities, as the desire for positive developments exists everywhere exept in Aegna, where there is virtually no local community. In the case of the three examples, it is also quite certain from the current data that the activities are in principle sustainable. In the case of Ave Vita! Unfortunaltely, most of the work has already been done and the positive impact on the community, and especially on young people, has already been left. Unfortunately Ave died 03.04.2022 but good news is that her daughter, an actor, will be her successor. She will take over Ave Vita! and will continue with cultural activities which start 18.06.2022 with farewell event to Ave Alavainu. However, Mari Kalkun is a musician at the peak of her career, who unfortunately does not have the time or the full commitment to actively lead Viitina Inn Barn as anything but a summer event venue. However, the activities so far have also brought fresh air to slow-paced Viitina. In the case of both Käru and Viitina, the cultural fear or indifference of the locals was highlighted, which has begun to change. In one of her conversations with us, Suržikova pointed out that at first it was difficult to involve the locals because their worldview was narrow and there was little precious contact with culture. The museum’s activities seemed incomprehensible at first, but the constant effort to prove its positive impact has also convinved the locals, who are now actively involved. All in all, the results in three exaples have been positive and well received by the locals. 107 108 c acticesBest pr 01 Poland Pobiedna Biała Piska Grójec Sejny Chełmek 111 112 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Ecology Wolimierz Station Stacja Wolimierz LOCATION Pobiedna, Poland TIME PERIOD Since 1991 Wolimierz festival 2020 THE PROJECT them began to actively participate ©Agnieszka Prymon In the past, there was a railway in workshops and festivals. Citizen control line in Pobiedna that reached WER Wolimierz. After the Second RESULT Delegation World War, the line was closed Wolimierz Station is a place Wolimierz festival 2020 which now attracts lots of people ©Agnieszka Prymon down and disassembled. from the area, Poland, and from However, the station and its CITIZEN PO Partnership around the world. The activities surroundings remained and have have succeeded in combining become a cradle of initiatives in creativity with local problem the village. The challenge was Placation solving, education, and ecological to create a friendly space for issues. The cooperation with people looking for an alternative local organizations brought new Consultation possibilities. Everyone who wants lifestyle in line with nature while to attend the creative works, simple tackling local issues as much as TOKENISM spectators or actors, benefited possible. Informing from the creative works. Some economic effects were even felt in the settlement. Although the local TIONA Therapy community was initially distrustful of the activities, the creative works TICIP are now well perceived by both AR Manipulation visitors and the citizens, who are curious and want to contribute to Wolimierz festival 2020 ©Agnieszka Prymon NONP them. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE demolition and has renovated it Located at the foot of the Izera into a cultural space. Mountains, Pobiedna could be Wolimierz festival 2020 ©Agnieszka Prymon defined as a remote place by its ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY geographical char & METHODS USED acteristics as well as limited traffic connections. Since the renovation of the station, Moreover, the settlement has only the place has hosted creative works basic life support facilities and such as workshops, festivals, and suffers from their small number. theatre performances. Activities Remoteness is amplified by a low have also been designed for the population density, which has local community, including the decreased in the last decades. With construction of a playground made its 13 streets, Pobiedna is mostly of natural materials and a bus rural and has few public initiatives stop similar to traditional houses. and services. The only public places Ecological concerns have become ©OpenStreetMap contributors are of poor quality, such as an old important and many activities Pobiedna, Lower Silesia, Poland park near the Meffersdorf palace or have focused on these issues. The a playground for children. artists were authorized by the local government to use the old more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS railway station and convert it into For more than twenty years, the a cultural centre. The involvement project has been mainly operated of the inhabitants in the activities by a group of artists and friends has continued to grow over the known as the “Klinika Lalek” years. At first, the citizens were puppet theatre. This group of only spectators or volunteers for artists has saved the buildings from the organization, but then some of ©OpenStreetMap contributors 113 114 Culture | Education Livable Street Żywa Ulica LOCATION Biała Piska, Poland TIME PERIOD 2019 & 2021 THE PROJECT prepare the activities. They also The Livable Street project took Citizen control actively participated in the event place in a free parking area located WER itself. in the centre of Biała Piska. The Delegation aim of the project was to make the RESULT residents of the town aware that it is possible to improve the quality Partnership The targeted impacts were CITIZEN PO of their surroundings. Moreover, it achieved in this project. The was aimed at proving that the place parking area in the town centre could function without cars. The temporarily changed its function idea was also to take culture to the Placation and turned out to be a pretty good streets and to conduct a survey to place for the residents to meet. The ask the residents about their ideas organizers also managed to gather Consultation for interventions in the town and its a group of active residents who surroundings. TOKENISM joined the preparation of the event. The project’s outcomes exceeded Livable Street event Informing the expectations because in the ©Biała Piska commune office following months, similar initiatives TION took place in neighbouring villages. A Therapy The main beneficiaries of the creative works were the local TICIP community and the authorities. AR Manipulation The event was a pretext to practice the basics of participation. The NONP activities were positively assessed by locals according to surveys, DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE well as the Social Urbanism Studio which also showed that they team, who helped to prepare the wanted more activities like these in The residents activities The residents activities Livable Street event ©Biała Piska commune office Biała Piska is a small town located event by sharing their knowledge the future. ©Biała Piska commune office ©Biała Piska commune office in the eastern part of Poland. Its and experience. inhabitants consider their town as a pretty remote place (3/5). ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY This feeling of remoteness is a & METHODS USED consequence of two factors: the poor quality of transportation The activities consisted in the links which leads to difficulties in transformation of the parking lot’s accessing the basic facilities, and function. The place turned into the lack of innovation, especially a playground with street games, in the creative sector. The process a café, a dance floor, a lounge to of urbanization and development read poetry, and a photo booth led to partial degradation of the for taking fun photos. There was ©OpenStreetMap contributors historical structure of the town also a questionnaire in which the with some areas that require residents could express their Biała Piska, Waria Masuria, Poland revitalization. willingness for interventions in the city. The changes also reached more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS the surrounding villages with similar activities. The residents The project was launched with the were involved at every stage of help of local institutions. Apart the Livable Street. A local group from the support of the officials, was formed, which took part in we need to point out the role of the the workshops with the Social library and cultural centre staff as Urbanism Studio team in order to ©OpenStreetMap contributors 115 116 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Science Grójec Free School Wolna Szkoła Grójec LOCATION Grójec, Poland TIME PERIOD Since 2013 THE PROJECT foundation, who owned a plot of A group of people who cared about land in Nowe Grobice. She invested their nearest environment and Citizen control her time and finances to develop ecological education established WER the space for users and make it a private school called Grójec Free Delegation more friendly and available. School. The initiative was launched by Fundacja Tropy Przyrody (Nature RESULT Trail Foundation), which organized CITIZEN PO Partnership Earth Day events in Grójec since Earth Day, a bottom-up initiative 2013. The project tackled several of local activists, turned out to be a challenges: introducing alternative success. It had an interesting family- The Earth Day in Grójec education methods, supporting the Placation oriented programme and it was the ©Tropy Przyrody development of local communities, first event of this kind to place a creating forms of recreation, and strong emphasis on environmental Consultation running an educational workshop issues. The local community became centre for the community. TOKENISM more environmentally aware. The next step was to create the Grójec Informing Free School as an alternative to the traditional school system. The TION children at the school learn how to A Therapy take care of the environment and build their social competences; TICIP how to develop their interests and AR Manipulation enhance their self-esteem. They learn through experience – they Grójec Free School - clean- Grójec Free School - Summer NONP Grójec Free School - outdoor spend a lot of time outdoors rather ing the forest Camp learning ©Tropy Przyrody ©Agnieszka Mocarska ©Tropy Przyrody DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE support the development of the than sitting in classrooms like in local community through joint a traditional school. The forest Grójec is a remote place which development activities, culture and surroundings of the town are great suffers from geographical barriers environmental protection, as well as for organising a variety of outdoor and poor transportation links. promoting a lifestyle that respects activities, camps, workshops, Despite its location near the capital the environment. expeditions, and field games. They are attended by both the town of Poland, there are still areas that require improvement. Moreover, ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY inhabitants and visitors. the number of services offered & METHODS USED in the city does not meet the expectations of the inhabitants Earth Day was a cyclical event and it does not allow them to be which included concerts, theatre fully independent. Grójec has a few performances, fairs, and workshops public spaces, but they are not all on environmental issues. It was well-equipped. The local population the first initiative of this kind in ©OpenStreetMap contributors also pointed out the shortage of Grójec, where the residents could Grójec, Mazovia, Poland places where people could spend be involved in educational stalls and their free time and relax with learn about the local issues. Thanks more about friends. to this experience, Fundacja Tropy this project Przyrody established the Grójec INITIATION AND ACTORS Free School for children, which offers alternative learning methods. The project was created and Besides, it continues organizing coordinated by Fundacja Tropy workshops for the local community. Przyrody (Nature Trail Foundation). The project was initiated by Anna This organization wan Mak ted to owska, the founder of the ©OpenStreetMap contributors 117 118 Culture | Education The Hidden Town Ukryte Miasto LOCATION Sejny, Poland TIME PERIOD From 2020 to 2021 THE PROJECT The project was developed thanks In the past, Sejny was a multicultural to the funding from the Ministry of Citizen control settlement. This characteristic was Culture. The Hidden Town project - workshops very useful for the implementation WER ©Wiesław Szumiński, Bożena Szroeder, Michał Moniuszko of the Hidden Town project. Its Delegation RESULT aim was to discover the history of the town by the youngsters who The targeted goal of this initiative listened to the personal stories of CITIZEN PO Partnership was to develop the ability of young the elderly citizens. The stories people to be more attentive to were then used for creating a others and to better understand unique subjective map of the town, Placation their environment. With these presenting important people and activities, the participants got places from the past. Additionally, a deep understanding of how an installation representing the Consultation valuable their place of living is. town was created, where each Beyond these objectives, one of TOKENISM The Hidden Town cubicle resembling a miniature flat the most important aspects is project. The map was a visual reinterpretation of a the continuity of the work that of Sejny designed Informing by Barbara Karolina story. Then, the installation was lasts until today. Moreover, the Kotowska displayed in the White Synagogue. subjective map was an important TIONA Therapy teaching aid and a unique showcase of the city. Although the local TICIP community was obviously the main AR Manipulation beneficiary, members of small communities also received more NONP attention (such as Lithuanians or Roma families). However, although DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE work. They appealed to a group of some inhabitants were enthusiastic 12 children from Sejny to interview about this initiative, others were The Hidden Town project - workshops The Hidden Town project - workshops ©Wiesław Szumiński, Bożena Szroeder, Michał ©Wiesław Szumiński, Bożena Szroeder, Michał Sejny can be described as a remote older people from the settlement more sceptical. Moniuszko Moniuszko place mainly by its geographical about their memories and location. Far away from the anecdotes. biggest cities in Poland, the access to it is very limited. This ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY remoteness is also characterised & METHODS USED by a low population density or the difficulties in accessing daily life Although the project was not facilities. Although the region is their own initiative, the local popular during the summer, its community was at the heart of attractiveness drops in the off- the activities. The transfer of season. There are many public memories was made possible by spaces but the infrastructure is the willingness of Sejny’s senior ©OpenStreetMap contributors not sufficient. According to the citizens to share their memories Sejny, Podlachia, Poland inhabitants, the town suffers from to the teenagers, who related the lack of quality leisure and their words in the final publication. more about meeting spaces. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic this project required a bigger involvement of INITIATION AND ACTORS the parents, especially in logistical matters because common work This project was implemented at the was impossible. Therefore, all initiative and under the supervision age groups were involved in the of artists of the Borderland Centre project. The artists’ experience in the frame of memory protection with similar initiatives was crucial. ©OpenStreetMap contributors 119 120 Culture | Education | Industry Chełmek Factory Fabryka Chełmek LOCATION Chełmek, Poland TIME PERIOD From 2020 to 2021 THE PROJECT who used to work in the factory Chełmek Factory is a project Citizen control and were happy to help organize that was implemented in a WER the events and to share the history town where a former shoe Delegation of the place. factory existed. The factory was Chełmek Factory project. Artistic Chełmek Factory project. A walk RESULT residence in former factory opened in the 1930s by Tomas Partnership ©Waldemar Rudyk ©Mirosław Saternus Bata, a Czech industrialist. CITIZEN PO From August to mid-September Unfortunately, it was closed in 2020, there were twelve artistic 2003. The main challenge of the events in the commune that project was to rediscover the Placation managed to create a positive forgotten history of Tomas Bata. trend of discovering the town’s The activities were designed old history and taking pride in its Consultation heritage. As a result, the targeted to restore the identity of the TOKENISM impact was reached. The group of inhabitants and show them the residents interested in discovering value of the history of their Informing the heritage of Bata is growing. town. The topic also has its fans outside TION Chełmek and more objects are sent A Therapy to the cultural centre that collects artifacts related to the factory. One TICIP of the most important lessons is the AR Manipulation realization that time and patience are crucial to work with memory. Chełmek Factory project. A NONP walki in “Kolonia” ©Paweł Waligóra DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE activists supported by the local cultural centre. They also received Located in the south of Poland, funding from the Ministry of Chełmek Factory project. A concert in between Katowice, Krakó Cultur w e, which allowed them to historic area ©Paweł Waligóra and Bielsk carry out v o-Biała, Chełmek arious activities. The is characterized by an aged support of artists and scientists was demographic structur also importan e and t. a shrinking population. The remoteness that can be felt by the ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY local population has its roots in the & METHODS USED closure of the Bata shoe factory in 2003 that had a great influence on These actors decided to set up a the people’s life. There are limited series of artistic events, workshops, public spaces in Chełmek which and concerts inspired by Bata’s might be attractive to people of all heritage. The events took place in ©OpenStreetMap contributors ages, such as playgrounds, tennis the premises of the former factory, Chełmek, Lesser Poland, Poland courts, a football pitch, and a local the Przemsza riverbank, “Kolonia” park. To change this, Chełmek is (the workers’ colony), and the more about undergoing revitalization in the railway station. The project was an this project centre of the town. opportunity to remember history and to collect information and INITIATION AND ACTORS archives related to the factory. It also demonstrated the values of The Chełmek Factory project was architecture and nature in the city. made possible thanks to history The local community was involved and architecture enthusiasts and in the project through the people ©OpenStreetMap contributors 121 122 02 Greece Pano Lefkara Elefsina & others villages of Greece Ermoupoli Demati and Kalentzi Pyrgos 123 124 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Tradition Crafts Grampus Heritage and Training Ltd LOCATION Pano Lefkara, Cyprus-Greece TIME PERIOD Since 1995 THE PROJECT tourism board has worked a lot “Tzoumakers” space The Grampus project is located in Citizen control on agrotourism to develop the © Nicolas Garnier several places in the village of Pano WER area. But above all, the European Lefkara. The crux of the creative Delegation fundings was decisive because it works undertaken is sustainability shaped Grampus’ work. and the idea that rural life was closer to sustainabily’s principles. Partnership Painting lessons By engaging in the valorisation CITIZEN PO RESULT © Martin David Clarck of knowledge from the glorious past of the village, Grampus aims The targeted impact is partly to go beyond documenting and achieved as the project is still Placation preserving this. The goal is to re- ongoing. Moreover, with the engage in these crafts to create covid pandemic, the process of meaningful employment and rural Consultation transferring knowledge decelerated regeneration. but will be restarting soon. The main TOKENISM beneficiary of this creative work is the local community because Informing through the activities combining traditional skills with young people, TIONA Therapy new examples of sustainable development have been created. TICIP This has provided a pathway to AR Manipulation employment for the young people Overview of the village Church with a cross bearing the ‘lefkatiotika’ lace patterns in traditional craft. Moreover © Martin David Clarck ©Martin David Clark the transnational dimension of NONP the project has allowed influx of visitors as an economic benefit of DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Its purpose is to preserve the educational program. Overall, disappearing skills across Europe the creative works have been Pano Lefkara could be defined as a and support rural communities. The embraced by the local community remote place by its low population activities have been coordinated by as an attempt to revitalize rural density and the poor transportation the Cyprus Agrotourism company. communities forgotten by the central authorities. links. But the remoteness of this settlement is characterized by ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY subjective criteria like the exodus & METHODS USED of the population. which resulted in the abandonment of many The project consists of educational dwellings. The village is dense in activities led by Grampus in the its center and surrounded by open framework of Green Village space. There are a couple of plazas partnership in cooperation with and overall, there are adequate other European rural settlements. public spaces for the activities The local community is involved undertaken. However, due to the as the host of those who wish to Pyrgos, Tinos, Greece exodus and aging population, the participate in the local creative public spaces have been left empty. workshops. Their culture and their place is in the center of the creative more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS process: local community learn from their ancestors. In addition, The project was initiated by many local residents play the Grampus Heritage and Training, role of teacher for the education which is a not-for-pr in ar ofit cheology and crafts. The organization passiona municipality has been v te about ery keen culture, heritage and environment. to support the process and the ©OpenStreetMap contributors 125 126 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Tourism Pilgrims Προσκυνητές LOCATION Elefsina & others villages of Greece TIME PERIOD Danae & Dionysios Since 2021 © Barlas Sahinoglu THE PROJECT they would be happy to organize an Pilgrims is an action umbrella open discussion with its viewers of Citizen control designed for outside/public places, the community. to travel to as many possible WER provincial places of Greece, from Delegation RESULT South to the North. The aim of the project is to make citizens, who do not have access to the art world, It is expected for the targeted Partnership discover it through dance. There, CITIZEN PO impact to be achieved at least we will focus on the last stop of the partially. For sure people will learn Pilgrims journey across Greece: about dance and maybe attend Elefsina (planned around 2023). Placation an event that has not happened before. For some of them, it will be a first-time experience, and this Consultation may trigger a connection with the acting of dance and their bodies. In TOKENISM Danae & Dionysios on stage addition, the local creative sector ©Barlas Sahinoglu Informing will be involved and develop an understanding of different creative practices, connections with the Danae & Dionysios on stage TION ©Barlas Sahinoglu A Therapy actors, and their approach. Dance is a language to communicate TICIP emotions, to get closer to each AR Manipulation other, to tell a story. For these reasons, it is very possible even NONP the more unfamiliar viewers/ participants will gain a unique inspiration is the pilgrims’ journey experience. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE from various parts of Europe to Even if the project covers various Santiago de Compostela Spain, also Danae & Dionysios on stage locations across Greece, we will known as the Camino de Santiago. ©Barlas Sahinoglu focus here on one specific area: the city of Elefsina. It is located about ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY 20km from the center of Athens & METHODS USED and has a population of 24,910 inhabitants. Due to its proximity With “Pilgrims”, Danae Dimitriadi with the capital city of Greece, and Dionysios Alamanos, two main the remoteness of this place does artists of the project, will tour small not come from geogr to aphical wns and villages of the Greek characteristics, but rather by its countryside, carving their own tr shrinking industries and high ekking. A road trip with a van unemployment rate. Regar fr ding om place to place, at 54 selected ©OpenStreetMap contributors structure public spaces, most of locations that will end in Elefsina. them are not so well organized and This way of working makes that Harjumaa, Estonia look abandoned. accommodation and transportation will never be a restriction, while it will INITIATION AND ACTORS also contribute to the spontaneity of the idea. One example of the The strong need for artistic involvement of the local community extroversion combined with the is “Farisa”. It is a fifteen-minute desire to strengthen modern dance duet that is presented in public, in the provinces, established the outdoors. After the presentation “Pilgrims”. The main source of of the project and where possible, ©OpenStreetMap contributors 127 128 Culture | Education | Tourism | Sport Stray Art Festival Περιπλανώμενη Γιορτή της Τέχνης του Δρόμου LOCATION Ermoupoli, Greece TIME PERIOD In 2018 THE PROJECT used for the activity were given by The project took place in the Sport’s Citizen control the Municipality. Center Dimitrios Vikelas where various infrastructures were used WER RESULT to host the creative work. Its main Delegation goal was to make a lasting creative The Athletic Center paint- impact offering an experience Although no research was ed and a muralist in front to the visitors. The festival tried conducted, most feedback from CITIZEN PO of it, creating art on the to explore the possibilities of a Partnership inhabitants, visitors and the car of a Strayer. ©Stray Art Festival – pho- symbiosis between the traditional municipality were positive. The to by Tatiana Kasimati and the new in order to show festival is now getting stronger visitors that they have a lot in Placation and the organizers have received common. several proposals to hold the event in new venues. For the first time in Consultation this place, there was a cultural and TOKENISM social interaction between visitors, artist and the local community. Informing The creation of this kind of open street art gallery puts today the region of Syros on the world map TIONA Therapy of street art and brings tourists. The main beneficiaries were first TICIP the local community, but also the AR Manipulation small businesses and creators that Stray Art Festival got exposure during the festival. Letters in front of a NONP The municipality also benefited basketball court with walls being painted by from this creative work with many the street artists. © Andromachi Boliou DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Team. To achieve it, they invited 20 articles published in newspapers muralists and 50 musicians from all and media. Organisation before the beginning of the festival by What characterizes first Ermoupoli over Greece to perform during the the volunteers as a remote place is that it is festival. ©Festival Archive surrounded by the Aegean Sea. This situation explains the other ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY remoteness characteristics of the & METHODS USED island: the difficulties in accessing- daily-life support facilities, poor For the festival, some neglected transportation links and a low buildings were renewed and the population density. The inhabitants Stray Art Festival offered three of the island feel this remoteness. days full of music, colors, events and In terms of public spaces, the performances. The local community condition of the many paths in the was the witness of the mural’s centre is poor. With its proximity creation process. They attended ©OpenStreetMap contributors to shops and the sea, the central musical shows and theatrical Harjumaa, Estonia square is the most used public performances but also participated space. Although there are some in workshops. Moreover, some more about green spaces, their infrastructures of them assisted the organisation this project are quite poor and unpopular. team as volunteers. To achieve this project, there was financial help WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY from the Municipality of Syros-OF THE PROJECT Ermoupolis and the South-Aegean Region, as well as some small The project was initiated and public funds from local enterprises. organized by the Stray Art Festival Furthermore, the infrastructures ©OpenStreetMap contributors 129 130 Culture | Education | Tourism | Sport Cooperatively design and manufacture tools for small-scale agricultural production Συνεργατικός σχεδιασμός και κατασκευή εργαλείων για γεωργική παραγωγή μικρής κλίμακας LOCATION Demati and Kalentzi, Greece TIME PERIOD From 2015 to 2021 THE PROJECT the main condition for them to Despite their different locations, come to life remains the human “Tzoumakers” space ©Tzoumakers – photo by these two projects have in common Citizen control capital. Nicolas Garnier, Creative to be maker spaces supporting Commons licence) WER cultural functions and connected RESULT Delegation to the natural environment. In The targeted impacts are partly “Tzoumakers” building (Kalentzi), achieved and the beneficiaries are people try to revive the area’s Partnership the people that take part in these “The high mountains” space 2 CITIZEN PO ©The high mountains – photo by Sotiris tradition of craft and making things projects. The inhabitants showed Tsoukarelis by hand in order to create places their curiosity by participating in where citizens seize technology. these activities and were excited to “The High Mountains” in Demati, is Placation see something different happening a social cooperative where people in their villages. In Tzoumakers, try to revive their villages in a most of the tools built by the holistic way. Consultation community are now used and TOKENISM repaired internally while in The High Mountains, new virtuous Informing ways of cultivation have been developed. In addition to this, local communities can now interconnect TIONA Therapy on a more global scale to share their experience, ideas, solutions, and TICIP tools as a common resource. These AR Manipulation projects have increased solidarity between communities. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Mountains was created by the people who live and produce in Construction Testing the grinder for aromatic plantsw ©Tzoumakers – photo by Nicolas Garnier, Creative ©Tzoumakers – photo by Alekos Pantazis This case study is a network of mountainous areas. Commons licence places connected and Demati and Kalentzi are the main locations ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY of this network. All have many & METHODS USED characteristics which define them as a remote place: low Tzoumakers building is an open population, few inhabitants that lab where more suitable tools are have difficulty in accessing daily- designed for small-scale agricultural life support facilities, an economy production. The local community turned towards agriculture and no is involved by its participation good transportation links to the in workshops where they can cities, which are far away. From manufacture and borrow tools. In these facts, the local population the case of the High Mountains, ©OpenStreetMap contributors feels remote. These villages have the local community organizes the Kalentzi (Tzoumerka), Demati (Zagorochoria), sufficient public spaces regarding High Mountains Solidarity Tour. In Ioannina, Greece the number of people but they are this project, inhabitants share their more about not well equipped. culture and history with visitors. this project Moreover, activities can intertwine: WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY in fact, members of the two OF THE PROJECT projects met and a tool was made by Tzoumakers. It may after help a These projects are the result of new farmer of The High Mountains. citizen initiatives. For instance, If these projects are supported by the social cooperative of The High some associations and institutions, ©OpenStreetMap contributors 131 132 Culture | Education | Tourism | Craftsmanship | Art | Technology | Gamification Interactive Installation in the Museum of Marble Crafts Διαδραστικό Installation στο Μουσείο Μαρμαροτεχνίας Photos from the user evaluation of the installation in the museum. LOCATION ©Mouseion Topos – photos created by Spyros Vosinakis, Vasiliki Pyrgos, Greece Nikolakopoulou, Modestos Stavrakis, Labros Fragkedis, Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou and Panayiotis Koutsabasis, and Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation TIME PERIOD Since 2018 A concept diagram of the interactive installation for the Museum of Marble Crafts ©Mouseion Topos – photos created by Spyros Vosinakis, Vasiliki Nikolakopoulou, Modestos Stavrakis, Labros Fragkedis, Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou and Panayiotis Koutsabasis, and Piraeus Bank Group THE PROJECT playful, experiential and educational Cultural Foundation This project consists, as its manner. The physiognomy of name suggests, of an interactive Citizen control place, and by extension the natural installation in the Museum of WER heritage of the settlement was Marble Crafts in Pyrgos. It is Delegation also a very important factor that based on the crane that is at the entrance of the museum. The aim weighed on the design decisions of the project is to develop a novel and development of the creative Partnership approach for learning in a playful CITIZEN PO activities. manner about the history and operation of a mechanical crane RESULT and the associated historical and Placation cultural context. Before the installation, users didn’t seem to understand the use of Consultation the crane and passed by it without giving it much attention. After TOKENISM the installation of the interactive prototype, at the level of laboratory Informing Second lo-fi prototype with the addition of the boom (green), central axis tests, the users understood (blue), ropes, and look and feel gears (white), and screenshot. ©Mouseion Topos – photos created by Spyros Vosinakis, Vasiliki better how it worked in context, Nikolakopoulou, Modestos Stavrakis, Labros Fragkedis, TION Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou and Panayiotis Koutsabasis, and Piraeus Bank Group A Therapy revealing the artefact’s intangible cultural heritage. Consequently, Cultural Foundation TICIP the project seems to have reached The crane at the entrance of the Museum of Marble Crafts, Tinos. AR Manipulation its goals. The main beneficiaries ©Mouseion Topos – photos created by Spyros Vosinakis, Vasiliki Nikolakopou-of it include the local community, lou, Modestos Stavrakis, Labros Fragkedis, but reach a far greater audience of Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou and Panayiotis Koutsabasis, and Piraeus Bank Group NONP researchers, academics, engineers Cultural Foundation DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE of the Museum of Marble crafts. and other professionals in the field Furthermore, this research has of cultural heritage conservation. What characterizes Pyrgos as a been co-financed by the European More broadly, this installation has remote place center is its location, Union and Greek national benefited the settlement of Pyrgos, which is the middle of the Aegean funds through the Operational due to the increased attractiveness Sea. The transportation links with Program Competitiveness, of the museum. the mainland are not scarce, but Entrepreneurship and Innovation, fairly limited - especially in the winter under the call RESEARCH— months. This results in difficulties CREATE—INNOVATE. in accessing daily-life support facilities in cases of unstable ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY weather or other limitations. The & METHODS USED permanent population of the village is a mere 489 people as of Visitors of the museum have here 2011, which indicates quite a low the possibility to embody a crane ©OpenStreetMap contributors density. The main public spaces operator that has to complete Pyrgos, Tinos, Greece of Pyrgos are squares, with a big challenges in a gamified version central one being the main open, of the old quarry. The system lets public, gathering space. users operate a tangible controller more about this project (a small-scale crane model) and INITIATION AND ACTORS their actions are executed by digital workers in a rich 3D environment. The main initiators of the interactive Cultural heritage is also at the installation are the University of the heart of this interactive installation, Aegean, the local municipality’s which has as its main role the support, as well as the support dissemination of information in a ©OpenStreetMap contributors 133 134 03 Portugal Prazeres Funchal Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast National Park Ponta Delgada (São Miguel Island) Câmara de Lobos 135 136 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Tourism Prazeres’ Pedagogic Farm Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres LOCATION Prazeres, Portugal TIME PERIOD Since 2000 THE PROJECT tearoom in which you can drink Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres ©Sara Patricia Abreu The Prazeres Pedagogical Farm, Citizen control organic teas from the Quinta and founded on 1st October 2000, is a buy local products. Most of the WER project of education, socio-cultural visitors are locals or from other Delegation evolution and development of parts of the island and they are Exhibition project the rural environment. It aims to deeply involved in the activities. ©Quinta Pedagógica dos stimulate the local economy by Prazeres Partnership This is the case of local students. CITIZEN PO combating desertification. It’s also In the last years, there has been a an educational space where local considerable increase of school and endemic species are protected visits as well as of other institutions as well as local traditions and culture. Placation in consequence of the new opening It’s recognized by all population and hours through previous scheduling. public administration as a place of public interest. Consultation RESULT TOKENISM The pedagogic farm seems to have Informing reached its aims. In fact, it earned in 2015 a vote of praise from the Legislative Assembly of Madeira TIONA Therapy for the results achieved. The local community benefited from the TICIP interaction with visitors, either AR Manipulation from other parts of the Island or foreign, seeing their hometown NONP recognized and appreciated. The exchange of knowledge between Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres Mostra de Camélias DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE INITIATION AND ACTORS the participants enriched both ©Sara Patricia Abreu ©Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres parts involved, the locals and the Prazeres is a small village in the Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres visitors. Local businesses saw a southwest of Madeira island. It is a dynamic and multifunctional rise in their income as well as new has about 700 inhabitants. The space founded by the local priest, opportunities of business. The local access road infrastructure is of Padre Rui, in order to acknowledge creative sector is, consistently, great quality and there is a bus line and value this rural area in Madeira developing with each intervention that allows inhabitants to reach Island. Having other projects in either of the spaces integrated in other places in the island, like the associated to the Quinta, one of the project. capital, Funchal, 40 km away. The which is the Art Gallery, it is no main economic resources come wonder the big influence gallery from tourism and agriculture, this curators have had on the project as last one covering 90% of the area. well. Locals benefit from a good number of daily-life-support f R acilities OLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©OpenStreetMap contributors including a pharmacy & METHODS USED , social Prazeres, Madeira Island, Portugal community center restaurants, local market a supermarket, which The Quinta Pedagogica dos more about are essential given the fact that Prazeres integrates four different this project most of the population is above 60 areas: the farming area which years old. The Quinta Pedagogica advocates alternative cultures, the with its Tea Room, the art gallery transformation area where they and the farm itself is the heart of prepare homemade jams, cakes the cultural and social village life. and medicinal herbs, the animals’ area where you can interact with different species and, finally, a ©OpenStreetMap contributors 137 138 Culture | Education The light that exists A Luz Que Há LOCATION Funchal, Portugal TIME PERIOD In 2018 Figure-ground plan of network of public THE PROJECT supported financially by public spaces in Funchal. The image represents a portion of São A LUZ QUE HÁ is an exhibition about Citizen control institutions like the Government of Pedro parish where PORTA33 is inserted. drawing exercises made by children WER the Autonomous Region of Madeira which took place in PORTA33, a Delegation or the Municipality of Funchal private contemporary art center. but also by some foundations and Drawing exercises with Luisa Spinola The creative works aimed to help companies based in the Region. ©Porta33 children with emotional instability CITIZEN PO Partnership or little relationship with others in RESULT their growth and learning process of the self. The other purpose was The creative work was a success. to connect young people with Placation The team managed to impact the art space in order to promote positively on the children’s growth, new behavior and dynamics in our working with them on their Consultation society. capacity of expressing themselves TOKENISM and interacting with others. Both families and PORTA33 benefited Informing from the activities. First, the children and their parents have TION found support in education and A Therapy today more children and adults get involved in workshops. Afterwards, TICIP PORTA33 and Luísa Spínola gained AR Manipulation even more recognition and visibility for their cultural and education NONP work. A LUZ QUE HÁ exhibition surprised positively usual visitors Drawing exercises with Luisa Spinola Exhibition opening DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE for children. At the end, the because of the purity, simplicity and ©Porta33 ©Porta33 children’s drawings were displayed diversity of the creations exhibited Funchal is the capital city of in the PORTA33 gallery. in the gallery. The fact that the children saw their work on display Madeira Island. This place could be characterized as a remote place ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY helped them gain confidence. because the island is quite far out & METHODS USED the continental coast of Portugal. However, the islanders feel less The activities consisted of isolated thanks to the internet several drawing workshops and the regular daily flight to which explored different Europe. The center of Funchal is themes, subjects or techniques well equipped with public spaces for teenager’s educational and and services. However, this part of psychological needs in order to the city lacks fast access to sitting self-empowerment. The local areas. In addition, the roads are community was however poorly ©OpenStreetMap contributors narrow, cobbled, with elevation and involved in the project because Prazeres, Madeira Island, Portugal not suitable, neither for old people, only a few children participated nor children. in the workshops. All family and friends of children were invited to more about this project WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY the exhibition opening but the rest OF THE PROJECT of the population could also visit it. The peaceful space offered by A LUZ QUE HÁ was initiated by the PORTA33 for the workshops had founders of PORTA33 which asked a fundamental role in putting the Luísa Spínola, a school teacher and children in the right predisposition illustrator, to lead drawing exercises to creative work. PORTA33 is ©OpenStreetMap contributors 139 140 Culture | Sustainability | Tourism | Sport Rota Vicentina LOCATION Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park TIME PERIOD Since 2012 THE PROJECT local communities in the several Rota Vicentina is a project Citizen control aspects that entail the project make that has been implemented in them not only feel appreciated but WER the Southwest Alentejo and promotes their social, cultural and Delegation Vicentine Coast Natural Park economical growth. (PNSACV). It is not located in one Partnership RESULT place, but rather entails several CITIZEN PO villages across the coast. In fact, The targeted impact was and is still it is composed of walking/hiking being achieved. It is an ongoing and cycling paths associated Placation process that requires constant with local commerce, touristic action and initiative from the local activities and accommodation communities, the partners and Consultation the project itself. Here, the main as well as cultural and natural TOKENISM beneficiaries remain the local activities. The project’s aim is community, local businesses, the Forest guards to promote economic growth Informing ©Marta Cebral / Rota Vicentina project partners and the territory and appreciation of the remote that supports all these activities. areas in the southern coastal Considering the positive impact on TIONA Therapy and interior areas of Portugal. the communities and the growing interest in the project by either TICIP the Portuguese population or the AR Manipulation foreign population as well, it is safe to conclude the reactions of NONP the general public were not only positive, but were indeed very as locals businesses, touristics satisfactory. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE operators of the local communities The park where the project takes themselves. place was created on 7th July 1987. Inside this area, the villages that ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY are part of Rota Vicenta can be & METHODS USED defined as remote due to several factors: low-density (the villages The project consists of the use Pedestrian Trail Bikers have in general no more than 700 of a network of already existing ©Marta Cebral / Rota Vicentina ©Marta Cebral / Rota Vicentina inhabitants), geographic isolation paths that were mapped and reinforced by a lack of public further enhanced to promote the transportation, low incomes of passage through these regions the population and sometimes the of the country. In order to keep low level of education. Obviously, up with the mission to protect natural landscapes are prevalent nature, support the local economy, and most public spaces that can promote the culture and quality of be found here are directly linked life of the local communities, they with nature (watersides, meadows, created several touristic products parks, …). related to walking (historical way, more about this project fishermen’s trail, circular routes) INITIATION AND ACTORS and cycling. The local community has been involved in this project In the frame of that project, a variety through local business that fulfil the of actors have been involved. They needs of bikers/hikers and through are either public, such as counties, some who allow a passage in their Agriculture firefighters, police or private, such property. This integration of the ©Marta Cebral / Rota Vicentina 141 142 Culture | Sustainability | Tourism | Sport Casa de Quarteirão LOCATION Ponta Delgada, Portugal TIME PERIOD Since 2016 Walk&Talk 2016 Casa do Quarteirão, Orizzontale ©Walk&Talk THE PROJECT RESULT The project is located in “O Citizen control Quarteirão”, a neighborhood close We do not know if the space is to Ponta Delgada historical city WER still used and active. However, center now used for commercial Delegation the targeted impact was Walk&Talk 2018 purposes. The aim of the project probably achieved, giving a new Révéler, Campozaz ©Filipa Couto / Walk&Talk was to create a public space in this multifunctional public space to the forgotten area of the city center in CITIZEN PO Partnership area and also more visibility. The order to make it more dynamic and neighborhood is now perceived as a suitable for tourism. creative area of the town thanks to Placation activities and workshops organized by W&T, especially since the international art festival. The place Consultation is probably attracting specific kinds TOKENISM of visitors, interested in creativity and art. The local community, Informing local businesses and local creative sectors were the main beneficiaries of this project. TIONA Therapy TICIP AR Manipulation NONP Projeto comissionado/ Comissioned project Children in street intervention Carolina Celas for Nova Gráfica ©Rui Soares / Walk&Talk DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©Mariana Lopes / Walk&Talk & METHODS USED Ponta Delgada is a town located in São Miguel island in the middle of The local community has been the Atlantic ocean. By this fact, the involved through workshops settlement could be considered as with designers whose goal was a remote place but the residents to materialize a common square. do not perceive it completely that At the end, the program of the way. Being the capital of the main “Casa do Quarteirão” was decided island of the Azores, the essential by the citizens. In this program, services are guaranteed. However, two elements were created: a the area lacks a public space which pavilion and a small structure with is not designed exclusively for a a tiny terrace, which was built by a commercial or transit purpose. group of inhabitants. In addition, the designer F.Zorzi created a ©OpenStreetMap contributors WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY signage stressing the identity of Ponta Delgada (São Miguel Island), Autonomous OF THE PROJECT O Quarteirão. There was already Region of the Azores, Portugal a group of local business owners “Casa do Quarteirão’’ is a project working in the creative field, but more about this project developed within Walk&T the alk arrival of W&T has enabled 2016 and it was born out of the the access to private and public community that lives and works in fundings. The implementation of the neighborhood. W&T invited the project lies in the collaboration Orizzontale and NO-ROCKET to between a local association with collaborate in the project as co- specific needs, W&T, citizens, designer designers and artists. ©OpenStreetMap contributors 143 144 Culture | Sustainability | Tourism | Sport Urban Art Project ‘Street Decoration through Recycled Art’ Projeto arte urbana “Ornamentacão de raus com arte reciclada” LOCATION Câmara do Lobos, Madeira Island, Portugal TIME PERIOD Since 2016 THE PROJECT receives young international The actions carried out in the frame volunteers. of the project described have taken Citizen control CamaraDoLobos place in the center of Câmara ©Teatro Metaphora – Associação de Amigos das WER RESULT Artes de Lobos. The project’s aim is to Delegation decorate the rather bare streets of The objectives have not only the town center. The association been achieved but exceeded. The that has taken the lead with the CITIZEN PO initiative has been repeated every Street Intervention activities decided to add an internal Partnership year since 2016 and enriches the ©Teatro Metaphora – Associação de Amigos das Artes objective: to reason, through art, city center of Câmara de Lobos on the issue of the environmental each time with new art and urban impact of our daily consumption. Placation decoration interventions. The decorations have become part of the landscape. Câmara de Lobos Consultation has begun to attract visitors, who TOKENISM like to stroll through the colorful streets of the center. The success Informing of TM’s activities are to be found in the constant presence of the TION association in the daily life of the A Therapy town. The association has an office open every day in the center of TICIP the town, and many volunteers. AR Manipulation Credibility, constant presence and belonging to the community have NONP certainly played a fundamental role embellishment of the city center in the success of the activities. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE CamaraDoLobos CamaraDoLobos with other stakeholders. ©Teatro Metaphora – Associação de Amigos das Artes ©Teatro Metaphora – Associação de Amigos das Artes 10 km away from Funchal city center, Camara de Lobos is mainly a ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY fishermen village. It’s well served by & METHODS USED public transportation and there are enough public spaces to respond All the actions have taken place to the community needs. In the within the local community. interviews carried out, researchers For each new project, Teatro collected the perception of a place Metaphora makes a public call, that until recently was considered explaining objectives and needs rough by the inhabitants of the and everyone can respond. There island: somehow Câmara de Lobos can be the need to build elements, had a sort of stigma. There was a for transportation, but also simply tendency not to visit this town that to collect waste materials that ©OpenStreetMap contributors was considered dangerous. will be used for the making. In the Câmara de Lobos, Madeira Island, Portugal project, the initial idea was to refer INITIATION AND ACTORS to Portuguese traditions with the decorations (e.g. celebrations for more about this project The project was initially born from patrons and saints). The activities a request from the Municipality of Teatro Metaphora receive of Câmara de Lobos. Teatr annual fundings fr o om local public Metaphora, an association founded institutions. In addition to this, in 2009 with more than 100 active Teatro Metaphora participates volunteers, responded to this in many international projects, invitation and has organized the including Erasmus +, and constantly ©OpenStreetMap contributors 145 146 04 Austria Gutenstein Munderfing Trofaiach Stanz in the Mürz valley Murau 147 148 Culture | Education | Health | Sustainability | Industry | Production | Handcraft Village Smithy - for sustainable living spaces Dorfschmiede - für nachhaltige Lebensräume LOCATION Gutenstein, Austria TIME PERIOD Since 2018 Graz Dorfschmiede An information event in the rooms of the Workshops are held regularly at the Dorfschmiede, ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter Dorfschmiede and the focus here is on sustainable do-it-yourself. ©dorfschmiede ©wohnwagon.at THE PROJECT participate in the activities and this The “Dorfschmiede” project Citizen control place has become a landmark for consists of the renovation of an WER the economic life of the settlement. old inn in Gutenstein, which now Delegation It must be clearly stated here that has many uses, such as a pub, a the success of the project is largely workshop space or a shop for due to the entrepreneurial energy sustainable products. The goal of CITIZEN PO Partnership of Theresa Mai and her comrades- the activists - who had settled in the in-arms, also given the fact that village with their company which there is no financial support from produces tiny houses - is to live a the official side. self-sufficient, self-determined and Placation sustainable work and life style. Consultation RESULT TOKENISM The goal of finding a suitable Informing production and living location was achieved by far. The village TION also offered and still offers the A Therapy possibility of establishing other businesses with which synergies TICIP are generated. In the first phase, AR Manipulation the company that produces the tiny houses benefited from the move to NONP Gutenstein. Almost simultaneously, other producing and creative Biologically dynamic vegetables from the garden farm are used in the kitchen DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE houses, that had the infrastructure companies and individuals have of the Dorfschmiede. to enable self-sufficient, self- received a benefit through the ©dorfschmiede – photo by Erich Rossmanith Gutenstein lies in a deeply cut and determined and sustainable living cooperation. The project also very long valley. Due to this width and business. Of the 90 Austrian benefited community life, as the restriction in the valley floor, the villages registered, Gutenstein was workshops and lectures in the village is very elongated and is more chosen. For community purposes, Dorfschmiede provide numerous a chain of individual settlements a suitable location was still missing, opportunities to learn from each or farmsteads than a village with a which was found in the disused other. Consequently, that is why center. Thus, the remoteness comes inn „Gutensteiner Hof“ (now the project is generally rated very from the low population density, the Dorfschmiede). positively without exception. geographical characteristics of the place and also the poor condition ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY of buildings in the settlements. In & METHODS USED Gutenstein, there is a lack of public open spaces tailored to the special Regarding the renovation of the ©OpenStreetMap contributors needs of the local community. inn, a cooperative was founded Gutenstein, Lower Austria, Austria Some publicly accessible green with 50 members who are part spaces have been created, but they owners of the property. It serves are rather rare. as a platform to enable lively more about this project togetherness in the village (e.g. INITIATION AND ACTORS workshops, lectures, etc.). New businesses have settled here and The pr existing jobs ha oject began when ve been preserved. entrepreneur Theresa Mai was From the beginning, “wohnwagon” looking for a village for her and later the “Dorfschmiede” company, which builds tin activ y ely invited the population to ©OpenStreetMap contributors 149 150 Industry | Education | Culture | Municipality The Brewery Das Bräu LOCATION Munderfing, Austria TIME PERIOD Since 2018 A new restaurant has moved Workshops are held regularly into the old inn. at the Dorfschmiede, and the ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by focus here is on sustainable THE PROJECT opportunity to introduce concerns thuemmel-strittmatter do-it-yourself. ©Theresa Mai To counter the rural exodus, the Citizen control and ideas. The project owes its municipality has reacted with creation to this participation WER several measures in order to be model but also to the municipality’s Delegation competitive with other similar experience in obtaining local, Transformation of the old vacant inn into a villages. The “Dorfbräu” inn, located national and European funding. co-working space. ©Gemeinde Munderfing in the center of the settlement, CITIZEN PO embodies this goal. For many years Partnership RESULT vacant, it has been reused to attract new residents and educational The project is a total success. The facilities were provided in this Placation municipal administration and all place. Moreover, a concept for the citizens have benefited from the complete conversion to renewable activities, as well as local companies. energies was drawn up in 2004. Consultation The seminar house serves as a TOKENISM training venue for all interested groups and small start-ups were Informing able to launch their project from the co-working space. The community has seen its incomes increase and TIONA Therapy the creation of new jobs. In addition, there is the income from the wind TICIP turbine, which now also produces AR Manipulation electricity for many neighboring The new co-working space. ©Energie Munderfing communities. The project was well NONP received by the population because otherwise it would not have been DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE he also strongly advocated for the carried out according to the possibility of an inexpensive co- participatory model. Munderfing is not a very remote working space for young people in The Braeu, a formerly vacant inn that now houses a restaurant, co-working space and seminar house. place. The only characteristic of these premises. ©Energie Munderfing remoteness is the low population density. The village is located in a ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY quite developed area and is pretty & METHODS USED well connected to neighboring regions. Munderfing is composed The municipality, which was of different kinds of public spaces. convinced that the fiber-optic Among them, squares, recreational network was a prerequisite for spaces and community air-spaces. new settlements in the village, However, if the quantity of public has carried out the expansion of spaces is sufficient, their quality the network itself. In this context, leaves much to be desired. Since the the old inn was renovated into ©OpenStreetMap contributors build of the bypass road, the traffic a co-working space, a seminar Munderfing, Upper Austria in the main road, which crosses the room and a first-class restaurant. village, has dropped significantly. Moreover, the municipality has built wind turbines. In this project, more about INITIATION AND ACTORS the population was involved this project through a citizen participation The Bräu is an initiative led by model called the “decision-making Erwin Moser, the long-time head working group” . According to this of the office (of Munderfing), who model, the municipality can present had the goal of making Munderfing projects on which the citizens will a better place to live. That is why decide together. They also have the ©OpenStreetMap contributors 151 152 Industry | Education | Culture | Municipality A place kissed awake Ein wachgeküsster Ort LOCATION Trofaiach, Austria TIME PERIOD Since 2014 THE PROJECT management. Moreover, the The project is located on the main Citizen control process for inner city development street of Trofaiach, which used to was also financially supported by WER be the economic center of the vil- the office of the Styrian Provincial Delegation lage where most of the shops were Government. located. However, the city center One of the many shops were left vacant especially RESULT workshops conducted CITIZEN PO because of heavy individual motor- Partnership by nonconform with the residents. ized traffic in the street. Therefore, All the goals set were achieved. Not ©nonconform the aim was to counteract vacan- only did the vacancy rate decline, cies to make this inner-city area Placation but in spring 2021, there were more economically interesting and live- enquiries than offers. The public able again for all residents. space has gained enormously in Consultation quality of stay. The residents have TOKENISM benefited on several levels. The inner city has become quieter, Informing cleaner, nicer and its redesign increased the pedestrian frequency fivefold. The local businesses and its TIONA Therapy owners have benefited greatly from vacancy management. They now TICIP have new tenants and get support AR Manipulation in renovating their properties. The project and its success have NONP been the subject of strong media coverage all over Austria with the DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE architectural Nonconform group, public being very positive about Participation meeting with nonconform, citizens and community representatives. Since 2016, Trofaiach has held an annual street festival specialized in citizen participatory the activities. ©Stadtgemeinde Trofaiach - photo by Erich Biberich in the Main Street. Here, the degree of remoteness work, to carry out these processes. ©Stadtgemeinde Trofaiach - photo by Foto Freisinger refers not to Trofaiach but to the village center. This space faces ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY remoteness due to the donut & METHODS USED effect. Indeed, the inner city and its shops are affected by vacancy, Nonconform organized workshops while around the town there are with 1000 citizens from different numerous shopping f backgr acilities. ounds about 10 topics. Trofaiach has a classic village Afterwards, interested people center with densely built-up areas were assigned to specific topics around the main street and there and met regularly. Given the fact are numerous small streets and that the activities are still ongoing, alleys with very good accessibility. the population is continuously ©OpenStreetMap contributors However, due to some historical involved. From these workshops Trofaiach, Styria, Austria reasons, there is no public square in and meetings, many projects have the area. emerged. One of the most relevant is the visual upgrading of the more about this project WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY main street where, with support OF THE PROJECT of the municipality, homeowners renovated their buildings and The project was initiated by the especially their facades. The town mayor, who placed great emphasis provides 100 000 euros annually for on citizen participation right at the activities related to the upgrading beginning. He commissioned the of the main street and vacancy ©OpenStreetMap contributors 153 154 Sustainability | Culture | Municipality | Science | Sport Benches Express Bankerl Express LOCATION Stanz in the Mürz valley, Austria TIME PERIOD Since 2013 THE PROJECT received funds from the state Benches Express project simply Citizen control government. consists of wooden benches and WER a parasol. These benches give the RESULT Delegation Benches-express possibility to people without cars ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter to have a ride from other residents. The project is well received by the They just have to stretch out the Partnership local community and they see in it CITIZEN PO parasol to show their need to get a successful social and ecological a ride. Benches are painted with project that has improved their bright yellow and green, to be quality of life. The results even visible by car drivers and they are Placation exceed the original expectations. located along the main street, The local population is the main where traffic is most frequent. beneficiary, especially because Consultation cooperation and solidarity between TOKENISM citizens has increased. Indeed, the Description benches benches have given the possibility ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter Informing to meet fellow residents. The settlement has become a center of attraction for other communities TIONA Therapy and hosts some cultural events. The most demonstrative element of TICIP this success is the fact that Benches AR Manipulation Express have been expanded to the neighboring village. The NONP project was even nominated for the German Design Award. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE the members, Fritz Pichler, later became the mayor of the village. Stanz in the Mürz valley could Village of Stanz Street without sidewalk ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter be defined as remote by its low ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY population density but also by the & METHODS USED difficulties in accessing daily-life support and its poor transportation The involvement of the inhabitants links. However, most households was decisive for this and other have cars and do not feel remote. projects. From the citizens’ The village has enough public committee, several citizens’ spaces in the center but most of working groups were created. them are unattractive. Places are In each group there was an often used as car parking and external expert who contributed affected by traffic noise. The only with knowledge. Moreover, the exception is a large recreation park. project(s) could not have existed ©OpenStreetMap contributors To counter this, measures are being without the interpersonal relations Stanz in the Mürz valley, Styria, Austria planned to make this place more between the citizens but also the attractive. personal relationship that the more about inhabitants have with their village. this project WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY In the beginning, there was hardly OF THE PROJECT any institutional and financial support. However, when Fritz The project was conceived by a Pichler, a member of the citizen citizens initiative, originally created commitment, became mayor, the to prevent the amalgamation of access to the community’s budget municipalities in Styria. One of was facilitated. Later they even ©OpenStreetMap contributors 155 156 Culture | Education | Sustainability Culture Play Spaces – farmhouse parlor Kultur Spiel Räume - STUBENrein LOCATION Murau, Austria TIME PERIOD From 2019 to 2022 THE PROJECT gives women a special place in the The Culture Play Spaces project Citizen control activities with the idea of making takes place in 14 municipalities visible their lives, wishes, goals, WER around the district capital Murau. living conditions and disappointed Delegation The creative works have been hopes. Without the help of Gunilla Kultur muss sich lohnen Busstop, 2021 June 17th implemented in very different Plank, who is employed by the ©Gunilla Plank ©FH JOANNEUM – photo by thuemmel-strittmatter places, from a vacant vicarage Partnership “Holzwelt Murau” association and CITIZEN PO to a parking place. The targeted the financial support from LEADER goal of the project was to find up- project (EU), the project could not to-date ways to gather the local have come to life. community. Traditions are not Placation taken up in their formal form here, RESULT but in their important function for a successful living together. Consultation STUBENrein seems to have reached TOKENISM its targeted impacts. The local community has been truly involved Informing and new dynamics have emerged. Moreover, politically, socially and culturally well-trodden paths were TIONA Therapy broken up. However, some projects did not work out the needs of the TICIP population. That is the case of some AR Manipulation podcasts because apparently the need to come together in real space NONP is too strong. The beneficiaries of this project are probably those DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE association “Holzwelt Murau” who are currently not sufficiently ©OpenStreetMap contributors (Wood World Murau). The series represented in general social life, MurauerInnen, Heldinnen May 2020 The area around the district of different events have been such as part-time farmers, young ©Andreas Staudinger capital Murau covers a total of organized by the theater director women-farmers, the socially 1,385 km2, 14 municipalities and Andreas Staudinger, the project disadvantaged, … More broadly, we 28,000 inhabitants. Its remoteness manager and architect Gunilla can say that these activities have comes from the fact that it is Plank and the curator and artist Uli been well perceived by users and sparsely populated and suffered Vonbank-Schedler. this should lead to local follow-up events. from falling populations since the 1970s. Moreover, the numerous ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY small hamlets and scattered farms & METHODS USED make transportation and access to daily-life-support facilities difficult. Within the 14 municipalities, The area has historically grown the goal of (re)designing social public spaces (e.g. squares in front coexistence in the area has been ©OpenStreetMap contributors of churches). But more important developed by various activities, Murau, Styria, Austria are unconventional ones such as from an exhibition in a bus stop bars, empty restaurants or barns to events related to culture. The more about that seem to be more spontaneous local protagonists played a central this project places for public gatherings. role in the implementation, as their local network was used. INITIATION AND ACTORS This close cooperation between the local community and the The STUBENrein project w or as ganizers ensured that themes created in 2016 on the initiative were dealt with were important of the regional developmen f t or the people. The project also Locations of some actions/projects in the Murau district ©FH JOANNEUM – drawing by thuemmel-strittmatter 157 158 05 Slovenia Bohinjska Bistrica Smlednik Rodik Tomaj Žlebe 159 160 Culture | Education | Sport | Small business sector Revitalisation of Triglav road, Bohinjska Bistrica Oživitev Triglavske ceste, Bohinjska Bistrica LOCATION Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia TIME PERIOD From 2019 to 2021 THE PROJECT the Triglavska cesta crosses the The project of revitalisation of Citizen control Belica river. There, a plan for green Triglav road took place in the west areas was made to preserve the WER part of the settlement of Bohinjska ecosystems. In terms of financing, Delegation Bistrica. This road is a less accessible the support of the European Union area, as it is bounded on one side by was crucial for the implementation railway tracks and on the other by Partnership of the project. CITIZEN PO the Belica stream even if the nearby area across the river is the central RESULT Formerly abandoned tourist location of the settlement. buildings being used for The project aim was to address Placation creative works ©Prostorož the lack of spaces which could be The targeted impact was at least used as business or creative nodes partially achieved. The formerly (a problem evident in many small Consultation abandoned buildings are now settlements) and improve public TOKENISM occupied by various activities space in the area. such as a distillery, a print shop, Informing a sugar packaging operation and other small businesses. The main beneficiaries of the creative TIONA Therapy works are small businesses and individuals from the creative sector TICIP who gained new spaces for their AR Manipulation operations. Furthermore, the entire community benefits from increased NONP entrepreneurial and creative activity, as well as a diversification DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE urban design group ProstoRož, and of building uses. Given the fact that is part of the wider “Zelene rešitve” most of the spaces of the formerly The town of Bohinjska Bistrica is (Green solutions) project, which abandoned buildings have been Public discussion in the formerly abandoned facilities Children from the Janez Mencinger elementary school attending a workshop located in an alpine area, with traffic focuses on innovative approaches given a new function, the reaction ©Prostorož at the formerly abandoned construction firm facilities connections blocked from three and solutions for redeveloping from local businesses and the local ©Prostorož sides by surrounding mountain degraded and empty spaces in the community was positive, even ranges. This somewhat limited Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. if the new creative node has not sustained. road traffic accessibility, which stems from the characteristics of ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY the surrounding terrain, makes the & METHODS USED town of Bohinjska Bistrica remote in this regard. A train line connects The revitalisation of the space the town with the Goriška region included the arrangement of a but with relatively low frequency. passenger terminal, a park and In terms of public spaces, there is a a short term program plan for ©OpenStreetMap contributors severe lack of squares or plazas and the area of formerly abandoned Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia most open spaces are occupied buildings. This plan was developed by parking areas. Also, there is a taking into account the needs lack of any area which could be of small businesses, creative more about this project categorised as a town centre. individuals and the local population. The latter has been well involved in INITIATION AND ACTORS the project through participation in workshops and public debates. The project of the revitalisation of Natural heritage also played a role Triglav road near the railway station, particularly in the southern part was developed by the non-profit of the redevelopment area, where ©OpenStreetMap contributors 161 162 Culture | Education | Tourism The Village Garden Vaški vrt LOCATION Smlednik, Slovenia TIME PERIOD Since 2018 THE PROJECT of local residents were decisive in The garden was designed at St. Citizen control the implementation of the garden. Urh Square, in the historical village Local institutions supported the center of Smlednik. Although it WER project through financial help but Designing and building the village garden following the principle of community gardens produces herbs and vegetables, Delegation local companies and societies also ©Špela Rakun, Društvo za ustno zgodovino its main function is educational provided assistance in the form of and social because this is the place Partnership support and donations. where people and residents can CITIZEN PO gather and exchange knowledge RESULT on growing the plants. Thus, the An exchange of seedlings in the village square aim of the project is to link these Placation The project has achieved its target ©Denis Oblak, Društvo za ustno zgodovino two functions by connecting the to a large extent. Thanks to the local community while developing garden, old sorts of cultural plants, the garden to preserve cultural Consultation knowledge and traditions of heritage, indigenous plants, and TOKENISM the region have been preserved. self-sufficiency. Moreover, residents meet in or Informing around the garden and arrange it. More and more people come to the garden to relax, learn, and TIONA Therapy there are also many visitors from other places. An annual festival of TICIP exchanging seedlings is of benefit AR Manipulation to not only the local community but also beyond. If there are no NONP economic benefits, all participants gain knowledge about the DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE of the 900th anniversary of the traditional ways of growing plants first mention of the village of as well as new approaches to it (e.g. When asked, inhabitant Smlednik with the help of local permaculture). Moreover it keeps s of Children’s workshop on learning about plants Summer gardening in the village garden Smlednik have the self-impression organizations and donors The long- the intangible cultural heritage of ©Janez Strojan, Društvo za ustno zgodovino ©Urška Sešek, Društvo za ustno zgodovino of being remote. As a matter of termmaintenance of the garden Smlednik alive. The project was well fact, there are poor public transport however largely depends on the accepted in the community, and links to the city of Ljubljana and volunteers and member of the it has been presented in local and other towns in the region, but Society for Oral History. national newspapers in Slovenia. also difficulties in accessing daily- life-support facilities. Apart from ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY a sports park used by the school & METHODS USED and the residents, the only public space is the village square in the The garden is designed historical center. This place is only permaculturally so as to thrive surrounded by a few community with little maintenance and ©OpenStreetMap contributors buildings and residential houses. follows the principle of sustainable Smlednik, Slovenia Even if there is the Society of Arts development. Wooden stairs run and Culture next to the village through the garden, making it more about square, we can highlight a lack of easier to access the flower beds this project creative activities in Smlednik. and there is also a bench with a view at the top of the the garden. The INITIATION AND ACTORS whole community is involved in this project: the children, through the The initiator of this project is the primary school, as well as the adults local Society for Oral History, who do the maintenance work. The which built the garden in honour knowledge, skills and involvement ©OpenStreetMap contributors 163 164 Culture | Education | Tourism Mythical Park Mitski park LOCATION Rodik, Slovenia TIME PERIOD From 2018 to 2021 THE PROJECT of the Mythical Park in Rodik was The Mythical Park extends outside Citizen control permitted thanks to institutional the village itself, including paths fundings from the E.U. Interreg WER through forest and meadows which Slovenia-Croatia and from the Delegation are the main point of interest. Rodik Slovenian municipality which having a cultural and historical currently operates the park. legacy from Slavic and pre- CITIZEN PO Partnership Christian tradition, the goal of the RESULT project was to create a new tourist Instalment of stone elements in Rodik landmark focused on local legend As the park’s opening coincided ©Mitski park - photo by Neža Jandrlič, VSŠ Sežana and heritage. This place is part of a Placation with the Slovenian Covid-19 cross-border project involving the restrictions, the full economic Trebišće area from Croatia. impact of the project has not yet Consultation been fully realised, particularly for TOKENISM the tourism sector which should be the main beneficiary of this project. Informing However, the objective of creating Students workshop under the mentorship of Špela Šedivy a tangible and intangible heritage ©Mitski park - photo by Aleksander Zdjarsky, VSŠ Sežana presentation has been achieved TIONA Therapy and it has raised the awareness of the community about the local TICIP legacy. An additional impact has AR Manipulation been the promotion of young local artists who made some sculptures NONP now permanently exhibited but also the fact that the concept has Sculpture workshop in Rodik, open for visitors to DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE between the municipalities of attracted two established Slovenian witness the creative process Hrpelje-Kozina and of Mošćenička sculptors. Mythical Park has already ©Mitski park - photo by Aleksander Zdjarsky, VSŠ Sežana Rodik has a rural image due to its Draga, the original idea of the attracted many visitors who have Works on the Baba point lead by sculptor Marko Pogačnik locations but also by the fact the Mythical Park of Rodik came purchased local products. Both ©Mitski park - photo by Katja Hrobat Virloget village lacks basic daily life support from the University of Primorska. tourists and the local community facilities, forcing locals to drive to However, a wide range of have shown a positive interest in it. fulfil certain needs. The settlement actors have cooperated in the remoteness is characterised too implementation of the work. by the low population density and its economical inferiority. ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY However this percep & METHODS USED tion of remoteness is mitigated due to good transportation long-distance The Mythical Park consists of twelve connections by train. In Rodik, mythological points in two “mythic” because pr tr actically all public ails which tell stories of ancient ©OpenStreetMap contributors surfaces are accessible for road legend with sculptures or stone Rodik, Coastal-Karst, Slovenia vehicles, the settlement lacks public installations. The involvement of spaces such as public squares or the local community was crucial more about parks. The exceptions are the paths for this project. The inhabitants this project integrated to the Mythical park contributed in different ways like which offer a contact with nature. their participation as tour guide or staff member, the creation of INITIATION AND ACTORS some pieces now exhibited in the park by sculpture students, or the Even if the project was led by access given by landowners to use Slovenian-Croatian coopera their lands. tion The implementation ©OpenStreetMap contributors 165 166 Culture | Education | Sustainability New wind in Tomaj Prevetrimo Tomaj LOCATION Tomaj, Slovenia TIME PERIOD From 2010 to 2011 THE PROJECT and needs, analysed the local Creative children workshop on school playground Prevetrimo Tomaj or New wind in Citizen control space, debated possible physical ©Prostorož Tomaj was an urban revitalisation changes of the local environment, WER project of the town of Tomaj. It took and carried out surveys. Some Delegation place in various locations, including residents took part in activities The voluntary camp a sports field and a recreational of the voluntary camp and others ©Prostorož space. The targeted impact of the Partnership attended cultural events. CITIZEN PO project was to connect residents of the village so they would spontaneously keep maintaining, RESULT cleaning, and upgrading open Placation public spaces just like the residents The project’s aim was partly of the past used to take care of the achieved. Even if it showed that common places. Consultation small-scale interventions with TOKENISM residents and other institutions can make changes and can empower Informing the local actors to develop the cultural life of a small town, it seems like the village still does not attract TIONA Therapy more younger residents that could take care of the open public TICIP spaces in the future. The biggest AR Manipulation Creative children workshop for school playground beneficiary of the project was the ©Prostorož local community through the active NONP engagement in the improved public spaces and learning on the historical DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE adopted plan for revitalisation, values of the village. The residents Creative works with children following their experiences and also gained new knowledge and ©Prostorož Tomaj is a moderate remote place knowledge of participatory experiences in participatory active located in the South-West part of practices for improving public open citizenship. Slovenia, next to the Italian border. spaces. The project was supported The economic activity of the village by different institutions that is centred around tourism and provided knowledge and financial agriculture and its population is resources. aging and rapidly shrinking. This characteristic leads to a lack of ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY participatory/cultural activities in & METHODS USED the community. One of the main weaknesses is the poor public To revive the village and its public transport links between Tomaj and open space, strengthen the local the regional centres, like Sežana, community and connect the village ©OpenStreetMap contributors Koper, Nova Gorica, and Trieste. to the region, they used different Tomaj, Slovenia This makes it harder for those who tools such as workshops, events, or don’t own a driver’s licence (mostly presentations. Schooling youth was more about the elderly) to access daily-life- an important part-taker. The local this project support facilities. community was involved through all the stages of the project. One INITIATION AND ACTORS of their first and most important activities was setting up a plan for The cultural association prostoRož revitalising and improving Tomaj. guided and coordina The ted the y did that in workshops where activities based on the previously they expressed their wishes ©OpenStreetMap contributors 167 168 Culture | Education | Sustainability House on the Hill Hiša na hribu LOCATION Žlebe, Slovenia TIME PERIOD Since 2015 THE PROJECT ready for graphic printing. Creating The House on the Hill project is Citizen control artworks, they became “artists” by located on three locations, but the themselves. The local community WER main exhibition stands next to St. contributed to the project also by MIZA table View from the road below the hill Delegation © Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of © Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Margaret Church in Žlebe. This helping to set up the exhibition. Slovenia (UIRS) Slovenia (UIRS) place is composed of a granary and It encouraged them to see the an old deacon’s house where most Partnership final work and visit the place. The CITIZEN PO activities took place. The exhibition project was made possible by was designed with the social aim funding from public actors such to connect artists from different as the European Union and the backgrounds in a common project Placation Public Institute Sotočje Medvode, but also to fight the “cultural but also from the private company remoteness” of this kind of place BB.Bio. In addition, local institutions while gathering people. Consultation helped by agreeing to lend the two TOKENISM buildings to host the activities. Informing RESULT Despite some difficulties at the TIONA Therapy beginning, the project has become a landmark for the cultural life in the TICIP area. The achievement is shown by AR Manipulation the fact that the project has been renewed every year for 7 years. NONP The artists succeeded in involving visitors in activities and making Pots that are part of the hiking participatory Children in main house DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE backgrounds and countries have them aware of the heritage of the artwork © Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of collaborated to create multiple settlement and of contemporary art © Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UIRS) Slovenia (UIRS) Despite the fact Žlebe is only artworks to be displayed in Žlebe. production. The local community seems to be the main beneficiary 15km away from Ljubljana, the settlement suffers fr R om poor OLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY because it benefited from the transportation connections and & METHODS USED access of art and culture, learned more about their traditions but the difficulties in accessing-daily-life support facilities. However, the In 2021 the main activity was the co- activities were a way to socialize too. strong remoteness comes mainly design of the MI-ZA project (“miza” Although the first creative work from subjective criteria. As Žlebe means table in Slovenian, but can was ambiguously perceived by the is a set of dispersed hamlets and be read as the composition of two local community, the project is now not a continuous settlement, the words: MI=we/us, ZA=for). MI-ZA accepted and the local community, village lacks public spaces where was supposed to be a symbol of especially local pupils. people can meet. Although few the local community, a place where infrastructur f es exist such as amily, collectives, strangers and ©OpenStreetMap contributors churches, these ones are difficult to natives gather. This table was an Žlebe, Slovenia reach. artistic production of different invited artists and locals. The long- more about INITIATION AND ACTORS term goal of MI-ZA was to involve this project visitors to the House on the hill in The project was initiated by reproducing templates through Zavod CCC, a contempor the ary wood printing technique. The art upper part of MI-ZA (the table institute which seeks to ) is promote contemporary art in made from 72 small wooden plates, remote places. To achieve that each carved by one of the artists goal, 50 artists from different to become woodcut art works ©OpenStreetMap contributors 169 170 06 United Kingdom Bethesda Denbighshire Gwalchmai, Penrhyndeudraeth, Fron, Bethesda, Llangoed, Porthaethwy and Nant Peris Llandudno Ystrad Mynach 171 172 Culture | Education | Sustainability Ynni Ogwen community hydro scheme Ynni Ogwen community hydro scheme LOCATION Bethesda, United Kingdom TIME PERIOD In 2016 THE PROJECT the members benefitting from the The Ynni Ogwen community Citizen control scheme live locally in Gwynedd. In hydro scheme project that WER this project, we must highlight the this case study focuses on Delegation importance of PO’s guidance: it was essential to have full time staff takes place around the Ogwen committed to setting this up. riverbed, which is located in the CITIZEN PO Partnership same valley as Bethesda. Beyond RESULT providing electricity, it aims to create economic, environmental Ynni Ogwen community hydro Placation scheme has partly reached and social benefits with a focus its targeted impact. Although ©YnniOgwen on transferring community the hydro generator has been Consultation assets, buying new assets to constructed and is generating create income and projects that TOKENISM electricity, Ynni Ogwen is still make their community stronger, working on the final stages of setting Informing up a direct power supply to the more sustainable and resilient. homes of the scheme’s members. TION The project has also allowed to A Therapy raise awareness in the community regarding environmental matters, TICIP history, language, and culture. AR Manipulation Reactions to the hydro scheme are overwhelmingly positive. Some NONP were initially worried it would be ugly, but the design complements DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE role in the project was to guide the natural environment. There has its development, and to assist been a very positive reaction from Geographically, Bethesda is a fairly community volunteers in setting up the users of the energy scheme. remote town - located in the Ogwen Ynni Ogwen as a community benefit ©YnniOgwen ©YnniOgwen valley, it aspires to be considered association to take leadership over the gateway to Snowdonia National the hydro scheme. Park, and is a 15 minute drive from Bangor, the nearest major ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY city. Its relatively weak public & METHODS USED transport infrastructure and visitor amenities contribute to its sense of The community hydro scheme, remoteness. Moreover, this feeling which this case study focuses on, of remoteness also comes from began in 2016. It will combine its economic inferiority. In fact, community and environmental income levels rank Gerland ward benefits by harnessing the power ©OpenStreetMap contributors within the top 50% most deprived of the river Ogwen to supply Bethesda, Wales, United Kingdom in Wales. Ogwen is in the top 30% local homes with electricity. PO most deprived. was the lead organisation. It is publicised through educational more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS visits, newsletters, annual general meetings, and there is a strong The project has been launched sense of ownership amongst the by Partneriaeth Ogwen which members. In 2016 the community is a place-based regeneration share offer was opened, and £500k organisation that is committed to was raised in 2 months to fund the Circular Economy principles. PO’s construction of the hydro. 85% of ©OpenStreetMap contributors 173 174 Culture | Education | Sustainability Pentredwr Hub Hwb Pentredwr LOCATION Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom TIME PERIOD Since 2018 Wool event at Ysgol Pentredwr ©Ema Howe for Pentredwr and District Community Association THE PROJECT was the key of the project. Citizen control This project takes place through workshops, predominantly WER RESULT Delegation in the two renovated indoor As objectives’ analyses are spaces: the wool museum in established after a two year Llangollen and the community CITIZEN PO Partnership period, it is too early to say if the centre of Pentredwer. Activities’ targeted impacts are achieved. aim is to tackle the increasing However, over the past years, levels of social and digital there has been an increase in the Placation frequency of events, in usage of the isolation in this remote place but two buildings and in community also the community cohesion Consultation connection. In gaining rural skills Hand loom ©Ema Howe for Pentredwr and District and the lack of a common public and a community hub where people TOKENISM Community Association place. The project seeks to can meet, the local community was secure community prosperity the main beneficiary of this project. Informing Moreover, the Hwb has resulted by developing rural skills and in some economic benefits. The enterprise. TIONA Therapy first visitors seem to appreciate the project as they keep coming TICIP back, enjoying visiting the place. AR Manipulation However, the only negative feedback is the fact that Pentredwr is hard to get to. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE facility, and the second one’s Wool event at Ysgol Pentredwr Wool preparation motivation was to pass on heritage ©Ema Howe for Pentredwr and District Community ©Ema Howe for Pentredwr and District The towns inside Denbighshire skills to future generations. Association Community Association can be defined as remote by their lack of transportation connections ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY and a poor access to services. & METHODS USED Indeed, it is difficult to reach the few public spaces without a car. Hwb PentreDwr has been created The area’s isolation is also due as a rural skills centre. As sheep to its geographical location. The production is central in this area, low population density and the the activities are promoting economic inferiority maintain this wool and exploring the uses of remoteness. In this area, there are locally produced fleece through not that much public spaces but demonstrations or workshops of the few ones are well equipped. wool craft. The community has been ©OpenStreetMap contributors The main problem of this county involved at every steps, from the Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom is the lack of a central public place renovation of the buildings to the gathering people. grant applications. Everyone has used their skills and Hwb Pentredwr more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS coordinated them. Sheep farmers are very supportive in coming to Hwb Pentredwr is a project jointly the events and donating as much delivered by the Pentredwr and fleece as needed. Although the District Community Association project received a grant from the and Gwalangollen. The first one National Lottery’s Rural Futures, the wished to develop a community enthusiasm from the community ©OpenStreetMap contributors 175 176 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Health Utopias Bach Utopias Bach LOCATION Gwalchmai, Penrhyndeudraeth, Fron, Bethesda, Llangoed, Porthaethwy and Nant Peris, Wales, United Kingdom TIME PERIOD Since 2020 Utopias Bach mapping workshop THE PROJECT is encouraged to explore and own ©Utopias Bach - Mark Gahan Utopias Bach involves experiments Citizen control their biases. Moreover and from where artists and diverse WER the beginning, the local community communities work together to Delegation has been involved in collaboration re-imagine the world on a small with Community Connectors Geocache Bach, Treborth scale through interconnected, ©Utopias Bach - Lindsey Colbourne supportive, creative hubs in North CITIZEN PO Partnership RESULT Wales and beyond. The project gives people freedom not to have to The project has an organic process think about the real world, and take and is still asking questions, is Placation a playful look at problems without frequently changed by encounters consequence, to radically imagine. with new members and world The activities have taken place in Consultation events, and is in a continuous state 7 geographic locations including of becoming. The project evolves community open air spaces, shop TOKENISM along with members and with non- windows, and public indoor and members, as well as with other Informing outdoor spaces. Others have taken species. Interviewees emphasised place online due to Covid. that there is a freedom in going TIONA Therapy forward with a project without it being something, without TICIP having an ‘outcome’. The main AR Manipulation beneficiaries of these activities are marginalized voices, artists, various communities, non-human NONP beings including flora and fauna. The strength of the project is that DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Project, the host organisation, it’s not about failure or success, and ‘plantlets’, a grassroots community that deadlines and ‘outcomes’ don’t Utopias Bach The area around the counties of group, community connectors and necessarily allow for deep, organic ©Utopias Bach - Lindsey Colbourne Gwynedd and Anglesey, where also lead artists. exploration of ideas, and can lead to weak or superficial solutions for the 7 geographic locations of the project are located, are largely ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY problems. rural, composed of small villages & METHODS USED and towns with direct access to LIangoed nature and wildlife. This, as noted The experiments range from by the members of the project, is geographical communities meeting Porthaethwy not necessarily a reason why a place together weekly to discuss ideas should be labelled remote. Some to dispersed networks sharing of the members reported feeling detailed observations to mini-Porthaethwy much more connected to the rest of festivals and small-scale on-the-the world and their community after ground actions. The discoveries ©OpenStreetMap contributors they moved to these purportedly and connections made become ‘remote’ areas. Statistically, in terms the starting point for discussion, Gwalchmai, Penrhydeudreth, Fron, Betheda, Llangoed, Porthaethwy and Nant Peris, Wales, United of population density, poverty and generating lasting networks, Kingdom more about access to services, these places sit support, tools and strategies for this project on the lower end of the scale when thought and action. This project compared to neighbouring regions. is counter-mainstream, counter globalisation, working small and INITIATION AND ACTORS local, and focuses on what the world will be like in future. It’s nature is Various actors have been involved strongly collaborative, democratic, in this project, from Plas Bodfa and non-judgmental - each member Ponrhyndeudaeth ©OpenStreetMap contributors 177 178 Culture | Education The Wall Is___ Mae’r Wal Yn___ LOCATION Llandudno, Wales, United Kingdom TIME PERIOD From 2019 to 2021 THE PROJECT Citizen control of the estate residents’ experience The Wall Is__ was a two year of remoteness. It addressed programme of activities on Tre WER community empowerment Cwm housing estate in Llandudno, Delegation through long term engagement North Wales, resulting in an and a commitment to genuine co- artwork for the main boundary Partnership creation throughout. wall of the estate. This project tried CITIZEN PO to answer questions all related RESULT Interactive walking tour around estate ©Kristin Luke to these physical and perhaps societal barriers created by the Placation Practically one year after the end of wall. The overall hypothesis was: the project, we can say that it partly ‘Does transforming an existing reached its targets. The hypothesis physical barrier through art and Consultation of ‘Does transforming an existing design-led engagement processes TOKENISM physical barrier through art and affect societal barriers to access/ design-led engagement processes participation?’ Informing affect societal barriers to access/ participation?’ was tested but conclusions are unclear. The main TIONA Therapy beneficiaries were residents of the estate, secondary ones were staff at TICIP Ty Llywelyn community centre and AR Manipulation the general public. The participants in the project itself perceived it to NONP have engaged the ‘hard to reach’ who might be less confident in speaking out. The project helped DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE as Ty Llywelyn community centre residents develop the confidence staff, the mayor of Llandudno, to express their opinions and Getting to know you van stops The Tre Cwn Housing Estate is North Wales Police, and Llandudno helped them to feel proud of their Final wall artwork installed ©Kristin Luke - photo by Iwan Williams ©Kristin Luke located in the south part of the Museum, the project was also estate. city of Llandudno. The remoteness funded by the Paul Hamlyn of this place does not come from Foundation. geographical elements. In fact, the estate is part of a dense area ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY with good transportation links & METHODS USED and daily-life-support facilities. The only physical barrier between In order to define what would be the this studied place and the center shape of the artworks that would be of Llandudno is a large boundary implemented on the wall, the local wall which has led to economic community participated in roughly inferiority and a social division 50 different activities to collectively ©OpenStreetMap contributors inside the settlement. Thus, there brainstorm. These included getting Llandudno, Wales, United Kingdom - Wales is a community self-perception to know you van days, a nature that they are not part of the rest walk to explore the local wildlife, of Llandudno, although they would youth club design workshops, 3D more about like to be. scanning, … These activities seeked this project to work on the final artwork, but INITIATION AND ACTORS also to better know the natural/ cultural heritage of the Tre Cwn In addition to general support, Estate. Other artworks were also advice and guidance fr cr om eated alongside the residents. community organisa The pr tions such oject came about because ©OpenStreetMap contributors 179 180 Culture | Education | Science Cosmic Colliery Glofa’r Gofod LOCATION Ystrad Mynach, Wales, United Kingdom TIME PERIOD In 2015 THE PROJECT Citizen control in short term interventions. This project was supported by public The Cosmic Colliery project is WER funding from Arts Council England. located in the Penallta Colliery Delegation which closed in 1992 becoming RESULT abandoned like many coal mines Partnership across Wales. The aim of the CITIZEN PO If the project as a whole succeeded creative work was to use the mine in becoming led by the community once more to bring the community into something self organised, yet together, by imagining it as an Placation long term opportunities for young astronaut training camp. To alter people were not measured. Thus, Film still, Cosmic Colliery documentary film. Filmmaker - Liboni Munnings the perception that young people the target was partly achieved. ©Hefin Jones held for both themselves and their Consultation More broadly, the project gave own futures, encouraging them to TOKENISM residents the opportunity to “think big” by imagining different connect with others in the village possibilities for the area and how Informing and to be creative. The main they are perceived. beneficiary of the creative work was the young people who partook TIONA Therapy in the project, namely members of Girls and Boys club. If some people TICIP were skeptical about the nature of AR Manipulation the work, the final exhibition at the Design Museum was well received NONP by the professional pair audience. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE project. Penallta Colliery Acid House Festival poster ©Hefin Jones Ystrad Mynach could be defined ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY Film still, Cosmic Colliery documentary film. Filmmaker - Liboni Munnings. as a remote place first by its low & METHODS USED ©Hefin Jones population density but also by its location. Moreover, the settlement Cosmic Colliery involved working suffers from an economy at half- with communities in the Rhymney mast and an ageing population. Valley to explore the possibilities However, the residents may deem it of what the old coal mine could as much less remote because of its become. In this project, the local access to the Wales capital. There community played a decisive are some public spaces in the town role. Instead of following a like the park but the majority of predefined path, the project indoor public spaces are pubs. This changed in response to people who kind of place is not ideal for young contributed to it. One example of ©OpenStreetMap contributors people, who lack free public space this involvement is the final project Ystrad Mynach, Borough of Caerphilly, United Kingdom to meet. meeting being led by the members - Wales of the community and not by its INITIATION AND ACTORS conceptor. In the frame of the more about residency program, each resident this project This project was produced by the received a budget of £6,000 which designer Hefin Jones in the frame goes directly towards producing of the London Design Museum’s the work over a span of a few Designer in Residence program. He months, demonstrating the how succeeded in gathering Rhymney effective a co-design approach Valley communities to work on this can be in engaging the community ©OpenStreetMap contributors 181 182 07 Italy Villa Lagarina Latronico Poggibonsi Semestene Vezza d’Alba 183 184 1 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Industry Wandering oven; We knead desirable futures Forno Vagabondo; Impastiamo futuri desiderabili LOCATION Villa Lagarina, Italy TIME PERIOD Since 2020 THE PROJECT the activities. All of this has been Forno Vagabondo is an itinerant Citizen control supported by the Research Project social oven that travels through WER “Alpine Community Economies Alta Vallagarina on an electric Delegation Laboratory’’ that uses participatory The wandering oven on the road cargo bike. At each stop in a public design methods (co-design) to ©Fb page Forno Vagabondo space located in a small village of support Alpine communities in Vallagarina, the oven becomes a CITIZEN PO Partnership addressing issues of sustainable Flora baking bread during one of the workshops meeting and experimentation point local socio-economic development. ©Fabio Franz for the local community. Moreover, Forno Vagabondo Its challenge is to build an received financial support from the Placation innovative and familiar space to association sVOLTA. guide people towards sustainable living and to connect stakeholders RESULT Consultation of the region through a simple and familiar practice such as making TOKENISM The Project leaders of Forno bread together. Vagabondo didn’t set up a specific Informing For the space analysis, we focused impact methodology. on one spot of the itinerary: Palazzo For this reason, it was not possible Camelli in Villa Lagarina. TION to measure a quantitative impact. A Therapy However, Flora Mammana, one of the creators of the project, TICIP highlights the fact that locals, thanks AR Manipulation to Forno Vagabondo initiatives, have begun to open more to others NONP by sharing stories and experiences. There have been three main The Booklet with instructions to make sourdough Villa Lagarina_”La Saletta” in Palazzo Camelli _The DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Foresta with the support of beneficiaries in this project: local ©Julia Wagner palace courtyard during one of the creative works other organizations active on the inhabitants, the associations ©Julia Wagner Villa Lagarina is an Italian town territory. In fact, the activities involved in the activities and small in the autonomous province of related to the itinerant oven are co- local businesses. Trento. It is located in the middle organized by different associations Generally speaking, the project has of Vallagarina, on the right bank in each town. These associations been well perceived both by the of the Adige river, 4 km north of collaborate and activate the local attendees and by the supporting Rovereto and about 22 km south community. In Villa Lagarina, associations; this is valid for all the of Trento. 3,787 inhabitants live the name of the association is different locations where the oven there. The town is characterized by Associazione Multiverso. stopped by. the presence of sumptuous noble palaces, vast parks, squares and rich ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY churches, which make its historic & METHODS USED center one of the most distinctive of Trentino. Villa Lagarina also The Forno workshops vary from ©OpenStreetMap contributors hosts different hotels, markets, making sourdough together Villa Lagarina / Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy libraries, and seasonal markets and baking bread, to exploring for small producers. However, the the valley through excursions to more about town is badly accessible with public discover new tips related to the labs. this project transports and people mostly move The passion for bread, curiosity, by car. and the desire for discovery and sharing animate the path INITIATION AND ACTORS and guide in kneading desirable futures. The local community has Forno V been in agabondo has been volved in the project since developed by Associazione La its beginning by participating in ©OpenStreetMap contributors 185 186 Culture | Education | Tourism Open Air A Cielo Aperto LOCATION Latronico, Italy TIME PERIOD Since 2008 Map of “A Cielo Aperto” permanent works with the THE PROJECT focus on the place where Latronico Flag has been processes that go beyond displayed. “A Cielo Aperto” is a public art ©Pasquale Campanella Citizen control disciplinary fences towards public project that takes place in the old sharing. town of Latronico. WER It aims at creating a path to be The project aims to build a Delegation built with others and not only the One of the polling stations where locals have been invited to vote for the flag for the town of Latronico widespread open-air museum prerogative of artists. ©Eugenio Tibaldi, una bandiera per Latronico, 2010/2011 where various works dialogue with A Cielo Aperto was born thanks the environment, intervening in the CITIZEN PO Partnership to the admiration and affection of urban space with co-designed art local inhabitants towards Vincenzo projects. De Luca, an artist from Latronico For the space analysis, we focused Placation whose name has entitled the on where the art intervention “A association that started the project. Flag for Latronico” took place: There were no public fundings Largo Eleonora Pimentel, called Consultation but just private funds from the “The Castle.” This place is the TOKENISM association’s membership fees. highest part of the old town, looking at a beautiful panorama. Informing RESULT Over the years, the project has TIONA Therapy brought a breath of fresh air to the small town of Latronico, activating TICIP cultural processes that enabled AR Manipulation such a small town to become a Stefano Boccalini’s postcard sent to collect the destination for more visitors than words for Latronico. ©Stefano Boccalini, Una parola su Latronico, 2011 NONP ever before. A Cielo Aperto has helped locals DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Campanella. discover that they have a dense and Every year, one or two artists are strong cultural heritage and realize Latronico is a mountainous village invited to reside for a period of that they can be thus carriers of The raising of the winning flag in Largo Eleonora Pimentel in Latronico ©Pasquale Campanella that can be considered remote time in Latronico, before proposing culture. due to its poor transportation their intervention (a workshop Moreover, thanks to this epiphany, connections to its surroundings. or a permanent work to be set new cultural associations and In addition, the town has suffered up outdoors). In designing their virtuous dynamics emerged. from a continuous demographic interventions, the artists include The primary beneficiaries of decrease since the 70s. The old inhabitants. this project have been the local community at all levels. town Capadavutu is primarily vacant, partly because it is just ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY In the beginning, many struggled to accessible by foot. In this part of & METHODS USED understand the project, and it took several years for locals to become the village, there are public spaces like churches and Spazio Cantisani, Over the years, all layers of the familiar with its concept. However, where many creative works have population have been involved thanks to discovering their cultural ©OpenStreetMap contributors taken place. The rest of the services in multiple and heterogeneous heritage through creative works, Latronico, Basilicata, Italy and public areas are in the lower activities in different ways. One the local community’s perception modern town. example is the engagement of has changed over the years. locals in designing the first flag for INITIATION AND ACTORS the town during the art intervention “A Flag for Latronico.” The project was born in 2008 Generally speaking, A Cielo Aperto within the cultural association wishes to create moments of Vincenzo De Luca, and it has been reflection on the history of the curated since then by the artistic community and recover vital, duo Bianco-Valente and Pasquale cultural, and communicative ©OpenStreetMap contributors 187 188 Culture | Education | Tourism Art to Art Arte All’Arte LOCATION Poggibonsi, Italy TIME PERIOD From 1996 to 2006 THE PROJECT At the same time, the artist has “Art to Art” is a public art project Citizen control worked on creating a collective born in 1996 thanks to an idea WER memory map. Sociological research of “Associazione Arte Continua” Delegation has been led by asking Poggibonsi and concluded in 2006. The inhabitants which memories they One of the sculptures of Antony Gormley in Shopping center Valdelsa project aimed to promote the instinctively associated to specific ©Ela Bialkowska, Associazione Arte Continua municipalities in the province of CITIZEN PO Partnership places of their town. Siena and Florence as an agri- The sculptures were then installed environmental art district, linking in seven different spots in the town, One of Antony Gormley’s and balancing contemporary art familiar places of present times and sculptures Placation ©Ela Bialkowska, with the beautiful Tuscan historical forgotten areas of the past, ranging Associazione Arte Continua heritage. from squares, parks, railways, Each of the ten editions of Arte a fortress, and a supermarket Consultation all’Arte has produced several (represented on the right page for interventions by international TOKENISM this latter). artists in the public space. For the Informing space analysis, we focused on the RESULT 9th edition carried on in 2004 in Poggibonsi, specifically on the TION There is no specific information A Therapy artwork by Antony Gormley, “Fai about the achievement of the spazio, Prendi posto” (Making targeted impact. For sure, the TICIP Space, Taking Place). project, together and in connection AR Manipulation with the other art-related initiatives and associations present in NONP Tuscany, contributed over the years to attract more visitors to the DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Pistoi. territory. Regarding the change of Making the molds to Each year professional curators perception towards contemporary produce the statues Poggibonsi is an Italian town of were invited to select an art, it is still challenging to make ©Associazione Arte Continua 29.009 inhabitants in the province international artist for each town non-art-related people understand of Siena in Tuscany. Since the or city. After visiting the site and the value of this kind of creative Middle-Age, the place has had a workshops and meetings with work. In general, we could say that particular commercial vocation. the local population, the artists the local community and creative Thus, it cannot be defined as a conceived and executed a project sector are the primary beneficiaries small and remote place from an to transform or reinterpret the site of this project which has created infrastructure or economic point through a site-specific installation. new artistic landmarks in the territory and tried to address this of view. However, it suffers from an “aesthetic inferiority” compared to ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY “aesthetic inferiority.” other municipalities surrounding & METHODS USED it. In this town there are several squares and meeting places that Gormley’s project consisted of ©OpenStreetMap contributors respond to people’s differen pr t oducing and installing seven iron Poggibonsi, Tuscany, Italy needs: three cinemas, a couple sculptures created from body casts. of theaters and a beautiful public Advertisements were placed in local more about library recently restored. and national newspapers to recruit this project volunteers to have plaster molds INITIATION AND ACTORS taken of their bodies and then cast in iron. Six local inhabitants plus “Arte all’Arte” has been promoted one external one were chosen to by “Galleria Continua” of San participate. A temporary workshop Gimignano and was born thanks to was set up in the town to produce the support of the art critic Luciano the molds. ©OpenStreetMap contributors 189 190 Culture | Education | Local traditions Fireplaces, meetings and experimentation in the rural area Foghíles, Incontri e sperimentazione nello spazio rurale LOCATION Semestene, Italy TIME PERIOD Since 2018 “In sa domo ‘e su furru yard” (Umberto I street) during the preparation of the fire for the torchlight parade THE PROJECT ©Hadriana Casla animate activities. This project has Foghíles project aims to extend been completely self-financed by and enhance the life of the little Citizen control participants, and it has come to life Village of Semestene, bringing in WER thanks to the locals and the visitors active people eager to promote and Delegation from the neighboring towns. organize opportunities for meeting Bia Lada during the preparation of the creative works 2 ©Hadriana Casla and experimentation in the rural RESULT area and to imagine and design the CITIZEN PO Partnership future of the place together. Every Initially, Po.Ps. Rurbana aimed at year, it takes place for ten days bringing life back to Semestene, in September and then includes Placation collecting many people from two days of meetings during the Sardinia and abroad for ten days a following solstice and equinox. year, making Foghiles a big festival. The activities take place in different Consultation More than three years after its locations around the village; for the implementation, we can say space analysis, we focused on one TOKENISM that Foghiles has partly reached of the spots: the Bia Lada farmland. Informing its goals. Even if they succeed in engaging many people in Semestene, the activities have not TIONA Therapy brought thousands of visitors to the place. TICIP However, according to the AR Manipulation organizers, this “failure” was luck because bringing in a large crowd in “In sa domo ‘e su furru yard” (Umberto I street) during the preparation of the fire for the torchlight NONP a short time would have disrupted parade the pace and dynamics of such a ©Hadriana Casla DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Sardinian territory, a potential tiny community. place for the development of new Today, the project is mostly well Semestene is a tiny village of 120 lifestyles for future generations. perceived by locals, even if they Bia Lada before the creative works struggled to interpret the scope of people located in the northern ©Hadriana Casla central area of Sardinia. The town ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY the project at the beginning. develops according to a medieval & METHODS USED urban scheme with an almost radial development around two churches. Foghíles means “fireplaces” in Its characterized remoteness (4/5) sardo logudorese, the local dialect. comes from economic inferiority In the past and still today, the and difficulty accessing daily-life- meetings around the fire represent support facilities. Above all, this the occasions for transmitting place is suffering from the digital knowledge and direct learning divide. In terms of connectivity through tales and experiences. with other cities, Semestene does Accordingly, this project is strongly ©OpenStreetMap contributors not lack infrastructure. Due to its connected to the cultural heritage Semestene, Sardinia, Italy size, this settlement does not have of the region, and it has been large public spaces but rather small promoting, since 2018, rural life more about squares and recreational spaces. and the empowerment of the this project countryside. Various activities INITIATION AND ACTORS have occurred, from a torchlight parade to a pastry workshop. The The project is curated by Po.Ps. community’s involvement often Rurbana, an association tha happened thr t ough the stimulation promotes specific interventions of memories, and some locals and long-term projects in the even proposed themselves to ©OpenStreetMap contributors 191 192 Culture | Tourism | Industry Big Benches Community Project (or BBCP) LOCATION Vezza d’Alba, Italy TIME PERIOD Since 2010 THE PROJECT bench in a scenic location that must The “White Big Bench” is an out-of- Citizen control be freely accessible to the public. Vezza D’Alba town_Big Bench under construction scale bench located on the highest WER ©“Associazione L TORION” Archives point of “Bricco del Castellero Delegation RESULT “hill. The place hosts Torion’s ruins but was left abandoned until For the BBCP team leaders, the 2014 until it was renovated and CITIZEN PO Partnership initiative is very successful because turned into a recreational space it has improved the local economy Vezza D’Alba town_People sitting on the White Big Bench next to the”Torion” ©“Big Bench Community Project” for tourists and local walkers. This and attracted more tourists. Indeed, big bench is part of the broader the central part of the economic Placation “Big Bench Community Project” , return is from the people who visit a non-profit initiative promoted the benches and become active by the American designer Chris consumers in that place. The BBCP Consultation Bangle and his wife Catherine to has strengthened the community’s support local enterprise, tourism, TOKENISM sense of pride and belonging in and craftsmanship in the towns terms of the human aspect. More Informing that host these out-of-scale specifically, in Vezza d’Alba, the installations. construction of the White Big TION Bench has generated curiosity, A Therapy and the place has become a new recreation point where events take TICIP place. Thus, the local community AR Manipulation has widely and positively received the Big Benches for their aims and NONP results. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE on the hill. They contacted “Chris Bangle and Associates,” which Vezza D’Alba town_The space where the White Big Bench is located, next to the”Torion”, covered with Vezza D’Alba town_Big Bench_inauguration with Vezza d’Alba is a small town in offered its support providing big snow (aerial image - drone) mr. Chris Bangle and authorities of Piedmont ©“White Big Bench Vezza d’Alba - L Torion” region and Vezza d’Alba town the Piedmont region with a low benches technical drawings. ©“Associazione L TORION” Archives population density. The village has a huge potential for different local ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY activities based mainly on tourism & METHODS USED or agriculture. However, the lack of suitable transport connections The involvement of the local and the difficulty in creating a solid community happens in different systemic network hinder some steps of the project, from economic activities. These facts the activation process to the place the population in an isolated construction of the big bench by condition. Vezza d’Alba inhabitants volunteers or the fundraising to buy do not consider themselves remote materials. The enthusiasm of local ©OpenStreetMap contributors but are aware of their “marginal” communities and associations that Vezza d’Alba, Piedmont, Italy position, primarily due to difficulty strongly want a Big Bench in their accessing roads. settlement is a crucial factor. Since more about the BBCP is a nonprofit association, this project INITIATION AND ACTORS the construction of the benches is financed through private funds The initiative for the construction by citizens, associations, or Chris of the “White Big Bench” has been Bangle’s company. Moreover, the led by the Association of Merchants natural heritage is a crucial point and Entrepreneurs of Vezza d’Alba, of the project because the main who wanted to set up a big bench requirement from BBCP is to build a ©OpenStreetMap contributors 193 194 08 Iceland Drangsnes Seydisfjordur Long Beach Sand Djúpivogur Hafnarfjordur 195 196 Culture | Tourism | Health | Sustainability People in the hot pots on a windy day ©Vestfirðir The Hot Tub Trio Heitu pottarnir á Drangsnesi LOCATION Drangsnes, Iceland TIME PERIOD Since 1997 THE PROJECT More broadly, we must highlight the The “Hot Tub Trio” project is a Citizen control fact that the local community has public open-air space with three WER had to cultivate creative thinking hot tubs and a bench. There is a Delegation in order to find solutions to various public parking area by the hot tubs issues that have faced them. and a small service house with changing rooms with shower and CITIZEN PO Partnership toilet facilities. Initially, the project RESULT was only intended as a pet project and wasn’t really meant to tackle With almost 25 years of hindsight, any challenges. But as time passed, Placation it seems that the project has it has become a tool in order to exceeded its initial goals which were promote tourism in Drangsnes and to make use of the hot water and Consultation encouraging socialisation in the create a pleasant place in the village. settlement. TOKENISM The “Hot Tub Trio” has indeed brought the community closer, Informing attracted visitors and encouraged communication between tourists TION and locals. Consequently, there A Therapy are numerous beneficiaries of the project, from the local fishermen, TICIP who can enjoy the tubs after AR Manipulation they come home from the sea, to the local businesses which have NONP benefited from the increased attractiveness of the village. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE ones are local residents who Part of the artwork which is embedded in the The hot pots wanted to create a pleasant place surrounding rocks_Samper Mireya ©Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir The town of Drangsnes can to relax and connect. The second ©Mireya Samper - photo by Júli be described as remote by its one is the community council with geographical loca its financial support and willingness tion. Indeed, the first main road is 20 km away to develop a social platform and ©OpenStreetMap contributors from the settlement. This makes attract visitors. it difficult for locals to access daily life facilities, such as medicine. ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY Moreover, the access can be & METHODS USED difficult in winter due to heavy snow. Drangsnes has very few From the very beginning of the planned public areas. Most of them project, the local community has are green spaces and wild nature been involved in each steps. When but there is no coherent network in 1997, an earth drill hit a powerful of public spaces or green ways that geothermal water vein, children Drangsnes, Westfjords, Iceland connect them together. The public of Drangsnes rapidly asked for a spaces are scattered throughout swimming pool. With the help of a more about the small community and the local farmer who brought three fish this project boundaries between public and craters, the locals gave birth to the private spaces are rather blurred. “Hot Tub Trio”. In this project, the financial help of the community INITIATION AND ACTORS council has been crucial. Indeed, it has allowed some improvement Two major actors have been in the infrastructures, such as the involved in the project. The first parking lot or the service house. ©OpenStreetMap contributors 197 198 Culture | Education | Tourism | Gay pride festival Rainbow Street Regnbogagatan LOCATION Seyðisfjörður, Iceland TIME PERIOD Since 2017 THE PROJECT LGBTQ+ friendly. Moreover, local The Rainbow Street project was Citizen control law enforcement also gave a green originally a temporary installation WER light for the parade from the start. on a street called Norðurgata in the Delegation centre of Seydisfjordur that was RESULT supposed to last one summer. It With more than 4 years of insight, consists of a series of painted lines Partnership we can say that the project reached CITIZEN PO that represent the rainbow flag. its targeted aims. Indeed, the Thus, the targeted impact was both rainbow street has become much to make the street more beautiful, more than a decorative feature. It lively and festive because of the Placation is now a destination and a landmark bad state it was and to celebrate for Seyðisfjörður which promotes Destination Austurland ©Ingvi Örn Þorsteinsson the gay pride. local architectural heritage. Consultation Moreover, it has also succeeded in TOKENISM supporting and raising awareness of the status of people in the LGBTQ Informing community in remote places. Thus, the initiative benefited to local TION businesses, through the influx of A Therapy tourists in the town but also to the locals who find in the gay pride TICIP event a way to socialise and create AR Manipulation stronger links in the community. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE So he took matters into his own hands and gatherd a few friends Destination Austurland Destination Austurland Enclosed by mountains, the town and they walked back and forth on ©Ingvi Örn Þorsteinsson ©Páll Guðmundur Ásgeirsson of Seyðisfjörður is located at the Norðurgata to show support for bottom of a fjord on the East coast the rights of gay people and to have of Iceland. This landscape has made fun. ©OpenStreetMap contributors life in the village fragile as avalanches and landslides can be expected ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY in certain seasonal conditions. & METHODS USED Its characterised remoteness is also the result of the lack of After posting the stunt on social transportation links with other media, it instantly became a hit cities and an aged demographic and this temporary installation has structure. There are some public become a permanent landmark in spaces in the village, mostly the town. The following years, it has indoor due to meteorological/light become an official event with more Seydisfjordur, Mulathing, Iceland conditions. Outdoors public spaces and more visitors. Considering that are directly linked with nearby Snorri Emilsson and his friends natural landscapes. are living in Seyðisfjörður, the more about this project local community has been from INITIATION AND ACTORS the beginning at the heart of the project. Each spring, they maintain Back in 2014 a local man, Snorri the road by painting it again. This Emilsson, did not hav initia e the tive could have come to life opportunity to attend the gay thanks to the fact that Iceland pride celebration in Reykjavík. is known for being particularly ©OpenStreetMap contributors 199 200 Health | Tourism | Sport Seaside walkpath ©Astrid LeLarge Long Sand Beach Langisandur LOCATION Akranes municipality, Iceland TIME PERIOD Since 1990 THE PROJECT of the Guðlaug Gunnlaugsdóttir The Long Sand Beach project takes Citizen control & Jón Gunnlaugsson place in the main beach of the WER Memorial Foundation and the municipality of Akranes. Started in Delegation Ferdamalastofa-Icelandic Tourist the early 1990s, this ongoing project Board for their financial and tactical has been developed to promote support. outdoor activities, for reasons of CITIZEN PO Partnership physical and mental health and also RESULT to attract more people to the beach and to Akranes. Numerous facilities The project reached its two main have been built here: a walking and Placation targets. In fact, this public space cycling path, exercise equipment, has become a landmark in Akranes children’s playgrounds and even a for outdoor activities and the Consultation geothermal pool. municipality has attracted more and TOKENISM more tourists. This is particularly striking since the implementation Informing of the pool Guðlaug which attracted 30.000 visitors in 2018. With this TION reinforced touristic attraction and A Therapy these new public facilities, it seems obvious that the local community is TICIP the main beneficiary of the project. AR Manipulation As written in the papers Akranes. is and Skessuhorn.is, locals are NONP generally happy with it (especially the geothermal pool) and some DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE the interest of the inhabitants. The are fascinated by Langisandur second one are the sea-swimmers and think of it as one of Akraness’ Artfiical beach pools Office Akranes is a 7.697 inhabitant members who worked in particular pearls. ©Birgir Þ Jóhannsson ©Astrid LeLarge municipality located 20 km north on the hot pools. of the capital of Iceland on the Skaginn peninsula. Before 1998, the ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©OpenStreetMap contributors town was 2 hours from the capital & METHODS USED (by car) but with the opening of a tunnel which crosses the fjord, it Langisandur is not an “actual” now takes only 40 minutes to reach project, but rather an ongoing Reykjavík. This tunnel has led to project with constructions and a feeling of economic inferiority, changes over the past 30 years. as Akranes lost influence over the The implementation of new capital. Moreover, it suffers from equipements is directly linked with a lack of public transportation the needs of the local community and poor-quality public spaces. that has expressed what it wanted Long Beach Sand, Akranes municipality, Iceland However, the inhabitants, when to local authorities. That is the case asked, do not have a feeling of for the installation of 10 benches remoteness (1 out of 5). requested by the elderly that live more about this project next to the beach or for the creation INITIATION AND ACTORS of the geothermal baths requested by the sea-swimmer group. Two major actors have been Consequently, this project would involved in this project. The first one not have been possible without the is the municipality which has always involvement of the local community. wanted to improve the place in We also need to highlight the role ©OpenStreetMap contributors 201 202 Culture | Tourism | Health | Sustainability | Science Karl-Bank Kallabakki LOCATION Djúpivogur, Iceland TIME PERIOD Since 2017 THE PROJECT Kallabakki before the change ©Páll Jakob Líndal The project is located on Kallabakki. Citizen control RESULT View before intervention B1 This place was originally a sloping ©Páll Jakob Líndal WER grassland on cliffs with a point of The targeted impact was achieved. Delegation view on the town. However in the The place is now used as a public 1970s, it turned into car facilities. space instead of being a parking Thereafter, the space was left Partnership lot. It also reinforces traffic safety, abandoned and used as a parking CITIZEN PO because those who are walking are lot. The aim of the project was to separated from the ones driving. turn the area into a public space The place has become a town where locals or visitors can rest, Placation center square with the possibilities talk and enjoy the environment. that a square this size gives. The will of improving the town structure has Consultation become stronger in the local’s and TOKENISM municipality’s minds. People stay longer in the settlement, it boosts Informing the attraction of the town and local businesses benefit from visitors influx. At the beginning, people TIONA Therapy were concerned about the loss of parking space. If some people TICIP did not notice anything, others AR Manipulation accepted the change and think that it is easier to walk there. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE town. They commissioned TGJ Design Studio to manage the The remoteness of Djúpivogur project. However, locals also Kallabakki full of people is based on several factors. The contributed to decision making. ©Páll Jakob Líndal population density is low, the transportation links are not good ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©OpenStreetMap contributors enough, the job opportunities & METHODS USED are very few and there are the minimum daily-lif The public space w e-support as created by facilities to live there. However, the arranging small wooden blocks most relevant remote characteristic in a row along the “Bakki” street of Djúpivogur is the geographical to separate the lot and the street. allocation, due to its location on Now, the two areas are separated the East-fjords. If the settlement is with big flower pots. In the defined composed of several public spaces, public space, there are some their quality is not good enough. In movable benches with tables. The Djúpivogur, Municipality of Múlaþing, Iceland addition, there is no central place local community participated in the where people can meet and gather consultation process for the making more about in Djúpivogur. of the town center’s detailed land- this project use plan, including Kallabaki. The WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY participation of the population OF THE PROJECT was made possible through public town meetings and workshops. The project was initiated by the This project aso benefited from the municipality of Djúpivogur in order public authorities listening carefully to have better urban planning in to the people’s ideas. ©OpenStreetMap contributors 203 204 Culture | Sustainability | Industry Neighbourhood plan for Flensborgarhöfn and Oseyrarsvaedi Rammaskipulag Flensborgarhafnar og Óseyrarsvæðis LOCATION Hafnarfjörður, Iceland TIME PERIOD Since 2003 THE PROJECT based on comments and inputs The project takes place in a harbour Citizen control from locals. In 2018, an open area of 20,2 ha that has been losing WER international competition was held its function as an industrial site for Delegation and a Swedish team won. They have the fishing and shipping industry. since proposed a development It consists of a new framework plan for three separate areas of the and development plan for this Partnership harbor. CITIZEN PO area. This ongoing process, which started in 2003, has three major RESULT aims: adapting the activities in the Hafnarfjordur draft project harbour since the fishing industry Placation Since the project has not reached ©Orri Steinarssonm is declining, tackling the lack of its construction phase yet, it is character, connection and historical hard to estimate if it has reached Consultation reference and adapting the space its targeted impacts. However, we to regional planning goals. TOKENISM should highlight the fact that the local community felt as if they had Informing little ability to influence the project. This is the case when a 22 meter TION high building was implemented A Therapy in the project and they protested against it. Thus, even if locals are TICIP one of the main beneficiaries of AR Manipulation this development plan, they do not feel so enthusiastic about it NONP because they cannot really identify themselves in it. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Hafnarfjörður but other actors have been involved, such as urban Hafnarfjörður is a town with about designers (Kjellgren Kaminsky and Hafnarfjordur draft project 30.000 inhabitants, located in Mareld & jvantspijker & partners) ©Orri Steinarssonm Hafnarfjordur draft project ©Orri Steinarssonm the outskirts of the capital region and the Architect Association (Reykjavik) in Iceland. Wha of Iceland. The r t ole of the local ©OpenStreetMap contributors gives Hafnarfjörður a feeling of community will be described below. remoteness is connected to its uniqueness and rich history. Since ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY receiving official town righ & METHODS USED ts in 1908, 1490 people lived in Hafnarfjörður. Now, more than a Since 2003, the city has been hundred years later, the population dealing with this development has multiplied, but despite this, the plan for the harbor area. It is really town has preserved a strong village in 2014 that the local community feel. In terms of public spaces, this and other stakeholders have been Hafnarfjordur, Capital Region, Iceland city is well equipped. However, the more involved in the project with a old center area has suffered from large open meeting. This was done its proximity with Reykjavik with to ensure good communication more about abandoned buildings and poor- between the planning authorities this project quality public spaces. and locals, and to ensure that the plan was according to the will of INITIATION AND ACTORS the people. The meeting led to appointing a working group that This public project has been proposed a preface description launched by the to f wn of or a competition to be held, partly ©OpenStreetMap contributors 205 206 09 France Unieux Dunières Sainte-Croix en Jarez Communauté des Communes of Monts du Pilat Genilac town centre 207 208 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Science Agora Bench Le banc à palabres LOCATION Unieux, France TIME PERIOD Since 2014 THE PROJECT people was organised for the design The Agora Bench was part of the Citizen control part. This project being public, Parc Nelson Mandela in Map (Big Bang Paysage). creation of the new Nelson Mandela WER the overall budget was managed The agora bench is in the centre of the park. park in the town. This project by Saint-Etienne Métropole and Delegation simply consists of the installation of co-funded by the municipality of a monumental circular nine meter Unieux. bench in the middle of the park, CITIZEN PO Partnership where several footpaths and cycling RESULT Unieux banc à palabres ©Sara de.Gouy ways cross. The aim of this project was to create an inter-generational The park and its furniture have been meeting point in the town, where Placation much used since they were created. people can gather in a pleasant The Agora Bench is showing signs environment. of wear on the seats, proof of Consultation intense use. Since the installation of TOKENISM the bench, new equipment has also been installed in the Nelson Mandela Informing Park. The main beneficiaries were the local population in all diversity, TION because they are the main users A Therapy of this facility, from the youngest to the older. Moreover, the Agora TICIP Bench project has been the subject AR Manipulation of several publications. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE of the project. They were helped Unieux banc à palabres by a multidisciplinary team for the Unieux banc à palabres ©Sara de.Gouy ©Sara de.Gouy Unieux is not a geographical landscaping, for the lighting, for the remote town but the place could signage and for the design. be defined as remote by its poor transportation links. Indeed, the ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY town is located in the suburbs of & METHODS USED Saint-Etienne and this fact led to more commuter-type travel, The project summarizes the increasing the use of cars as daily aspirations behind the park: it transport. However, residents feel translates the multiple usages this isolation to a lesser degree. driving the diversification of Also, the settlement suffers from a practices and postures with the lack of public spaces and especially public space. It also symbolises places where people can gather the diversity of its users and the ©OpenStreetMap contributors in a natural setting. In response to wishes of the town to open new Unieux, Auvergne Rhone- Alpes, France this problem, the municipality has possibilities. Moreover, the location reacted. of the bench acts as an invitation more about to stop and pause a while. The local this project WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY community was involved through OF THE PROJECT various consultation meetings and workshops. The aim of these The project was initiated by sessions were held to refine the the municipality of Unieux and landscaping project and the coordinated by the Saint-Etienne planned uses. Moreover, a specific Métropole, which were in charge consultation process for young ©OpenStreetMap contributors 209 210 Architecture | Urban Planning | Sensitive map | Heritage Local people tell the story of the town of Dunières Des habitants racontent le bourg de Dunières LOCATION Dunières, France TIME PERIOD Commune de Dunières From 2019 to 2021 ©Juliana Gotilla, Atelier Captain Ludd THE PROJECT people’s accounts of it. Just as This project is a part of the urban Citizen control important as the other activities, study on revitalising Dunières WER those that allow the participants town centre. There, a participatory to express themselves in a more Delegation sensitive-type approach was personal way. Sensitive map zoomed proposed. The activity attempted ©Urban Project team : NOVÆ Architecture et Ingénierie, Atelier de design Captain Ludd , Adhoc architec-to reveal the vernacular history and Partnership RESULT ture, IEM programmation urbaine (Illustrations : Martin Guillaumie) CITIZEN PO heritage of Dunières. The aim was to uncover information, curiosity, the The desired impact of the project cultural and human potential of this was achieved and this sensitive territory which is not encompassed Placation map had inspired the guide plan in more objective studies. for revitalisation of Dunières. The targeted impact relating to local Consultation pride/imaginary representations TOKENISM and stories was partly achieved. Unieux banc à During the year 2022 the town has palabres ©Sara de Gouy Informing the intention to use this subjective map as a pedagogic tool inside TION public schools, to work the urban A Therapy imaginary of Dunieres with the children. TICIP It will be displayed in the window AR Manipulation of a vacant shop in the centre of Dunières and it will be published in NONP the local newspaper. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE government. This participatory approach was proposed by Map of Dunières What future for Dunières center? Dunières is a rural town with a the designers of the Urban ©NOVÆ Architecture et Ingénierie ©Urban Project team : NOVÆ Architecture et population of 2,733 inhabitants. Project Team. Local authorities, Ingénierie, Atelier de design Captain Ludd , Adhoc architecture, IEM programmation Although the area is relatively entrepreneurs, shop owners, NGOs dynamic, thanks in particular to its and habitants participated in the proximity to the employment areas dynamics of the project given the of Saint-Etienne and Le Puy en fact that it concerned the renewal Velay, it remains on the fringes of of their town and it was essential these demographic dynamics due to have their contribution about to its distance from Highways or their daily need, their vision for railway track. Moreover, the town the future, and their emotional link has very few quality public spaces with the territory. even if it is surrounded by a great landscape and a beautiful forest. ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©OpenStreetMap contributors & METHODS USED Dunières, Haute Loire, France INITIATION AND ACTORS During the Urban Diagnosis phase, a more about Looking for ways to improve the Subjective mapping of the territory this project quality of life of their inhabitants was drawn up based on multiple and to attract new ones, the meetings with the inhabitants. local authorities of Dunières had A Sensitive map attempts to conducted the urban study for the convey the affective dimension revitalization of the town center of a territory, to understand the with the help of the Department landscape through a human-scale of Haute-Loire and the federal vision, to define a place based on ©OpenStreetMap contributors 211 212 Culture | Tourism Rock to Heavens Trail Le Chemin des Roches à Cieux LOCATION Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez, France Chemin roches à cieux ©Isabelle Daëron - TIME PERIOD photo by Pierre Grasset From 2021 to 2022 THE PROJECT elements of Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez. The project consists in the creation Citizen control The project received financial and of a trail in Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez WER institutional support in the frame and around its direct vicinity. of the “designer in residence in Delegation This trail goes through the Old the municipalities” program. This Chartreuse, the few streets of the program, wished by Saint-Etienne village and natural spaces. The Partnership Métropole”, aims to support local CITIZEN PO aim of the project is to encourage development and attractiveness for visitors to explore the surroundings isolated or rural places. a little further to get to know other Chemin roches à cieux aspects of the village. The final Placation ©Isabelle Daëron - goal is the development of slow and RESULT photo by Pierre Grasset green tourism in the area. Consultation Given the fact that the project is still TOKENISM in progress, it is not possible to say whether the project has achieved Informing its target. The last installations should be completed by November TION 2022. The project targets different A Therapy types of people: the inhabitants of the village, the informed visitors TICIP with an appetite for creation (those AR Manipulation passing through the season), the families residing in the Saint- NONP Etienne Métropole and also people practising outdoor leisure activities. Chemin roches à cieux ©Isabelle Daëron - DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE was supported by the Parc naturel Chemin roches à cieux ©Isabelle Daëron photo by Pierre Grasset du Pilat. In addition, they benefited Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez is a small from the help of the Cité du design, village located in the Regional which was in charge of the design and natural park of Pilat. The part. settlement could be defined as a remote place first by the fact the village is not connected to a ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY public transportation network. & METHODS USED Moreover, the remoteness of the area is characterised by a low The trail emphasises the qualities population density and by the of surrounding nature through difficulties in accessing daily-life installations interacting with the support facilities. The road network nature flows (wind, light and water). is in good condition and there are Moreover, »Rock to Heavens ©OpenStreetMap contributors some hiking and biking trails. In the Trail« is the redline and guides the Sainte-Croix en Jarez, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France settlement, there are few public visitors along the trail. This material spaces but no squares or parks. was used for the construction of the Chartreuse and serving as the more about this project support for local legends of Roches WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY de Marlin. The local community was OF THE PROJECT involved in the project when the project started with about twenty This project was initiated by the interviews with villagers. These commune of Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez interviews allowed to get a grasp and Saint-Etienne Métropole. It of the specificity and remarkable ©OpenStreetMap contributors 213 214 Sustainability | Local economy | Architecture | Design Design consultancy for the renovation of commercial facades in Saint-Genest- Malifaux and Bourg-Argental Mission de conseils en design LOCATION pour la rénovation des façades Communauté des commerciales à Saint-Genest- Communes des Monts du Malifaux et Bourg-Argental Pilat, France TIME PERIOD Since 2020 THE PROJECT activities and their development The project, located in the center prospects. Citizen control Shopkeepers currently streets of Bourg-Argental and have tools in their hands which Saint-Genest-Malifaux, is a work WER they can implement in the way that Sylvie Soutrenon at her shop door Lorrain’s shop front ©TYPOTOPY / photo by Pierre Hanau of re-reading of the local urban Delegation suits them. The project was made ©TYPOTOPY / photo by Pierre Hanau landscape. The aim was to raise possible thanks to the financial awareness among shopkeepers of support of the funding authorities, Partnership the need to renovate their signs CITIZEN PO but also thanks to the technical and shop-fronts, using the skills support of community staff, the of graphic designers, in order strong network of artisans and the to strengthen the commercial Placation involvement of designers. attractiveness of town centres and trigger a virtuous dynamic. RESULT Consultation At this stage of the action, it is TOKENISM not possible to conclude if the Informing project has initiated a dynamic. However, it can be observed that the continuous exchanges with the TION Bourg-Argental. A Therapy shopkeepers have enabled them Boulangerie Lorrain to overcome their apprehensions Tradition TICIP concerning, like the regulatory ©Sylvain Reymondon AR Manipulation complexity to obtain authorisations for the installation. On the other NONP hand, the mediation of a designer could favor the perception of the Magalie et Ludovic Lorrain in front of their bakery Design and graphic project by Sylvain Reymondon DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Communauté de Commune des renovation projects. The analysis ©TYPOTOPY / photo by Pierre Hanau ©TYPOTOPY / Sylvain Reymondon Monts du Pilat to develop the of the global project results can be This place, mainly composed of local economy. The Intervention made after the completion of the two communes, could be defined Fund for Trade and Crafts and first works. as remote by a demographic Typotopy (a group of designers) decline and ageing population also contributed to the project by but also by a lack of renewal of coordinating the various activities the supply of services and shops. and mobilising shopkeepers. By these facts, the remoteness is more characterised in terms of the ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY definition of the place’s identity. & METHODS USED We can also evoke a dependence on the metropolises. There are few The creative work consisted in the outdoor spaces defined as public. implementation of around thirty Traditionally used for community projects to encourage shopkeepers ©OpenStreetMap contributors life, they are now dedicated to to renovate their signs and Auvergne Rhone - Alpes, France parking, apart from occasional shopfronts. Therefore, local use. Moreover, these places are shopkeepers have been mainly characterized by privatisa in tion volved in the project through more about this project and congestion of pedestrian various activities. A survey was intersections. conducted over a period of almost four weeks. Individual meetings in WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY shopkeepers’ workplaces enabled OF THE PROJECT the designers to acquire a good knowledge of the situation of each The project was initiated by the shopkeeper, to understand their ©OpenStreetMap contributors 215 216 Landscape | Urban Planning | Design |Municipality | Community Frontage, revealing greenery Frontage, révéler le végétal LOCATION Genilac town centre, France TIME PERIOD Since 2018 THE PROJECT the plants made their entrancy. The The creative work is a landscaping Citizen control involvement of the resident and project in the historic centre of WER the green spaces department were Genilac, which aims to reorganise crucial in the project. Delegation the area with a pedestrian strip and a frontage strip. The purpose of the RESULT project was to give the residents CITIZEN PO Partnership an incentive to re-appropriate The targeted impact was achieved. Genilac frontage design concertation the space outside their houses, The street has been embellished ©Sara de.Gouy highlight the front doors and re- and the quality of life has improved. green the street. The intention was Placation The creative work has also helped to create a filter between homes to forge and strengthen ties Genilac Frontage and the public spaces. between the residents of the ©Sara de.Gouy Consultation street. Now, it is about continuing TOKENISM to create structures in other streets in the town to extend and Informing vary a successful experiment. The residents of the houses concerned TION were the main beneficiaries. With A Therapy the benches and the greening of public spaces that make the centre TICIP more beautiful, the inhabitants AR Manipulation of the neighbourhood and the town have also benefited from NONP the project. There were positive feedback from the stakeholders in DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE of Genilac. The design project was the town and the residents using led by the Cité du design and the the space. Genilac is a place which could be design manager of Saint-Etienne defined as remote by different Métropole. Genilac before Genilac after ©Sara de.Gouy characteristics. Residents have ©Sara de.Gouy difficulties in accessing daily-life ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY support facilities and the village & METHODS USED has poor transportation links with the other settlements. Indeed, if The activities consisted of the the village is located at only 24km designing facade structures from Saint-Etienne, there is not customised by the residents in much public transport to serve the order to rehabilitate two public town and a car is required to get spaces in the center of Genilac. around. However, residents feel Rue Louis Marchand served as a this isolation to a lesser degree. prototype but the project should ©OpenStreetMap contributors The village center contains several be extended to the center square. Genilac town centre, Auvergne Rhone-Alpes, France narrow streets but they give priority The project was developed in close to cars and are not very suitable for consultation with residents who pedestrians. volunteered to take part. First, more about this project there was an initial walk around WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY the site. After, several consultation OF THE PROJECT workshops were organised with the local population to decide on the The project was organised and uses of each structure. At the end of funded by the community of the first phase, fourteen structures municipalities and the municipality were built and a few months later, ©OpenStreetMap contributors 217 218 10 Estonia Aegna Kärdla Käru Lindi Viitina 219 220 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Health Meditation Center Estonian Theravada Sangha Meelearenduskeskus Eesti Theravaada Sangha LOCATION Aegna, Estonia TIME PERIOD Monk doing the dishes Since 2014 ©Kirke Tatar THE PROJECT place. The work of the center would The project takes place North-East Citizen control not be possible without financial from Tallinn on the Island of Aegna support, from private donations to WER in a building built before the Second institutional support of the Asian Delegation World war and used by Estonian universities, as well as from Estonia, officers. During the Soviet regime, from the University of Tartu. the building hosted recreation cen- CITIZEN PO Partnership ter. The intended goal or desire RESULT A window at that the project sought to achieve the temple was, and still is, to teach Buddhism Eight years after its beginning, ©Kirke Tatar and meditation. Thus, the main ac- Placation the project seems to have partly tivities/functions of this space are achieved its targeted goals. meditation, relaxation, research Indeed, the center has only been and teaching. Consultation in operation for a few years and TOKENISM some projects are still ongoing. However, given the fact that it Informing relies mostly on donation, the work accomplished remains impressive. TION The implementation of this project A Therapy has benefited the local cultural life, but also to the economic activity TICIP of the island, especially in summer The meditation AR Manipulation with tourism which explains center is surrounded by why most of the final users have forest NONP positively perceived the actions of ©Kirke Tatar the meditation center. However, we Estonian Theravada Sangha monks ©Kirke Tatar DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE Thitañāna (Dr. Andrus Kahn) and must highlight the fact that the only his determination to develop two locals were not receptive and The Aegna can be defined as the teaching of meditation and willing to accept the changes on the remote due to its insular condition Buddhism in Estonia. Moreover, island. and its rural character (it is fully the importance of the other monks covered by forests). In addition to that perpetuate the project shall these characteristics, the island not be forgotten. lacks economic activity, daily- life-support facilities and good ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY transportation links. This explains & METHODS USED why locals, when asked, consider this place as extremely remote In 2014, Andrus Kahn began to (5/5). In terms of transportation create a meditation center on the links, the island is characterized by island. With other monks, they a multitude of paths that connect started to renovate the building ©OpenStreetMap contributors its different parts by foot. There and develop activities related Aegna, Harjumaa, Estonia are only few public spaces, but their to spiritual practices. From the quality is good considering the organization of conferences to the small nature of the island. publication of literature, the actors more about this project of the project are willing to teach WHAT MAKES THE SPECIFICITY these practices in the island, but also OF THE PROJECT at the scale of the country. The local community is well involved in the The meditation center project activities. In fact, inhabitants from in Aegna island would not have Tallinn and tourists are increasingly been possible without Venerable numerous to reach this peaceful ©OpenStreetMap contributors 221 222 Culture | Education | Tourism Ave Vita! LOCATION Kärdla, Estonia TIME PERIOD Since 1997 THE PROJECT help of EU and local volunteers but Citizen control The project is located in a wooden most of the everyday work is done house divided into public rooms WER by Ave Alavainu and her network. and private rooms for living. The Delegation public events are held mostly in RESULT the biggest room of the house Partnership and in the courtyard. The aim of CITIZEN PO The targeted impact of the project this centre at first was to give the has been largely achieved. Ave possibility for youth to access Vita! has become one of the most cultural entertainment. But now Placation popular places in Kärdla thanks the centre is meant for adult poetry to the diversity of events. It has and theater and cultural self- involved talented people from improvement. Consultation the whole country who are always eager to perform. The main TOKENISM beneficiary of this project has Informing been the local community, who Poetry festival has gained access to culture and ©Ave Alavainu’s archive – photo by Ilona Gurjanova socialized through the activities. TIONA Therapy In addition, through discussions between musicians, actors and TICIP others, some cooperation projects AR Manipulation have grown from there. Ave Vita! was well received by the public: a NONP bus stop sign Ave Vita! was erected by Ave Alavainu and a bench was dedicated to the founder because in Kärdla and create a space for of her talent and activity. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE young people where they can have Gathering of Estonian language teachers Ave Vita! Centre for cultural activities Garden party Kärdla is located on the island of educational activities and culture. ©Ave Aavainu’s archive – photo by Harda Roosna ©Ave Alavainu’s archive – photo by Toomas ©Ave Alavainu’s archive – photo by Toomas Hiiumaa. The town could be defined Kokovkin Kokovkin as a remote place particularly by ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY its social specifics but also by its & METHODS USED economic inferiority and its low population density. However, the Since the establishment of the perception of this remoteness center, the project is focusing on is quite low according to the socialization, relaxation, through residents. In this settlement, the different activities like theater, road network is well developed poetry evenings or concerts in with good transportation links and order to raise cultural knowledge. suitable paths. There are several The local community and public spaces like kindergarten, neighbours have been involved at ©OpenStreetMap contributors sports facilities or cultur dif al ferent steps. First, they helped in Kärdla, Hiiumaa, Estonia institutions. Generally speaking, restoring the house and courtyard. the quality of these public facilities Moreover, they also helped in is rather good. the preparation of the events in more about this project several ways (making food and INITIATION AND ACTORS drinks, transportation aid…). Local people are also involved by their Ave Vita! project was founded and participation in activities. The is managed by famous Estonian project has received support from writer Ave Alavainu. Her motivation various actors. The restoration of was to raise cultural awareness the old house was made with the ©OpenStreetMap contributors 223 224 Culture | Education | Tourism Käru Heade Tegude Muuseum Käru Museum of Good Deeds LOCATION Käru, Estonia TIME PERIOD Since 2018 THE PROJECT RESULT The project takes place in two Citizen control houses from the pre-war era near The Käru Museum of Good WER Käru railway station, which have Deeds seems to have reached Delegation previously been empty for years. its aims, although a lot is to be It consists of a museum of local done according to the initiators. history which focuses on barrows Partnership Through effective inclusive work, CITIZEN PO and trolleys (Käru can be translated a number of local people have Käru Museum Open Day as a barrow or cart in English). already been reached to volunteer ©Käru Museum – photo by Sergei Trofimov The idea was to bring more active to keep the museum running. This cultural life to the countryside, to Placation new landmark in Käru has become involve the locals and to show the a gathering place for locals who liveability in the countryside in the are clearly the main beneficiaries 21st century. Consultation of the project. The initiative is thus TOKENISM well received by them, especially by active community members. Informing The museum has a strong binding effect on the whole community and is an inspiration to many. An TIONA Therapy increasing number of them are also ready to take part in the work of TICIP the museum, and there has been AR Manipulation significant growth in this aspect. NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE the activities started. Exhibition Exhibition Käru is a small borough of less ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ©Käru Museum – photo by Sergei Trofimov ©Käru Museum – photo by Sergei Trofimov than 400 inhabitants. Located & METHODS USED in the middle of the country, it is connected with major cities by a After the acquisition, an active railway, some bus lines and roads discussion began in the Käru that are in good condition. Locals community on how to restore benefit from a good diversity of the buildings and what should be daily-life-support facilities that fit done there. The idea of creating a their needs. The remoteness of this museum of barrows and trolleys place comes from other criteria in Käru was born and a campaign such as a lack of economic activity. to collect carts was launched. The Moreover, the declining population local community is actively involved of Käru also faces alcoholism and a in the work of the museum. As a ©OpenStreetMap contributors low level of education which do not matter of fact, nine local volunteers Käru, Järvamaa, Estonia help to develop creative activities work in the museum. This action which are seen as elitist. has also raised awareness about volunteering in the borough more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS by trying to involve those who would otherwise remain invisible. The idea of creating a museum This place is more than merely a in Käru has been carried out by museum, it has become a place Aljona Suržikova. After acquiring where locals can share their general the abandoned houses next to the concerns and ask for help. railway station on June, 22nd 2018, ©OpenStreetMap contributors 225 226 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Tourism Lindi Village Society Lindi Külaselts LOCATION Lindi, Estonia TIME PERIOD Since 2003 THE PROJECT encourage community members Lindi Village Society is a project that Citizen control to actively participate and share takes place in the Lindi community thoughts. centre. The village society operates WER in the Lindi community centre. Delegation RESULT Lindi community centre can be ©Venda Vinni considered as a complex of services. In terms of houses, there are two of Partnership The targeted impact seems to CITIZEN PO them - a new school building (Lindi be achieved. Through the years, Kindergarten-Primary School) many have enjoyed cultural events Joint activity and, from 2020, an old school and people’s concerns, thoughts ©Taavi Tamberg building will be used for trainings Placation and ideas have been upheld. In and circular activities. Activities are 2012, Lindi was even honored to taking place in the new house in the participate in the nationwide Open afternoon because it is primarily Consultation Village Gates project, through a school building during the day. TOKENISM which they also introduced the The old house was given in the use of the local community for an village to people from different Informing initial period of ten years by the parts of the country. Thus, the City of Pärnu for - just to promote project has been well perceived local life. Now there is a permanent TION by the local community. However, A Therapy Old School café, a guest house it has also faced a lack of financial and other services are coming in support. At present, the city of a row. The aim of this project is to TICIP Pärnu has given funds every year to make the voices of the community AR Manipulation the project, but these amounts of louder and to bring attention to the support are still so small that it is not concerns of the people. NONP possible to offer work to anyone on a permanent basis. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE NGO’s, they could receive funds, Sign of old elementary school, now a village Old school, now a community center/village society society ©Taavi Tamberg including some from the city of ©Taavi Tamberg Lindi village is located on the Pärnu. coast of southwestern Estonia. Twenty minutes are needed to ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY reach the nearest urban center, & METHODS USED Pärnu, with a road network partly in good condition. Yet the locals Under the leadership of the are not fully pleased with the village society, a beautiful sound road network because of missing chamber and a village swing have pedestrian walkways, cy been built ther cling e and a bridge has paths and running trails in the been completed. The traditional area. Besides the disadvantages co-organized annual Midsummer of the road network, public spaces celebrations take place every year. and vital public institutions are in With the locals, the village society ©OpenStreetMap contributors Pärnu. However, the remoteness of works to make the Lindi area an Aegna, Harjumaa, Estonia Lindi is reinforced by its economic open community where each inferiority. member feels the impact of their thoughts, concerns and words, more about this project INITIATION AND ACTORS appreciates the power of unity and values a pleasant environment. The project started in 2003 by the The local community is actively initiative of Taavi Tamberg. In the participating in these activities. beginning there was no support, They are co-organizing, taking part but since the direction of the and helping. One of the Village community center was led to local society’s core values has been to ©OpenStreetMap contributors 227 228 Culture | Education | Sustainability | Tourism There is time! Aigu on! LOCATION Viitina, Estonia TIME PERIOD Since 2018 THE PROJECT covered by the Ministry of Culture). “There is time” consists of the Citizen control rehabilitation of an old barn to a WER RESULT creative space for concerts and Delegation workshops. The aim of this project “There is time” seems to have is to awaken the local culture and partly achieved its initial goals. social life by creating activities and Partnership Indeed, a high-quality culture and CITIZEN PO excitement to a remote place. It is meeting place was created and also to organize events that bring the place is gaining notoriety, together locals and invite people even if the Covid-19 situation put ©Haki Helü MTÜ from outside. Placation a curb to some events. The main ©Jassu Hertsmann beneficiaries of the activities are the local community, local businesses Consultation and also the owner, Mari Kalkun. TOKENISM This place also attracted local culture people (film makers, writers Informing and so on) that came together and brainstormed on how to develop TION the region. In the future it will A Therapy hopefully create jobs and bring more guests to stay and eat in the TICIP region. Interest is already visible! AR Manipulation NONP DESCRIPTION OF THE SPACE than that she also wanted to give life to her family’s heritage. ©Haki Helü MTÜ ©Haki Helü MTÜ Viitina is a small village located in the ©Jassu Hertsmann ©Jassu Hertsmann Southern part of Estonia and near ROLE OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY to border of Latvia. All year round, & METHODS USED the place has a total of 154 habitants (2011) and during summertime, In the frame of that project, many visitors come here, especially local people, the artist’s friends for its lake. The remoteness comes with different backgrounds and from various factors, above all students of the school orchestra economic inferiority and the lack of from the capital have helped her good transportation links to reach with the restoration of the building. other cities. This last factor leads to Many Estonian creatives are from serious difficulties to access daily- Võromaa (Võro Land) or have life-support facilities. moved there recently, so she has ©OpenStreetMap contributors thought of establishing a “creative Viitina, Võrumaa, Estonia INITIATION AND ACTORS village” one day here. She has also organized a lot of concerts The old barn belongs to a famous and events that are popular not more about this project Estonian folk singer called Mari only among the locals but are Kalkun. She has been leading this appreciated all over Estonia. Even if project from the beginning. She according to the actors any financial found that this old building was support would have helped the romantic and mystical and she idea to grow faster and bigger, the imagined how special cultural project did receive little funds in its events could succeed there. More implementation (5% of the costs ©OpenStreetMap contributors 229 230 Publisher: Authors and Contributors Photography : The partners of the project thank Urbanistični inštitut Republike (alphabetical order): Adhoc architecture, Associazione Arte Continua, all the structures and individuals Slovenije / Urban Planning Associazione L TORION, Associazione Vincenzo De who contributed to the production Institute of the Republic of Anke Strittmatter, Erika Thümmel Luca, Maria Auer, Austurbrú, Ela Bialkowska, Eric of this publication by providing Slovenia (UIRS) / FH JOANNEUM University of Biberich [Stadtgemeinde Trofaiach], Andromachi their inputs. Special thanks go to: Applied Sciences, Graz Boliou [Stray Art Festival], Pasquale Campanella, Brezovar Ženja, Dimc Zala, Novak Hadriana Casla, Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou [Mouseion Lovro, Veber Jaka. Annalinda De Rosa, Manuel Maria Representative, Director: Topos], Lindsey Colbourne [Utopias Bach], Mario Ruas Costa, Paola Russo / Cristiani, Isabelle Daëron, Martin David Clark, Sara All the pictures published Igor Bizjak Department of Design, Politecnico de Gouy, Energie Munderfing, Benjamin Fernandes were submitted to copyright di Milano, Milan [Typotopy], Labros Fragkedis [Mouseion Topos], research. In case of errors or The team of Politecnico would like missing copyrights, the publisher Fabio Franz, Foto Freisinger [Stadtgemeinde Book Series: to thank Professor Anna Mazzanti apologizes and can be contacted Trofaiach], Tropy Przyrody, Mark Gahan [Utopias by the copyright holders. Urbani izziv – publikacije and Beatriz Bonilla Berrocal for their Bach], Anita Galler, Nicolas Garnier, Georgia precious support in the research of Gavriiloglou [Stray Art Festival], Juliana Gotilla This publication reflects the Editors and leading authors: Polimi case studies [Atelier Captain Ludd], Ilona Gurjanova, Emma Howe, views only of the authors, and Matej Nikšič, Nina Goršič / Elisabet Bjarnadottir, Dagný Katja Hrobat Virloget, Regína Hrönn Ragnarsdóttir, the Commission cannot be held Urban Planning Institute of the Harðardóttir, Astrid Lelarge, IEM programmation urbaine, Marie Kalkun, Tatiana responsible for any use which Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana Páll Jakob Líndal, Marjolein E. Kasimati [Stray Art Festival], Astrid Knie [Gemeinde may be made of the information Overtoom, Arna Rut Þorleifsdóttir Munderfing], Toomas Kokovkin, Silver Köster, contained therein. Barbara Karolina Kotowska, Panayiotis Koutsabasis Methodological direction: / Alternance slf, Reykjavik [Mouseion Topos], Christina Kragl [nonconform Human cities - SMOTIES: creative Urban Planning Institute of the ideenwerkstatt GmbH], Rebekka Krieger [Gemeinde works with small and remote places Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana Magdalena Chorąży-Suchy , Ewa Munderfing], KulturSpielRäume, Jakob Líndal Páll co-funded by the Creative Europe (Slovenia) in cooperation with Gołębiowska, Małgorzata Jarema, Beata Mońka / Zamek Cieszyn, [Alternance slf], Kristin Luke [Clear Village], Theresa Programme of the European Alternance slf, Reykjavik (Iceland); Cieszyn Mai [WW Wohnwagon GmbH & Dorfschmiede für Union. Clear Village, London (United nachhaltige Lebensräume eG], Flora Mammana Kingdom); Department of Design, Nathalie Arnould, Isabelle Daëron, [Forno Vagabondo], Costanza Matteucci [Typotopy], Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy). Josyane Franc, Juliana Gotilla, Sara Agnieszka Mocarska [Zamek], Vasiliki Nikolakopoulou de Gouy, Pierre Hanau, Costanza [Mouseion Topos], NOVÆ Architecture et Ingénierie, The contributions to this book Matteucci / Cité du design, Saint- Denis Oblak [Društvo za ustno zgodovino], Alekos have been peer reviewed Étienne Pantazis, Sara Patrícia Abreu [Madeira University], Caroline Pauchant [Typotopy], Gunilla Plank, Porta Technical coordination : Sara Patricia Abreu, Elisa 33, Prostorož, Agnieszka Prymon, Quinta Pedagógica Gurvan Séïté, Urban Planning Bertolotti, Susana Gonzaga / dos Prazeres, Špela Rakun [Društvo za ustno Institute of the Republic of Madeira University, Funchal zgodovino], Sylvain Reymondon [Typotopy], Rodik Slovenia, Ljubljana Mitsi Park, Harda Roosna, Barlas Sahinoglu, Mireya Thomas Delfini, Nina Goršič, Juliette Lambeaux, Grégoire Samper, Mirosław Saternus, Urška Sešek [Društvo Nicolleau, Matej Nikšič, Gurvan za ustno zgodovino], Andreas Staudinger, Modestos Graphical design : Séïté / Urban Planning Institute of Stavrakis [Mouseion Topos], Anke Strittmatter [FH Nastja Utroša the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences], Janez Strojan [Društvo za ustno zgodovino], Wiesław Kyproula Bartzoka, Spyros Szumiński, Taavi Tamberg [Lindi Village Society], Kirke Initial graphical layout : Bofylatos, Helen Charoupia / Tatar [Estonian Association of Designers], Teatro Metaphora, The High Mountains, Erika Thümmel [FH Bettina Gjecaj, FH JOANNEUM University of Aegean, Department JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences], Sergei University of Applied Sciences, of Product and Systems Design Tzoumakers, Urban Planning Institute of the Republic Graz Engineering, Ermoupoli of Slovenia, Biała Piska commune office, Vestfirðir, Karl Joonas Alamaa, Ilona Rota Vicentina, Uli Vonbank, Spyros Vosinakis Gurjanova / Estonian Association [Mouseion Topos], Julia Wagner, Walk&Talk - Festival Cartography : of Designers, Tallinn de Artes, Iwan Williams [Clear Village] Simon Koblar, Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Josie King, Kristin Luke / Clear Illustrations and schemes : Slovenia, Ljubljana Village, London Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou [Mouseion Topos], Labros Fragkedis, [Mouseion Topos], Panayiotis Koutsabasis [Mouseion Topos], Flora Mammana [Forno Vagabondo], Vasiliki Nikolakopoulou [Mouseion Topos], Lovro Novak [Urban Planning institute of the Republic of Slovenia], Modestos Stavrakis This publication has an appendix [Mouseion Topos], Anke Strittmatter [FH JOANNEUM offering detailed insight into the University of Applied Sciences], Jaka Veber [Urban collected data on SMOTIES best Planning institute of the Republic of Slovenia], Michał practices. Appendix is available at Moniuszko, Waldemar Rudyk, Bożena Szroeder, LINK Paweł Waligóra [Biała Piska commune office], Spyros Vosinakis [Mouseion Topos]. 231 232 Partners : Alternance slf [Reykjavik] Cité du Design [Saint-Étienne] Clear Village [London] Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milan [Milan] – lead partner Estonian Association of Designers [Tallinn] FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences [Graz] Madeira University [Funchal] University of Aegean, Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering [Ermoupoli] Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia [Ljubljana] Zamek Cieszyn [Cieszyn] CIP AND ISBN: Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 112691971 ISBN 978-961-6390-65-1 (PDF) This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). The text is available on the Internet at www.creativecommons.si. Publication is accessible on-line free of charge at www.uirs.si/sl-si/Publikacije Ljubljana, June 2022 233