EduCity Conference

The neighbourhood as a learning environment

Conference  Berlin, 25-26 January 2024, 10 am-6.30 pm. 

Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek, Blücherplatz 1

10961 Berlin-Kreuzberg

The EduCity conference looks at the potential of neighbourhoods as spaces for social engagement. It will present ideas and tools to explore the neighbourhood as an active site for mutual learning, innovation and capacity building. EduCity has a multidisciplinary and inclusive ambition and is open to researchers, practitioners, educators, civil servants and engaged citizens active in processes of social inclusion and community empowerment. The objective is to connect and provide tools to organisations and individuals who share an interest in the potential of neighbourhoods as learning environments.

The conference is the final event of the EduCity Erasmus plus project and will present results and learnings of the project all along with papers connected with the topic, keynotes, workshops and field explorations. The conference is a cooperation between the Educity partnership, including Bond of Union (Palermo), Les tétes de l’art (Marseille), Ideas Factory (Sofia) und Zemos98 (Sevilla), Tesseræ (Berlin), and Zentral und Landesbibliothek Berlin (ZLB). The conference is held at the America GedenkBibliothek, ZLB’s Kreuzberg branch, which is a public library oriented at empowering their communities by facilitating knowledge production.

The event is open to the general public and free of charge. 

Pre-registration open on Eventbrite.

Program

Day 1

10.00 Registration

10.30 Welcome from the host institution 

10.35   Introduction and program  Lorenzo Tripodi, Tesserae

10.45 Keynote talk   Bertram Niessen –  CheFare,  in conversation with Laura Colini (Tesserae, IUAV Venezia).

11.45 Coffee break

12.00  Session 1: EduCity 

• • Introduction – Paola Pizzo, Bond Of Union
  • EduCity Handbook – Lorenzo Tripodi, Tesserae
  • EduCity training scheme – Paola Pizzo
  • Compendium of local experiences
    • Sevilla local lab  ( Zemos98)
    • Sofia Local Lab ( Ideas Factory
    • Palermo local Lab (Bond of Union )
    • Marseille local lab (Les Tetes de L’Art)
    • Berlin Local lab (Tesserae, HAU)

13.30 Lunch break

15.00 Session 2: Changing neighbourhoods

• Learning from a process of social transformation in a vulnerable neighbourhood. Contributions to urban social work and social education. Francisco-Javier Martínez-Carranza and María Mar Delgado-Serrano, University of Cordoba
• The Production of Neighbourhoods – urbz’s experience from Dharavi Mumbai. Rahul Srivastava, Matias Echanove and Antonio Gioia, URBZ
• Schools at the centre of the future: in Brescia, urban regeneration starts from educational contexts. Camilla Pinoli and Carlotta Roma, Avanzi S.p.A. a|place
• HAU to connect – practices of belonging to a neighbourhood. Stella Konstantinou, Hebbel am Ufer

16.30 Coffee break

16.45 Session 3: Governing commons

• Neighbourhoods as Educational Opportunity Systems: The Role of Fondazione Innovazione Urbana in the City of Bologna. Irene Giunchi  and Elisabetta Caruso, Fondazione Innovazione Urbana 
• L’Ecole des communs. Anne Gorry (Radio RapTz), Frédéric Sultan (Remix the Commons), Maria Francesca de Tullio and Angela Maria Osorio Mendez 
• 48-Hour Momentum: Impacting Varusha South’s Narrative on the 2023 Political Stage. Tracing Varusha South’s Path through Actor-Network Theory. Denitsa Milsuheva and Galin Popov, TaM

18.00 Wrap up and Intro Day 2’s activities

18.30 End of the activities 

Day 2

10.00 Intro of the day

10.15 Session 4 A Learning neighbourhoods I

• • What happens in the city. Urban learning practices for adults in education. Anna Uttaro
  • Discover, create, act – reshaping the local by co-design projects with children and youth. Hendrik Weiner
  • Undrawing the neighbourhood with children. Kitti Baracsi / periferias dibujadas

Session 4 B Creative Approaches I

• No more monuments – what art in Sofia. Viktoria Draganova, Center for Social Vision
• Permaculture by One Field Fallow Brussels, Belgium. Alice Devenyns and Jan Denoo, Collective One Field Fallow – OFF
• Giudecca Paradàis. Teresa Ditadi,  Sarah Ndjo Fernandes, Vittoria Fiore
• The Aromatic Garden. Civic rite for the creation of the public garden dedicated to Don Roberto Sardelli. Daniele Mancini, Educator, Artist @ UNPACKED Studio

11.30 Coffee break

11.45 Session 5 A Learning neighbourhoods II 

• Made in Sishane Project as a Collective Learning and Making Practice for Sustainability of Craft Neighbourhoods in Istanbul. Aslı Kıyak İngin
• Enhancing Resilience Through Participatory Learning: A Comparative Study of Community Projects in Zumpango, State of Mexico, and Nuevo Leon. José Roberto Lagunes Trejo, Fundación Hogares
• Learning from Borgo Ticino: Exploring Socially and Environmentally Situated Architectural Pedagogies at the University of Pavia. Linda Migliavacca, Prof. Ioanni Delsante, Maddalena Giovanna Anita Duse,Tabassum Ahmed
• CircularCityChallenge – Learning processes – for both Local Governments and Educational Systems. Vera Marin

Session 5 B Creative approaches II

• Neukölln Graffiti as a Critical Tool. Rik Fisher 
• Les Suppliantes, une réécriture (a rewrite): art and utility. Organon Art Cie, Marseille based art company, 3e arrondissement
• Urban neighbourhoods, mental maps and inclusiveness. Susan Qu. University of Cambridge
• Brachland: Audiowalk about Urban Utopias in Weißensee. Katya Romanova

13.15 Lunch break / Urban picnic walk in Mehringplatz

15.00 Session 6 Parallel Workshops

• Urban Reconnaissance: intersectional city (TSR)
• Community engagement  (Les Tetes / Ideas Factory)
• Storytelling, co-design, reflection: creating a podcast (Zemos98/Bond of Union)

17.00   Coffee Break

17.15 Reporting and final elaboration of the workshop

18.00 Conclusions and salutations