IAAU 

Tirana -22.09-25.09.2014

 

For over two decades the issue of misused public space in Albanian cities has grown in visible terms. Space has been fragmented and broken into pieces as a result of the pressure to develop that, leading to transformed, and often not-so-community-oriented neighbourhoods.

 

With some good will, and commitment of the various actors involved, we believe we can transform these spaces into the most popular and frequented places in our neighbourhoods, and why not, in our city. Together with Partner Organizations and many willing citizens (of different interest groups), we have undertaken a series of activities, such as mapping, surveying, etc., with the ultimate aim to have at least 1 (or more) intervention/urban activisms on a neighbourhood level in Tirana.

 

The following images offer a glimpse of the two activities that took place during June-July 2014, in a neighbourhood in Tirana, preceding the workshop taking place in September 2014. These two activities are only but the start to a lengthy process of urban gaming followed by participatory urban interventions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban game – Play the Neighbourhood

 

The workshop will be based on gameplay/ interactivity principles that will simulate coalition building around important issues of public space in a typical neighbourhood in Albanian cities, such as the re-use of neglected, vacant and derelict spaces, a shift from ‘my’ to ‘our’ approach when it comes to how we view and use the neighbourhood, infrastructural changes for the benefit of all the residents, economic and social (self) sustainability, improvement of environmental conditions, etc.

 

Based on a clear, participatory methodology, the ‘play the neighbourhood’ game will see involved numerous actors who are directly part or could influence the development/planning processes within a neighbourhood. The situation at hand will have been extracted from a real-life context, and will build preliminary mapping and research for a better understanding of the interests, priorities, conflicts, and overall dynamics in the neighbourhood.

 

The game will compel participants to balance their collaborative and competitive behavior against each other in order to make the neighbourhood flourish. In a “safe” environment, the participants will be able to exercise and speculate about the best ways, strategies and instruments to develop their neighbourhood, all of which will serve as the foundations for the development of the masterplans from which the urban intervention will then take shape.

 

Applications should contain a short CV. The application should be sent to: urbego@ifhp.org

>> Deadline for applications is 1 September 2014

Successful applicants will be informed by 3 September 2014