SMALLABLE: Marginal Cities Network

ended

"40% of the territory and 30% of the population are, or will be in the coming decades, affected by demographic decline. With the depopulation, the significance of places goes lost. Culture, social capital, territorial infrastructures, conservation of built heritage, care of the natural heritage, essential services for the inhabitants, but also job opportunities, socializing and cultural growth, are lost, to the detriment of citizens who decide to ""remain"". These citizens can be hardly involved in the construction of EU policies: they are numerically not very influential and ""far"" from the main places of interest. They perceive themself to be insignificant in European dynamics and this is reflected in a disinformation that can lead to a wrong awareness and to a position of contrast and mistrust. SMALLABLE wants to discuss the centrality of these territories in the protection of European democratic values ​​and make them feel the closeness of Europe, promoting its values. Specifically, the project intends to lay the foundations for dialogue between municipalities belonging to different EU countries, to different but similar local realities. The project is aimed at citizens with common problems of marginalization and who, at the same time, deserve to be able to participate democratically in the construction of the future Europe, like the citizens who live in the territories ""closest"" to the places where strategies and policies for the future are decided and established. Young people from the municipalities involved will be the main target because for them the effects of territorial inequalities are very heavy. Why should young people choose to stay in a marginal area? A democratic Europe should work to ensure that they have the right reasons to stay. SMALLABLE want to collect and develop their ideas; mobilize their creative and abilities; stimulate their requests, needs and expectations; and, finally, help municipalities to translate their ideas into projects."