Warding Ecosystem Commons through Action-Research & Education

ongoing

WECARE strengthens social cohesion by rising the environmental awareness across several agents. Through Action-Research methodology vulnerable communities will identify, value and share assets upon which a sustainable, convivial and healthy environment is built. The overarching objective of WECARE is to establish a replicable methodology that may empower residents in their agency to improve their living conditions. To that end the project will develop three specific lines of action: 1. participatory socio-environmental diagnosis, 2. collective heritagization of ecosystem commons 3. the implementation of direct artistic actions by residents on public spaces. These lines will mutually interact along an iterative process that will inform the following outcomes: capacity building for residents to care for public space and its environmental qualities; guidebook of ecosystem commons sustainable management; and training of present and future professionals able to further develop similar projects. Based on previous knowledge within the consortium, three residential estates in Krakow, Bucharest and Barcelona are suggested as pilot areas, as they are paradigmatic case studies of nowadays socio-environmental conflicts. They altogether cover a diverse set of conditions -size, cultural diversity, geo-climate conditions – so that the replicability of the project may be feasible. The proposed consortium gathers expertise in the required knowledge areas (co-desing processes, artistic action, urban planning, material & immaterial heritage). It also relies on the potential synergies of diverse institutional capacities such as research institutions, artistic collectives, socially focused NGO, museums and cultural entities and professional organizations. The project is dimensioned for 24 months and will be deployed in the following stages: Preparation, Community Engagement, Performative Action, Evaluation, Devolution & Basis for Continuation.