The Liepāja Culture Department, as part of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, will explore and develop environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches for culture-led development and revitalisation of the city's vacant territories, preserving their ecological value, in the project “Future DiverCities”.
“As identified in the European Union’s Green Deal strategy, environmental degradation is one of the existential threats to Europe and the world at large. Culture as a way of reclamation or revitalisation of places often leads to the creation of new urban areas, the restoration of industrial heritage and the improvement of landscape architecture. However, the way people live in urban environments and the environment they want to see around them is changing rapidly, so cultural processes need to adapt, and urban revitalisation should be carried out in the most sustainable and ecological way possible, leaving behind the approaches used to date and focusing instead on environmentally friendly cities,” says Juris Jirgens, head of the Liepāja Culture Department.
The pilot activities of the Future DiverCities project will be carried out from February to June this year in Karosta as part of the “Learn. Discover. Think. Do.” It will explore the positive aspects of the void in urban space: vacant areas as shared spaces for the local community and as floating expanses that require temporary and fluent use as biodiversity sanctuaries.
This includes the question of how to revitalise vacant urban areas without creating new buildings and increasing the density of urban development. In addition, new ways of creating cultural activities that raise public awareness of the role of ecology and that encourage participation in the creation of an environmentally friendly townscape will be explored. Project activities will include discussion, trivia game, orienteering, meditation, engaging the local community in the art process, and involving international researchers in the methodology elaboration.
Until 2025, all project activities will be carried out in nine European cities – Berlin (Germany), Zagreb and Split (Croatia), Kuopio (Finland), Marseille (France), Florence (Italy), Timişoara (Romania), Eleusis (Greece) and also in Liepāja.
“Since 2016, the Liepāja Culture Department has been involved in three Creative Europe projects. We have the unique opportunity to join a strong network of European NGO partners, which not only offers the opportunity for the most creative Liepāja residents to experience exchanges in other European cities, but also inspires them to implement novel and exceptional cultural events in Liepāja. As part of these projects, we have provided artist residencies in Spain, Italy, and France, organised the Social Innovation Forum, given seniors the opportunity to explore and experience the world of virtual reality for the first time in their lives, and augmented the programme of the popular event “Illuminated Liepāja” with the installation “Multihouse”.
With the project “Future DiverCities” we will further offer new experiences and vibes to the residents of Liepāja and try to answer the project's over-arching question – can culture-driven projects create welcoming changes in the urban environment,” says Agita Auza, coordinator of the project “Future DiverCities” in Liepāja.
The project is organised by the Liepāja Culture Department.
Use Google to translate the website. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the translation.
