CAE Team

http://cultureactioneurope.org/files/2017/12/pacifico.m4a

SCENARIOS ROOM The Scenarios Room (coordinated by Alex Meszmer, Laszlo Karvalics and Lars Ebert) used a timeline for the next twenty years in five, ten, fifteen and twenty years (2022, 2027, 2032 and 2037) as a method of creative thinking. This very ambitious technique was organized around three streams of thought concerning Information, People and Things. It encouraged collective visualization and…

STORIES ROOM The stories room (coordinated by Cristina Da Milano) allowed for stories to be told, and for discussions and debates to unfold, around each one of the four story-tellers. The social, political and environmental aspect of all stories revealed the intertwining and multiple facets between culture and science in real life and the need to address them consciously so as…

IDEAS ROOM “The next paradigm of sustainability” panel (moderated by Dr Nicholas Anastasopoulos, Professor at National Technical University of Athens) allowed a horizontal discussion around concepts of sustainability through shared experiences. Nicholas challenged the definition of sustainability between preservation and whole systems change, and introduced the concept of complexity vs what Adam Curtis refers to a “Hyper-normalisation” (acceptance and adjustment…

IDEAS ROOM In the ideas room, a panel moderated Jordi Pascual, Coordinator of Agenda 21 for Culture, UCLG, dealt with the adequacy of current local cultural policies for medium and small cities. Jordi challenged the panelists by posing two questions; are artists part of the solution or are they part of the problem? and second, how city strategies can provide…

SCENARIOS ROOM The conversation carried on in the Scenarios room, where participants tried to forecast developments that could impact the sustainable development of cities in the medium and long term. Starting by an analysis of current challenges, László Pintér Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy at CEU (HU) admitted that the science of sustainability has forgotten about the importance of…

STORIES ROOM Building from the ground, the stories room presented initiatives that tackled some of the challenges outlined above. Annalisa Cicerchia, Senior Researcher of ISTAT (IT) shared the case of Cinema Aquila, where CAE is a partner in the project. Cinema Aquila is a semi-peripheral cinema owned by the Municipality of Rome. Closed after it fell in the hands of…

STORIES ROOM The debate continued by asking how to transpose all these ideas into actions. The stories room offered four powerful examples. Salvator-John A. Liotta from Farm Cultural Park (IT) told us about the radical transformation of the city of Favara. Favara had a decaying urban centre which has been transformed by the opening of a cultural centre that puts…

By Anna Vondracek, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (BOZAR)   Like most of its peers, the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR) is deeply embedded in the history and urban fabric of its city. Together with other cultural institutions, civil society organisations, schools, universities and the local and regional political actors, we shape our urban reality and our perception of…

By Nicholas Anastasopoulos Where we are We have already passed the tipping point in which more than half of the earth’s population lives in urban conditions. As urbanisation is a trend which will only intensify, and as climate change is becoming a threat to life itself, we have entered what is now known as the Anthropocene, a geological epoch identified…

By Rosa Pérez Monclús and Carla Schiavone, Culture Action Europe Culture Action Europe (CAE) actively promotes the inclusion of culture as a pillar for sustainable development. Jointly with a wider coalition of civil society organisations, we advocated for the inclusion of culture in Rio+20 and culture. Advocating for Culture as a Pillar of Sustainability, in United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and in the…

By Tsveta Andreeva, European Cultural Foundation Including citizens and communities in decision-making creates wider support for implementing legislation, providing out-of-the-box solutions and strengthening democratic legitimacy. Culture contributes to this by engaging and inspiring people, challenging stereotypes and catalysing the social revitalisation of urban commons. This is essential for building more equitable and sustainable future for our diverse communities. In 2016, ECF…

By Jordi Pascual, Agenda21 for Culture On 20 October 2016, the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) adopted the New Urban Agenda, a document which is expected to provide guidance on the development of urban policies around the world for the next 20 years. The New Urban Agenda is a significant document because: In the “declaration”…

By Julie Hervé, EUROCITIES policy advisor Many European cities already recognise the importance of culture and the creative industries for local development. Culture is integrated into their strategies in a range of areas, such as innovation, branding, tourism and social inclusion. But developing and implementing cultural strategies that make a real impact to economic development and social cohesion remains a…