Stadt im Dialog 2
Civic engagement through P2P Learning
Start & End Date: May to December 2017
Place: Berlin and Hamburg (Germany) and St.Petersburg (Russia)
Participating Countries: Germany and Russia
Project Partners: Centre for Independent Social Research
Number of Participants: 12 participants
Grant Giver: Auswärtiges Amt
Funding Program: German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Auswärtiges Amt and Freistaat Thüringen Landesverwaltungsamt
Grant Amount: 62,000 EUR
The project of “Stadt Im Dialog 2: Civic engagement through P2P Learning” is a continuation project based on the previous experience of the ‘‘Stadt im Dialog 2016,‘‘ organized by CGE Erfurt e.V and CISR (Center for Independent Social Research). Evaluated from its strengths and weaknesses, the main motivation of the this project is to develop a civic educational program for urban activists based on the principles of peer to peer and learning by doing.
In the peer-to-peer principle, we try to accommodate the expansion of horizontal thinking of the participants, while avoiding the creation of any hierarchies in the models of horizontal urban development.
The second component of the project is to strengthen the education and training factors in the process of learning. Meeting with German experts, sharing and exchanging of expertise and experience with each other is a valuable opportunity for the project participants. This format will allow the project participants to reflect on their mutual skills, and further correspondence.
The third component is the emphasis on learning by doing. This approach is relevant for urban activists who are more into action. The combination of study visits and communication with colleagues – with the joint implementation of projects enhance this project and make it more attractive to urban activists.
Activities
The kick-off meeting was held on the 10th of June in St. Petersburg.
During the meeting the applications were discussed and the participants where chosen, establishing the initial discussion on the design of the Edu program.
Number of participants: 15
Profile of participants: Coordinators from Germany and Russia, expert-advisers and selected experts from cities in Russia.
A Study tour was held from the 1st to 7th of July in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany.
The participants were actively involved in the discussions of the design of the Edu-program.
Each of the participant prepared during May and July and presented during the study tour the idea (s)he wants to share. Participants could ask for online or offline (in St.Petersburg) consultation on this issue with the Russian experts. Related seminars were conducted during the 7 days of tour. As the closure, a 1 day-long seminar in Berlin (07 July 2017) became a summing up event where the core idea and pre-final design of the Edu-program was formulated (to be finalized by Russian team of coordinators and experts during July-August).
Number of participants: 22
Profile of participants: Residents of the Russian Federation cities concerned about the development of urban environment around water, keen to grass-root civic initiatives, and interested in participating in the proposed format.
A meeting was held in August in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The worshop included lectures, expert lectures, seminars, group-work in urban planning and urban design, applied hand-craft work, final seminar teaching/training, onsite research and participatory planning with the involvement of the stakeholders, combining p2p learning and invited experts.
Number of participants: 21
Profile of participants: Coordinators from Germany and Russia, expert-advisers and selected experts from cities in Russia.
Workshop and closing event was held from August 30th to September 5th in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The program for implementation in September was finished, including curricula, schedule, speakers (among the participants and invited experts), location (for classes and applied workshop) and agreement from authorities for the legal issues.
Number of participants: 15
Profile of participants: All participants from the previous activities of the project.
Methodology
The P2P educational platform of “Stadt im Dialog 2: Civic engagement through P2P Learning” has been implemented in a format of a series of activities/events as follows: study visits to relevant cases in Germany (for example Berlin’s post-industrial waterfront Spree area and Hamburg Hafencity), round table discussions with Russian and German experts, workshops and networking events, which at the end will lead to the production and implementation of the educational program.
- “Open Urban Lab” (OUL) in St. Petersburg with the project of “SAGA of the City Urban Space in Transformation”(http://juliakolesova.wixsite.com/openurbanlab).
- P2P educational platform proved to be a catalytic method for the participants to realize their local projects in Russia.
The project led to the modification and replication of the program in different cities in Russia. The expansion of the program in other cities of the country has been one of the most important results of the project – the ability to contribute to the expansion of ideas, skills, and formats involvement of citizens in the processes of civic education, horizontal planning, and urban development. The participants of the project in 2017 became successors and multipliers of similar activities in their own cities.
- City Authorities: representative of several key departments will be informed. Some of them will be asked for permission for the workshop to happen, and are involved as a speaker.
- Municipality: in St.Petersburg, municipality has different role from city government. We have gained contacts with them in relation to the waterfront development in St.Petersburg.
- Business actors: including landowner of some waterfront or neighboring areas who will be invited as partners in the project.
Impact
Gallery
