CASE STUDY
A series of participatory workshops in the Municipality of Kavala
172+ participants from the civil society of Kavala highlighted the needs of the city, substantially helping the Municipality of Kavala in designing a sustainable cultural strategy.
What was this?
During major crises, we recognize and seize opportunities in the digital space. In collaboration with Place Identity we designed and coordinated 7 participatory workshops organized by the Municipality of Kavala and the "Public Benefit Organisation of the City of Kavala” with the aim of co-shaping a sustainable culture strategy for the Municipality of Kavala with 60 cultural professionals from the city. The 7 workshops were divided into 2 phases. 💡 The 1st phase of the project (October 2020 - October 2021) involved participatory workshops for the planning of strategies and policies of the Municipality of Kavala on the following topics. The workshops were held digitally due to the restrictions of the pandemic: - Evaluation of the cultural and creative sector, - Evaluation and standardization of participatory planning processes in Kavala, - Design of the cities' new identity 💡 The 2nd phase of the project (November 2021 - May 2022) involved participatory workshops for the design of small-scale interventions in the public space of the districts of the SSUD intervention area in the Municipality of Kavala. These interventions were about the specialization of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and to highlight the projects of the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy of the Municipality of Kavala.
172+ participants in 7 workshops
21,5 hours of workshops
36+ foundations/associations were represented
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Methodology
At Youthnest (now among) we use technology to enhance human interaction in the digital world, where physical presence is not possible. Thus, during the digital workshops of the 1st phase the 111 participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the terminology around participation, culture and digital tools (zoom, miro). 💭 For example, for the needs of the workshop, the subject "culture" was divided into 2 sections, the present and the future. The participants evaluated the implementation of proposals by the governance of culture in Kavala based on the "Culture 21 text", highlighted the priorities for the utilization of cultural stock and heritage, as a key pillar of the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy of the Municipality of Kavala, as well as the main characteristics that the cultural strategy of the Municipality should incorporate. ✏️ For the workshops of the 2nd phase, the 3 workshops had a single theme about sustainable mobility in the city of Kavala and were organized in two distinct parallel sections that concerned 2 neighborhoods - intervention areas. Module A: Designing a green route in the Old Town Module B: Planning school excursions around the 10th Primary School of Kavala The citizen workshops "Designing the neighbourhoods of Kavala" utilized methods both from participatory planning and placemaking organized by Place Identity. The methodology of all the workshops was designed with continuity, meaning each subsequent workshop used the results of the previous ones.
Impact
The series of workshops is now an example of good practice for conducting digital participatory processes. The Municipality of Kavala took the initiative to organize such an event online, at first, and then live. Thus, it enabled citizens to express their honest opinions and co-design the sustainable culture strategy. In total, 172+ participants from different backgrounds (professionals in the creative sector, representatives of associations, institutional groups , public bodies, academic institutions but also citizens panels, NGOs) shaped the results of each workshop, which will be taken into consideration for the Municipality's cultural strategy.
