During the first week of October 2014, the Ensurecer Foundation along with Hochdrei and Raones Publiques organized a week-long workshop for young enthusiastic city changers. This event was held after a first week spent in Berlin during September under the program “Cities in Movement”. For this first edition, the purpose was to change the perspective and the ways to look at the city by exchanging different visions from two major cities: Berlin and Barcelona.

In Barcelona, the objective was to provide the necessary tools for the participants to become part of their cities and their own realities. Transforming the city into a public space and becoming not only consumers but also producers of the means of usage of the city is a major step to empower citizens. For this, the workshop was built upon three fundamental pillars: education, research-action and exchange between cities.

Among the initiatives presented were the CAF (self-financed communities) and the Project “Towards the Human City” (led by Global CAD), presenting the first results of the documented initiatives that make significant improvements in the way we think about and manage cities in order to make them more human and inclusive.

On the other hand, the research action was held in Poble Sec together with Raones Publiques,  a collective of architects and social scientists working on urban planning. During three days, the participants became urban and social researchers using different techniques such as: participatory observation, derives, mapping and designing their own research tool cards. The last day, the team organized a feedback session to present their results to the neighbours that participated in the research as well as to other passers.

More information and pictures can be found on the Cities in Movement blog.