Cities in the 21st century face complex challenges of integrating urban communities. This is particularly true in the case of marginalised neighbourhoods where the lives of residents are affected by income, other inequalities and the often negative perceptions of the places where they live. Despite a growing recognition in policy of the need for more cohesive and equitable cities these gaps remain. The aim of this project is to connect researchers with practitioners in urban areas in Europe and Latin America to explore new ways of addressing these urban problems through an innovative method of “Co-Creation”; working with stakeholders and artists to harness creativity in marginalised communities to counter negative stereotypes, advance alternative visions and provide residents with new transferable skills and networking opportunities.
This project’s significance lies in: its ability to create opportunities for new collaborations to develop innovatory methods and tools to tackle the challenges of marginalised neighbourhoods confronted by all cities in the EU; the creation of creating lasting innovation networks able to spread this innovative approach across the EU and wider because and in building the skills of a range of future urban actors including policy makers, practitioners, academics and residents.
The overall objectives of the CoCreation project are;
1. To develop an innovative framework for the analysis of urban marginalisation based on understanding from residents, practitioners and academics from a range of disciplines
2. To develop and test a new methodological tool, ‘Co-Creation’, that brings together residents, artists, researchers and urban practitioners to address urban deprivation and stigmatisation; and
3. To draw up policy guidelines and recommendations for policy makers to be applied in different cities, for wide dissemination to audiences, including academics, practitioners and the general public.
To achieve these objectives, the project undertook joint activities through a programme of exchanges of academic and non-academic partners within and between Europe and Latin America. It was working across seven cities; Paris, Berlin, Oxford, Brussels, Bath, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City in order to ground and to test its ideas in a variety of contexts. The innovative programme included training in the methods of CoCreation, study visits to neighbourhoods in different cities, hands-on workshops in specific localities to develop and test the CoCreation method and seminars and conferences to develop a better understanding of how CoCreation can challenge the processes of marginalisation.
