SR Ekonaut and Placemaking Western Balkans are announcing an open call to associations and informal groups of citizens active in the fields of protection and development of green areas, advocacy of green areas and improvement of space in the local community.
If you are a formal or informal group of citizens from Belgrade and Novi Sad who gathered to improve their environment or preserve green areas in their area, we invite you to respond to this public call to create ideas for green areas that you want to improve and protect from investor urbanism.
Through this process, the local community gains an exchange of knowledge with experts in the field of participatory design and landscaping. Depending on the number and quality of applications, we will select at least two local communities with which we will first go through the survey process to research the needs in the green area they choose. When the results of the survey are collected, together with the association or informal group, we organize a "placemaking" workshop on the premises, according to the methodology developed by arch. Milena Ivković from PWB. The aim of the workshop is to define the elements of the conceptual design of green space that is important for the local community. In accordance with the results of the workshop, our team will develop a conceptual solution as a visualization of the needs and desires of the local community in the selected area.
The conceptual solution that will be the product of these workshops as well as the whole process of participatory design will contribute to making your association or informal group more visible both in the local community and with decision makers. This method is an activity that contributes to the revitalization of public spaces with the participation of citizens. At this stage, UG Ekonaut and PWB do not support the local community with material resources in the construction of the area, but together we are working on drafting a conceptual solution for the areas in question.
Application requirements for informal groups and associations of citizens:
- The group or association gathers and exists for at least a year and has at least 10 active members
- The group has implemented activities in its local community: e.g. organizing in order to improve and protect green areas, organizing local cleaning actions, collecting signatures to solve a local problem or any initiative that contributes to the quality of life through the use of public space
- The subject area you want us to work on together is in the public domain.
The application is done exclusively by filling in the online FORM
The public call is open until May 20, and the results will be published on June 1 on the website of the association Ekonaut and PWB.
Placemaking Western Balkans is a non-profit, non-governmental organization from Belgrade that promotes good design of public spaces using "placemaking" methods and tools. Ekonaut and PWB have been partners in the Garden Communities Initiative project since 2021 and have jointly organized two similar placemaking programs with local communities in Belgrade and Pancevo, where local green space planning has begun. In lower Dorcol, we cooperated with the association "Neighbors from Dorcol" in September 2021, dealing with the space on the corner of Herceg Stjepan and Mihizova, where together we advocate turning an abandoned area into a local park. In April this year, we cooperated with the informal group "Let's Defend Tesla" from the "Nikola Tesla" neighbourhood in Pancevo on the design of four green areas, between residential buildings, which local authorities and investors want to turn into construction land.
Placemaking is an approach to urban design that involves citizens in designing spaces in their environment, taking into account their different economic, environmental and social characteristics in order to obtain the best possible solutions for planning, development and reconstruction of cities. This process of designing a space that involves local communities, gives participants the opportunity to express their own needs and ideas related to the places they use every day such as parks, squares, neighborhoods, streets and playgrounds.
The project "Initiative for urban garden communities" is implemented as part of the "Green Incubator" project of the Belgrade Open School, with the financial support of the European Union and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The activities of the "Initiative for urban garden communities" are also supported by the Open Society Foundation and the creative hub Nova Iskra.
