Places of Diversity - Narative report

Narative report Places of Diversity

Idea of the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Public spaces as a field of intercultural dialogue and the promotion of social values​​“ is to inspire those who want to see, in their communities/public spaces, the promotion of desirable social values, such as understanding, support, love, multiculturalism, respect for diversity, etc.

Places od Diversity is a project jointly implemented by three NGOs dealing with public spaces: EXPEDITIO Center for Sustainable Spatial Development, Kotor, Montenegro; Leaders of Tomorrow, Amman, Jordan; Co-Plan, Tirana, Albania Duration: 11 months (August 2013 - July 2014)

Activities

Places of Diversity Intercultural exchange / Jordan, Albania, Montenegro • Visit of 2+2 representatives of partners from Jordan and Montenegro to Albania and 2+2 partners from Jordan and Albania to Montenegro • Joint visit of 4 (2+2) representatives of partners from Albania and Montenegro to Jordan

REPORT “Places of Diversity” Study visit – Albania and Montenegro 27 October-1 November 2013

Introduction Within the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Public Spaces as Field for Intercultural Dialog and Promotion of Social Values”, funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation, a study visit to Albania and Montenegro was organized in the period 27 October - 1 November 2013. The study visit was organized in the towns of Albania (Tirana and Durrës) and Montenegro (Kotor, Tivat and Perast in Boka Kotorska Bay).

The project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Public Spaces as Field for Intercultural Dialog and Promotion of Social Values” officially began in August 2013 and it will last for 11 months.

Project partners Partners in the project are organizations EXPEDITIO Center for Sustainable Spatial Development, from Kotor, Montenegro; Leaders of Tomorrow, from Amman, Jordan; and Co-PLAN, from Tirana, Albania.

EXPEDITIO is an NGO whose mission is to encourage sustainable spatial development in Montenegro and the SEE region through activity in the fields of sustainable architecture, cultural heritage and urban planning. EXPEDITIO was established by six students of architecture in 1997, after participation in antiMilošević’s student protests in Belgrade. The idea to establish NGO derived from the desire to work closely with communities on various urban and rural issues. Since 2000, EXPEDITIO is based in Kotor, one of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Montenegro.

Leaders of Tomorrow (LoT) is a youth-led NGO, active since 2007 in Jordan and regionally in the Middle East and North Africa. Their mission is to build a community of young Arab leaders who are educated, critical, initiative-takers, and capable of serving their local communities. LoT worked on many projects and initiatives, including EuroMed and YiA exchanges such as Diwanieh (public street debates), FOR9A.com (lifechanging opportunities for young Arabs), FADFED (public commenting), Mstkblna (prepping high school students), and Mo7aka (role-playing retreats) - that address youth challenges in the MENA. Co-PLAN was established in 1997. It has an extensive experience in regard to all aspects of governance and sustainable spatial development, urban and regional planning and development, activities at multiple scales (i.e., the neighborhood, city, regional, inter-regional, and national levels) and with a spectrum of actors such as communities, local and central government, businesses, donors, and civil society organizations. Co-PLAN has collaboration agreement with Polis University from Tirana and is acting as its applied research agent combining the practical live experience with the academic studies.

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“PLACES OF DIVERSITY” Project summary In many Mediterranean cities, especially those with less developed democracies, public spaces are often commercialized, or taken up by private capital investments. When planning public spaces the attention is usually devoted mainly to physical appearance, and much less to citizens’ participation in or the messages the space conveys to its users. Bearing this in mind, the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY” can be an inspiration for those stakeholders who want to see social values promoted in urban spaces in their communities. Although the project will be developed for the towns in Jordan, Montenegro and Albania, the set principles will enable their application in other places.

The overall aim of the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY” is to improve intercultural dialog between youth and civil society organizations from Albania, Jordan and Montenegro, through activities that increase citizens participation in promoting social values in urban/public spaces.

Specific objectives of the project are: 1. Increasing citizens awareness on intercultural dialogue and social values by using public spaces as a field to promote it 2. Improving collaboration between actors dealing with urban and social issues in Albania, Jordan and Montenegro, through joint activities in public spaces 3. Increasing participation of youth and CSOs in joint actions on re-thinking public spaces in Jordan, Montenegro and Albania The main project activities include: 1. Informing stakeholders about the activities, objectives and results of the project; 2. Organizing study visits - Amman, Tirana and Kotor - linking, networking and learning from good practices of activism in the public spaces; 3. Organizing creative workshops for young people in order to develop ideas on how to promote desirable social values in public spaces; 4. Realizing creative pilot projects in Jordan, Albania and Montenegro, with the participation of local artists, designers, youth associations, etc.

5. Creating a common web portal: How with small interventions in public spaces we can promote desirable social values?

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Study visit - ALBANIA AND MONTENEGRO The aim of the study visit organized in Albania and Montenegro from October 27 until November 1, 2013 was to visit project partners’ countries in order to meet and network with local actors and organizations dealing with public spaces, intercultural dialogue and social issues, exchanging experiences with them and learning from good practices of activism in public spaces.

Participants in the study visit were six representatives of partner organizations from Albania, Jordan and Montenegro, two from each organization.

1st day - October 27, 2013 The study visit began in Tirana where the participants arrived on October 27, 2013. This part of the study tour was hosted by partners from Co-PLAN.

2nd day - October 28, 2013 In the morning of October 28, 2013, a public presentation of the project and partner organizations’ activities related to public spaces was held at the POLIS University, beginning at 11.30. The presentation was attended by 68 students of POLIS University and 8 representatives of project partners.

In the introduction, the partners from Co-PLAN presented briefly the project “SPACES OF DIVERSITY”, stating its main aims and objectives and expressing pleasure in cooperating with 4|PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Study visit Albania - Montenegro

Leaders of Tomorrow and Expeditio. They mentioned a successful cooperation that Co-PLAN and Expeditio have had so far, especially in a recent project entitled “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities”.

After that, the partners from Leaders of Tomorrow held a short presentation of their organization, giving a couple of introductory information about Jordan and then presenting their main activities in public spaces: FADFED and DIWANIEH. FADFED is a public event involving the placing of white papers in different public spaces and inviting people to express their opinion, in writing or drawing, on various political or social issues, with the purpose of making public spaces the places for public expression of opinion and of bridging the gap between citizens and decision-makers. FADFED documents diverse opinions in public spaces, creating dialogue that is shared online with” tagged” local community stakeholders on Facebook and Twitter (#FADFED). FADFED tackles public self-censorship and offers equal opportunities to all members of society to freely express themselves in public. Instead of controversial local issues remaining hush-hush behind private doors, FADFED listens to the voices in the street and delivers it to the inbox and newsfeed of local leaders.

DIWANIEH is a debate program running since 2012. Organized in public spaces, Diwanieh offer possibilities for young debaters to speak about sensitive social and political issues, providing at the same time young people with the opportunity to learn debating skills. One of the ideas is also to convert unused or neglected public spaces into debate stages.

In the final part of the presentation, Expeditio partners presented briefly their activities aimed at raising awareness of values of space in general and public spaces as places where different values could be promotes. They presented several actions serving as examples of more diverse usage of public spaces: different artistic interventions, mural paintings, social events, yoga practicing in parks, etc., which gathered local community.

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The presentation ended with showing a short documentary featuring the project “Revival of City Squares in Balkan Cities”, which was implemented in 2011/12 in cooperation between Co-PLAN, Expeditio and KOR (Coalition from Sustainable Development) from Skopje, Macedonia. The project was aimed at contributing to the revival of city squares as viable public places that foster cultural identity and promote diversity through enforcement of public policies and active community participation.

In the afternoon, guests from Jordan and Montenegro were led by hosts to a specific sightseeing tour of Tirana in order to see different public spaces in the city where the colleagues from CoPLAN conducted various artistic and other interventions during the Tirana Design Week, implemented as a part of the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY”.

3rd day - October 29, 2013 In the morning of October 29, the project partners held a joint meeting in order to discuss the project activities in detail. The meeting was attended by six representatives of project partners, two from each organization.

At the beginning, the partners expressed their pleasure at the project being approved because it offers them with the possibility to meet partners from countries with whom they have not cooperated so far and to network with other organizations.

During the meeting, the following issues were discussed: 1. Informing stakeholders about the project and its activities by posting information of partners’ websites and sending press releases to the media.

- Partners agreed on using their usual methods to disseminate information - Partners agreed to send to Expeditio contacts of stakeholders in their countries in order to create a mailing list for sending project information and newsletters

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2. Study visit to Albania and Montenegro The partners agreed to circulate photographs and exchange presentations, while Expeditio, in cooperation with other partners, should prepare a report of the study tour.

- Study visit to Jordan According to project plan the study visit should last for 6 days.

The following has been agreed: - The study visit should be planned for the March 2014 (13th or 20th March) in order to coincide with one of DIWANIEH that partners from Jordan are planning to organize in the town of Aqaba in the south of Jordan, so that the partners can attend it - The aim of the study visit is to network with different stakeholders (NGOs, institutions, authorities) who deal with public spaces, urban planning, etc.

- The study visit should include meetings with representatives of Faculty of Architecture/Spatial planning to talk about role of education in context of public spaces planning and utilization; with public authorities; with Anna Lindh network members in order to discuss possibilities for cooperation - Partners meeting in order to discuss already realized and further activities of the project - Partners from Montenegro and Albania should check visa procedures - Partners from Jordan should inform other partners, during January, about final dates of the study tour, in order to have enough time to arrange for air-tickets and make other preparations

3. Organizing creative workshops with young people in order to develop ideas on how to promote different social values in public spaces and 4. Realizing creative pilot projects in Jordan, Albania and Montenegro -Workshops should be organized as one-day events, intended for young people, discussing what social values are important and meaningful for them and how they can be promoted in public spaces using small interventions - Several ideas created during the workshops should be then selected and developed into concrete interventions in public spaces; Interventions can also be implemented in inner public spaces.

- Partners from Jordan showed interest for the mapping of public spaces, which was an activity implemented by Expeditio; Expeditio should send them methodology - Partners from Albania have already conducted this activity during September 2013 - Other partners should implements workshops in the coming period October/November/December 2013, while public spaces interventions should be finished by May 2014 5. Dissemination of project ideas – leaflets, posters, in local languages - Leaflets and other PR material will be developed jointly by partners - A joint website – portal of ideas for interventions in public spaces- it should be created as an open page for putting ideas on how small interventions in urban spaces can promote social values; the website will be created by Expeditio - Partners from Albania suggested that instead of creating a completely new website it would be more 7|PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Study visit Albania - Montenegro

useful to open separate pages within the existing websites of partners, because of its sustainability after the end of this project; - Project’s logo – partners concluded it would be good to have a project’s logo although it was not originally planned; the partners can propose their ideas for the logo and it will be designed by Expeditio In the afternoon of October 29, the partners left for Kotor, Montenegro. The next two days of the study tour were hosted by Expeditio.

4th day - October 30, 2013 On October 30, in the morning, a meeting was organized at Expeditio office in Kotor with representatives of three local organizations from Boka Kotorska, “UrbaNova” from Herceg Novi, “Youth Cultural Center of Herceg Novi / Sinestezija Festival” from Herceg Novi and “Our Action” from Kotor.

These organizations are active in promoting civil activism, working with young people on different issues and organizing alternative artistic and cultural events in public spaces gathering to a large extent young people. The idea of the meeting was to establish contacts, exchange ideas, share experiences and possibly get ideas from some new activities or projects.

“UrbaNova” is a relatively new organization from Herceg Novi organized a few months ago. They work with children and young people belonging to different vulnerable groups, through interactive performances and theatre of the oppressed. They are interested in networking with other youth NGOs in order to unite resources.

“Youth Cultural Center of Herceg Novi / Sinestezija Festival” - Sinestezija Festival is a five-day artistic event that has been organized for three years now in Herceg Novi. The idea is to collect different activities into one and make Nerceg Novi “the town of artists” again, as it used to be known in the past when many artist (writers, painters, sculptors, etc.) resided and created in this town. Sinestezija is a themed festival that includes different events, artistic interventions, music performances, painting and exhibitions, racing up the city stairs (Herceg Novi is, because of its geographic features, is know as the town of 100 001 steps), all taking place in different public spaces, many of which are usually unused of in a state of neglect. They managed to obtain a space, given by a private owner, to create a Youth Cultural Centre. They have around 50 members and volunteers.

NGO “Our Action”, with a slogan “Work today for a better tomorrow” was established 3 years ago with the idea to raise citizens’ volunteerism and activism and connect with various organizations. They 8|PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Study visit Albania - Montenegro

organize different actions with volunteers and events that include different groups of people, clean-up actions, scouts actions, collecting of money for different charitable purposes, etc. Three years ago, they started coordinating the organization of events dedicated to Mother Earth Day, with actions taking place for whole month in different towns in Montenegro.

In the afternoon, the partners had a sightseeing tour in the Old Town of Kotor, which is, together with the whole inner part of the Bay of Boka Kotorska, one of the two UNESCO World Heritage sites in Montenegro.

The day finished with a visit to the neighbouring town of Tivat where the partners had a meeting with a newly established informal group of activists called SOVE. SOVE presented their interventions implemented so far in public spaces in Tivat (yarn bombing in a local park - a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fiber rather than paint or chalk, garage sales, story-reading sessions for children in open spaces, artistic installations, etc.). During this ideas and experience exchanging meeting, SOVE had a chance to learn about activities of Leaders of Tomorrow and they were very interested in the idea of FADFED and DIWANIEH activities.

5th day - October 31, 2013 On 31 October, the partners meet with the KOMPAS from Kotor, which deals with young people and has implemented many local actions involving young people and volunteers.

In the afternoon, the partners visited the town of Perast, situated within the UNESCO protected area of Kotor, which is very famous for its historical and cultural heritage, especially its baroque palaces and churches and the islands of St. George and Our Lady of the Rocks.

In the evening of 31 October, a public 9|PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Study visit Albania - Montenegro

presentation was organized in the neighbouring village of KavaÄ?, in the House of Free Thought, owned by the local organization ANIMA dealing mainly with gender issues. The public presentation was intended for all interested citizens and Montenegrin members of the Anna Lindh Foundation network. The presentation was attended by 13 participants.

During the presentation, the participants had a chance to learn more about Jordan, its history, culture, economy, gender and other social issues, sharing also information about Montenegro and finding many similarities between the two countries.

6th day – November 1, 2013 Departure of participants.

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APPENDICES PROGRAMME OF THE STUDY VISIT Sunday, October 27, 2013 | TIRANA, Albania Arrival of the participants

Monday, October 28, 2013 | TIRANA, Albania In the morning: 11.30-12.30: Public presentation at the Polis University In the afternoon: 15.00-18.00: Sightseeing the places of Co-PLAN's inteventions during the Tirana Design Week Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | TIRANA, Albania | KOTOR, Montenegro In the morning: 10.00-12.30: Partners meeting at the Co-PLAN's office In the afternoon: 15.00-22.00: Visiting Durres and Travelling from Tirana to Kotor Wednesday, October 30, 2013 | KOTOR, Montenegro In the morning: 10.00-13.30: Stakeholders meeting at Expeditio office In the afternoon: 16.00-17.00: Sightseeing tour of Kotor 18.00-20.00: Stakeholders meeting in Tivat Thursday, October 31, 2013 | KOTOR, Montenegro In the morning: 09.30-11.30: Stakeholders meeting in Kotor 12.00-16.00: Sightseeing tour of Perast In the evening: 19.00-21.30: Publuc presentation in Kavač (the House of Free Thought) Friday, November 1, 2013 | KOTOR, Montenegro Departure of participants Report written by Vesna Leković, project coordinator at Expeditio 11 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y - S t u d y v i s i t A l b a n i a - M o n t e n e g r o

REPORT “Places of Diversity” Study visit to Jordan 11‐16 March 2014

Introduction Within the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY ‐ Public Spaces as Field for Intercultural Dialog and Promotion of Social Values”, funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation, a study visit to Jordan was organized in the period 11‐16 March 2014. This was second of two study visits planned by the project.

The first one was organized in Albania and Montenegro on 27 October‐1 November 2013.

The study visit to Jordan was hosted by the partner organization Leaders of Tomorrow (LoT), from Amman, Jordan. The study visit included meetings with NGO stakeholders in the cities of Amman and Wadi Mousa, visits to LoTs intervention sites in Amman and its vicinity, as well as partners’ meetings.

The project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY ‐ Public Spaces as Field for Intercultural Dialog and Promotion of Social Values” officially began in August 2013 and it will last for 11 months.

Project partners

Partners in the project are organizations EXPEDITIO Center for Sustainable Spatial Development, from Kotor, Montenegro; Leaders of Tomorrow, from Amman, Jordan; and Co‐PLAN, from Tirana, Albania.

EXPEDITIO is an NGO whose mission is to encourage sustainable spatial development in Montenegro and the SEE region through activity in the fields of sustainable architecture, cultural heritage and urban planning. EXPEDITIO was established by six students of architecture in 1997, after participation in anti‐ Milošević’s student protests in Belgrade. The idea to establish NGO derived from the desire to work closely with communities on various urban and rural issues. Since 2000, EXPEDITIO is based in Kotor, one of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Montenegro.

Leaders of Tomorrow (LoT) is a youth‐led NGO, active since 2007 in Jordan and regionally in the Middle East and North Africa. Their mission is to build a community of young Arab leaders who are educated, critical, initiative‐takers, and capable of serving their local communities. LoT worked on many projects and initiatives, including EuroMed and YiA exchanges such as Diwanieh (public street debates), FOR9A.com (lifechanging opportunities for young Arabs), FADFED (public commenting), Mstkblna (prepping high school students), and Mo7aka (role‐playing retreats) ‐ that address youth challenges in the MENA.

Co‐PLAN was established in 1997. It has an extensive experience in regard to all aspects of governance and sustainable spatial development, urban and regional planning and development, activities at multiple scales (i.e., the neighborhood, city, regional, inter‐regional, and national levels) and with a spectrum of actors such as communities, local and central government, businesses, donors, and civil society organizations. Co‐PLAN has collaboration agreement with Polis University from Tirana and is acting as its applied research agent combining the practical live experience with the academic studies.

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“PLACES OF DIVERSITY” Project summary

In many Mediterranean cities, especially those with less developed democracies, public spaces are often commercialized, or taken up by private capital investments. When planning public spaces the attention is usually devoted mainly to physical appearance, and much less to citizens’ participation in or the messages the space conveys to its users. Bearing this in mind, the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY” can be an inspiration for those stakeholders who want to see social values promoted in urban spaces in their communities. Although the project will be developed for the towns in Jordan, Montenegro and Albania, the set principles will enable their application in other places.

The overall aim of the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY” is to improve intercultural dialog between youth and civil society organizations from Albania, Jordan and Montenegro, through activities that increase citizens participation in promoting social values in urban/public spaces.

Specific objectives of the project are:

1. Increasing citizens awareness on intercultural dialogue and social values by using public spaces as a field to promote it 2. Improving collaboration between actors dealing with urban and social issues in Albania, Jordan and Montenegro, through joint activities in public spaces 3. Increasing participation of youth and CSOs in joint actions on re‐thinking public spaces in Jordan, Montenegro and Albania

The main project activities include:

1. Informing stakeholders about the activities, objectives and results of the project; 2. Organizing study visits ‐ Amman, Tirana and Kotor ‐ linking, networking and learning from good practices of activism in the public spaces; 3. Organizing creative workshops for young people in order to develop ideas on how to promote desirable social values in public spaces; 4. Realizing creative pilot projects in Jordan, Albania and Montenegro, with the participation of local artists, designers, youth associations, etc.

5. Creating a common web portal: How with small interventions in public spaces we can promote desirable social values?

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Study visit – JORDAN

The aim of the study visit to Jordan was to meet and network with local actors and organizations dealing with public spaces, intercultural dialogue and social issues, in order to exchange ideas on creative ways in which public spaces places can be improved to the benefit of both local community and visitors and on how different social values can be promoted in them.

Through site visits and meetings with local organizations and activists the partners had a chance to learn about challenges regarding public spaces in Jordan, as well as to exchange knowledge on different perspectives that focus on utilizing unused or abandoned public spaces in Jordan and other partners’ countries.

Furthermore, the partners had a chance to meet with the members of Jordanian ALF network, and through public presentations and informal exchange, to share ideas of different activities and interventions in public spaces, ranging from small‐scale to larger ones that can improve the life of local residents and promote different social values.

The study visit also presented an opportunity for the partners to share the knowledge and experiences gained during the project implementation, as well as to discuss and plan the implementation of the remaining project activities.

First Day ‐ 11/3/2014, Amman The arrival of project partners from Albania and Montenegro to Amman late in the evening.

Second Day – 12/3/2014, Amman The second day in Amman included many activities. The first knot of the rope was an office visit to Leaders of Tomorrow headquarters in Mecca Street Amman. This was an introductory session to further discuss the planned agenda of the study visit’s group activities. Some planned activities were replaced with others due to unexpected bad weather conditions.

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The group first visited the Amman Citadel (Jabal al Qalaa) which is considered one of the most important monuments in Amman, being one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places. It is also considered as a very important public place since it allows people and tourists to get engaged with its historical ambience.

Amman Citadel offers marvelous views of the surroundings, connecting east and west Amman together.

Jordanian citizens residing in the area of Jabal al Qalaa consider Amman citadel as a crucial element in their surroundings, as it provides a space for them to engage in social get together events either within its boundaries or on its outskirts.

The second knot was the Amman Downtown, which is the hub area of Amman, considered a connection node of public transportation, logistics and central economical trade place for the Amman residents. The site visit included a visit to one of the oldest houses in Downtown which is considered one of the very popular public spaces for everyone. The owner provides this space out for artists, photographers and historians to portray their work and showcase. The group also visited two set of stairs, which gave a brief idea on the upcoming project intervention LoT is working on. LoT representatives provided a brief insight about the stairs condition and how they might look after the intervention.

Reviving, reshaping, restructuring staircases is one of the interventions LoT is working on within the project. The idea behind this activity of public spaces reviving it is to revive abandoned and tucked in, polluted stairs in Amman. Stairs in Jabal Qalaa and the Downtown areas play a major role in commuting.

They have central connecting locations within neighborhood, connecting different areas and mountains together.

Given that stairs make a very important element in Amman surroundings, taking good care of them and putting an effort by architects, designers and urban planners is a must. It is the desire of LoT to help sustain and beautify the stairs, put up their history in order to make neighborhood residents and users interact and help preserving them.

The second day site visit created a profound base and gave out a clear and basic idea for the project partners of Jordanian social, economical, historical and political situation, which clearly states that people live in a costly economy, and that they suffer from different social constraints on behavior.

Nevertheless, the country boasts an extremely interesting diversity of people, backgrounds and cultural heritage, formulated during its history and through influences of several dynasties.

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Third day – 13/3/2014, Wadi Mousa/Petra On the third day of the study visit, the group departed for the south of Jordan, towards the great city of Petra, a historical and archaeological city situated in the southern Jordanian governorate of Ma'an. The city is famous for its rock‐cut architecture and water conduit system. Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of which it has been carved. On December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.

Initially the plan was for the partners to participate at a diwanieh, which LoT had planned to hold in Wadi Mousa on 13 March 2014. The idea was for the partners to attend a diwanieh, i.e. a public debate, as an important example of civic activism providing possibilities for young people to discuss sensitive social and political issues. However, due to forecast rainy weather the diwainieh had to be postponed for the following week.

Nevertheless, the partners had the chance to meet up with Mohammad Hilalat and a team of young activists from different institutions in Wadi Mousa, who are, among other things, interested in improving public spaces and space revival in their city. They presented their yearly plans and activities aimed at improving the situation in different spheres of the community’s life, ranging from clean‐up actions, street activism, planting trees and greening city areas. The partners from Albania and Montenegro shared their examples of some activities in public spaces targeted at improving them in different aspects. The group together brainstormed on an idea of the Wadi Mousa activists, by which they want to set up a small park in the city but are encountered by different obstacles, including those of ownership and available finances. One of the ideas was that tourists can help supporting the Area by making an arrangement by which 1 Jordanian dinar of each tourist’s airplane ticket or admission fee to Perta is dedicated for the planting of a three in the park.

The meeting provided very useful in terms of the exchange of ideas and mutual encouragement to continue in efforts to contribute to improving the life in our communities, as it had been proved that even small‐scale actions can mean a great difference for the local people.

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Fourth day – 14/3/2014, way back from Wadi Mousa to Amman A stop on the way back from Wadi Mousa to Amman was used by partners to have a meeting in order to summarize what activities have been realized within the project so far, what activities still need to be done and to share experiences of the project realization so far.

The following activities have been realized: 1.1. Informing stakeholders in all partner's countries about the beginning of a project The partners used different methods, including printed and broadcast media, mailing lists, social platforms, their organizations’ websites, etc. to inform a wide range of stakeholders (general public, youth associations, NGOs, universities, professionals, cultural stakeholders, media representatives, etc. ) about the project, its aims and planned activities.

2. Intercultural exchange / Study visit to Albania and Montenegro The Study visit was organized in the period 27 October‐1 November 2013, and it included the towns of Tirana and Durrës in Albania and Kotor, Tivat and Perast in Montenegro.

The Study visit included intercultural exchange between the partners, public presentations of project partners and their activities related to public spaces, visits to sites of public interventions, meetings with organizations promoting civic activism, working with young people or organizing artistic events in public spaces, etc.

3.1. Organizing local workshops/focus groups/events to share and collect ideas for promotion of social values in urban space Workshops with young people/students were held by all the partners in the period September 2013‐ January 2014.

The workshops, which attracted a great interest and enthusiasm of young people, were aimed at examining what social values they hold important and encouraging them to think of creative ways in which these values could be promoted in public spaces.

During the workshops, different ideas were developed for small creative interventions in public spaces, some of which were later on realized in public spaces.

3.3. Realizing small creative interventions in various urban spaces engaging youth, artists, graphic designers, architects....

This activity followed workshops with young people, which served to develop ideas for the concrete creative interventions in public spaces.

Partners from Co‐PLAN implemented their public interventions in Tirana during September 2013. The interventions entitled “Urban provo[ac]tions” included five actions aimed to affect the public consciousness on urban issues, attracting the attention of the citizens toward some of the problematic aspects of the contemporary city. The tool used to do so, as also noticeable from the title of the event, was a combination of provocation and activism.

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Partners from LoT realized one of their interventions in Zarqaa, Russeifah, with a group of young volunteers, who made an effort to embellish their surroundings, coming up with the idea to paint educational and inspirational murals on school walls.

The activities to be realized in the coming period:

3.2. Identifying/mapping territories that will be used as grounds for promotion of social values in urban spaces This activity will include the identification of public spaces that are already used or have the potential to be used as public spaces and become grounds for different social activities/events, promoting of different values, enriching thus the life of local residents and visitors.

The activity will be conducted in the period April ‐June 2014.

3.3. Realizing small creative interventions in various urban spaces engaging youth, artists, graphic designers, architects....

Partners from Expeditio will realize all of their interventions and partners from LoT their remaining interventions in the period April‐June 2014.

4.1. Producing PR material A promotional leaflet in the form of notepad was printed in 600 copies and distributed to partners.

4.2. Joint web portal of ideas: “How small interventions in urban spaces can promote social values?”

The web portal will be realized during April 2014. When the web portal is set up all the partners will regularly update it with information, ideas and good practice examples.

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Fifth Day – 15/3/2014, Amman/ Zarqa The fifth day included a visit to Zarqaa, Russeifah in the vicinity of Amman, where the partners from LoT realized one of their project interventions, in cooperation with a group of young volunteers gathered around a local youth centre. These young people put an effort to beautify their surroundings and came up with the idea to paint educational and inspirational murals on the school walls using quotes and drawings, such as: “Jordan first”, “Water makes Everything Alive”, “Neighborhood cleanliness, is our Cleanliness”. During the site visit the partners were accompanied by a representative of volunteers and the local centre who spoke about centre’s activities and showed them a neglected nursery school yard which they intend to develop so that it can be used by children. The partners also had a chance to visit the centre, meet its leaders and learn more about their activities, which, in addition to conducting voluntary actions, include the hosting of workshops and lectures about important topics directly related to environmental awareness and recycling.

The partners were particularly impressed by the dedication of young people they met. Their enthusiasm and willingness to change things for the better proves that among ordinary people and community there lies tremendous potential to improve things.

In the afternoon a meeting with the Jordanian Anna Lindh network was held in Amman at the Royal Institute for Inter‐Faith Studies.

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The meeting was attended by 24 participants, representative of project partners and members of Anna Lindh network, who used this opportunity to establish contacts and share their experiences and ideas.

The meeting also included public presentations of the activities of Expeditio and Co‐PLAN related to interventions in public spaces.

Sixth Day – 16/3/2014 Departure of participants.

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PROGRAMME OF THE STUDY VISIT

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Activities

Places of Diversity Developing ideas and implementing creative interventions in urban spaces • Organizing local workshops/focus groups/events to share and collect ideas for promotion social values in urban space

Introduction Within the project “PLACES OF DIVERSITY - Public Spaces as Field for Intercultural Dialog and Promotion of Social Values”, funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation, creative workshops for young people were organized in order to develop ideas on how to promote desirable social values in public spaces.

Workshop in Amman, Jordan Leaders of Tomorrow Recreating Reviving and Utilising public spaces workshop took place on the 18th of January 2014. in news cafe Amman, in Rainbow street.

This Recreating Reviving and Utilising Public spaces workshop was basically organised to benefit, students, fresh graduates and employees who are interested in the Urban Architecture and planning in addition to those who are interested in design and graphics.

Activities A series of activities in this workshop included, an introductory session of participants, followed by an ice breaking session that was relevant to the actual topic of the workshop. We also presented leaders of tomorrow and its position towards reviving public spaces in general, which is playing an important role in our Jordanian Community, in the sense of creating, re-establishing and rediscovering new public spaces, by utilising them and implementing a variety of different initiatives taking place in the shape of public debates such as diwanieh, research methodologies ‘white sheets of paper spread around in different areas’ resembled in Fadfed, in addition to Role playing techniques such as Mu7aka, in different areas around the kingdom, which also gives people the chance to collaborate and interact with the public space; inducing it with creativity and absorbing what it has to offer.

Objectives One of our main objectives for this workshop, was to gather professionals, young initiative takers, students and enthusiasts about urban planning, architectural surveying and creative solutions created by young professionals concerned with arts and designs.

We also aimed to gather these young professionals and give them a chance to interact and discuss social and community problems that faced them during their studies and implementation of actual projects they worked on and developed. In addition to helping them raise solutions on such environmental problems, This gave us insight and helped us transform these ideas and obstacles, into fruitful ideas that we brainstormed about.

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Discussions and Training activities This local workshop was an essential part for the documentation of ideas for the mapping out out public spaces project, which helped participants identify and produce valid arguments and efficient artistic and urban solutions.

The training activities were diverse, they began with an ice breaking session associated with the topic of the workshop. This was followed by an interesting presentation of LOT’s interesting initiatives that focus on recreating, reviving and utilising public spaces throughout it’s initiatives that are concerned with exposing the public to spaces that allows them to experience cultural and social events, in a public manner such as “Diwanieh”; an open space for freedom of expression and public debates, added to that Fadfed; white sheets spread around areas, that helps people express their ideas, and create a destination for people towards public spaces.

One of the latter activities was to pick one of the questions raised about Public spaces, sit in groups, discuss it and come up with WH questions that offers interesting outcomes on the questions raised. which were; what is a public space?, what are the dominant social norms forced on a public space? What affects social behaviour in a public space? How do you imagine your favorite public space would be like?.

Small discussions were formed which resulted in a larger group discussion afterwards. The most important part of the workshop took part at last where the participants were divided into 5 different groups, each group had to develop their own understanding of a public place and come up with a set of contemporary ideas on how to revive, recreate and utilise public spaces in Jordan as a whole.

Conclusion The ideas were filtered thoroughly, where we came out with the most interesting and applicable ideas. Concept notes were further developed on these three ideas as follows.

Participants were very eager to start working on these illustrated ideas and evaluated the workshop as a great experience, in terms of information, activities and the idea behind the project that they were very eager to work on, they also mentioned that the idea behind reviving public spaces is much needed for our country here in Jordan.

Acknowledgements We extend our sincere appreciation to our sponsors and invite you to support these community-minded organizations. who collaborated in working on the mapping out of public spaces project which are leaders of Tomorrow, Co plan in Albania and Expeditio in Montenegro, and our Program and project Sponsor Anna Lindh Foundation.

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Concept Notes Manifesto/ Mural Leaders of Tomorrow is organising a project called ‘’Mithaq’’ funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation . The overall concept behind this project is; creation of a 20 metre artwork mural painted directly on a wall, or other large permanent surface that has to be artistic and interactive to be set out for the public, featuring people’s input, ideas, words that sheds light on their sense of belonging to their neighbourhood, area and surroundings ,where they have the chance to contribute to such ‘’street art work’’ being designed to foster creativity and engage members of the community to respect their environment.

Who is it for?

This project is aiming at attracting the public’s attention of all ages having an impact on their behavior, and changing the attitude of passers by, applying it in certain neighborhoods where people live and work.

Rationale The direct rationale behind this project is to shed light and address social issues, enhance the communication of divided community members, provide an area with the aesthetic improvement, and give them a reason to facilitate their sense of belonging to a space in a civilized interactive way. This can be used as a method of creating dialogue between these neighborhood members. in addition to creating a cultural artifact.

Project objectives and strategy Our first and main objective is to create a resolution landmark for the cultural problems of a specific neighborhood secondly we want to help beautify the surroundings by designing an artwork where artists can join their efforts and come up with great ideas in an influential artwork. Help participants by giving them a space to collaborate their individual ideas in a group project; in addition to empowering their sense of accomplishment towards their community.

Project activities To start with, we need to decide on a size for this mural, help building this permanent mural, come up with an idea, of how to collaborate Artists ideas and community members and passers by to help adding their input in a simple way that speaks to their minds, using simple tools; to help avoid future vandalism and help maintain keeping this mural standing as a cultural and a social landmark.

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Thank You for Using me ‫شكرا ألنك استعملتني‬ Leaders of Tomorrow is organizing a project called ‘’Thank you for” funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation. The overall concept behind this project is; utilizing crossing bridges and zebra crossing lines, and Garbage bins in an artistic way to help motivate Pedestrians and passers-by to use these public properties. Transform the experience from being very traditional into a fun, artistic learning experience. By giving them more control over their action and help spread awareness about safety precautions.

Who are the audience for this project?

Our target audience in this project are basically pedestrians, passers- by, and citizens of the surrounding areas. To help assist and inspire them in their crossing and garbage disposal experience.

Rationale There are many reasons and logics for this specific project. However our very first and main objective is to Utilise the unused surfaces of Zebra crossing lines, bridges and garbage bins to inform its users, throughout a visually interesting, and an informative experience about the bridge, and about the personal individual facilitation of bridges, the garbage bin or the zebra crossing lines. The second rationale is to spread awareness about the importance of facilitation and utilisation of the great public properties offered for our safety, and environmental wellbeing, that are rarely being used by Jordanian citizens. Thirdly we want to provide for citizens, pedestrians and passers-by a creative experimentation away from the norm, to motivate them to use the crossing lines, walk on bridges and not littering.

Project objectives and strategy by creating a visual artistic campaign, that can either be Graffiti artwork on bridges, or stencil artwork on garbage bins and zebra crossing lines and stairs Project activities The main activities requested from participants is to map out some of the main crossing bridges; spread around vital regions in Amman, target certain Traffic lights; and pick out certain garbage bins, come up with a methodology of how to apply identifiable forms of artistic illustrative artwork, to be applied either on bridge sideways, garbage bins surfaces, and Zebra crossing lines. As a group they need to identify the type of artwork and meet this unrecognized need of citizens and pedestrians.

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Amman Stairs Leaders of Tomorrow is organizing a project called ‘’Amman Stairs” funded by the Anna Lindh Foundation . The overall concept behind this project is; to map out vital connecting stairs in Amman City, which play a major role in its historical value, whereas many stairs are situated in areas that help the commuter to navigate from one place to another in the same area block.

Who are the audience for this project?

The main target audience of this particular project are basically, passers-by of all ages and backgrounds. Where they can use the stairs to facilitate them and at the same time, get healthy Rationale In Amman City, stairs are widely spread that are built, but do not serve an actual purpose for people, because some of them or actually most of them are not identified by people; concerning their locations and destinations . Many of the stairs are also tucked- away and very unappealing for the users and are not facilitated for the purpose of climbing them..

Above listed are many reasons to conduct this kind of a project.

Project objectives and strategy the project objective and strategy is basically to rethink the actual approach to stairs by including several elements to it that help vitalising ,reviving and allows citizens to spot these stairs, from a distance and be aware of their purpose and their connection destination.

Project activities Participants are asked to locate some of the main staircases in Amman , that connect several areas of Amman together, and applying different measures, such as applying carpentry, lights, or even using music and film projections, to help reviving and attracting people’s attention to increase stair use.

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Workshop in Herceg Novi, Montenegro Expeditio The workshop was held in the Youth Cultural Center in Herceg Novi, Boka Kotorska, on Sunday, 15 December 2013. It was intended from young people from all over Montenegro interested in sharing their ideas of social values (tolerance, love, multi-culturality) and expressing them in different forms, such as photography, graffiti, paintings, music, acting, web site, blog ... or some other means.

Workshop agenda 9.30h

Participanst gathering in OKC Herceg Novi (Kružni tok u Meljinama – Zgrada u kojoj se nalazi prodavnica MEX, II sprat)

10.00h

Public space artistic activities - Tanja Radež, designer from Ljubljana, Slovania

11.30h

Introduction and presenting participants

12:00h

About the public space

13:00h

Lunch break

13:30h

My public space

14:00h

Messages in public space

14:40h

Creative ideas

15:00

Feedback and closing remarks

The workshop was preceded by a presentation of the designer, Tanja Radez, from Ljubljana, Slovenia, who presented some interesting examples of her own interventions in public spaces.

The workshop was attended by 20 participants, including 16 high school and university students from the municipalities of Herceg Novi, Tivat and Kotor.

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Announcing leaflet During the workshop, young people recognized various places, currently mostly unused or used in an inadequate way, in the towns of Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi that could be used for different cultural events, artistic interventions or gatherings of young people.

They also stated different activities/events that could be organized in public spaces, which is currently not the case : - Street theatre, exhibitions, extracurricular activities, artistic residential exchanges, artistic bazaars, playgrounds for younger children - Thematic parties, amusement parks, weekend live performances, skate parks, concerts-festivals, public ateliers, trade shows, presentations of international food, competitions, sports competitions, junk fairs, etc.

- Workshops, trainings, creative camps - Spaces for camping, barbequing, for pets, etc.

Young people proposes the following idea for interventions: - Messages promoting different values in public spaces - Artistic bazaars in town squares - Music festival on Mamula island - Creative camps: developing the society through volunteerism and multiculturalism; exhibitions for famous and unknown artists in order to spread love, peace, tolerance, etc.

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Workshop in Tirana, Albania Co Plan The workshop was held by the partner Co-PLAN from Tirana in September 2013 during the Tirana Design Week. It was held at Polis University, the International School of Architecture and Urban Development Policies in Tirana. The aim of the workshop was to develop ideas for small creative interventions in public spaces. Some of these ideas, entitled Urban provo[ac]tions, were later on realized in Tirana.

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Activities

Places of Diversity Developing ideas and implementing creative interventions in urban spaces • Realizing small creative interventions in various urban spaces engaging youth, artists, graphic designers, architects....

REPORT “Places of Diversity” Creative activities Albania 2013

"Urban provo[ac]tions" aimed to affect the public consciousness on urban issues, attracting the attention of the citizens toward some of the problematic aspects of the contemporary city. The tool used to do so, as also noticeable from the title of the event, was a combination of provocation and activism.

In this particular moment of crisis when the youngest generations feel a sense of frustration derived from the impossibility to directly influence the city, the provocation becomes a mean, not only for conveying messages but most importantly, for generating feedback from the environment.

In particular there were organized five provo[ac]tions, each one focused on a particular problematic and all having in common the need to act in misused or disused spaces in the city.

The five main provo[ac]tions where accompanied by a number of smaller interventions in the city, always aiming to bring back the attention of the inhabitants to the urban issues of the everyday life.

Albania activity #1: The lightway The first provo[ac]tion intended to deal with the waterfront of the artificial lake of Tirana. The coastline is only partially part of the Tirana Big Park, neglecting so a big portion of land of immense potentials. The working group needed to show that activities can be organized even in the misused part of the lake coastline so they created a movie projection event followed by a debate and concluded by a party lasting until the late hours of the following morning. Since the main objective was to attract attention to this area, a 370 meters long, lit rope was used to physically connect the two sides of the lake and ideally bring together the park and the neglected space. The view of a crowd of people, watching movies and partying at the far end of a lightway floating on the lake was not an everyday scene for many visitors of the park that, provoked by this action, joined the event and temporally reactivated a new space in the city.

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Albania activity #2: Missing standards of the sidewalks in Tirana The second provo[ac]tion needed to bring to light the missing standards of the sidewalks in Tirana. A very important issue considering that fact because of the not standardized sidewalk, big portions of the city are practically inaccessible, to a big number of categories. During one evening, the missing ramps, the dangerous objects and the narrow passages where brought to light in "Komuna e Parisit" street by painting on the ground a number of signs and icons pointing at the problems. The next day the participants to the provo[ac]tion conduced a sensitization campaign in the same neighbourhood, discussing and interacting with the inhabitants.

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Albania activity #3: “Gamescape” The third provo[ac]tion turned an abandoned space, inside a housing block, into a “gamescape”, an artificial landscape, dedicated to the playing moment as an important event in the contemporary city. In this case a participatory project was initialized where through the contribute of the children of the block, a very chip playground was created.

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Creative action #4: Pollution created by the chewing gum The forth provo[ac]tion used an artistic performance as the mean to transmit messages concerning the pollution created by the chewing gum.

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Creative action #5: Creating a space through the new activities The fifth provo[ac]tion investigated the possibly of creating a space through the input of new activities.

A tunnel, going through a housing block, was painted with a particular paint, able to glow in the dark.

The tunnel so, after dark, turned from a transitory space to a stationary place where the presence of the music and some drinks managed to gather a big number of people that only needed a good pretext to gather in a public space and share some time with other people.

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REPORT “Places of Diversity” Creative activities Montenegro 2014

Montenegro Activity #1: History that no more exists "History That No More Exist" was an artistic project encouraged by the research entitled: "Women Map of Boka Kotorska", which was realized by the NGO Anima from June to December 2013. The original idea was to explore the layers of women's history in the Boka Bay, and then present them, creatively, to the public through artistic intervention in public space. NGO Anima research consisted of resource searching in libraries and archives (search for original documents and books, newspapers and magazines), and discussions with a number of individuals.

During the research work on "Women Map of Boka Kotorska" it became clear that in the libraries and archives there is very little information about women, that information are not integrated or are difficult to access.

This situation confirmed us a clear division on: 

Public sphere that belongs to men - one that is captured, stored and glorified and



Private sphere that belongs to women (the space of everyday life, reproduction) - the one that remains unheard, implying and, in historical terms - ignored

The lack of information in existing sources during research "Women Map of Boka Kotorska" encouraged Expeditio to initiate an action titled HISTORY THAT NO MORE EXIST. We felt that, from the personal private memories of men and women, it is interesting and valuable to look at how different (wonderful, horrible, worm, heroic) women's stories there are. How important it is to preserve them from oblivion and re-evaluate the private sphere in which silently, from generation to generation, these stories sediment over each other in a long and continuous silence.

On International Women's Day, March 8th, 2014., NGO Expeditio has sent a public invitation to the citizens to send a scanned photo of their mothers, great-grandmothers, neighbors, friends, teachers, maid of honor, and another beloved women that marked their lives (and are no longer with us). It was important to submit a short story along the photo, noting the reasons that person was special. The invitation was sent to everyone, regardless of gender and age. During the month we gathered over 60 personal stories and lots of photos, some of which you can see on the screens exposed in public areas of Kotor, which are prepared by designer Tanja Radež from Ljubljana. The exhibition was placed in the public area of the Old Town of Kotor - Pjaca od Kina (Cinema Square), on 29/4/2014. Unfortunately, in the form of public space exhibition it was not possible to fully present all material and numerous photos that we received. Therefore we decided to, after the exhibition, launch a web site "History That No More Exist" , on which will be published and available to all, valuable material that was collected. The web site was set on July 8th, which allowed the existing collection of memories to be enriched with new stories.

Lead partner on this project is NGO Expeditio, in cooperation with the NGO Anima and the designer Tanja Radež from Ljubljana.

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FB Invitation for people to take part in a project

All the exhibiting posters 3|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Montenegro

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Opening speech

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Montenegro Activity #2: OKC HN OKC (Youth Cultural Center) Herceg Novi launched a survey "The needs of young people for cultural and artistic events in Herceg Novi". The study included 179 young people, and they have been involved within two types of activities: I - Interviewing students from Secondary Mixed School "Ivan Goran Kovacic" in Herceg Novi II - Street action "I am from Herceg Novi. In Herceg Novi I want to .... " 94 surveys were conducted (on 11.06.2014.), with youth in mixed Secondary School "Ivan Goran Kovacic", and with 85 young people at the Skver (on 24.06.2014.), that have filled the card with the question "I am from Herceg Novi. In Herceg Novi I want to ...".

In OKC (YCC) Herceg Novi, after summarizing the results, was organized a presentation on July 11th.

There was an “exhibition of comments” taken from the survey that young people were filling at the Skver.

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Invitation to the final presentation of the research results

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Montenegro Activity #3: PUPPETS IN A PARK Creative action of making handmade dolls (puppets) in the park in Tivat was held by informal creative group SOVE in collaboration with NGO Expeditio. SOVE are informal group from Tivat engaged in promoting local spirit, creativity, products and practices, and the revival of public spaces. The idea behind the action “Puppets in a park” was to use public spaces more creatively, and also to do some useful action for the community. All puppets made in the Tivat park, as well as little hand-made theatre, were donated to the children's department of Kotor Hospital and Children's Center in Tivat. Action has been organized in cooperation with the Municipality of Tivat.

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All the puppets created in the park 21 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s M o n t e n e g r o

Montenegro Activity #4: WE KIDS AND THE “SQUIRRELS” We kids and the “Squirrels” is the title of an action that was held in Kotor, intended to inspire children (and all those who feel that way) to spend more time in nature. The action was organized by the Hiking Club “Vjeverica” (Squirrels) and NGO Expeditio. The action took place on 15 July 2014 (Tuesday) and it included the following activities: 

19:00 h - A hiking tour for children, up the walls of Kotor (gathering point near the church of Blessed Ozana, Northern Gate of Kotor)



20.30 h - A photo-exhibition “We kids and the Hiking club Vjeverica” - Cinema Square, the Old Town of Kotor.

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Open air exhibition

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Hiking tour for kids before the exhibition opening 25 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s M o n t e n e g r o

Setting up the exhibition

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REPORT “Places of Diversity” Creative activities Jordan 2014

Reviving public spaces project focuses on utilizing the public space to turn it into something else by utilizing it and creating change within the environment and members of the society.

Leaders of tomorrow youth initiatives focuses mainly on Reviving public spaces project and activities provides comparative perspective on Social change in communities, framing cultures and mobilizing people. The project also helps shedding light on community behavior and practices, by giving out solutions and actual implementation of creative developing interventions. In addition to promoting cooperation that occurred between community members who influenced positive behavior in their surroundings and allowed positive behavior and practices to flourish, such as preserving their area and coming up with creative solutions for future development purposes.

Jordan activity #1: Diwanieh DIWANIEH is an open, free and critical platform for debate. The platform utilizes the streets of Jordan as a venue for the debates in order to create a feeling of familiarity among attendees and to maximize dissemination. The initiative encourages Jordanian youth to frequently organize heated debates that take place in public arenas such as parks, archaeological sites, roundabouts, abandoned lands and what follows and other high capacity venues, during which localized pressing issues and contentious sociopolitical issues are deliberated in order to revive and take full advantage of underutilized public spaces in Jordan.

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LOTs last Diwanieh was conducted in Wadi Mousa Governorate on Saturday; 29.03.2014 in front of Petra entrance. Under the motion "Do Petra Authorities have a positive effect on their region?" corresponding with the theme of ‘’Petra Region Authority Tourism Development’’, in front of Petra entrance. Speakers; Dr. Mohammed Alnawafleh, and the Petra Commissioner and Deputy Head Dr. Imad Hijazeen .

On the other hand, Mr. Ali Raja Nasarat and Mr. Khadr Alnawafleh spoke against the motion whilst of the founder initiative Dr. Sami Al-Hourani was the moderator of the debate. More than 500 people attended the debate.

Jordan activity #2: Russeifah Murals Russaifah is a city in Zarqa Governorate in the Kingdom of Jordan. It had a population of about 280,000, making it the fourth-largest city in Jordan, after Amman, Irbid, and Zarqa. This City was and still is a refugee place for many Circassians and Palestinians who fled from their countries. However it’s an underdeveloped area by all means socially, politically, economically and environmentally. So based on reviving public spaces project we managed to implement some beautifying murals on abandoned school walls .

This initiative was implemented by young boys and girls, who were excited to indulge in this momentum and be part of this project in order to benefit from it on a personal level and also to serve their community in a way that might influence others. This was the result, members of their community and neighborhood were fully excited to paint and draw, and put their personal touch on a public property, giving them a feeling of satisfaction that they’re doing good for their community and are beginning to understand the meaning of a public space and how to improve it, protect it and utilize it in the best way possible, even when resources are too scarce and minimal.

Many artistic creative murals were created to raise awareness on the water issue in Jordan and on the pollution issue that has been happening for the last decade in Jordan and in Russeifah specifically. They intended to paint school walls because they thought this could be a powerful method to influence students and send a direct message making them able to read it anytime during the day.

3|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

4|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

5|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

6|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

7|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

8|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

9|PLACES OF DIVERSITY – Creative activities Jordan

Jordan activity #3: Mo7aka LoT’s latest Mo7aka event was held two weeks ago on the 31 of May 2014, in Dana Nature Reserve, in al Tafila governorate. Mo7aka is a unique initiative run by leaders of tomorrow organization. It involves the execution of special training workshops during which youth are exposed to a variety of role playing and simulation activities. A group of young females and males were projected to a selection of activities run by Dr. Sami hourani on the topic of Gender, Equality and Women rights in the Jordanian Society. Participants came from all around the kingdom to participate in this initiative; such as Mafraq, Tafila, Amman, Zarqa, and Ma’an. These games are being presented to raise awareness on human rights issues, and having the chance for females and males to exchange their ideas and opinions.

Participants were divided into 4 groups and worked on executing; writing and acting out written scenarios were each scenario tackles a different societal issue that women in our society are suffering from. Most of the Scenarios discussed the bureaucracy within families, the overpowering authority of male figures, Indecisive mothers, Forcing decisions, women rights, Literacy and University life and obstacles. These four groups executed four different scenarios that were filmed by professional filmmakers. After each scenario a group discussion was formed by the actors and the moderator of the discussion Dr. Sami Hourani .

Topics circulated about gender issues and prejudice, in addition to mixing up religious beliefs with morals and traditions.

10 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s J o r d a n

Mo7aka also focuses on rejuvenating the area as well as redefining the meaning of a space by instilling new thoughts practices, ideas and concepts for participants from all around the region to help them interact with the nature and connect personally with each other on a social, educational and environmental level. Mo7aka usually take place in rural and distant areas from the city hub, to help participants disconnect from their daily routine and intake the absolute value of a space. In addition to that participants get the chance for exposure to different opinions, mentalities, and discuss various issues that concern women struggling in a manly society, and gender issues related to prejudice and injustice practiced against women.

11 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s J o r d a n

Activity #4: Ajloun Murals Ajloun Murals were implemented in Ajloun – Anjara Area that were done by a young group of people from Ajloun itself who were extremely excited to beautify their own city. Ajloun is usually known that it is the most green city among other cities here in Jordan. However Ajloun is famous for its historical value, and the youngsters tried to reserve it and at the same time install some joyful colors.

The Murals resembled nature with all its beautiful elements that it offers that ranges from colorful flowers, birds, trees and sunshine.

This is another Mural that was created in the same area, in between residential buildings which added vibrancy, harmony and a creative input that drives optimism within people.

12 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s J o r d a n

The group of youth also took the initiative recently draw on walls of a main roundabout in Ajloun- Anjara, using drawings that focuses on patriotism hope to the place.

13 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s J o r d a n

Ajloun youth society had put a great effort into this project and were held responsible of attaining the sustainability of such a project and promised to implement independent public space reviving projects that will help on perfecting their city and creating a great image of it.

Public space reviving was kind of a new idea for them and they never imagined that could make use of abandoned meters of walls or land to recreate something, inspirational, beneficial that leaves traces of what each of them had accomplished. They said ‘’ it felt really good to see the accomplishment in real life and feel its tangibility.

14 | P L A C E S O F D I V E R S I T Y – C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s J o r d a n

Activities

Places of Diversity Dissemination of project ideas and results • Producing PR material

Brochure

Newsletters

Activities

Places of Diversity Dissemination of project ideas and results • Creating and updating a joint web portal of ideas: “How small interventions in urban spaces can promote social values​​?”;

Creating and updating a joint web portal of ideas: “How small interventions in urban spaces can promote social values​​?”

Idea of the website “PLACES OF DIVERSITY“ is to inspire all of you who want to make change in your neighborhoods by implementing creative, short-term, low-cost community driven actions. Through these activities you can send messages about: • Social/cultural values e.g. understanding, support, love, multiculturalism, respect for diversity, gender equality, social inclusion, healthy lifestyle …

• Environmental issues e.g. cleaner environment, energy saving, recycling, reducing pollution, climate change raising awareness, biodiversity, air/water quality …

• Economic development e.g. job creation, working conditions, economic growth…

• Something else that inspires you e.g. activism, playful city....

Website is translated in English, Montenegrin, Albaninan and Arabic. Visit http://www.placesofdiversity.org/

Video

http://youtu.be/bPtH2YfEWa8