Culture for Waterfronts Learning Partnership, as a framework for European and international intercultural dialogue, gathered organisations with a shared interest in the impact of culture on their rivers/waterfronts.
Culture provides many tools for bringing people together – city inhabitants, city planners, city authorities, media, businesses – and engaging them in the debate about the conditions and future of European cities. The Partnership was intended to identify and strengthen the impact of culture on diverse aspects of waterfront regeneration e.g. volunteering/civil society involvement, public space/city planning, environment, sustainable development and governance. The project focused on local needs and conditions while also making the point that the broader European dimension is an added value for all local initiatives.
The Grundtvig Programme grant allowed 7 members of the River//Cities Platform to organise structured seminars for face-to-face meetings with themes, presentations and discussions that were held in each partner city. Each seminar was devoted to the specific aspect of impact of culture on: citizenship (Belgium, Sweden), economy and tourism development (Portugal), governance policies (Austria), public space (Italy), the policy of sustainable development and waterfront regeneration (Poland, Greece). Each seminar had a similar structure combining presentations of case studies with practice. Open meetings with local authorities, institutions, organisations and artists were organised in each city to allow participants to identify and develop the potential of culture as a resource for local communities and the cities themselves and disseminate international experience on a local level. Through the Culture for Waterfronts project good practices were identified, possibilities and models of cooperation explored. Project outcomes are a website, handbook with case studies and reflections, as well as a short film.
For more information, visit River//Cities website