What we do

The ideals to discuss and to create alternatives towards issues such as urban poverty; the urgency to have more democratic and participative urban planning projects, giving a fair response to the needs of the newcomers and war victims; the privatization or public spaces; and the negative effects of gentrification, were the central issues of this four-day meeting in Amsterdam, at the City Makers Summit, together with so many projects that make the difference everyday, on a local, regional, national and international level.   The citizens-politicians   The idea of city-making is a political movement. A movement that includes anyone willing to claim a city that promotes direct action with a stronger participative power, supporting visible changes on the urban and social programme. Claiming the right to public spaces ( or the heterotopian spaces that Lefebvre used to claim) as a “survival strategie”, we are also confronting all the social and […]

Because the city is for everyone to have it

In the last 11th of June, more than two thousand people asked the closure of the Almaraz Nuclear Central, in a protest organized by the Movimiento Ibérico Antinuclear (MIA), in Cáceres. Citizenship Academy and more than 40 different groups attended the demonstration. From Portugal departed a dozen chartered buses, as well as Madrid, Salamanca and Malaga in Spain. The demonstration started at 7.30pm and finished around 9, crossing the main streets of the city. Under the slogans of “Chernobyl, Almaraz, Fukushima never again” or “Close Almaraz for a living Tajo/Tejo”, protesters walked the streets of Cáceres until reaching the Plaza Mayor, where they read a manifesto to order the central closure in 2020. Early in the afternoon, the gathering stood in a small alley in the city, where you could attend concerts, an antinuclear exhibition but also activities to raise awareness about the risk of this old nuclear power plant, […]

Stop killing our future — Close ALMARAZ (with video)

When three years ago I visited Bucharest, I gained a not very favorable impression about the city. It seemed gray and the streets, the buildings, the people were also gray – as they beared upon themselves the burden of the totalitarian past, 70 years of Soviet dictatorship had not definitely stood back. Maybe that’s why the new visit I made to the city, in the past 9 to 12 June, has caused me much surprise. This was a field trip, within the project New Europe – Cities in Transition, in order to visit locally based projects that promote the city as an area of inclusion, sustainability and participation. We were welcomed by members of Zeppelin and, in addition to the Citizenship Academy, were present organizations from Berlin (Mörchenpaprk), London (Paddington Development Trust) and Amsterdam (Pakhuis of Zwijger). Three days have come to realize how Bucharest had radically changed over the […]

Winds of change in Bucharest

Between the 27th and the 30th of May 2016, the Pakhuis de Zwijger foundation, in the Netherlands, promoted the meeting of more than 600 activists, coming from the four corners of Europe. Because they are normally involved in democratization actions of the cities, as spaces of inclusion, prosperity and resilience, they are called as the “City Makers”. It was during the “City  Makers Summit” that they met, to talk about the main problems of their cities, and the practices that they have been developing, in order to solve them.     City Makers   Visit to the centre of Zaanstad, which was complete renovated in the last 5 years, looking to offer more inclusion, functionality and visual beauty. This Summit had two main goals. The first one was to provide field trips to participants to Dutch local based projects or initiatives, with actions developed in urban context, regarding the improvement of the […]

Let us make an Europe of Democracy

 The common homophobia In this month of Pride, the LGBT community has been affected by the terrorism horror and homophobia — in Orlando 12th June 2016: 50 people died but also a lot of people injured. Our entourage often think it is getting better for this community. This tragic event shows that recent access to equal rights for LGBT does not erase homophobia, on the contrary. Without education of the tolerance and a vision of life where gender would not be the center of education, things will not settle. Citizen Academy invites you to support the LGBT community by participating in various upcoming events on the LGBT causes, as this gathering the 15th June in memory of the victims (Event Facebook). We also expect many of you during the pride march this Saturday, June 18th. We will come out in the streets in the proudest manifestation and visibility of the […]

Tomorrow and saturday come support LGBT rights | in Lisbon

The 17th LGBT Pride March of Lisbon will take place on 18th June. Under the tagline ‘ We Celebrate Differences, Transcending Gender ‘ , we will come out in the streets in the proudest manifestation and visibility of the capital. Marcha do Orgulho LGBT de Lisboa // Lisbon Pride March Jardim do Principe Real 5PM orgulholgbtlisboa.blogspot.pt Event

Lisbon Pride March | 18th June 2016

Synthesis by Igor Marko Photos @ Academia Cidadã and participants of the Master Class   The highly challenging urban regeneration case-study was focused on one of Lisbon’s oldest districts – Mouraria.   Lisbon Masterclass #1 – Exploring Mouraria – site analysis, observation and mapping   Paula Marques, councilwoman for Housing of the Municipality of Lisbon, during the Master Class’s opening   Mouraria originated as a 13th century Moorish neighbourhood and remained a marginal downtown area. Nowadays, parts of Mouraria are affected by tourism, others are still deprived with high levels of migrant population and social housing. Cheap property prices and proximity to other tourist destinations (Alfama, Castelo) raise realistic assumptions that Mouraria will face large influx of investment in real estate and tourism infrastructure, resulting in gentrification.   Field trip to historic centre of Lisbon, promoted by Lisbon Sustainable Tourism   Lisboa Masterclass # 2 – Methods and Processes – […]

Master Class “City Making and Tourism Gentrification”

The film will be screaned with the support of Center for Responsible Travel.     The environmental impact of tourism is the main discussion topic, of our 4th session of Cine Café Turistificação (Cine Café Touristification), to take place in May 17 at 21h30, at the bar Lisboa Vadia, in Lisbon. The Goose With the Golden Eggs, a film produced by the Center for Responsible Travel, examines the environmental impact that resort and cruise tourism brings to the communities living in the Pacific Coast, Costa Rica. With an increasing number of private investments in these areas, as it is the case of the privatization of beaches or the construction of big multinational hotels and gated communities, this documentary’s main goal is to portray the difficulties the population of the Pacific Coast face in order to have access to resources like water (used mainly to “feed” pools and golf courts), access to the […]

FREE CINEMA: “The Goose with the Golden Eggs” I Touristification Cine Café

April 15 – 22 I Mouraria, Lisbon The project “Tourism Gentrification and City-making” is promoted by Stadslab (Fontys – University of Applied Sciences, Tilburg, NL), in partnership with Academia Cidadã. The objectives of the Master Class are to provide insight into the impact of mass tourism on public space, urban development and the daily urban life of the citizens in Lisbon and to develop alternative scenarios for a more balanced urban development to avoid excessive real estate speculation, social and economic segregation, lack of accessible urban services and public space and disappearance of affordable housing. The intervention area of the Master Class will be the district of Mouraria.   April 18 I 12h00 I Centro de Inovação da Mouraria Lecture: Placemaking and Sustainable Urban Development, by Igor Marko, Marko&Placemakers London FREE ENTRY Relationship to a place is often disrupted through social, political or economic forces with direct impact on the […]

Master Class “City Making and Tourism Gentrification”