Opportunities

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”

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”

Date: 19 march Time: 11h30-15h Pressing issues mark the present days and it’s very important that we all know what they are about and how can we contribute to solve them. We know there are a lot of people that have good ideas and realize what gaps there are in our society. Here at Citizenship Academy (CA) we want to give people tools and help them to take action. We would also like to introduce more people to the CA. We are looking for students and other interested citizens in taking part in projects that want to improve democratic society. The main goal of what we do is to empower citizens to take more action in the defense and exercise of their rights and democratic values and to be more conscious about what is happening in society. This workshop will be also a fun way to open your eyes and make […]

Workshop: Empower » Change

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; – 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. For more information and application, please enter here.

Master Class “Tourism Gentrification and City-making”

In 2014, Pakhuis de Zwijger (cultural organization in the city of Amsterdam) came up with the idea of Metropolitan Field Trips. Cities are constantly in change, new initiatives arise and try to answer to several question on how to become city-owners and how to participate in their evolution. During the Field Trips, on the biggest european cities, the participants learn about diverse approaches on base initiative and about the relation between bottom-up city makers, planning agents, local government and other institutions. Field Trips have, therefore, as a goal a better understanding of the whole process of transition and they are an opportunity to exchange knowledge between partners in Europe. The program started at 4 p.m on the 8th, with the meeting point for the welcoming at Holzmarkt. Holzmarkt is located in an old abandoned area at the Spree waterfront. It was destined to be sold as part of the project […]

The Citizenship Academy in a transitional Berlin

The Citizenship Academy was in Hungary, from 16 to 17 november, in a reunion between hungarian and international organizations from civil society, and it got to know more about the recent atacks and threats done by the nacionalist right-wing government of Budapest. We are creating ties and common strategies to fight against this atack (which includes unfounded accusations to NGO’s, police searches without a warrant at their headquarters, constant defamation in the press and trying to block international funds to get to the associations working for the defense of democracy, refugee rights, LGBT people, Roma and other minorities) and to learn how to avoid similar acts in our countries. A lot of these acquirements will be transmitted in workshops that will be held in severous highschools in Portugal, and they aim to empower youngsters to fight for their civic rights. This meeting and workshops are part of the project Citizen-Rights of international partnership. Veronika […]

We were in Hungary (learning to) defending Democracy

In a context of economic crisis and social emergency present in more and more regions of the European Union, it is important to think about solutions that, more than helping people in trouble to overcome their financial problems, solutions that help to create innovative forms of social organization , alternatives to the ones that capitalist system provide us. At the Congress of Solidarity Economics, the SOLIKON 2015, which took place in Berlin from 10 to 13 september, it was intended to share and discuss different approaches, visions and pratics about new ways of economic activity, based on solidarity and sustainability. The Citizenship Academy was there! Click here to read the rest of the article.

SOLIKON, creating alternatives from Lisbon to Berlin

After organizing in Lisbon the activists meeting CREAT-REACT COMMUNITY, the Citizenship Academy is present in Warsaw for the meeting dedicated to the Culture theme. Together we are sharing sustainable alternatives to austerity and with respect for the european citizenship, as well as for the human rights. Solutions that, through culture and civic empowerment, take into account people, animals and nature, instead of regarding only markets and big financial interests. More informations here. Supporting action to old workers of the big and historic factory of Ursus tractors, that saw their workplace dismantled progressively and that today ask for the creation of a museum.

Create-React Culture in Warsaw. We were there!

Grassroots movements, cooperatives, ecovillages, NGOs, collectives and individuals are showing worldwide, with their own lives, that it is possible, practical and efficient to avoid capitalist crisis circles. By cooperating. In urban areas as in the countryside, it is possible to live, produce our own energy and food respecting the planet, the animals and people. After the first edition’s success, Citizenship Academy organises once again the experience-sharing debate “Living in another World” between community based, social and ecological projects. Together with first edition’s guests there will be people from town based communities that share with the rural ones the same goals, ways of doing and thinking. This event is part of CREATE-REACT from the CITIZEN-RIGHTS partnership project. Learn more about the whole event about Community in Lisbon here . Free entrance 11th July, Saturday, 21h, in Casa da Cultura de Sacavém, Lisboa, Portugal Guests (confirmed): Centro […]

Living in another World 2 – International Meeting – 11th July 2015

Movimentos sociais, cooperativas ecoaldeias, colectivos e indivíduos de todo o mundo mostram dia a dia que já existem alternativas práticas e viáveis às cíclicas crises do capitalismo, através da cooperação comunitária. Na cidade, como no campo, é possível viver, produzir a própria energia e alimentação respeitando o Planeta, os animais e as pessoas. Depois do sucesso da primeira edição, a Academia Cidadã volta a organizar o debate de troca de experiências entre projectos comunitários de sustentabilidade ecológica e social “Viver num outro Mundo”. Para além dos convidados na primeira edição, estarão presentes representantes de comunidades urbanas que partilham com as de âmbito rural os mesmos objectivos, formas de estar e de actuar. Além disso, contaremos pela primeira vez com vários activistas internacionais, visto que o evento estará inserido na formação “Reage Cria: Comunidade”, de que a Academia Cidadã é parceira, pelo que a língua do debate será o […]

Viver num outro Mundo 2 – Encontro Internacional – 11 de Julho 2015