Purpose: (Re)Writing our neighbourhood was a 3 year project implemented in three neighbourhoods in the city of Braga, Portugal. In addition to the physical improvement of the Municipal housing neighbourhoods of Enguardas, Santa Tecla and Picoto, the project integrated 8 measures to be implemented in the field, among the communities and fostered public participation.
Stimulus/Rationale:
Process: The project was implemented thanks to a partnership with the several entities and to Community Funds (PT2020 | FEDER/ERDF). The following actions were promoted:
1. TRANSCRIBE
Transcribe was a set of cooperative actions developed over the 1st year by Space Transcribers, in the municipal housing neighbourhoods, aimed at raising awareness among the residents about their space and social and cultural values, through intercultural interaction.
In addition to the collection of photographic evidence and documents, the project included the organisation of an archive, an international workshop, an exhibition and the publication of a book containing the results of the action.
2. WHO IS AFRAID?
Consisted is an educational project implemented by the School of Nogueira whose goal was to promote a closer interaction between the Roma ethnic group and its culture, and the wider community of residents; the project aimed to reduce early school-leaving and to promote values such as respecting others and valuing diversity, through dance, music and theatre programmes.
3. ENGUARDAS COMMUNITY CENTRE
The measure, implemented by Associação Famílias, focused on the Family and the Community, by developing integrated responses, aimed at mitigating social exclusion and isolation and enhancing civic involvement, social development and local solidarity.
4. CHOIR AND MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Action led by the Conservatório Bomfim, whose goal was to exploit the power of music as a facilitating instrument for the social integration of Roma children and teenagers, by creating a choir and a music ensemble.
The choir was composed of 30 children and teenagers from the municipal housing neighbourhood of Santa Tecla; it also contemplated an instrumental ensemble of 15 elements, as well as several public performances.
5. QUALIFICATION OF LOCAL LEADERS
Project led by BragaHabit with the goal of building capacities to ensure the sustainability of any other measure to be implemented in the municipal housing neighbourhoods.
To this end, BragaHabit proposed the engagement of the local communities by qualifying local facilitators and leaders, as well as creating admission and residents associations.
6. CHILDREN'S BOOK
A project led by Space Transcribers whose final goal was to create an illustrated book of Roma folk tales, in order to value the traditions and culture of Roma people and promote the fight against social and ethnic discrimination. The book was presented and distributed in many elementary schools in the municipality of Braga.
Children's book: “To build a neighbourhood”
7. CLOSER | THE PATH TOWARDS EMPLOYABILITY
The action was developed by BragaHabit with the aim of creating local dynamics that promote the effective improvement of skills, qualifications and possibilities of employability for the population of the three concerned neighbourhoods.
8. ACTIVE GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE
Project led by the Portuguese Red Cross (Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa) aimed at the creation of an active group of young Roma people who received intensive training to develop their personal and social skills.
During the process, the protagonists merged with the authors of their stories, building up their sense of identity and belonging, in the knowledge that only a multiplicity of views allows for tailor-made initiatives that embrace difference. For this to be possible, it was needed to break stigma, misunderstandings, discriminatory generalisations, and present a ‘transcription’ of a new narrative, allowing a reconstruction ‘with’ the residents and not merely ‘for’ the residents, thus proving that diversity is an advantage and also the defining characteristic of cultural pluralism, with the belief that prejudice and stereotypes reinforce hostile attitudes regarding discrimination and racism. Believing that cultural diversity is an asset to the urban environment configuration, and for adopting an intercultural perspective in sync with activities that develop mediation and social inclusion, and that catalyse a sense of belonging within the residents.
Impact: The impact of the action was the subject of an evaluation process by all partners of the Municipality of Braga.
In 2017, the action "Transcrivers: Participatory Actions in the Social Neighbourhoods of Braga", took place over a year and unfolded in a set of six participatory and multi-disciplinary artistic activities/workshops:
1."The monuments of my neighbourhood": Photography Workshop;
2."Building my neighbourhood": Workshop of Collective Models;
3."Transcribe Summer Lab": Socio-Spatial Practices in the Municipal Neighbourhoods of Braga;
4."Documenting My Neighborhood": Video Workshop;
5."Sounds in my Neighborhood": Soundscapes Workshop;
6. "Tell Me Thou": Socio-Spatial Stories;
These six activities aim to recognize realities and ways of life of the neighbourhoods, exposing them to the city of Braga; develop mediation mechanisms between inhabitants and local agents, identifying existing problems and potentialities; to enable the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods (with a greater incidence on children and young people) of artistic training such as photography, the construction of models, the recording of sound and the use of social networks as an archive of phenomena.
The action ended with a collective exhibition, a discussion forum and the publication of a book that will reveal the results obtained during the activities: The Transcribe Summer Lab, an experimental and theoretical-practical laboratory in which the selected team of 30 students discussed and elaborated practical works that aim to make visible the complexities and realities existing in three Municipal neighbourhoods of the city – Bairro Social das Enguardas; Social Neighborhood of Santa Tecla and Picoto Housing Complex - in order to produce new narratives and possibilities of action on these spaces.
A book resulted from this experience, and some impacts were mentioned: ‘Transcribe’, more than a willingness to describe a neighbourhood’s life experiences and to rehearse the classical principle of observation/action also constitutes a new way of cultural domination – resulted in a stimulating process of social interaction between artistic and technical intervention, community animation and political reflexion. Mutually gratifying for all participants, insiders and outsiders, in an exercise of blurring out delimitations. But this was merely a first step in the continuation of many tensions and resistance that summon us to permanently debate and act: the impression for pragmatism and quick results can lead us to ignore the contradictions inherent in a democratic society, in its frailties and atavisms. The goal was achieved by enhancing the dialogue between the inhabitants and the city council, opening up space for dissatisfaction and misunderstandings, stimulating debate, critique, and the search for effective and sustainable solutions.
In 2020, the City of Braga received the Urban Innovation Laboratory, the meeting of the European Network Urban Regeneration Mix, a transfer network of the URBACT program dedicated to the issues of urban regeneration and social mediation in contexts of regeneration, and the initiative was presented.
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