Motivation and participation: How community and civic engagement change places
Partners: People's Voice Media (Shropshire, England and Dalry, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland) and Agora Köln e.V. (Köln, Germany)
Image © People's Voice Media
“The People's Voice Media team is excited to be collaborating with Agora Koln through the Cultural Bridge project, which supports UK-European partnerships and knowledge exchange. The initiative will examine why civic participation matters by comparing a revitalised neighbourhood space in Cologne and a community centre in Dalry, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, focusing on motivations, challenges, shared values, and interactions with local authorities.
Using Community Reporting methods, participants will collect and share stories through interviews, audio recordings, and photos. Online meetings and reciprocal site visits will facilitate sharing results and building connections. With the aim to link both communities, amplify their voices, and demonstrate the impact of civic engagement on places and people.” People’s Voice Media
“Agora Köln e.V. is excited to be collaborating with People's Voice Media through the Cultural Bridge project, which supports UK-European partnerships and knowledge exchange. This project enables both Agora Köln and People's Voice Media to explore a new form of cultural exchange that combines community-based research and artistic practice. The project will help both organisations reflect on structural differences and learn how local systems influence citizen motivation and sustainability. In this way, it opens up new insights into how culture can act as a bridge between communities and governance. The aim is to rethink spaces, actively involve people, and provide impetus for a liveable, participatory city.” Agora Köln
Motivation and participation: How community and civic engagement change places is a Tier Two partnership.
About the partners
People's Voice Media
PVM is a social change charity with a long history of working with communities to address social injustices. It's main art form is digital storytelling. Since 1997, they used digital tools and storytelling to help people address challenges and improve their lives. The work, from community intranet sites to social media labs, video production, screenings, and podcasts, leverages technology to challenge inequality, and support more equitable communities. We aim to create a world where people’s experiences are heard, valued, and influence change, particularly those communities with the least resource and power in society. 3 overarching core objectives: to enable people's lived experience to be heard, and provide platforms for marginalised voices; to support people, communities, and organisations to use lived experience to address inequalities and injustices; to inform and influence services and policies so that they better meet people’s needs and enable people to live well. https://peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk/
Agora Köln
Agora Köln has set itself the task of providing impetus for sustainable transformation processes and promoting change. In its projects, Agora Köln e.V. shapes Cologne as a liveable, sustainable, and fair city for all people. The association works on a non-partisan, non-denominational basis in and with networks of committed neighborhoods, sustainable institutions, organizations, and initiatives. They bring together actors from civil society, culture, and the local economy to work together on the socio-ecological transformation of our city. They aim to promote sustainable mobility, climate protection, and urban design, strengthen neighbourhood structures and social participation, develop and implement innovative projects that make public space a new experience, set impulses for global sustainability through local actionencouraging personal initiative and active participation. The guiding principle is to make visible how a sustainable city of tomorrow can be lived today. www.agorakoeln.de
