After the seminar held in Turin in December 2021, the members of the Splora Foundation’s Europe team devised a series of actions within the framework of the Local Activities of the European ParticipArt project financed with Erasmus plus funds.
Our team, made up of five volunteers from the foundation, was inspired by the contents learned at the seminar to design their local actions, contents on citizen participation and the use of urban areas to revitalize spaces within cities and give them a new meaning for citizens.
And what did we come up with? What did we want to achieve?
We thought it was a very interesting idea to rediscover the spaces of our own city for our neighbours, to make them reflect on what we have there and what we would like to have, what we like and what we would like to improve.
To do so, we thought of some questions that would help us and our fellow citizens to reflect on our city and to participate in this initiative which, once completed, would be handed over to the Valladolid City Council services so that they could learn first-hand about the concerns of our neighbours about the city.
How do you do this? How do you point out emblematic places in the city and get neighbours to voice their concerns?
By tagging the city!
First, and with the help of other members of the Splora Foundation, we went around the city looking for possible locations where we could put our labels. Once we had located the spots and designed the labels, the volunteers from the Foundation placed them all over the city centre, in visible places where anyone who wanted to participate could do so.
On the labels are written questions addressed directly to anyone curious enough to approach the labels and decide to scan the QR code printed on them along with the question.
The initiative has been risky as the original labels do not bear any identification. The people who initially participated with their answers did not know who was responsible for this initiative, but they were curious and answered. The QR codes, once scanned, direct you to an Instagram account but at the beginning it did not say who was responsible for this participatory activity and yet the account has 178 followers and 64 publications with concerns of the neighbours of Valladolid. The only thing left to do is to take all this to the city council so that they take note of what the residents want for their city.
Just one more thing. We have tried to be as respectful as possible with the urban spaces and furniture of Valladolid, as well as with the environment, so we have tried to use the most eco-friendly materials possible. At Splora we are very concerned about the environment.
Follow us on Instagram: vaconetiqueta
