YPLAN is a project co-financed by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union, which worked together with high school students in Bucharest and sensitized them to the significant role of public space in the life of communities and the city. After 20 project months, at the end of the project, we have co-organised the YPLAN – Young Placemakers Initiatve book launch, on December 14, 2016, at the Impact Hub Bucharest.
Through YPLAN, it was possible to realize small-scale urban transformation projects in four places in Bucharest involving students, volunteers, high-school students, researchers, professionals and local communities. The results, findings, but also reflections for the future are comprised in this very high-quality, 500-copy series of the Book, available upon request.
The book, which presents the whole process, results, lessons learned and considerations related to research and policy, started a debate within the event on several vital topics for the city:
- How to build upon this simple and concrete and succesful experience
- How to re-generate and re-create the relation between residents and use of public spaces in Bucharest
- How to realize 100 public spaces in Bucharest in order to bring back quality of life through small scale projects based on effective urban policies
In a time of big promises for urban transformations, this presentation was the occasion to have a sober and well-articulated discussion on how to begin to mend a simple relationship, based on concrete actions and policies, between the communities of Bucharest and the highly neglected public space. Re-discuss, even with the young people who have made this project possible, a different future for the ways of living and conceiving the public space in Bucharest.
If you are interested in securing a hard-copy of the book, please contact us at sabina.dimitriu@urbasofia.eu (YPLAN Project Manager) and pietro.elisei@urbasofia.eu (Scientific Coordinator).