CCSC: Culture as a way of developing society
Lund was the capital of the major European project Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities, which started in autumn 2018. It was the cultural organisation Trans Europe Halles, based at Mejeriet i Lund, that led the project, which aimed to inspire the whole of Europe. The task was to use methods from the cultural and creative fields to find solutions and policies that improve society. The EU invested approximately SEK 15 million in the project.
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Today's challenges in the form of reduced welfare resources, an ageing population, social polarisation and the urbanisation of Europe's cities and regions are often difficult for individual actors to face. In the project Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities (CCSC) examined the participants how cooperation between cultural organizations, citizens, cultural and creative sectors and the public sector can be developed to contribute to solutions of societal challenges. CCSC had a closing conference in February 2021 and was supported by the EU with approximately SEK 15 million. The project involved 37 organisations from 21 countries.
- We are proud and happy to lead CCSC from Lund, said Mieke Renders, CEO at Trans Europe Halles at the start of the project. We strongly believe in the power of community to build bridges between different stakeholders to create new collaborations that can solve local challenges. In the project, we are looking for ways to support people to get involved in the opportunities that exist.
In addition to Trans Europe Halles, the consortium also included European Cultural Foundation, P2P Foundation, Lund Municipality, Region Skåne, Creative Industry Kosice, Cable, Embassy, Hablarenarte and University of Antwerp. This created an unusual and cross-border mix of partners who will be able to provide many different perspectives. Seven organisations were responsible for their Urban Lab where they collaborated with some thirty “handshake partners” from all over Europe. The work was co-organized in city lab — “Urban Labs”. The City Lab brought together local authorities, the cultural sector, creative industries and meeting places to examine complex urban challenges and develop innovative solutions that can then be spread across Europe. One of the city lab is “Changemakers and Smart Cities”. This group was led by Lund Municipality. Another was led by Region Skåne.
- As a result of the project, both cultural and creative operators and decision-makers will be equipped with methods and tools to facilitate processes to generate participation, said José Rodriguez, communicator at Trans Europe Halles at the start of the project. Ultimately, local governments will be able to listen better to the needs of citizens, and citizens will have the opportunity to participate directly in the governance of cities. In this way, public administration can find better solutions for social and urban challenges. This could also have a positive impact, for example, on the economy, on job creation, on promoting social inclusion and on urban development.
- Together with creative forces from all over Europe, we are eager to drive the work on local and regional development with arts, culture and creative industries as the engine, said Gitte Wille, Culture Manager Region Skåne, at the start of the project. It is necessary that this can be done in collaboration across both geographical boundaries and between actors at different levels of society. Thanks to this project, we have a unique opportunity to focus extra on this.
The reason why Trans Europe Halles has been appointed by the EU to lead the project is previous work in two projects — Creative Business Models and Creative Lenses — on business models in cultural industries in which Katarina Scott from Lund Municipality also participated.
- The CCSC project gives the creative sector, the city and local decision-makers a new way to work together. We can define needs, test new ways of working and work with creative infrastructure that is of great benefit to society,” Katarina Scott said at the start of the project. Working through people's initiatives becomes a new way to tap into a society's inherent creativity to create engaged citizens.
The project was presented on 8 October - 11 October 2018 in Brussels at the European Week of Regions and Cities and on 7 and 8 November a joint kick-off meeting was held in Lund with all the partners in the project.
Link to report from Lund Urban Lab
Facts CCSC- Culture as a way to develop the city
Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities (CCSC) is a policy project co-funded by the European Union's Creative Europe programme. The project brought together a consortium of ten organisations led by Trans Europe Halles, the European network of non-governmental cultural centres. Future by Lund/Lund Municipality is one of these ten organizations.
With this project, the partners strove to prove that creativity, art and culture can transform public spaces and cities. For two and a half years, beginning in November 2018, the project connected cultural and creative spaces with local decision-makers through participatory processes.
The CCSC had the ambition to address some of the most pressing urban challenges. The project intended to develop, test and validate methods for local governments to engage their stakeholders in policy co-design. One result could be that civil society and public authorities develop new strategies to improve our cities.
Facts in English:
Spatial e città culturale e creativa (CCSC) è un progetto política co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The project brought together a consortium of ten organisations led by Trans Europe Halles, the European network of non-governmental cultural centres. Future by Lund/Lund Municipality was one of those ten organizations.
With this project, the partners aimed to prove that creativity, arts and culture can transform public spaces and cities. Para due a mínima, a novembre 2018, o progetto conectó la spaciones culturales y creativas con máquinas políticos locales por procesos participatorios.
The CCSC tackled some of the most pressing urban challenges. Projekt, a. One result can be that civil society and public authorities will develop new policies to improve our cities.
Read our articles about the CCSC
Creative Lund collaborates to lift young people
“An opportunity to see what can come out of the Swedish way”
Culture as a way to change Europe
Recommendations from the CCSC project may influence EU cultural policy
A new creative ecosystem is emerging
Organizations build relationships through individuals
Cultural projects attracted participants from all over the world
Culture as a way to build international relations
Cultural project attracted participants from all over the world
Creative actors from Lund talk about the Creative Spaces project
More info on Trans Europe Halles.
