2019-2021 – HERITAGE AND URBAN RENEWAL: CREATIVE SPACES, INCLUSIVE CULTURE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Project funded under PN III Programme/ Sub-programme 3.1. Bilateral/multilateral/ Module AUF-RO
Implementation Period: 1 March 2019 – 31 December 2021
Project Budget for Babeş-Bolyai University: 25,853 RON
Contracting Authority: Francophone University Agency in partnership with the Institute for Atomic Physics
Partners:
- Project coordinator: West University of Timişoara, Centre for Regional Development, Cross-border Studies and Territorial Planning (CDR-START), Timişoara (Romania)
- Partner universities: Babeş-Bolyai University, Centre for Regional Geography, Cluj-Napoca (Romania); University of Angers, ESO Laboratory (UMR 6590 CNRS), Angers (France); Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, Laboratory of Demographic Studies, Chişinău (Republic of Moldova)
Objectives
The main aim of the project is to generate new, competitive information in the knowledge of creative urban spaces, in stimulating local entrepreneurial spirit in creative activities and boosting civic engagement.
Scientific objectives
1. To ensure a good delimitation of activities that generate creative urban spaces in accordance with the international literature, European documents, national strategies and legislation, specific local documents;
2. To use appropriate methods and tools, especially digital tools, direct social research and participatory field activities;
3. To identify mechanisms for structuring and asserting successful creative spaces based on case studies and network studies in the context of applying the principles of diffusion theory;
4. To develop spatial and system (functional) models with focus on best practices and the identification of their replication potential;
5. To lead to diverse and modern ways to disseminate the research results, making them valuable for the consortium members and efficient for the local communities.
Applied objectives
1. To create a comprehensive database for documenting creative activities and creative spaces;
2. To achieve a typology of creative spaces in the cities under analysis, doubled by typological and relational digital maps with interactive functions;
3. To develop spatial models focused on potentially replicable best practice;
4. To organize at least three events with international academic participation and involvement of stakeholders: two workshops and one international conference;
5. To organize two press conferences to make known the consortium’s and the contracting authorities’ concerns, as well as to increase the impact of the conducted research;
6. To develop appropriate formats for the dissemination of research results by digital means, in accordance with the scientific deontology and copyright.
Planned phases and activities
Phase I. Diagnostic analysis of the creative urban spaces
A I.1. Identification of creative spaces
A I.2. Database creation/update
Phase II. Models of governance and the efficiency of creative urban spaces
A II.1. Stakeholder analysis
A II.2. Transfer of best practices
Phase III. Publication and dissemination of results
A III.1. Dissemination of results
Volunteer activity
One of the secondary objectives of the 17-AUF/CREATONVIL project is to train young researchers in the use of tools for mapping the cultural and creative sector. In this context, Cosmina Daniela-Ursu, doctoral student in geography, has been involved in all project activities from the very beginning through the volunteer agreement no. 741/01.08.2019.
The volunteer activity, carried out since August 2019 until present, has materialized in:
- participation in the creation of the database of independent creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca;
- identification of independent creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca;
- use of tools (observation sheets, interviews) for mapping the attributes of the independent creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca;
- participation in the project kick-off conference held in Timișoara, on 13-15 May 2019;
- involvement in the creation of the material associated to the presentation given at the project kick-off conference;
- attendance at the in-person or online meetings established at the level of the project consortium;
- involvement in the elaboration of scientific materials associated to the project results.
OUTPUTS AND RESULTS
1. Activities
Between the 18th and the 21st of November 2019, two of the CREATONVIL project implementation teams, namely Babeş-Bolyai University and the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, had an exchange of experience in Chişinău, Republic of Moldova. The purpose of the meeting was to conduct a discussion based on the partial results of the CREATONVIL project. In this regard, the following issues were discussed:
- the status of the field documentation and the creation of the database (23 creative spaces mapped in Cluj-Napoca and six mapped in Chişinău), with the possibility of performing a comparative analysis between the creative spaces in the two cities as a case study;
- opportunities for professional collaboration, either by preparing new project applications or by participating in joint scientific events;
- possibilities of didactic collaboration by encouraging the students of the two institutions to apply for mobility scholarships;
- the idea of conducting a research focused on a complementary theme dedicated to the entire area of the two states involved.
At the same time, the two project teams conducted a visit to ARTCOR, a creative space in Chişinău that aims to encourage the professional training of artists from sub-sectors of activity such as graphic design, animation, film, or music.
Working visit to creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca, 21-25 June 2021, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
A mobility of the CREATONVIL/17-AUF project partners from the Republic of Moldova took place at the Centre for Regional Geography between the 21st and the 25th of June 2021. The Babeş-Bolyai University project members, together with Valeriu Sainsus and Mihai Hachi, academics from the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, pointed out some issues regarding the current status of the project, ways of disseminating the project results, exchange of good practices at the level of some independent creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca and Chişinău. At the same time, there were also discussions on how the creativity of artists, cultural workers, cultural managers, cultural entrepreneurs or other categories of people working in the creative industries sector can be sustained, especially now, in a period in which actors working in the cultural sector are trying to reposition their activity.
For the exchange of ideas and shared experiences, we express our gratitude to the managers of some of the creative spaces in Cluj-Napoca: Cluj Innovation Park – CREIC, Transilvania Creative Industries Cluster, Centrul de Interes, Muzeon.
Workshop CREATONVIL, Angers, 30 September 2021
On 30 September 30 2021, the consortium of the project Heritage and Urban Renewal: Creative Spaces, Inclusive Culture and Civic Engagement organized a workshop in hybrid format. Representatives of the four partner universities, namely the West University of Timişoara (Consortium Leader), Babeş-Bolyai University (P1), the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (P2), and the University of Angers (P3) attended the workshop.
Representatives of the Faculty of Geography at Babeş-Bolyai University gave a presentation entitled La culture en ligne en temps de confinement. Etude de cas : pratiques culturelles en Cluj-Napoca, Roumanie (Online culture in times of confinement. Case study: cultural practices in Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
International Conference Creativity, Culture, Development, Timișoara, 11-12 November 2021
On 11 and 12 November 2021, the West University of Timișoara organizes the international conference on Creativity, Culture, Development, in hybrid format. The conference activities will include communication sessions, round tables and visits to cultural-creative spaces in Timișoara. The conference registration deadline is 25 October 2021.
The conference also marks the completion of the research project Heritage and Urban Renewal: Creative Spaces, Inclusive Culture and Civic Engagement, funded by PNCDI 2015-2020, Programme 3 – European and International Cooperation, Bilateral / Multilateral Subprogram 3.1 (AUF/IFA), a project carried out in an international consortium consisting of the West University of Timişoara (Consortium Leader), Babeș-Bolyai University (P1), the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (P2) and the University of Angers (P3).
To register, participants are invited to fill in the form: https://forms.gle/rv3sezTQfk4ytqNWA
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Conference Invitation
Participation in the CREATONVIL Project Closing Conference, Timișoara, 11-12 November 2021
On 11 and 12 November 2021, some of the members of the CREATONVIL project from Babeş-Bolyai University participated in the international conference Creativity, Culture, Development, organized by the West University of Timişoara. During the conference, all the partners involved in the project presented the results of the CREATONVIL project. At the same time, the round tables brought together, in the form of debates, local and relevant actors in the creative and cultural sector, highlighting examples of good practice from different cultural subsectors and the impact of the cultural and creative sector in urban regeneration and development of the civic engagement.
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Conference Programme
2. Results
Hurezean R. (2021), Cum s-a adaptat cultura la trecerea prin tunelul pandemiei. Arta de a înțelege virusul, Transilvania Reporter.
Marian-Potra Alexandra-Camelia, Pop Ana-Maria, Hognogi Gheorghe-Gavrilă, Nagy Júlia A. (2022), Resilience of the Romanian Independent Cultural Sector under COVID-19 Pandemic Using the Grounded Theory, Sustainability, 14(8), DOI: 10.3390/su14084564
Pop A.M., Marian-Potra A.C., Hognogi G.G. (2020), A fi sau a nu fi rezilient? Inițiative muzeistice pe perioada pandemiei COVID-19 (To be or not to be resilient: Museum initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic), Revista Muzeelor, nr. 1.
Pop A.M., Marian-Potra A.C., Hognogi G.G. (2021), Primul an pandemic: (e)Cultură în pandemie, SINTEZA. Revistă de cultură și gândire strategică
Pop Ana-Maria, Marian-Potra Alexandra-Camelia, Hognogi Gheorghe-Gavrilă (2022), E(Culture) and new perspectives for territorial evolution, Les Cahiers du CEDIMES, Enjeux Sociaux et Stratégies Économiques, 17(3): 78-88
Popa N., Pop A.M., Marian-Potra A.C., Cocean P., Hognogi G.G., David N. (2021), The resilience of independent sector creative industries. The impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on creative activities in two large cities in Romania, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), 7674, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147674
| Contact persons: Professor Nicolae POPA Ana-Maria POP Associate Professor Valeriu SAINSUS Associate Professor Emmanuel BIOTEAU |
