Area of Activity III: Cultures and Communication

Participatory Strategies for Diverse Neighborhoods – Lod and Neukölln

Living together in diversity begins right in one’s own neighborhood. That’s why it’s here that a German-Israeli culture and community project is getting started, in the everyday life of two city districts characterized by considerable diversity, serving to bring together people from very different backgrounds and with very different skills – both in terms of the participants and beyond.

Participants
10 local stakeholders from the sociocultural field
Residents of both neighborhoods

Project Content
Whoever is able to shape their surroundings together with others is able to create a basis for tolerance and integration in so doing. For this reason, the participants head up five thematically distinct neighborhood projects which serve as a platform for exchange and cooperation for the residents of these neighborhoods, each of which explore very different subjects in the process: topics include dreams, communication methods for the hearing-impaired, as well as the effects of exile and migration, traveling together on public transport, and culinary rituals.

Project Working Methods
Each of the five sub-projects is developed and led by a German-Israeli tandem team. The teams initially communicate online before coming together at two neighborhood festivals in Lod and Neukölln. While the residents and local stakeholders shape the content and exchange their skills during the project phase, the festivals themselves are open to a broader public that forms the audience for the project presentations and also has the chance to get involved in workshops and round table discussions.

Project Goals
The project aims to unite stakeholders from different areas and to bring a broader public in contact with questions relating to participation, tolerance, and solidarity by way of two diverse neighborhood festivals. The projects and festivals will be documented on a blog and in social networks and form the basis for the creation of local and international networks.
Collaborating partners
Jindas – Urban Regeneration in Lod, Israel
Kultur- und Nachbarschaftszentrum Agora Collective e.V. Neukölln in Berlin, Germany