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Brownfields and Orchards

EUTeens4Green Team

05/05/2023 19:21

💡 Description: This project comes back to the place they were born to rediscover what really matters. They were born in a place already severely altered by human activity. Thousands of kilometres of underground tunnels were dug underneath our valley. A river that flows through it was poisoned. Toxic ashes keep falling on our soil from the high chimneys that dominate the landscape. Every family has either someone who worked in the mines, in the factories or in another way took part in the industrial complex and its workings. In order to heal the state of our environment, it is necessary to change our extractive approach to the Earth, to each other and to ourselves. 'Brownfields and Orchards' comes back to the place we were born to rediscover what really matters. The region needs this transition to be also an inner transformation: coming from within the community, empowering, and localized. This project proposes a series of activities which create time and space for the inner, “soft” transition to occur, along with the technological innovation and infrastructural reforms which are already taking place in the Upper Nitra region. They will provide opportunities for local people of all walks of life to speak up and be listened to, to gather and mourn that which was lost, and recuperate that which has remained, to recreate our sense of belonging to the place and reestablish our relationships with our natural and cultural heritage. They will use sound and song, dialogue and silence, walking and sensing, to trace the local stories, traditions, wounds and treasures, and with creative collective actions inspire hopes and collaboration of diverse groups in the region, for the transition to be truly just and authentically owned by those who are most touched by the changes. 'Brownfields and Orchards' will involve residents of the Prievidza district, with an initial focus on the villages of Sebedražie and Cigeľ, which were actively serving in the local coal mine and have recently seen their premises being deconstructed. They aim to recognize what they value as individuals and as a community. In collaboration with local municipalities, they will organize activities to reflect and honour this heritage and support finding new ways of their collective realization. An exhibition, site-specific events, and digital and physical media will be used to highlight the perceived challenges and qualities of the region for the wider public and will contribute to a renewed sense of pride and belonging to the region and will encourage more people to actively step into their power as guardians and co-creators of the region’s future, protecting the existence and health of all living there.
🎯 Target Group: Local inhabitants of the Upper Nitra region
🌱 Expected Results: ORIENTATION / KNOWING WHERE THEY COME FROM Local inhabitants of the Upper Nitra region will build their relationships and understanding of the place they live. Mutual understanding, creating stimulating discussions, developing critical thinking and its benefits – preserving the stories, knowledge and experience of previous generations. CONNECTION Connection with the environment, getting more sensitive towards needs and manifesting them to people around, intergenerational linking of relationships. Building relationships, cohesion, and visibility of good practice. An opportunity to join the creation of a new identity of the region and its actors, the creation of new rituals for connecting people with the location, nature and each other. CREATIVITY Behind the experience and its explorational potential, 'Brownfields and Orchards' engages in bringing collective knowledge inside of our region so they can work consciously together on a more diverse level, bringing more meaningful content between people. ENGAGEMENT Bringing people together to be more engaged in public space, more courageous and honest in discussions, more interested in the space they have in common, in the environment, more involved, and creative. Find opportunities to implement their ideas. Direct involvement of groups affected by the transformation (residents of Sebedražia and other municipalities) mapping of actors and activities in the region support for the transformation of the region – through authentic connections and mutual inspiration.
✉️ Contact: brownfields.orchards@gmail.com
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