This publication is one of the results of IPE’s participation in the GEF transnational project “Cities as Places of Hope – Resilient Cities”, where we aimed to vividly illustrate the most recent developments in some European cities and trace the pathways through which they can develop resilience, increase the well-being of citizens, reach ecological sustainability, and achieve more social justice.
In three chapters, we share with you the views, opinions and insights gained through the direct experience, empirical evidence and daily struggle of key changemakers at municipal level: researchers, scholars, practitioners and activists (some of them politically engaged). Our randomised look into various urban landscapes (and political/social conditions behind their development) begins from obstacles and challenges, continues with practices and ends with visions.
These “Sketches of a New City” are here to share and further develop these visions, translating and replicating ideas into collective actions. Far too often, big and ambitious projects end with failures. We want to start in the opposite way – with small sketches; with working material that can in time develop into something durable and resilient. Let us follow these ideas together and envision the new city as a place – wherever in Europe – where we would all love to live, where conviviality and resilience could co-exist in new forms of collective efforts and actions.