Urban Exploration Timisoara

How could community-led organisations contribute to creating public policies and how could they reinforce their implementation? 

This question presents the main challenge that the Urban Lab Timișoara has been addressing throughout their Urban Exploration.

In the context of a forthcoming European Capital of Cultural year 2021, the local community in Timisoara have embraced the many different challenges and responsibilities that come with delivering major cultural projects. In connection with an official Timișoara 2021 flagship project, the Urban Exploration event explored neighbourhoods’ social-economic studies, local identities, migration and cultural interventions for community facilitation.

Between September and October 2020, Urban Lab Timișoara, hosted by AMBASADA, planned a series of events in a framework of their Urban Exploration which included:

7th September – Local gathering for young people interested in studying the city and how people use the commons and refer to it

11th September – Local pop-up activation with a sea of flags and festival memories

12th September– Documentaries screening 

13th September – ‘Squared Poets’ – four Romanian poets performed a spoken word piece on city and places of life, to audiences in a public square 

16th September – ArtShopping x Epretext – talks with contemporary artists and the public

17th September – Screenings night for PLAI that featured dance documentaries 

1st- 3rd October – Borealis pop-up event 

10th – 11th October – Spoken word performance

The Volunteering Quarter / The Social Building

15th September – 25th October

During this exciting period of development, a team of energetic volunteers came together to build The Social Building. Made up from six shipping containers, these former empty shells were transformed into temporary office spaces for local artists and social workers to use. Alongside these newly imagined creative spaces, the neighbourhood is also invited to make use of the community garden and an open-air woodworking workshop.

See the photo gallery here or visit the Media page.