Response/Ability Pop-Up School Results
As part of the implementation of the Response/Ability project activities within the Erasmus+ program, the Response/Ability Pop-Up School took place from Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th June 2023, lasting a total of 24 hours, at the new premises of the Hellenic Design Centre.
During the three-day school, 15 young individuals and NEETs and 6 trainers took part, while also 6 representatives of local public organizations, were invited to hold a speech but also to contribute to the evaluation process of the generated solutions proposed by the working groups. The three school groups focused on the challenges faced by the open spaces of culture, namely: 1) the Garden of the Four Seasons in Nea Paralia, Thessaloniki, 2) Mina Patrikiou’s Park (Crete Park), and 3) Memorial Stones – 1st Gymnasium for Men.
By applying methods and tools of the Design Thinking methodology and with the support of the KEPΑ/HDC executives, the participants, upon completing their field research by engaging in conversations with space visitors and citizens from the surrounding areas, identified problematic areas and devised solutions that address the following challenges:
- Garden of 4 Seasons: How might we express seasonality in the Garden of 4 Seasons to make it more welcoming, accessible, and usable?
- Mina Patrikiou’s Park: How might we design Mina Patrikiou’s Park to accommodate various activities and events, as well as promote citizen engagement and participation, with the support of the Municipality of Thessaloniki?
- Memorial Stones – 1st Gymnasium for Men: How might we make the Memorial Stones sustainable and appealing in terms of their management and integration with other points of interest within the same community?
Subsequently, they visualized their ideas through Storytelling & Visual Prototyping tools and tested their solutions with the stakeholders involved in the user engagement process.
The teams’ work was concluded with the presentation of the three proposed solutions to the evaluation committee.
The three proposed solutions included:
- The reformation of the Four Seasons Garden, through citizen involvement and enhancing its identity.
- The configuration of Mina Patrikiou’s Park into six different sections, which will be divided into a Children’s Playground, Amphitheater – Citizens’ Consultation Space, Wellness Area, Digital and Analog Gaming Area, Environmental Awareness Space, as well as a Literature & Arts Space.
And finally,
- The highlighting of the Memory Stones (stolpersteine) located on Queen Olga’s Street in front of the 1st Men Gymnasium, through a thematic route and interactive event.
The three-day school was concluded with networking, sealing the successful implementation of the training.