AEscala

After the hard but enlightening experience of Ruse2019, I got interested in participatory processes and interdisciplinary work. They might be seen as a current trend, but I found them very useful in understanding users´ opinions, thoughts and visions during the elaboration of the Ruse2019 ECoC strategy. 

When I came back to Spain, I took part in an one-week workshop called Pop-Up Valencia. Reactiva la ciudad. (http://mixuro.wix.com/popup-valencia#!vpopup/codf - since October 2014)- having the possibility to debate the topic of the Urban Reactivation with tutors from different disciplines. The task of the workshop was to develop a project to reactivate the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) together with a group of participants. Later on, we received a grant by the Area of Cultural Activities of the UPV for the project´s realization. Thus, AEscala participatory project was born. 

Since March 2014 AEscala has been ongoing in ETSAV (the Architecture School of UPV). Its goal was to offer a small-scale informal space for the students that could be used as a "living room" - for relax and fun. Also, some cultural activities were held there, either organized by the team, or suggested and realized by students. 

Good, clear and regular communication was one of the pilars of the projects. We had to transmit our idea of the space to more students, so that it could get popular and used. It was essential to maintain a regular communication with the Director of the School and, also, with the Area of Cultural Activities. 

The main stream was FB and you can check out what was going on at AEscala on a timeline at: FB/ AEscala

At the end of May, AEscala was closed for the summer, trying to find a way to be continued from September on and having the support of the Director of the School. Unfortunately, none of the members of the team had the possibility to push forward AEscala to its next stage and officially the project was closed at the end of December 2014 withdrawing all the furniture.

During the summer the team has been collecting and analysing the data of the process and assessing whether it was a failed project. Every time we passed by, we saw the space full of people chatting, having a coffee, lying on the sofas, working on the pc... However, the response to our invitation to cultural activities was quite poor.

The AEscala team has been preparing a book to share the experience of the project and offer some conclusions about.