Umeå Urban forum - Creativity and co-creation in the urban public spaces

Purpose and goal

The purpose was to increase awareness regarding the city-planning process- the goal being to engage previously uninvolved groups of people for dialog and co-creation and to involve creative competence in the design of the city´s public spaces. A dialog was held with children, young adults and parents as part of planning a new meeting space and playground. This meant cooperation between Umeå municipality, Umeå Institute of Design (UID) and local art associations. Kreator´s creators were employed for the creation of an investigative installation: Can we make waiting for the bus fun

Results and expected effects

New knowledge has been gathered through dialog with coordinators at UID, city planners and students.This fruitful collaboration will continue past 2014. A new collaborative project on a national level has been started: Vasaplan- a collaborative project regarding the shaping of public spaces. The Architect museum and Umeå municipality will collaborate on creating exhibitions, installations and architect meetings in preparation for and during Umeå2014. The agency Kreator contributed to the city development project for Vasaplan

Approach and implementation

Cross-disciplinary collaboration is the thread that runs through this project. In all parts dialog has been initiated on different levels to create opportunities for future collaborations. Citizens, creators, students, universities, local entrepreneurs, cultural institutions, local government, associations, bureaucrats and politicians have all contributed to mutual understanding of the complexity of a positive city planning process.