The Living Street
Imagine your neighbour knocks on your door: “Hi, how are you? Can I talk to you for a minute? I have an idea to share with you… Imagine we could temporarily transform our street into a beautiful green meeting place for the whole neighbourhood to enjoy? We would remove the cars, just for a few months and then see what happens? What do you think?”
Precisely these kind of simple questions triggered the imagination of hundreds of citizens in dozens of Living Streets all over Europe.
Bring the energy and the creativity of people together
Nowadays cities worldwide face many social and environmental challenges. These same cities are potentially hotspots for social innovation where local authorities, entrepreneurs and residents make the city and solve complex issues they are faced with. They find creative solutions and challenge one another by thinking, acting and learning together. The Living Streets grab this creative social potential and put co-creation into practice to find real solutions for real people.
Living Streets are a catalyst for social innovation at neighbourhood level and in the whole city. Abstract concepts such as sustainability, mobility, living together, loneliness and social isolation, poverty, urban planning and development, … really come to life. A debate about Living Streets is about true experiences and becomes a small but rewarding step towards a more sustainable,, enjoyable and colourful city.
Create your own story
Every country, every city, every neighbourhood and every street has its own specific challenges. Imagine what happens if the Living Street becomes the Trojan horse to bring together a group of citizens, civil servants, politicians and entrepreneurs to find real solutions to your challenges? A network full of creativity and passion that succeeds in translating the conversations in the (Living) street about living together, mobility, isolation or poverty into new ways of doing, thinking and organizing.
Citizens can visualize the future by creating their dream street. Civil servants can support the creativity of the citizens thanks to their expertise. Politicians can give energy to innovative ideas just by ‘not making these ideas impossible’, and entrepreneurs can see Living Streets as a real social laboratory to test new ideas.
Our commitment
We’d love to help every Streetmaker* across the world to set up its own Living Street so that its City becomes a Living Streets City! Whether it is to inspire you, to guide you through the process or to advise you, just reach out to us at ideas@livingstreets.eu Our commitment to the setup of Living Streets is strong, our experience is extensive.
Find out all about our pioneering work in Ghent in in the first Living Street Newspaper.
*Are you a streetmaker? Everyone can be a streetmaker: Citizens can can visualize the future by creating their dream street. Civil servants can tap into the creativity of the citizens and their expertise can support them. Politicians can give energy to innovative ideas just by ‘not making these ideas impossible’, and entrepreneurs can see Living Streets as a real social laboratory to test new ideas.