Empowering communities through creativity

How can we support novel initiatives of marginalized communities instead of following agendas of development agencies? Discuss with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Egypt, UN Habitat, SDI, the Huairou Commission, IHS and Utrecht University.

Dina El-Serafy

Facilitator

November 8, 2024 | 11:00 - 12:30

SDGs in Action - room B

IHS, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam

Netherlands

English

Reference:

SDG-B 17

WUF12

SDGs in Action

Summary

How can we unleash the creative potential of marginalized urban communities? Urban policies and practices rarely support creative local initiatives in the context of marginalization. Collaborative governance can bring in the creativity of all actors, if they work together on an equal footing and on challenges important to local communities. It requires valuing invisible local knowledge and practices and a frugal perspective on what creativity entails. To be creative and inclusive requires reciprocity. Such collaborations not only address specific urban challenges, but also create new insights into creative processes within and with marginalized communities.

The session comprises three parts:

Panel discussion
The panel discusses the main values and ways of working in different contexts, based on creative experiences from among others Egypt, Kenya and the Netherlands. The Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Sawiris Foundation present experiences in developing local creative economies in Egypt. Shack Dwellers International (SDI) shares experience in collaborative bottom-up governance with marginalized communities in Kenya. A range of creative tools have been developed in community-based upgrading of Mukuru and Kinbera, Nairobi, Kenya. IHS introduces the Community Research Hub, which connects marginalized communities and scientists in seven districts in Rotterdam. The Huairou Commission discusses innovative initiatives of the women grassroots organisations. Utrecht University introduces a digital platform making creative community initiatives visible. Finally, the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme of UN Habitat relates these to the growing body of international experience.

Fish bowl
The second part comprises an interactive fish bowl session around the question how to unleash the creativity of marginalized communities through the creative economy and creative community development.

Meet and great
At the end, you can meet experts to share ideas.

Objectives

The core problems that we address in this event are that the creativity and knowledge of marginalized communities tend to remain hidden and unvalued. External solutions fail, if they do not value local knowledge and creativity.

The key objective of the event is to identify values, tools and methods to recognize and unleash the creative potential of urban marginalized communities. We ask ourselves what valuable and novel ideas marginalized communities have and how can we support these, rather than following agendas of development agencies. Specific objectives are to:

1. Create awareness on creativity within marginalized communities.
2. Reflect on power imbalances between planners, researchers and marginalized communities in recognizing and unleashing creativity.
2. Establish international engagement to unleash creativity through collaborative approaches at the level of urban communities.
3. Share experiences which unleash the creative potential in Egypt, Kenya and the Netherlands.
4. Discuss innovative methods to overcome power imbalances between marginalized communities, planners, and researchers.