Background

This future city game was organised as  part of the British Council’s Open Cities project. Open cities with diverse communities are more attractive and economically competitive, which drives them to obtain economic success. The residents of such cities seem more tolerant, active and full of ideas.
 

Objectives

The purpose of this Future City Game - organised in partnership with Poznan City Council - was to find ideas and visions for Poznan to suit the needs of newcomers of various national and ethnic backgrounds.

Winning idea

Easy City
The winning team concentrated on the administrative difficulties that foreigners face in Poznan. The first stage of Easy City is to identify the streams of foreigners within Poznan. This will help to define where and how Poznan should distribute information and services in such a way that they would reach potential newcomers. The second priority of the project is to increase on-line reach, while addressing the problems of foreigners. This will include interactive paths that would guide one through solving administrative problems, as well as the possibility to actually resolve administrative issues on-line. The third element of the Easy City project is to create friendly first contact procedures. Easy City as a whole is about creating a foreigner-friendly administration and supplying newcomers with tools that could help them to adjust in their new city.

Winning ideas from the other teams

Lighthouse
A place where Polish inhabitants of Poznan and newcomers could meet and create projects together. The place and its initiatives would become a trademark itself in promoting multicultural Poznan. Most of the initiatives would be triggered by newcomers. Another part of this project is a ‘multicultural attachment’ – a mobile structure that would attach itself to various cultural events and initiatives in Poznan in order to supply them with an element that would promote Poznan as a multicultural city.

Poznan 4 All
This idea is to create a web portal POZNAN 4 ALL which would become a platform for both Poznan residents and newcomers that would like to settle in the city. It will include information about basic services and places that are foreigner-friendly. It will also be equipped with a SELF-HELP section where one can swap opinions, recommendations and ideas.

Let’s Teach Each Other
The authors of this idea propose that we should educate ourselves about other cultures. It would mean creating lesson plans, educational scenarios, a Poznan survival course, and workshops on everyday life in Poznan. One of the components of the project is the introduction of a “foreigner assistant” who could offer help free of charge, or who  could give lessons in newcomers’ languages.