Background

The first of the whole series of Future City Games 'With and for Praga' played in cooperation with the authorities of Praga Północ district took place on September 7, 2010 at Sen pszczoły club.

Objectives

The streets, courtyards and old tenement houses of Praga are a magnet for representatives of the creative sector. From one side - post-industrial buildings, old tenement houses - an atmosphere of streets filled with people; on the other - the possibility of quite cheap studios or offices. Praga also has a superb location close to the city centre. The popularity of the district among representatives of the creative sector lasted since the end of the 90s. The clubs, galleries and studios present here for a long time influence its current attractiveness.

During the first Future City Game, the participants sought answers to the following questions: how to combine the development of the creative sector in Praga with the creative development of district’s space? How can residents, clerks, activists, artists and entrepreneurs cooperate within this process? Which particular places of Praga have the power to stimulate the district’s development? Where to seek common ground for the local community’s cooperation? How to make better use of commercial premises, giving easier access to people willing to rent them to work, organise meetings, create, act? Which particular places in Praga have the potential to become lively public spaces?

Winning idea

Praga Non-Stop - Cultural Movement in Praga
The project’s aim is to enhance and improve the functionality of public spaces, so that Praga could become an attractive place to work and live in. The project addresses the need for linking  residential areas with recreational areas. These transport routes are supposed to be suitable for: pedestrians, cyclists, elderly persons, and mothers with children, and allow them to stop to rest and relax and observe the life of the city and the heritage of Praga.

In order to make the space visually friendly, a proper system of identifying places would be introduced, marking the sight-seeing routes and other important places worth visiting. It is very important to include the residents of Praga in all these actions in order to ‘restore’ their sense of the having right to, and being responsible for public space.

Winning ideas from the other teams

Rickshaws of Praga
This proposal is aimed at reviving Praga's public spaces, creating a way of quickly responding to temporarily emerging needs in the areas of trade, culture, entertainment and transportation. The plan is to establish a network of rickshaws in which one could transport, sell and/or present one’s services, goods and ideas. Individually designed rickshaws could have the following features: theatrical - itinerant theatre; commercial – health-food stalls; informational - poster pillar, service shop, a knife sharpening kit (an added value - promoting endangered occupations). Managing rickshaws would require a special system which could be dealt with by the District Office. The office would make the rickshaws accessible for a nominal monthly charge, as the most important criteria would be the ingenuity and usefulness of particular rickshaws.

The main idea of his project is to promote Praga in a unique way, activating local initiatives, connecting distant places, social integration, and increasing people’s mobility. An added value: decreasing local traffic by setting up preferential daily runnng times for rickshaws; and during weekends, making some of streets and routes for pedestrians, cyclists and rickshaws only.
 
Education Pack for Schools
The project addresses the need for aesthetic education, enhancing local identity and responsibility for the neighbouring public spaces and integrating Praga’s inhabitants with local artists and NGOs. Praga suffers from a lack of social bonds, and a well-prepared edu-pack – a series of tours/walks for school pupils around Praga could change that. These would be guided tours by activists from Praga or individuals who have just discovered this area and see its interesting creative potential. They would aim at introducing the history and cultural heritage of the district from the perspective of a ‘stranger’ who chose Praga to work here. Tour participants could also visit artists’ studios and NGOs to talk about design, graffiti (murals), music, food, theater. After such a series of tours, the participants could prepare e.g. ‘my space in Praga’ photo workshops and an outdoor exhibition. A well-prepared database of local NGOs and other institutions present in Praga dealing with various urban spaces activities would be necessary to run this project properly.
 
The Old Town Square of Praga
The view of Praga as a neglected and dangerous distric needs to be changed. Revitalising procedures that will speed up the process of rescuing priceless old tenement houses and other monuments of Praga have to be established and implemented, and investments made. Public-private partnership may achieve this. Praga needs an effective model and system of  managing communal flats and premises connected with activities supporting the creative sector. Activities that would support culture and art could be for example: temporary architectural, artistic or landscape  interventions), publishing a themed guidebook on galleries in Praga, etc. These activities should be connected with activating local communities, address the need to restore their ‘right’ to the city and responsibility for the common public space.

The development of Praga’s potential also requires a space for social activities, a neighbourly integration for groups of different ages, which – apart from its socio-therapeutic and educational role – could assure a safe space for common activities and progress.
 
Praga – Here’s the City Centre
This project is aimed at increasing the district’s attractiveness by using its identified artistic potential: location/culture/space/ people. The players believe that Praga’s public spaces should be more active in meeting both the residents and tourists half- way. An interesting idea would be e.g. indicating a spot for a weekly flee market. The internal and external info-flow needs to be improved, designing sight-seeing routes, a system of visual identification, updating the map of the area, introducing a tourist information spot, etc. Promoting Praga also means coming up with attractive small items that would refer to the district.

Going in this direction of changing Praga requires new investments and economic development. To apply these, the district needs changes in rules of practice for, among other things, managing communal premises, supporting local entrepreneurs and the professional activation of inhabitants (programmes that would promote the hiring of local people in newly established enterprises in Praga).