Life+ Platform meeting on Urban resilience – R-Urban
On the 4-5th of April, R-Urban was host to the Life + Platform meeting on Urban Resilience. This meeting brought together practitioners from around Europe working to address urban environmental challenges within their local cities. As recipients of the European Union’s Life + funding, the organisation’s share a common stake in the innovation of resilient approaches to sustainable cities, particuarly their adaptability to climate change and socio-political change. The meeting was divided into themeatic workshops around infrastructure and planning, waste management and resource management, with presentations from each project representative on their specific areas. In the field of infrastructure and planning, we heard from Caroline Bragg from GroundWork on climate proofing social housing landscapes in the UK; Florencio Conde on sustainable environmental balances in the recovery of the natural peri-urban area of ‘Las Arcillas’ in Tereul, Spain; Isabelle Chatoux from Yvelines on green planning for the SeineCityPark, Chanteloup Loop, Paris; and Outi Salminen on creating an urban oases in Finland: Shaping a sustainable future through environmentally functional landscape features.
The second workshop focused on addressing waste management and recycling at different scales and how this contributes to an increased territorial resistance. Presentations were given by Clare Standish and Sarah Melor from UP and Forward, an initiative based in the Greater Manchester focused urban participation in the reuse and recycling of household waste and development of communications; Philippe Naudet from the European Week for Waste Reduction, based in Brussels and operating on a European scale in the promotion of waste prevention.
The last workshop focused on natural resource management and renewable energy production in the urban frame. This theme was explored with presentations by Nathalie Briche from MAC EAU, a localised initiative working to reduce the household consumption of drinking water through the implementation and evaluation of integrated measures in Geronde, France; Beatrix Dold from EKO LIFE discussing their approach to promoting sustainable lifestyles to encourage energy autonomy in Vorarlberg, Austria; and Laurence Caille from CLIMATE (Changing Living Modes: Acting in our Territory for the Environment) presenting their work on fostering behavioural change around energy and waste awareness in Essonne, France.
The two day seminar provided a much needed platform to share the successes and challenges facing each project, as well as providing the space to talk and learn about different practices and operational tools surrounding participatory approaches and local governance in the creation of resilient projects. On the second day, visitors were invited to learn about R-Urban through short presentations by local and institutional stakeholders and gain a perspective into the life around R-Urban.
WILD PLANTS AND WEEDS: How to identify and harness their wonders
In Agrocité, our plots are surrounded by hedges and alleys home to many small plants that we do not always know. These can be edible, medicinal and beautiful plants… They also tell us the characteristics of our land … yet most commonly, we refer to them as “weeds!”
Sylvie, host Nature Center, will teach us a little more about the flora that surrounds us!
AROMATIC GARDENS AT AGROCITÉ!
Celebrate spring by planting a mound of aromatic goodness at Agrocité!
The entrance to the garden has been prepared to accommodate a selection of aromatic and medicinal plants. The mound is a perfect spot for these kinds of plants as they need more heat and drought than other plants, and the slope will allow us to create different environments to suit our companions of a thousand smells!
Come and join us in planting ans sowing thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage, parsley, coriander, sorrel, comfrey …
Entry free and open to all!
TRADE SHOW at R-URBAN!
TRADE SHOW at R-Urban
14 – 28 March 2014 at Agrocité, 4 rue Jules Michelet, Colombes
Friday 14 Mars
> 17h : Inauguration Exposition TRADE SHOW
Trade Show is a travelling exhibition to show and explore how artists practice and enable trade and economic structures that can offer proposals for reinventing economy today. ‘Trade Show’ is curated by Kathrin Böhm and Gavin Wade and started at Eastside Projects in Birmingham (UK) in December 2013.
A selection of projects from ‘Trade Show’ Birmingham will travel to Colombes to become neighbours and colleagues of the various emerging forms of production and trades at R-Urban. These include works by Katherine Gibson, Martino Gamper, ApolonijaSusterjic, Sam Curtis, Kate Rich, Myvillages, EllaGibbs, Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Aimée Zito Lema, AnEndless Supply and l’atelier d’architecture autogérée.
For two weeks, different ‘R-Urban’ and ‘Trade Show’ shops and documents will occupy the Agrocité building to test and demonstrate trade as a range of possibilities for many to be involved in.
This exchange and continuation of ‘Trade Show’ outside of the gallery space is part of a shared action research into trade as a cultural space, between atelier d’architecture autogérée, Eastside Projects and Myvillages, funded through a Collaborations Grant by the European Cultural Foundation.
> 18h – Opening + public lecture by Katherine Gibson, professor of economic geography at University West Sydney, author of ‘Take back the economy’
> 19h : « Cube Cola Bar » – an open source installation by Kate Rich and the opening of “Agro&Culture“ – the non-consumerist shop by R-Urban, an artistic project demonstrating the dynamism of local economies through the diverse relations of economic exchange, barter, negotiation, shared investment, and open source, and (with Kathrin Böhm, Daniela Dossi, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Yvon Pradier, aaa and the residents of Colombes).
Saturday 15 march
>10h – 13h : Seminar on alternative economies and R-Urban avec Katherine Gibson, Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Stealth-unlimited, Kathrin Böhm, Piet Vollaard, aaa, Kate Rich
Repair Café #2 / Saturday 22 february at RecycLab
Hello to all,
There is a new Repair Café organised at RecycLab on the afternoon of Saturday, 22nd of February. This event is in partnership with the association “Colombes à Vélo” who will be present to help with bike repairs.
What is it?
Repair Café is an afternoon workshop where you can bring your broken, worn and damaged objects to learn how to repair. A team of volunteer repairers and self-service tools will be present to assist you in your given project, whether fixing clothes, bikes, toys, broken or damaged crockery, kitchen utensils, electric appliances, or even learning how to navigate computer software..
We are looking for volunteers to lend a hand with repairs (elecronics, sewing, etc). Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are available.
For more information about the Repair Café, please visit our offical site:
http://repaircafe.org/fr/
Presentation and discussion: Cooperative housing and R-Urban London / Saturday, January 18
Two presentations and discussions followed one another on Saturday night 16th of January, at Agrocité, around:
– the initiation of a cooperative housing in Colombes (aaa)
– the progress of R-Urban Project in London (Public Works)
Aromatherapy and Naturopathy Workshop- Agrocité
Nettle against anemia? Echinacea to boost immunity?
Many of the plants that surround us, have, for centuries been used to prevent disease, treat, and booster the health of humans in their everyday life. Yet in our country, we have largely moved away from natural remedies to get closer to tablets … We walk beside edible wild plants unknowingly and yet buy costly vegetables that are both out of season, and have travelled far to arrive in our plates!
Presentation-debate about Urban Agriculture and Cooperative housing
Next Saturday, Recyclab will host a special evening dedicated to urban agriculture and cooperative housing!
Program:
- URBAN AGRICULTURE IN BERLIN / Prinzessingärten
5:00pm – presentation and debate with MARCO CLAUSEN, co-founded of the project Prinzessingärten,
about an ecological and economic projectin Berlin.
- COOPERATIVE HOUSING IN EUROPE
5:45pm – presentation and debate with [ STEALTH ] and atelier d’architecture autogérée (AAA),
about various projects of cooperative housing across Europe.
Practical information:
Date and time: Saturday, the 19th of october, at 5:00pm
Place: Recyclab, 11 boulevard d’Achères à Colombes
Access: 5 minutes by foot from the train station “Le Stade” in Colombes; bus
Free entrance
workshop “knowledges from the garden”: jams and tins with green tomatoes
End of summer… the mildew has started to affect tomatoes at Agrocité.
In order to not lose them, we did a big harvest of green tomatoes before they get sick with the mildew. Conclusion: 18 kg of tomatoes were harvested!
In France, we don’t use green tomatoes very often, except to make jams. In other countries, they make tins. At Agrocité, we tested both!
Final production: around fifty pots of jam and around twenty tins.
Find the recipes for green tomato jams and tins in the section “Local Products” of the website!