How a Place to Be-Come is transforming local parks while addressing social exclusion - ZOOM IN
On February 2020, the Centre Public d’Action Social (CPAS) - the local institution that delivers social aid - and the project partner Natagora - a grassroots organisation that provides socio-professional reintegration trainings on sustainable landscaping - organised a selection to engage 10 people, amongst CPAS beneficiaries, who would follow a nature-based training in green areas management and then be hired for one year contract.
During the last year, the trainees-workers have learnt how to design and manage in a sustainable way (gestion différenciée) three parks in the central neighbourhoods of Seraing. While the outskirts of the city are covered with woodlands, the centre is densely urbanised and local parks are the only source of greenery, but they are underused as public spaces. One of the main goals of the project is precisely to improve public spaces in the central neighbourhoods to enhance people’s opportunities for meeting, exchanging and socialising.
In this Zoom-in, APTBC partners and CPAS workers tell us how they have succeed at transforming their central parks thus changing residents’ perception, in an effort to encourage more people to use and enjoy them. But this is not the only result they obtained. They also were able to transmit knowledge and competences, build a strong working team and refocus trainees-workers’ life trajectories.
Urban poverty
