Sign up for AIMday on Culture-Driven Placemaking
How can culture contribute to creating vibrant, inclusive and sustainable places in our region? At AIMday Culture-Driven Placemaking on 19 November, researchers will have the opportunity to discuss the role of culture in social development with a variety of actors in Uppsala. These discussions will be the first step towards joint development projects.
Annika Waern. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt.
AIMday is part of a broader collaboration platform where Uppsala University, Uppsala Municipality and Region Uppsala work together to promote development through culture, creativity and the creative industries. On AIMday, researchers and actors from the regional community meet around a theme in order to jointly explore the possibilities for various projects.
One purpose of the collaboration platform is to establish long-term structures for collaboration between academia and the wider community – structures that create a basis for sharing knowledge and learning together.
For the collaboration to be meaningful, you need both time and reciprocity according to Annika Waern, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and chair of the board of the collaboration platform:
- The platform makes it possible to develop long-term relationships, which are also crucial for us researchers to be able to follow up and understand the effects of this collaboration.
Questions that spark new ideas
Ahead of AIMday Culture-Driven Placemaking on 19 November, actors from all over Uppsala County have submitted questions about culture-driven placemaking. These questions will form the basis for the discussions on the day and deal with themes such as:
- the importance of culture for local identity
- how art and culture can strengthen social sustainability
- how the creative industries can contribute to development in smaller towns.
– What makes the questions interesting is that they are open and exploratory. They’re an invitation to put our heads together to come up with ideas,” says Annika Waern.
As a researcher, you can now register for AIMday Culture-Driven Placemaking to participate in discussions with actors from the regional community around these themes.
From conversation to collaboration
AIMday is not just an opportunity for conversation. It can also be the start of new projects. After the day itself, there are opportunities to jointly develop pilot projects and apply for funding to support that work moving forward, including funding for cultural practitioners’ participation in preliminary studies.
– There are various challenges with collaboration – the first is just to find each other at all. AIMday can be a great tool for this,” says Annika Waern.
Emma Hallberg Gardell
More about AIMday
AIMday is a format for meeting developed at Uppsala University. The format is based on external organisations formulating questions or challenges that then form the basis for hour-long, facilitated discussions with researchers. The aim is to highlight questions from the perspectives of multiple research fields and create new opportunities for collaboration between academia and practice.
AIMday Culture-Driven Placemaking is organised by Uppsala University in collaboration with Region Uppsala and Uppsala Municipality/Kulturlyftet (The culture boost). Until 30 October, researchers at Uppsala University can register their interest in participating in the discussions on the submitted questions. We offer lunch and coffee during the day. Formas, Vinnova and EIT Culture & Creativity will present relevant calls for proposals related to the day’s themes and there will be time for networking. If you can’t attend for the whole day, you can specify your available times at the time of registration – we will then try to plan the timing of the discussions to suit your schedule.