It builds networks and connects civil society actors*administration and politics in order to shape vibrant and sustainable cities. The association represents the urban practitionersand imparts knowledge in order to make cross-departmental issues in the city visible.
On the initiative of the Rats für die Künste, artists, urban activists and cultural, architectural and socio-cultural players joined forces in 2020 to form the Urban Practice Initiative. This was funded by SenKE in 2020-2021 as part of the DRAUSSENSTADT initiative – 12 locations and the Urban Practice project office were supported during this period. To this end, the Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis , supported by the Stiftung für kulturelle Weiterbildung und Kulturberatung, was established, which still supports artistic projects in the field of urban practice today.
The non-profit Urbane Praxis e.V. was founded in 2022 from the Urbane Practise initiative and the growing network.
Netzwork office Urbane Practise
The Urban Practice Network Office networks, supports and advises Berlin initiatives and projects that are active in the field of urban practice. It enables a continuous exchange between initiatives, administration and politics – through intermediary communication, networking, visibility and responsiveness. It imparts knowledge in the field of urban practice, organizes public discourse and networking events and develops information material and support for urban practitioners.
The network office is run by Sharmila Sharma, Kristin Lazarova, Elisabeth Knoblich, Miriam Rausch, Merve Degirmenci and Dana Schneider.
Consulting
Are you looking for (potential) spaces, allies and fellow campaigners, contacts to administration and decision-makers, help with the conception and implementation of your idea? We advise and support initiatives, offer information materials and pool knowledge and experience from everyday project work. Write to us at: office@urbanepraxis.berlin
Board
The following members were elected to the Executive Board on 11.04.2024:
Sabine Kroner (Berlin Mondiale), Rebecca Wall, Sharmila Sharma, Tomma Suki Hinrichsen (Torhaus Berlin) und Christian Haid (POLIGONAL).
Goals
The Berlin network is to be further expanded in the coming years. In addition, a nationwide and Europe-wide network is to be established. Urban practice should become visible through new formats of mediation and exchange. More places of urban practice are to be found and new collaborations with the individual districts are to be initiated. The consolidation of already existing locations is to be supported. Active cooperation with other intermediary urban policy bodies (e.g. “Taskforce bedrohte Räume”) should take place. Furthermore, the association actively uses its role as an advice center and thus primarily helps young initiatives in their implementation.
The association takes a critical look at its own structures in order to increasingly be able to adequately represent the initiatives of various stakeholders. To this end, the newly created “Diversity Development & Outreach” unit within the association is developing processes for work that is critical of discrimination and power. By designing a sustainable strategy for dealing with discrimination internally in a sensitive manner, the scope for a sensitive and critical approach to barriers also grows and enables diversity to be expanded both in the team and in the network. With new formats, we want to address a broader network of urban practitioners and create access opportunities for marginalized people. Through new opportunities for exchange, we hope to redefine the concept of urban practice with more perspectives so that the diversity of urban society (in the association) can be better reflected.
Articles of Association
Here you can find the statutes of Urbane Praxis e.V. (download link to pdf).
Become a member
Are you an active urban practitioner yourself or are you interested in the topic? We are happy to welcome new members. Anbei findest du eine Anleitung wie du Mitglied werden kannst und was es bei uns zu entdecken gibt. Send us the membership application form and a few short sentences about yourself and your projects:
office@urbanepraxis.berlin