Since 2020, we have been a partner in the ACRIC project (Active Citizens Reimagining the Community). Together with five other partners from the UK, France, Portugal, Sweden and Greece, we are developing approaches to involve citizens more in urban development processes.

The project is based on the premise that our communities need to be re-imagined with radical new approaches to their future development, with citizens as active agents in their implementation. There is an urgent need for urban officials and agencies driving change to consider citizen participation in long-term urban form planning and in the design and development of short-term projects such as the creation of a new housing development, library, park, etc. Strengthening citizen participation is a key element of the project. In particular, it explores the desire to create a greater balance between economic, social and environmental drivers for change by emphasising the needs of future generations and the design of places for and around people.

The ACRIC project aims to set up a program of adult education directed at training community mediators. The objective is to train selected members of the public to act as mediators between the community and professionals working in urban development.