Within the framework of the action research project, entitled as DOMAIN_AGORA, a prototype process of participatory planning is developed, which is based on civic engagement and crooss-sector cooperation. The aim of this project is to explore possible ways of urban regeneration that will introduce the city’s public spaces as an area of political and cultural creative expression. The place in which this project will be put into action is the Varvakeios Square (Square of Athens Central Market), a public space that symbolises the complexity of issues that contemporary cities and especially the city of Athens have to face. During the implementation of DOMAIN_AGORA project a series of workshops and events is organised and different people and stakeholders associated with the square will be invited to participate. Residents of the wider area, employees, visitors, representatives of the authorities, scientists and experts with knowledge upon relative disciplines will be invited in order to interact with each other, create partnerships and jointly develop ideas and proposals on urban interventions.
Concurrently, the coordination team will get involved, in cooperation with scientific partners, with the review application of new methods and tools of urban design, the development of information applications, as well as with charting and representing technical data in a widely understood way. The results deriving from the project’s action research are openly presented and available to the public after the workshops are completed. Both the joint creative study upon the regeneration of Varvakeios Market, as well as the conclusions drawn from the procedures’ processing and coding will be available in a way that will allow their future use and application in respective procedures.
DOMAIN_AGORA is one of the ten projects of the ACTORS OF URBAN CHANGE network, supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the non-governmental organization MitOst. The network supports with educational programmes and exchange of know-how projects in different cities/countries of Europe that focus on urban regeneration through citizens’ engagement and cultural activities.