Aubervilliers est une commune française située dans la banlieue immédiate de Paris au nord-est, précisément dans le département de la Seine-Saint-Denis en région Île-de-France. Son identité urbaine et humaine est marquée par l’héritage de l’industrie et du travail. La ville, à l’origine de la constitution de la communauté d'agglomération Plaine-Commune, présente de forts potentiels pour le développement de l’agglomération parisienne à laquelle elle est intimement liée.

Plaine Commune est la première communauté d'agglomération née en milieu urbain dense. Située aux portes de Paris, entre La Défense et Roissy, Plaine Commune est l'un des dix pôles de développement du grand Paris, considérée à ce titre comme le Territoire de la Culture et de la création.Plaine Commune regroupe neuf villes de Seine-Saint-Denis : Aubervilliers, Épinay-sur-Seine, L'Île-Saint-Denis, La Courneuve, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen, Stains et Villetaneuse, soit 408 000 habitants.

Plaine Commune est un territoire ouvert sur l'avenir, riche de potentialités et de synergies. Les villes de la communauté d’agglomération se sont regroupées sur un modèle de coopérative qui se construit avec : les élus des villes, les habitants, placés au cœur du projet communautaire, et les partenaires : entreprises, salariés, universités, associations, acteurs culturels.

Plaine Commune est l'un des pôles stratégiques de la région Île-de-France, tant par sa situation géographique que son histoire récente. Depuis quinze ans, le territoire communautaire connaît des mutations profondes qui en font le site le plus dynamique d'Île-de-France dans plusieurs domaines : développement économique, aménagement urbain, rénovation des quartiers, vie culturelle.

http://www.plainecommune.fr/communaute-d-agglomeration/#.VEfLQ_l_trg

Arad (similar scris și în germană, maghiară și limba bulgarilor bănățeni; în sârbă Арад, cu alfabet latin Arad) este municipiul de reședință al județului cu același nume, Crișana, România.

La recensământul din anul 2011 Aradul avea o populație de 159.074 locuitori, fiind al doisprezecelea cel mai mare centru urban al României din punct de vedere demografic. Municipiul Arad constituie pentru vestul României un punct important în ceea ce privește industria, și este de asemenea un nod important în transporturile feroviare, rutiere, având și aeroport. În privința religiei ortodoxe orașul Arad este reședința scaunului Arhiepiscopal al Aradului.

Oradea, mai demult Oradea Mare, este municipiul de reședință al județului Bihor, Crișana, România. Se află în vestul României, pe râul Crișul Repede, în imediata apropiere a frontierei cu Ungaria.

Totodată Oradea este și cel mai important oraș din regiunea istorică Crișana. La recensământul din 2002 municipiul avea 206.614 de locuitori. Zona metropolitană, care include și 11 comune învecinate, avea în anul 2002 populația de 249.746 locuitori, dintre care 68.2% români, 28.7% maghiari ș.a. În perioada interbelică 20,6% din populația orașului era alcătuită din evrei, fiind consemnate de asemenea comunități de germani, slovaci, ucraineni etc. (vezi județul Bihor interbelic).

Stațiunile balneare Băile Felix și Băile 1 mai se află la o distanță de 8 km, respectiv 4 km de oraș. Pe lângă apele termale recunoscute pe plan internațional pentru efectele terapeutice, în această zonă se găsește o formațiune carstică spectaculoasă, mai exact, un aven cu o adâncime de 86 de metri, denumit în zonă "Craterul de la Betfia", precum și Pârâul Peța, cu o vegetație tropicală unică în Europa.

Cluj-Napoca, până în 1974 și în limbajul cotidian Cluj, este municipiul de reședință al județului Cluj, Transilvania, România. La recensământul din 2011 era al doilea oraș al României ca populație. Pe plan geografic, se află la distanțe aproximativ egale de București (324 kilometri), Budapesta (351 km) și Belgrad (322 km). Situat pe valea râului Someșul Mic, orașul este considerat capitala neoficială a regiunii istorice Transilvania. Din 1790 până în 1848 și din 1861 până în 1867 a fost capitala oficială a Marelui Principat al Transilvaniei.

În 2011, 324,576 oameni locuiau în cadrul limitelor orașului, lucru care marchează o creștere de la cifra înregistrată la recensământul din 2002. Zona metropolitană Cluj-Napoca are o populație de 411,379 de oameni, pe când populația zonei periurbane depășește 420,000 de locuitori. Potrivit unei estimări 2007, furnizată de Direcția Județeană de Evidență a Persoanelor, orașul găzduiește o populație vizibilă de studenți și alți non-rezidenți—o medie de peste 20,000 de oameni pe an în perioada 2004–2007. Hotarele municipalității cuprind o arie de 1.795 kilometri pătrați.

Participation in Responding Together project (1st cycle)

The idea of the meeting was to have a two-day working session, with the first day focused on identifying creative actions to fight against exclusion and the second day on the creative identification of resources and common goods.

The methodology involved : - Inviting people from a heterogenous group + members of the coordination group + members and contacts of Edgeryders (namely, locally active young people) - First workshop : adapted open space methodology to identify creative actions with three themes : 1. Purchasing power, education and jobs ; 2. Active citizenship, dynamics and collective will ; 3. Social solidarity. The persons were randomly placed around the different tables for a 3-hour period of intensive interaction (with the idea to switch tables in-between) - Second workshop : Resource banking : Three tables were set up in the room : 1. a Time bank: to have participants register volunteering propositions, and working time available for local projects of their choice; 2. a Skill bank: to map which skills could be used, taught or provided, and in which projects people wanted them to be used ; 3. a Material bank: to determine useful contacts, tools, spaces, material items or financial support that could be provided or collected together, and for which project.

The first workshop resulted in the following outputs : - Interesting project ideas that weren't formerly proposed by the local coordination group but by others involved in the session; - The participation of 20 people of mixed background and origins, an aspect which was extremely positive since the exchanges were easy going; - The setting up of guidelines (Gilda's guidelines for the project + guidelines chosen by the local group), which proved to be very useful; - At each table criteria was identified by the citizens, according to indicators used, about who had the most; citizens also linked indicators to the different themes; - Each table had an external animator (a facilitator from another Romanian city) who helped with keeping persons focussed and time management, while also participating in the discussions with his/her experience; - For the first round, everybody at each table was asked to write down some initial ideas for actions to be discussed together and shared (plus modified, ameliorated, etc.); - The 2 hour timeframe was too short to switch participants to another table. On a positive note however, it was good to have persons working on themes they weren't used to. It also proved to be a source of "cross-creativity" and co-responsbility; - There was deep discussion about how to expand, i.e. how to increase citizen participation or generate creativity empowerment. The main conclusions noted the importance of having heterogenous groups, to mix the different backgrounds. Therefore, one proposal discussed and agreed upon by everyone was to ask the homogenous groups for ideas and guidelines for actions, then to separate the people wanting to get involved into "heterogenous action creative groups" (this we describe below).

Today will be the resource banking meeting

We had the following ideas : - To start from the actions proposed yesterday - "Be creative in what you may see as a resource !" - It can be resources you want to share or resources you might be able to obtain - Participants will first write some ideas of resources they have in mind - After this, they all share and exchange ideas and find new types of resources - Once they have finished, the tables switch - At the end of the workshop, there might be a common pooling of each table to answer the following question : what action might already have the required resources, meaning that we could actually start it today ?

Salaspils is a town in Latvia, the administrative centre of Salaspils municipality. The town is situated on the northern bank of the Daugava River 18 kilometres to the south-east of the city of Riga. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, various industrial enterprises and governmental institutions developed in Salaspils, such as the nuclear plant and four branches of the Academy of Science. Large multi-storied housing blocks appeared to house incoming power plant workers, many of whom were Russians. In a few decades Salaspils transformed from a very peaceful rural settlement to a mikroraion-style town. Due to the rapid development, Soviet authorities ordered construction of the Riga HES and Riga TEC-2. The dam created a massive reservoir that flooded monuments of Salaspils ancient history. The last unsubmerged sections of old Salaspils have been preserved at Salaspils railway station.

Salaspils Municipality is situated in the central part of Latvia, on the periphery of the capital Riga. The town is surrounded by a rural area and its history is closely related to the Riga hydroelectric station, that literally contributed to its birth.

The main challenges of the Municipality in this project are:

•     The improvement of social services;
•     helping to launch a day care centre for people with disabilities;
•     reducing the cost of heating, which is one of the highest in Latvia;
•     better integration in the city’s life of the Russian-speaking population, who represent 57 % of Salaspils population;
•     development of the economic sector and helping to create new businesses.

Brașov (în germană Kronstadt, în maghiară Brassó, în latină Corona; de asemenea pe hărțile vechi trecut Cron∫tadt, Brastovia sau Braßov, în dialectul săsesc Kruhnen, Krűnen, Krînen) este municipiul de reședință al județului cu același nume, Transilvania, România, format din localitățile componente Brașov (reședința) și Poiana Brașov. Potrivit recensământului din 2011, are o populație de 253.200 locuitori, fiind unul dintre cele mai mari orașe din țară (totuși în scădere în ultimele două decenii din cauza exodului sașilor și a reducerii activității industriale). Patron al orașului este considerată a fi Fecioara Maria. Statuia acesteia se află pe unul dintre contraforturile Bisericii Negre, îndreptat spre Casa Sfatului, având stema Brașovului sculptată dedesubt în relief.

Brașovul este cunoscut și datorită Festivalului Internațional „Cerbul de Aur”, ce se ținea aproape în fiecare an în centrul orașului. Acesta a avut pe scena sa nume celebre precum Thomas Anders, Toto Cutugno, Tom Jones, Coolio, Ray Charles, Pink, Kylie Minogue sau Christina Aguilera. Stațiunea de iarnă Poiana Brașov se află la 12 km distanță de centrul municipiului, dispunând de o infrastructură dezvoltată pentru practicarea sporturilor de iarnă.

Although İpsala is a small rural city, it has already an active Citizens' Assembly with 10 working groups. Three proposals of actions are planned to be realized in the framework of Responding Together project

Since 2009 the Mayor has tried to introduce some democratic infrastructure through establishing a Citizens’ Assembly (although there is no legal obligation to do so in Ipsala since its population is below the minimum number required by law to establish one). The aim of the Citizens’ Assembly was to enable every segment of society to be represented; support was given by the municipality in the form of a work venue. Its role is to find deficiencies and to inform the Municipality. The Mayor supported the innovative act and thus established the Assembly. He wanted to encourage all political parties, including the opposition, to hear and listen to the citizens' voices and to enable a complex group to come together. Meetings are held every 1, 2 or 3 months according to the agenda. The Leader of the Assembly is the Vocational Training School Director.

The Citizens' Assembly has 10 working groups: education, culture, sports, health, environment, infrastructure, tourism, international affairs, trade and consumer rights and natural disasters. There are 4 people in each group, hence total membership of the Assembly is 40.

Historically, the first settlement in Ipsala existed 8000 years ago when Vikings were also living there. It was a district capital during the Ancient Greek period and, during Ottoman times, horses were bred in Ipsala. It has been a new district since 1928 following the founding of the Turkish Republic. A booklet has been published on the History of İpsala in Turkish.

Today the total population is about 30,000 with 8,000 inhabitants living in the town centre. 30% of Turkey's rice production is based in East Thrace; there are about 200,000 hectares of rice fields in İpsala. There are three dams: two smaller ones and another that is as big as the country's GAP dam. The Maritsa River runs along the border with Greece (Bulgarian River Maritsa, Greek River Eros). The dam provides water for rice production in Ipsala, while the Bulgarians are hoping to produce electricity from the Maritsa. There are continual cultural and commercial relations with Bulgaria and Greece, and Trakyakent provides support for these relationships. Mayor Mehmet Karagöz attended the Bulgarian General Meeting of Local Authorities as a representative of Trakyakent; they have Thracian colleagues in Bulgaria and Ipsala is 4 kilometres from the Greek border. The commercial relations with Greece are very important, and as a town on the countries' border Ipsala has a very important role. It is the gateway to Europe with over 1 million vehicles crossing the border every year. It is a place of transition between Anatolia and Europe. There are twin-townings with Greek towns in the Sosti Region, with Alexandroupoli and Komotini in Greece, and Istabula in Bulgaria. Plans are underway for a similar twinning project with Hungary. As part of this project, citizens lunch together at weekends creating intercultural links and when Ipsala hosts festivals, Greek and Bulgarian populations are also invited. In addition to a Multiprogramme High School, an Anatolian High School, five primary schools and one kindergarten, there is a vocational training school that is a branch of Thrace University in Ipsala. In terms of services, all the local authority branches are here as well as a national branch of the Ministry of Forestry and Waterworks.

The Assembly is currently carrying out research and presenting proposals to the Municipality. Research has been conducted on numerous issues such as the falling population due to youth emigration; education levels of the town’s population; unemployment in the area; the urban living environment; and civil awareness. Solutions suggested have included creating accommodation for young people and students; creating a tourism campsite at the entrance of the village; renovating the historic bridge, Kemal Köprüsü; resolving problems of industrial pollution in Ergene, though this is on a national scale and over 14 years in debate. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems relates that prior efforts to improve public spaces by the Assembly are often undermined by vandalism and destruction by the local population – leading to suggestions for civil behaviour awareness-raising, or training for young persons and children. Proposals have been made but there is often no budget to implement them. In other instances, such as the bridge, a contract for its renovation was drawn up after the approval of the Earthquakes and Historic Buildings Council. The Thrace Development Agency is funding the renovation.

In terms of actions carried out: 1. To raise awareness about environmental issues the Assembly has organised the planting of a forest. The local authority provided the seeds following an Assembly group recommendation, then the entire Coordination group collaborated together to carry out the action. 2. There was a second project on pollution and litter. The Assembly, general public and children all worked together to collect litter on the streets and promote a "tidy town". 3. Concerning the rights of women, on 21st June a conference was held at the Local Authority Seminar Room. All women were invited with the aims to raise awareness about Women’s Rights. The day also involved a Midsummer Women’s festival.

Participation in Responding Together project (SPIRAL 1st cycle)

The Coordination Group has held 3 meetings over the last four weeks since the Project training on 6th March and has decided on three concrete proposals for actions ,which have since been presented in the Responding Together meeting with the Citizens’ Assembly Coordination Group (12 people present) on April 8th:

1. Women with no work experience receive training in sewing and embroidery in public training centres (there is a folk centre where this can be done). The women will work together to design income-generating ideas or product development to help reduce costs of decorations, etc. and to provide these products on a wider scale for parties, ceremonies and more. There were also suggestions that this training could be combined with food production knowledge, thus raising awareness about agricultural diversification and self-sufficiency. In addition, there were proposals for IT skills development in order to be able to blog and communicate on a wider scale. 2. Increase alternative agricultural products to diversify earnings: Honey production, perma-culture, greenhouse agriculture… projects planned for garden owners or those with access to gardens with an aim to hold a farmers' market, to increase health and nutrition, thus raising awareness on the importance of a balanced diet. The idea of using CSA system (agreement between producers and consumers) has been discussed. 3. Training in schools to increase family involvement in youth development… training to be delivered for families, including domestic training, family and psychological training for families.

Iași (livresc Iașii, respectiv Târgu' Ieșilor) este municipiul de reședință al județului cu același nume, Moldova, România. Iașul a fost capitala Moldovei în perioada 1564-1859, una dintre cele două capitale ale Principatelor Unite între 1859 și 1862 și capitala Regatului României între 1916-1918.

La recensământul din 2011, municipiul Iași avea o populație de 290.422 și era al patrulea oraș ca mărime din România. Conform Eurostat, cu o populație de 465.477 locuitori (în 2014), zona metropolitană Iași este a doua ca mărime din România (după București).

Lille est une commune du nord de la France, préfecture du département du Nord et chef-lieu en région Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Depuis décembre 2013, la méthode SPIRAL est appliquée sur plusieurs territoires de la Métropole Lilloise afin de contribuer au Plan Local Départemental d’Insertion 2014/2017 qui va être adopté en cours d’année. Le Département du Nord attend des propositions des personnes concernées pour ce futur programme et la méthode est importante pour débattre et construire des propositions adaptées aux spécificités des territoires.

Lille is a city North of France, located in the North Department and capital in the Nord-Pas-De-Calais region. Since December 2013, SPIRAL methodology is applied to several territories of Lille Metropole to contribute to the 2014/2017 local and departmental Insertion Plan, to be adopted in 2014. The North department is looking for propositions coming from people who will be concerned by this future program. The method is inportant to debate and to build propositions that suit the specificities of the local territories.

Plateforme Formation de facilitateurs SPIRAL du département de la Nièvre.

Dans le cadre du renouvellement de l'agenda 21 départemental de la Nièvre, le Département de la Nièvre et la DREAL Bourgogne Franche Comté proposent une session de 2 jours de formation de facilitateurs SPIRAL pour tous les acteurs du département (agents de collectivités, bénévoles ou salariés associatifs, responsables de collèges, travailleurs sociaux, ...) dans la perspective de constitution d'un nouveau réseau de facilitateurs et d'essaimage de la démarche SPIRAL sur le Nièvre. Cette session se déroule les 30 et 31 mai 2016 (cf agenda formation).

To have a pet, an animal to provide company, feelings towards pets, activities with pets

Avoir un animal domestique, animal de compagnie, sentiments pour les animaux, activités avec les animaux