URBANA is a Civil Non-Profit Partnership, consisting of architects, social scientists, political scientists, and educators, founded in 2019 in Athens, Greece.
Vision
We envision cities that take care of our diverse needs, open and inclusive neighbourhoods, with people that participate and work together for the well-being of their communities.
Mission
Our mission is to guarantee the right to the city for all, focusing on the social groups that were traditionally participating less in urban planning and decision-making, such as women, children, and the elderly.
Goals
- We highlight the gender perspective in urban planning
- We support the communities’ participation in (re)designing their neighbourhoods
- We create channels of collaboration between citizens and local authorities
- We design spaces from a gender perspective
Values
Inclusivity
In order to regenerate our cities, we have to work together. As URBANA we aim to create an inclusive context where we provide equal opportunities and empower people from different and diverse backgrounds and identities to take action and express their needs and desires in the city.
Participation
If we want our urban interventions to be socially sustainable, last long, and have a real impact on people’s everyday lives, they have to derive from participatory processes. In URBANA we are designing participatory methodologies and tools in an interdisciplinary way (combining approaches and tools derived from social sciences and architecture/urban planning), inspired by meaningful participatory processes, which take place in cities all over the world. Participatory urban planning is a new approach to urban regeneration in the Greek context. For this, we focus a lot on raising awareness about its benefits.
Feminism
Women are still the main providers of caring work (taking care of children, old persons, the household, etc). According to the last national statistic (ELSTAT, 2017), in Greece women dedicate almost 4 times more time than men to caring work. This kind of work creates differentiated needs and desires in the city. However, the needs and desires of women have not been taken into account when our cities were planned, thereby limiting women’s access to economic and social development (World Bank, 2020). The gender perspective puts the everyday lives of people in the center of urban planning. Feminism and intersectionality also bring to light the needs of other sensitive yet under-represented groups, such as children and the elderly.