Platform launch and first collection of ideas at the Elevate Festival

Do you have any ideas on how Graz can be a home for everyone?

Migrants and city administration as an unlikely alliance or logical alliance? How can new ways of e-participation open up opportunities for participation? What initiatives are being taken by the City Government and Migrant Advisory Council in Graz?

These and other questions were asked during the special “City Walk” at the workshop “Elevate Migrant Voices!” discussed as part of the Elevate Festival. At the event, the Graz-Gemein-gestalten platform went online for the first time and was filled with suggestions and ideas directly on site.

“In our city of Graz, which is also a city of human rights, it is important to ensure that as many people living here as possible can participate in society and political processes,” underlines Mayor Elke Kahr. “This includes meeting people as equals, listening to their problems, concerns and wishes and taking them seriously — just as happened here at this event. Thank you for that, for the organization, and thanks to everyone who sits down at a table, gets involved and gets involved.

Especially in the area of living and getting together, there were innovative ideas, such as more consumption-free spaces for all people, which can be visited at a low threshold and where neighborhood exchange is possible. Places for meetings and especially for art & culture are particularly popular in Gries and Lend. In principle, attention was drawn to the fact that more rooms and places are needed for exchanges and events. In the area of transport & environment, too, there was a demand for “spaces instead of parking spaces” and ideas were introduced to convert parking spaces into raised beds, set up pop-up cycle paths and make cycle paths generally wider, more suitable for cargo bikes and more child-friendly. You can see the suggestions and others directly on the website and can comment on them right away, like them or contribute your own ideas.

Photo credits: Valentin Bürgschwendtner (photo 1.2), Lea Blagojevic (photo 3)