The interests and opinions in and about a city are manifold and hardly manageable. Opinions have to assert themselves and interests need to be balanced so that the city can continue to develop and shape itself for the benefit of all. However, many of these opinions and interests are lost, either because of a lack of will or expression or because of the sheer overwhelming power of the other opinion.
For many discourses in, to and with the city are monopolized - dominated by money and authority. We are witnessing a steady narrowing of urban spaces through capital interests, commercialization, and public regulation. The same mechanisms are curtailing public space: our marketplace of ideas and opinions, the place of exchange and shared culture.
Under the title of "Sharing Cities," the CityLeaks Academy paints a different picture of the city - the city as commons(s), as a space of the commons, of common goods. A space that organizes itself through the users - that maintains and develops itself through the communal discussion of how, how much, by what and with what.
This sharing city, which addresses itself inwardly to us citizens, which invites us, is a global statd. It is the home of the urbanized society. It pauses - despite the omnipresent acceleration, it uses its knowledge and recognizes it as the resource for its sustainable growth. This city renounces abundance and gives us the necessities for a good life. It lets us think globally and act locally and thus becomes the engine for a new solidarity-based economy. We use the digital media it provides for exchange and organization. The transdisciplinary approach of the CityLeaks Academy seeks dialogue between art, science and citizenship. In doing so, the program takes up current urban policy discourses and accompanies existing networks on sustainable living in urban space.
