About the project

Micropolis 2023 – the power of strong local community is a small scale partnerships EU-project financed from Erasmus+ programme in the Adult Education Sector.

Main idea:

We created the name Micropolis to describe a city district or a town that has successfully created it’s strong, inclusive local identity and an active participation and cooperation of inhabitants, so that they can function as ancient „polis” – the fully democtratic, local community where everybody is involved.

Background and need

Starting from 2020, European Union countries are affected by numerous new problems and challenges, such as the COVID epidemic, the refugee crisis related to the war, high inflation and progressing crises related to global warming. This causes a noticeable decline in the sense of security in society and an increased percentage of people suffering from depression who cannot cope with the new, difficult reality.

As institutions closely related to culture and education, we feel that the best remedy for the above crises is a well-functioning local community with the symbolic name of Mikropolis – which, like an ancient „polis” – is based on the full commitment and participation of all residents as well as strong interpersonal ties and a high degree of mutual support. Thanks to its locality, it gives a greater sense of unity and security and is the opposite of the highly anonymous, unconnected and lonely community of large metropolises.

At the core of the project are key values for the European Union such as social cohesion, solidarity, a strong local identity and committed, active citizenship; democratic values and social empowerment and inclusion; and respect for diversity with regard to the European Charter of Human Rights.

The essence of Mikropolis are three factors:

Strong, inclusive identity of a given place – based on the diversity of all residents, their unique talents and stories, aware of the richness of their own unique resources and allowing all residents to identify with a given place, regardless of their age, origin, fitness or financial status.
Active participation of residents in the life of the community – joint creation of local space, culture and education, the possibility of implementing original projects and initiatives, triggering a sense of agency and innovation.
Mutual support in the face of difficulties and problems, regular listening to the needs of the community and sharing resources (such as time, ideas, talents, knowledge, digital, linguistic, business skills, mental and material support) to help people in crisis

This is the kind of community we want to create in our communities and this is the concept of the functioning of cities and districts, we want to promote in the European Union.

An important aspect of the Mikropolis 2023 project is not only examining the current state of needs and creating educational programs in each organization that will meet them, but also continuous improvement and continuation of the project in the future.

So that the acquired knowledge (gathered into an universal Guidebook) has a wide reach and a real impact on other communities, we want to build around the project a network of cities, districts, non-governmental organizations and cultural centers , which may be the particpants of other future projects and online events continuing and developing the idea of Micropolis.

Target groups of the project

Local communities – residents of large metropolitan districts like Warsaw’s Wawer, small towns – like Middelfart in Denmark, or small town districts with their own identity, like the Centro Historico district in Cagliari, Sardinia.

First of all, adults, who do not participate in the cultural life of the district and do not feel fully members of the community
New residents (migrants, refugees, overworked young adults),
Residents at risk of exclusion (seniors, the disabled, people with a bad economic situation).

Organizers of cultural life and adult education in a given community – local government units, cultural centers, Places of Local Activity, non-governmental organizations (foundations, associations), libraries, etc. – organizations in Poland, Denmark and Italy, but also anywhere in the world, interested in joining to the Micropolis networking network and the implementation of an inclusive identity building strategy.
Other organizations similar to the Partner organizations, interested in the project and its development in the future, interested in joining the newsletter on the website and future events in this regard.
Local media in Partner countries