Charles Landry and the Creative Ones

Furthermore, this day, a manifesto referred to as “Miasto.to” developed by professor Landry and city activists was also presented. On the second day, mayors of selected Polish cities participated in a debate on urban creativity: Jacek Jaśkowiak, Mayor of Poznań, Marek Materek, Mayor of Starachowice, and Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of Lublin.

The first point on the agenda was the lecture delivered by professor Charles Landry, author of a number of publications on creativity, for example “Creative City”. Professor Landry put forward valuable recommendations on changes that citizens can implement in order to change the environment creatively and responsibly and, hence, transform cities into human-friendly places. – It is very uncommon for the city, city activists, media, and world experts to cooperate with the aim of stimulating urban creativity. This world-class and unique event shows how deeply municipal authorities and the municipal milieus are involved in changing the city. As this challenge required courage from local authorities, I am heartily glad that Lublin took it on. Municipal government representatives have to accept the changing role of the society which is becoming increasingly influential. What must be changed, however is not only mentality but also means of communication. Dialogue and mediation need to dominate. I can proudly say that Lublin has risen to the position of The City 3.0. – said Professor Charles Landry.

The workshops attended by professor Landry and city activists resulted in development of “Miasto.to” – a manifesto of creative Lublin. In other words – a record of how Lublin gets inspired by the world and how it adapts various ideas to its needs. The theses written in this document provide municipal authorities and the citizens with guidelines on different ways of creating a third generation city. The manifesto will be available under www.miasto.to.

– For the last several years, our city has been undergoing significant changes. However, not only the city changed but also its citizens. I can proudly say that they are far more engaged in producing changes taking place in our city. There are several important aspects resulting in Lublin becoming the City 3.0, i.e. social participation, modern technologies applied in city management, Lublin uplands, startup milieus, and development of entrepreneurship. We still need to meet a great number of challenges. However, due to involvement of such prominent specialists as Professor Landry, I am certain that our road to success will be shorter and less bumpy – said Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of Lublin.

As per another point on the event agenda, participants of the fourth edition of The Creative Ones were presented. The idea behind The Creative Ones, a special initiative aimed at creative industries that Lublin can be proud of, is to present creative citizens of Lublin who use their passion to develop non-standard business solutions. The project tells a compelling story about creative citizens of Lublin – more information can be found under www.kreatywni.lublin.eu.

Urban creativity, challenges faced by Polish cities, and solutions to their problems were the subjects of the debate taking place on Wednesday. During the debate, both citizens who feel increasingly responsible for their city and representatives of municipal authorities frequently used the terms ‘creativity’ and ‘responsibility’. Professor Charles Landry, originator of the term ‘creative city’ put forward several recommendations for Lublin and other cities: unite all leaders and cooperate in planning on the 2.0 level; use the existing infrastructure for new purposes; emphasise originality; be the best for the world, not in the world; develop creative economy.

– Today we are at the breakthrough. Social partners want more and we are ready for it. We need to, however, arrive to collective conclusions in order to transform Lublin into the City 3.0 more dynamically. New concepts stemming from urban milieus are warmly welcome and widely accepted – said Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of Lublin.