Tools to activate people's participation in urban dynamics

Yes we Camp has the equipment and space required to run participative workcamps. In particular, with its Caravanade, an array of tools tools in four caravans to enable participatory actions in public space. Designed in 2014 to support citizen initiatives in the metropolitan area and departmental territory, this scheme enables the organization of participative worksites in public spaces, but also for all the convivial moments that accompany these worksites: shared audio and video documentation, music… 

Participative workcamps (for example, when people take part in the manufacture of the urban furniture) is an interesting method for involving citizens in the co-construction of the uses of public spaces. Yes We Camp works mainly with social centers and citizens' groups, acting as a platform and making available a range of participatory tools and methods. Yes We Camp is also involved in larger-scale urban development projects, notably in the Euroméditerranée area. 

The challenge lies in striking a balance between the importance of creating participatory mechanisms to make room for the voice of residents in the urban fabric, and a neoliberal city fabric that struggles to make room for local communities in its construction. 

The aim of the project is to support citizens' initiatives in the metropolitan area and the département. We offer a wide range of tools in four caravans to enable participatory actions to be carried out in the open air, in any type of urban space. The Caravanade programme is a way of supporting these local initiatives, by offering support to local players or social groups (parents‘ associations, social centres, residents’ groups, etc.) for one day, by making tools and skills available.

Our actions are always geared towards acquiring skills through ‘doing’. We have observed that the collective physical creation of an object, a garden, a honey harvest, etc., is a vector of desire and self-confidence. So our actions also have an educational, civic and technical dimension.

A project to green the Place à la Pierre, in the Belsunce district of Marseille, realized by Atelier co-co, an architecture and urban planning agency working on regeneration and urban renewal projects, with the construction team and Isis from Coco Velten, a venue co-sponsored by Yes We Camp.

• Construction seating
• Building planters
• Painting and planting