CAMINA, Almería

The UIA project CAMINA was designed to overcome social barriers, segregation and a lack of demand for cultural activities in Almería, one of Spain’s most diverse cities. Through the use of participative cultural activities, the project set out to highlight the contributions of different social and cultural groups, including migrants and Roma people, to the city’s past, present and future. This would help build a common historic and cultural narrative, transforming negative perceptions, and generating social integration.

CAMINA addressed an issue prevalent in most European cities: unequal access to culture and the invisibility or undervaluation of the heritage of disadvantaged groups. The inclusion of citizens in co-designing cultural programmes that highlight both visible and invisible heritage,  as well as local traditions, enabled marginalised people to form new connections with other social groups and engage in cultural activities.

The extension of the cultural field also helped rethink the city’s heritage, including cultural heritage sites related to the Middle Ages and the Al-Ándalus Arab period, and non-material heritage, such as flamenco music, marine culture and realism.

The CAMINA project involved a great diversity of local actors. Building on public data and field work, a cultural ecosystem map helped identify and engage with local organisations, residents, citizens and local communities. These actors joined social laboratories to contribute their own personal and family stories to a Story Bank, and helped rewrite local narratives to shape the Novel City Narrative.

The project appointed six civic curators to co-design cultural events and activities through participatory art workshops and collaborative culture initiatives. These curators, selected to represent various communities and art genres – fine arts, performative arts and audiovisual arts – were commissioned to produce two cultural programmes each, with significant impact in the focus neighbourhoods.

In order to anchor activities in the physical space of Almería and create meeting points for the project’s participants, CAMINA also set up three new cultural spaces or cultural nodes: Doña Pakyta Museum, Katiuska Cinema and Mesón Gitano. Located in the three focus neighbourhoods, La Chanca-Pescaderia, Almedina and Centro, these offer new experiences to residents and help increase the number of people and associations involved in cultural activities. The nodes, connected by a series of cultural activities and the narratives shaped by inhabitants, also led to the creation of a cultural circular route – a journey through key heritage sites, promoting the three focus neighbourhoods using ICT and urban interventions. 

Almería’s approach to creating a narrative shared by a diversity of social groups, together with an extended cultural offer organised around new cultural venues and professional roles, is a valuable example for all cities exploring methods of soft urban regeneration through culture and the arts. The methods developed in CAMINA – the cultural ecosystem map, novel narrative, civic curators, cultural nodes and cultural circular routes – provide a set of tools for other cities that can be adapted to local circumstances, capacities and needs.