The project called “Today, you imagine the European city of tomorrow—Ideas to build the future,” has involved a strategic partnership between four middle schools: Collège EPB - Ernest Perrier de la Bathie in Ugine in France), Şcoala Gimnazialǎ in Gâdinţi (Romania), Academic Lyudmil Stoyanov Ezikova Gimnazia in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria), and Institut Carles Vallbona in Granollers (Spain) -, along with three associations: Le Grand Bivouac (France), the Savoy Conseil d’Architecture, d’Urbanisme et d’Environnement (France) and the cooperative society Andelssamfundet in Hjorshøj (Denmark).The project has lastes thirty-six months, divided into nine thematic three-month periods. It has enabled students to imagine and create together a virtual future city which, according to the EDD-SI measures, tackles the problematics of sustainable development—whether environmental, economical, or social ones.Based on educational cooperation, transdisciplinary activities and an exchange of innovative educational methods, this collective reflection has addressed topics such as: how to make the most of natural resources, and how to assess the ecological impact of infrastructures. It has also addressed social diversity and the citizen’s role in such a European city, as well as the factors that improve quality of life together.Out of the four middle schools that took part in the project, three were situated far from places where culture thrives. Therefore, the project has aimed and hopefully succeeded at developing students’ ambition by opening them to the world, but also urging them to grow autonomous and responsible by putting them at the heart of all propositions and letting them play a big part in the evolution of our societies.The “European city of tomorrow” has grown in a collective digital working space, fed and improved by each participant, who have uploaded the results of educational activities led in class, the conclusions of students’ reflections and their ensuing practical propositions.During the nine three-month periods,six five-day cycles of transdisciplinary activities have been organized. Those have enabled students, teachers and members of associations to continue their work, to meet, and to study local resources linked to previously chosen themes.During those cycles, a variety of events have been offered to a wide public. Moreover, some activities have resulted in intellectual productions which have helped spread the methods and achievements beyond the circle of the partners of the project. Among those events, there has been public show-like lectures, prepared and hosted by the students. The shows have been filmed, subtitled and gathered as a six-DVD boxset distributed through each partner’s own distribution channels.Besides, two brochures have been printed at the end of those three years : “We young citizens of tomorrow and our ideas to build the future,” and “A guide for a school involved in sustainable development.” They've gathered and summed up the ideas and methods developed through our collective European project.Indeed, our goal was not only to have a real impact on the schools and associations in this partnership but also to enable organizations to engage in sustainable development through a coherent approach, and to give the youth the power to invent their future in a world which is more respectful of the environment.APPENDICEShttps://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/10GTrhkzYI81XRHHSB1gUvUdK0DR1sogW?ogsrc=32

"The ""ARCHI'Nature"" project was born out of a common observation shared by schools, their territorial public administrations, cultural associations and architecture specialists: ""Whether it is a question of small rural and agricultural territories or small towns, Culture and Art are as little present as urban planning and sustainable development issues are faced locally""! Thus, this project wishes to question both the capacity for innovation linked to creativity, whatever its field of application, and the consequences of human action on its environment. The will of the partnership is to use the artistic medium to serve a major citizen reflection: how to develop with respect our territories while preserving nature and its natural wealth?Moreover, these European spaces, similar in their respective strategic positioning, all located in the immediate vicinity of a lake, have all committed themselves to an eco-responsible approach to the development of their territories. Their desire is to involve the socio-professional actors to implement projects whose values are shared by the citizens and for which they will thus become the relay. In fact, all the partners share the desire to work towards active citizenship and the importance of supporting the development of structuring citizen initiatives. Thus, the values underlying ARCHI'Nature are the following: entrepreneurship, curiosity, dynamism, and experimentation in order to create the world of tomorrow. In addition, learning by doing, or LAB will be the methodologies used to respect the experimental dimension and to let the groups express themselves as freely as possible.This project will also be an opportunity to analyze how creativity has been illustrated in the past, an opportunity to observe and value a common cultural heritage specific to Europe. Unpretentious, in the face of the individualism that is gaining ground in our societies and which is reflected in an increasingly pervasive Euroscepticism, we wish to develop an educational project around creativity in order to reveal it in each individual but also to use its strength in an inclusive social dimension that strengthens the links between citizens. Culture helps to reinforce the feeling of belonging to a group, ARCHI'Nature and its artistic creations will strive to demonstrate this by example. What could be better than artistic and creative experiences, defined and developed by young people and citizens themselves, to visually communicate and involve a whole community of life around issues of urban planning and environmental impacts? How to imagine a festival on the scale of these European lake territories composed of local itineraries?The project was conceived on a tandem of different partners (institutional, school or associative). This one seems to us necessary insofar as it allows to build an artistic and cultural pedagogical project that resonates with a wider territorial development project, which allows for greater possibilities of action and wider influence. This project must necessarily be carried out at a European level because creativity expresses itself all the more and is enriched by local differences and specificities. Cultural diversity will strengthen the collectively imagined experiments, beyond the language and culture of each individual. It will enable the construction of a network of itineraries and the bringing to life of these territories on a European scale. ARCHI'Nature will allow an exchange of practices and results that will reflect the rash of glances, witnesses of the identities of our territories to be shared between partners. Our wish is to enable citizens to reappropriate the creative gesture to create added value in their living space, to be able to seize it to create links and meaning, while protecting their environment.The ""ARCHI'NAture"" project will therefore be developed around different axes of work:1-Architecture & Art at the service of the geographical, economic, tourist and social development of the territories and its citizens. 2- Creativity as a tool for personal development and as a factor of social bond.3-The creation of a common artistic device of the type of a festival thanks to the creation of artistic events shared locally as well as on the European scale of the partnership.4-The knowledge of Europe, its geography and its different cultures."