There are many ways of thinking and building a city, and the programme Imagina Madrid aims to offer one that’s different. Based on residents’ desires and dreams as well as proposals by artists and creators, we want to imagine another city; a city that’s more welcoming and friendlier, where we can invent without forgetting our history.

What is it?

Imagina Madrid is a programme developed at Intermediae, promoted by the Department of Culture of the Madrid City Council, which is committed to exploring new forms of intervention in the public space in which cultural production, environmental sustainability and social urbanism enable us to imagine and create the city we want to live in.


Via the implementation of collective creation processes between citizens and the city’s artistic fabric, Imagina Madrid aims to transform the city’s public space through actions associated with urban intervention and cultural activation.


In this first edition we propose nine places for intervention, selected for their unique features, difficulties or potential, where we will try out new proposals aimed at inhabiting these spaces without disregarding their history or identity. Thus they will become a laboratory where we can examine their urban dimensions, in addition to their cultural and relational dynamics.


To imagine, contextualise and design the projects that will be carried out, Imagina Madrid is committed to beginning with a participatory process in which citizens, the network of various associations and creative teams can all contribute their know-how. In this initial stage we collected throughout the summer 2017 experiences, emotional connections and memories that residents possess with respect to the places where we will intervene. The imaginaries are currently available in Spanish here.

Furthermore we consider essential to get to know those associations, groups and organisations that are currently working in the surroundings of the sites of intervention. Therefore they are invited to subscribe to a list of organisations interested in collaborating.

Finally, the creative fabric (artists, creators and other professionals interested in the designing the city with an innovative approach) will have the opportunity to present ideas of intervention through an open call that will be launched the 4th of October 2017. Later on an international jury will select those that will be part of the collaborative working sessions.

 

The collaborative working sessions will co-design spaces where the creators, whose ideas have been selected, will work collectively with the neighbourhood representatives in a laboratory where will emerge the projects that will be carried out in each of the public spaces selected for this edition of Imagina Madrid

Participation

New forms of intervening in the city, in which citizen know-how and expert knowledge strike up a dialogue.

Collaboration

Processes that interconnect both the various departments of the City Council and public and private entities which “think” the city from a new perspective.

Multidisciplinarity

Transformations of the city envisioned based on contemporary artistic practices as well as knowledge of architecture and social urbanism.

Descentrality

Interventions in peripheral districts that support a new polycentric and rebalanced city model.

Shared responsability

Projects that explore new forms of shared management which enable their sustainability.

How do I participate?

If you are a creator, an artist of a professional interested in exploring new ways of envision, inhabit and build the public space, and you want to carry out interventions in the public spaces selected in this edition of Imagina Madrid, the ideas submission period starts the 4th of October.

Given the collaborative nature of the program Imagina Madrid the participation of the creators or team of creators is conditioned by their fluency in Spanish language, in order to enable their proximity to the sites of intervention, the neighbourhoods and associative networks. Thus, the information concerning the application and the sites of information is available in Spanish in this Web Site in order to allow you to locate and contextualise the ideas presented to the open call.