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Description
The main objective of the project is to strengthen civil society in the City of Toruń. We want to increase the influence of residents on local laws concerning environmental protection and support for endangered social groups. In particular, we want to protect the environment in the planned investments to build the Winnica and Wrzosy neighbourhoods in areas of high natural value. The main problem we are addressing in this project is the low level of knowledge of citizens about the lawmaking process. During our cooperation with the local government in Toruń so far, we have diagnosed a lack of mutual trust and transparency among authorities. One of the reasons for the low level of participation of residents in the lawmaking process is the reluctance of the local government to hold public consultations and treating them as a statutory obligation rather than an opportunity to improve proposed solutions or partnership with citizens. This also results in a low sense of influence on local change and, in the case of those representing NGOs, activist crises. The direct beneficiaries of the project are representatives of NGOs, informal groups and District Councils, who have the capacity to reach the residents of the neighbourhoods directly. Indirect recipients are people interested in public participation and environmental protection, who will be reached through the social campaign and promotion of the project. During the project, its participants will learn how they can influence local policies and local development plans, and the tools they can use (applications, petitions, resolution initiatives, etc.).
Summary of project results
The Stabilo Foundation together with the organizations Zielone Kujawy, Wolna Winnica Association, Zielone Wrzosy, and the Kosmos Foundation have created a coalition of independent organizations in order to jointly look for solutions aimed at improving communication between the city and its inhabitants, increasing the sense of agency of Toruń''s inhabitants and stopping the unfavorable processes that destroy the most valuable fabric of the city.
We received financial support for our activities from the intervention project #InfluenceToruń, financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway from the EEA Funds under the Active Citizens Program - Regional Fund.
At the beginning of 2023, we met informally for the first time. We talked about:
- the façade of public consultations in Toruń,
- investment pressure associated with the removal of existing greenery and the destruction of those that remain,
- a disastrous model of consultation of spatial development plans,
- planned development of Winnica and Wrzosowisko, destruction of the riparian forest in Kępa Bazarowa,
- about the method of carrying out work on Bulwar Filadelfistyczny and other places in Toruń.
As part of the project:
1. We have established an Expert Team consisting of 12 people
2. We organized 6 two-hour meetings of the Thought Laboratory, to which we invited well-known figures in public life: Andrzej Andrysiak, Jan Mencwel, Karolina Kuszlewicz, landscape architect Kasper Jakubowski, creator of the "Is Toruń green" survey - Seweryn Grodny, experienced urban planners Stanisław Wroński and Aleksandra Lewna . These meetings were attended by officials, councilors, the Deputy Mayor of Toruń, and the Chairman of the Toruń City Council.
3. We organized 6 two-hour workshops:
- from social consultations for the Youth City Council of Toruń,
- on the procedure for providing urban trees with monument protection for the inhabitants of Toruń,
- for activists about preventing burnout,
- on the protection of urban monuments for urban activists and members of district councils,
- about submitting comments on the draft local development plan
- on the legal protection of animals and nature
4. We have analyzed existing data, which chronologically describes the history of the dispute over Wrzosowisko and activities related to the fight for Vinnytsia.
5. We conducted 3 social campaigns regarding our activities.
6. We prepared a petition to the Mayor of Toruń and the Chairman of the Municipal Council of Toruń, which was an appeal for the creation of a Cultural Park in the place of archaeological discoveries
7. We submitted 7 requests for access to public information
8. We submitted 6 comments to the draft local development plan for Winnica.
9. We sent an appeal to the Toruń City Council regarding archaeological discoveries on the Boulevard,
10. Together with attorney Karolina Kuszlewicz, we provided legal advice to urban activists,
11. We purchased a camera trap for environmental monitoring.
12. We organized the Toruń Tree of the Year plebiscite.
13. 6 spots/films about our activities were created.
14. We have evaluated our work and prepared a summary of our activities (pdf).
Our activities were strengthened by local non-governmental organizations, district councils and Toruń residents who were members of the Expert Team. Thanks to the informal coalition, we gained mutual support in areas important to each member. This can be proven by the number of meetings of the Expert Team, which was planned for 5 meetings and exceeded this number twice, not including previously unplanned online meetings.
BASIC RESULTS HAVE BEEN REALIZED:
1. Problem diagnosis (1)
2. Legal support (50 h) in the project
3. Thought Laboratory - 6 meetings for residents with important topics for the community
4. Training and workshops for 30 people conducted by experts
5. Expert opinions, legal and environmental opinions (2)
6. Project summary and evaluation (1 pdf report)
7. social campaign - 1 (scope of local plans in the environmental aspect: - social consultations, plans, natural values, climate changes)
8. informal partnership / coalition (1)
9. Opening and summarizing meeting of the project, hybrid form (2)
10. 1 outdoor research walk
The Thought Laboratory meetings gave participants knowledge about:
- urban activism: what is associated with it, what are the threats, what is an obstacle and what is an opportunity in introducing changes in the functioning of cities,
- what role do the so-called wasteland, "fourth nature", which is threatened by "concreteosis",
- legal fight for animals and nature,
- ability to correctly formulate comments on local development plans,
- what are the needs of city residents?
The project supported the public debate on spatial development in Toruń and the method of public consultations and discussions about the needs of residents.
Our opposition, expressed in a petition, to the plans to irreversibly bury the archaeological discoveries on Philadelphia Boulevard has gained the support of many circles. Not only local but also national media wrote about our activities (TVN 24, Nauka w Polsce).