Within the exchange “Design and share your city!” 24 young people from Germany and Armenia got together to exchange visions on the role of young people in urban development. Participants were able to develop and implement project ideas with a focus on the creative use of public spaces. During workshops, the participants got an opportunity to acquire PR skills for the dissemination of the project results.

While in Berlin, activities of the exchange included diverse non-formal workshops dedicated to topics of tactical urbanism, design thinking, and project development, thematic talks with experts, and detailed analysis of best practice projects. Within this exchange, participants also were able to work in groups and develop specific ideas and solutions, aimed at the creation of more attractive youth and public places in Berlin and Yerevan.

In the second part, the sessions about tactical urbanism, the stress in the cities, Soviet modernism in Armenian architecture were conducted for the participants
Besides that, participants got an opportunity for a study visit to Gyumri. Between the sessions, participants were able to provide their workshops on design, drawing and origami. Participants could join the local artist and help in creating and implementing two pieces of art. The first one is graffiti on one of the main streets and the second one is a first bottle cap mosaic in Yerevan.

The exchange project was implemented in close cooperation with “UniGrowth DC” (Armenia).

Participant’s feedback
“The “Design and share your city” project was a very special experience for me. I learned new things about Armenian culture, the great hospitality of the people and about the advantages and difficulties of intercultural communication. During the project I’ve met many people with really different characters who made the process of team building even more interesting; some of them became kind of friends even though the project only lasted two weeks! What I liked the best, was the practical part in the end – the two walls we created together: It’s a visible result to which we can come back once again.” – Franziska Gisela Zimmerhackl

“I have never been out of my comfort zone like this before. Without the other participants, I would have problems with communication as I only know German, English, French, and een klein beetje Dutch but no Armenian nor Russian. This is one of the first times in a project that we could create street art that we will be able to visit again if we come back to Yerevan. The guest speaker presented how urban areas can be changed and we could get practical in finding concepts of how to improve Mergelyan Park.” – Veronika Hagl

“This was my first participation in the Erasmus program, it was really impressive for me. First of all, by making new friends, supplementing my knowledge, gaining useful information. Along with all this, in Yerevan, with our teamwork, we created two wonderful works of contemporary art that beautify the two central streets of the city.
The program definitely motivated me. I will definitely apply to the new Erasmus programs. I especially liked the fact that I was able to understand the German mentality, it was quite a long time to communicate and get to know each other, it was also impressive to work in groups when we exchanged ideas.” – Tamara Avagyan

“For me, this is the continuation of my project that I had in Berlin. Seems, it should be the same, but it was full of different impressions and feelings. I loved both, but differently, as well as worked differently, as here due to the practical part, every detail meant a piece of work that must be done with full care. When something went wrong, I panicked, then found Arman correcting the mistake. In the end, we had our parts on 2 walls, which will always remind us about our days, no matter how much time will pass, I am sure, both will still stay the way we created. Everyone tried a bit, and all together, in the end, we’ve got two big works. Maybe alone, only a few would be able to do it. However, Every time, when we meet the smell of colours, we will remember each other, the process, walls, conversations, love and not only. So this is all about teamwork and the project is filled with different real colours.” – Laura Gabrielian