- Posted on November 21st, 2019
C-Change: Arts & Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities
Climate change is a systemic issue, rooted in global economic, social, cultural and value systems locking in unsustainable consumption, inequality and a disconnection from nature. Policies, technology and investment alone will not be enough to address climate change. We need hearts, minds and a shift in our cultural values. This is particularly relevant when it comes to cities, on the front line of climate change, and where art and culture connect citizens to the cultures which define them.
C-Change is an Urbact transfer network of 6 European cities committed to working together to develop arts and culture sector collaboration on climate action and engagement. It is led by Manchester (UK) with Wroclaw (Poland), Sibenik (Croatia), Agueda (Portugal), Mantova (Italy) and Gelsenkirchen (Germany) with a combined population of over 1.6 million people. These are cities with the arts, culture and creativity at their heart, including four UNESCO World Heritage sites, one UNESCO World Book Capital, two former European Capitals of Culture and one former national Capital of Culture; and all already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
C-Change’s main objective is to transfer the learnings and best practise of Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (MAST) to support the network cities to mobilise their arts and culture sectors into climate change action. This is achieved through:
- Developing local policies, governance and capacity to act
- Developing plans to reduce CO2 emissions and/or adapt to climate change, and supporting implementation
- Developing plans to use arts and culture to engage citizens to act, and supporting implementation
- Encouraging replication in other cities.
From 1st – 4th October 2019 there will be a major meeting of representatives from each of these cities – and JxB will be there for a series of events, from running a Policy Lab on the 2nd October with the Manchester Climate Change Agency (MCC), leading two sessions on ‘Arts and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities – Making this Happen in your Cities’ and supporting the launch of MCC’s new Sustainable events guide.
This is part of our wider Creative Climate Cities Programme and if you are interested in being kept in the loop, do sign up for our monthly newsletter and select ‘Creative Climate Cities’ as area of interest.
You can also join the C-Change specific mailing list here
Twitter: @CChange_urbact
