When we think about tourism, we always picture far away cities, landscapes and environment. But most of the times, we miss knowing better what is going on around us at a local level.
Today, we at Fundació Catalunya Voluntària would like to introduce one of our best practices as a way to discover your city in a dynamic, inclusive and collective way.
‘Cromos dels Barris’ (Cards of the neighbourhoods) is a project that started in 2015 with two districts in the city of Barcelona. Today we are going to introduce the project in the neighbourhood of Poble-Sec, one of the oldest parts of the city (which celebrated its 150 years of existence in 2019!!), and also where the office of FCV is based.
So how does this game work? Raons Públiques (the promoter organization) has initially created 10 cards together with the Historical Centre of Poble Sec, with old pictures and description of emblematic spots of the neighbourhood. Places like the Press House or the first house that was built in the neighbourhood are included in the cards, and in order to collect them all, you have to find them and answer one of the questions written in the cards. This way, you can get to have all of them.
In Barcelona, each neighbourhood has a weekly celebration where organizations, neighbours and in general everyone that lives or works there gets together to celebrate. The first round of cards was handed during the yearly celebration in 2019, and that kicked off the search. The first pack comes with two cards and a map, and when you reach the next place, you can get another set of cards. Later on, cards were handed in collaboration with schools of the Poble-Sec, as a group activity for classes in primary school. Also, with the collaborations of these young participants, the collection of cards is growing, with currently 16 cards (6 designed and added by the primary students).
This game has different aims. The first, of course, being getting to know better the neighbourhood and its history. Secondly, it wants to create an intergenerational activity, including everyone in families and friend groups. This way, older people can teach their knowledge, and the youngest get to learn, discover and have fun.
You can find more information on the website of the 150th Anniversary of Poble-Sec and at https://raons.coop/
Written by Fundació Catalunya Voluntària
