“Creating Neighbourhood” initiates a transcultural exchange between the neighbouring Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the Federal Asylum Centre Zurich (BAZ). The project sees itself as an “enablement” in the sense of social sustainability in order to open up ZHdK programmes to residents of the BAZ who are active in the arts and interested in culture, to promote the involvement of students in the BAZ, to create spaces for encounters and to develop participatory formats.
Methods:
“Creating Neighbourhood” is an initiative from the Department of Design. Since 2020, the cooperation with asylum seeking people and caretakers at BAZ as well as representatives of the State Secretariat for Migration has been productively pursued in “Trends & Identity” courses in order to improve the situation of the centre's residents through participatory design processes. In 2023, the BAZ team approached ZHdK with the intention of expanding and deepening this fruitful relationship. The project covers three topics:
• Opening up selected ZHdK events to asylum seeking people and offering opportunities for informal exchange and participation;
• The redesign of the women's room at BAZ and the implementation of design workshops by ZHdK students;
• Designing the BAZ’s outdoor space by design students
Objective:
The main objective is to reduce the fear of contact with the BAZ and to recognise and accept the neighbourhood as a resource. The step towards “enablement” is taken by activating interest in the departments and by creating a simple, sustainable, structural basis for the self-organised creation of a lively neighbourhood. At ZHdK, interested asylum seeking people find stimulation and encounters with local culture and education as well as a bit of “normality” in their exceptional situation. At ZHdK, encounters with people from other cultures increase expertise on the topics of “migration” and “transcultural communication”.
Conclusion:
In the context of the university, we discuss theories of diversity, identity and post-migrant Switzerland. Direct dialogue with people with different cultural, social and political experiences can make a significant contribution to enhancing this discourse.