Cities often become havens of human stories and potential. Despite the existence of integration programs and centers, and non-profit organizations that help newcomers integrate, migrants' voices often go unnoticed, resulting in misunderstanding, fear, and rejection in the host community. The city rejects newcomers who do not know how to fit into existing infrastructures, how to find themselves, and tell others about themselves.

— How can we help newcomers feel the cities "their own" and become visible in them?
— How can they find their place?

— How can cities benefit from interaction with newcomers?

To support people excluded from urban life, a variety of programs, centres, and non-profit organisations employ diverse methods. Creative and unconventional approaches, beyond
traditional adult education services, along with cross-sector collaboration, can be more effective in engaging marginalised groups, especially in urban settings. Storytelling is one of these approaches. We defined it as a set of tools that can empower vulnerable individuals, allowing them to be heard, seen, and recognised as full-fledged cityzens. Storytelling and open spaces for exchange strengthen connections between individuals and initiatives.

In this context, the project Telling Your Story into the City emerged. It provided an opportunity to explore, in collaboration with target groups and organisations, creative urban practices and methods as storytelling techniques to engage excluded individuals with their neighbourhoods and cities. Our interdisciplinary project team included four organisations: urban researchers and practitioners (CISR e.V. Berlin), a European project management & migrant-led NGO (CGE, Erfurt), urban participation and education providers Urban Foxes (Brussels), and the creative association Teatro Metaphora (Madeira). In particular, the consortium aimed to support the development of innovations in Adult Education, fostering more inclusive cities that reflect the needs and rights of their inhabitants.

Based on our partner meetings in Berlin and Weimar and study visits to Madeira and Brussels, the Urban Casebook was developed. It documents the best practices of the places and organisations we learned about, as well as the insights gained by partners during the project. It is intended to provide other initiatives and institutions with access to a series of creative cases in outreach and participation in the context of Adult Education.

The project was supported by the National Agency for Education for Europe at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education implemented within the EU Program Erasmus +.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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