ECRN.city’s Post

On October 3-4 2024 I was "home" in Faro, Algarve, for the ECRN.city-led European Creative Rooftop Network Congress. I had the honour and privilege of joining a 2-day event full of insightful conversations with some of the best rooftop thinkers and actors in all of Europe. My contribution was a pseudo-political speech about the urgency of working together to develop transdisciplinary policies and structural systems at European level to help rooftops help make our cities remain liveable beyond the climate catastrophe (a rooftop revolution, so to speak), followed by a short discussion with Paul van Roosmalen moderated by Bruno Inácio. The congress was the culmination of a 5-4 year work period for the network structured around a #CreativeEurope large-scale project which I co-designed and fundraised for, and the start of a new era as a european association with more and new partners. The revolution has begun, but it has only just got started, so all of you: citizens, real estate actors, architects, policy makers, cultural producers, entrepreneurs and environmentalists are called to join it and do your part: can you imagine rooftops as a right, not a privilege? I was very luck to witness all the growth by the network and its partners these years, in the form of new festivals, skills, audiences, and impacts, which will only exponentially develop in the future. It is all thanks to Bruno Inácio, supported by Paulo Santos, Sophie Matias and Mayor Rogerio Bacalhau, who as part of the (not selected) European Capital of Culture Bid advised by Mattijs MAUSSEN dared to think big and creative, and ask: why couldn't a small city gather the best actors and lead the best work on a topic urgent to the future of European cities? Then they did the work, and I will always be thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it. It is not about winning, it is about vision, hard work and doing the best for the place where you live. Looking forward to get back up to the rooftop and keep imagining a better European future. Congratulations to Câmara Municipal de Faro and all the ECRN partners Rotterdamse Dakendagen (Rotterdam Rooftop Days), ROEF Amsterdam, Stad Antwerpen, Coincidències - Terrats en Cultura, Urban Scale Interventions, Kulturhauptstadt Europas Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH, Folkstaden Arkitekter, Urban Gorillas for a successul project and godspeed for their next adventures, and to all the people who make the network what it is Léon van Geest, Nikki Kamps, Alexander van der Meer, Remco Moen Marcar, Sjoerd Jurkovich, Heleen Vanden Bergh, Lola Armadàs, Pol Noya Híjar, Isaias Fanlo, Jak Spencer, Anely Šmída Jeromin, Sabine Fekete, Magdalena Forshamn, Marina Kyriakou, Veronika Antoniou, Marko Paunovic, Fulvia Almeida and many more.