{"id":23812,"date":"2025-09-01T15:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T15:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avitem.fr\/?page_id=23812"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:26:17","slug":"cultivated-territories-project","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/avitem.fr\/en\/cultivated-territories-project","title":{"rendered":"Cultivated Territories: culture and sustainable territorial development in the Mediterranean"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Cultivated Territories: culture and sustainable territorial development in the Mediterranean<\/h1>

Culture as a driver of territorial transition. Driven by an innovative ambition, the Cultivated Territories<\/i><\/b> project aims to make culture a driver of ecological, social, and territorial transition at all levels, from the neighborhood to the Euro-Mediterranean region. A partnership bringing together local authorities, experts, and citizens to experiment with new synergies between culture, ecology, and regional development.<\/strong><\/p>

To bring about contemporary cultural forms capable of responding, with accuracy and sensitivity, to the major challenges facing the Mediterranean: climate emergency, social divisions, and urban change.<\/p>

A culture<\/b> in awakening<\/b>, to alert and mobilize consciences; a culture in projection<\/b>, to imagine common and desirable futures; a culture of memory<\/b>, to preserve and promote knowledge, heritage, and practices that are under threat.<\/p>

AVITEM plays a structuring role in this process, coordinating the partners involved in this ambitious decentralized cooperation, which brings together three French local authorities\u2014Nice C\u00f4te d’Azur Metropolis, the City of Vitrolles, and the Collectivit\u00e9 de Corse\u2014and one Turkish local authority, the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir.<\/p>

Since January 2025, we have been supported in this project, particularly in drafting deliverables and organizing collective intelligence workshops, by a group of experts<\/strong> comprising: Maud le Floch, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Chougnet, Val\u00e9rie Astesano, Amine Benaissa, and Cleo Smits.<\/p>

The Izmir Symposium<\/h2>

On September 4 and 5, 2025, the project will reach a decisive stage at the Izmir Symposium<\/b> in Turkey, which will see the signing of the Manifesto of Mediterranean Cities of Culture and Ecology<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>

Through a transdisciplinary approach combining culture, urban design, ecology, and citizen participation, the Symposium will offer a collective reflection on the future of Mediterranean territories. How can we think about the relationship between ecological transition, social justice, and the promotion of territorial memories? How can we reconnect humans and non-humans in Mediterranean spaces? These are all questions fueled by the experience of Izmir, with a view to creating sensitive, inclusive, and sustainable territorial models.<\/p>

The Cultivated Territories Forums<\/h2>

The Cultivated Territories Forums<\/b> are milestones in this cooperative dynamic, promoting encounters between major players in culture and sustainable territorial transition, project leaders, institutions, artists, researchers, and citizens committed to a common goal: producing eco-responsible solutions focused on cultural resilience.<\/p>

Nice Open Forum \u2014 November 28 & 29, 2024<\/strong><\/h3>

The first Open Forum for Cultivated Territories<\/b><\/a> was held in Nice on Mediterranean Day, inaugurating the cycle of meetings. Two days of reflection, from the sea to the land, exploring the role of creativity in the emergence of a shared ecological imagination, agroecology in territorial resilience, and questioning the transformation of cultural practices in the face of climate challenges.<\/p>

A reflection rooted in history, with an inaugural lecture by the Mediterranean Chair, to highlight Mediterranean networks as drivers of a common and united culture.<\/p>

Vitrolles Open Forum \u2014 May 23 & 24, 2025<\/strong><\/h3>

Hosted by the City of Vitrolles, the second Open Forum on Cultivated Territories<\/b><\/a> provided a space for interdisciplinary dialogue around an essential question: How can we imagine and experiment with new synergies between culture, ecology, and land use planning?<\/i> Bringing together the perspectives of artists, researchers, urban planners, and citizens, this exchange provided an opportunity to sketch out new courses of action, rooted in local realities and open to regional dynamics.<\/p>

Open Forum in Bastia\/Aiacciu \u2014 June 19 & 20, 2025<\/h3>

The last stop before the Izmir Symposium, the third Open Forum on Cultivated Territories<\/b><\/a> was held in Corsica, focusing on the issue of cultural rights to transform our territories \/ I diritti culturali p\u00e8 trasfurm\u00e0 i nostri territorii<\/i>.<\/p>

What are the links between tangible, intangible, and natural heritage, the dynamics of territorial transition, cultural rights, and the essential role of cultural actors in rural areas?<\/p>

The project’s outputs and commitments<\/h2>

The Cultivated Territories Forums are not limited to spaces for exchange: they give rise to concrete outputs, real tools for action, and initiate a lasting dialogue between sectors that are still too compartmentalized.<\/p>

Practical booklets<\/b>, designed as guides for collective action<\/b>, capitalize on knowledge, pool experiences, and guide public policy. These documents aim to support the implementation of pilot projects, the Living Labs<\/i><\/b>, which catalyze synergies between cultural actors, urban planners, developers, local authorities, and actors of ecological transition. The Open Forums of Cultivated Territories are also the subject of reports in the form of tools for capitalizing<\/b> on round tables, exchanges, and inaugural lessons.<\/p>

Mediterranean culture as a trump card:<\/strong><\/p>