Urban Spaces. A European cultural history between 1918 and 1939 as a multilingual and variable film construction kit. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Urban Spaces. A European cultural history between 1918 and 1939 as a multilingual and variable film construction kit.

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Research and innovation; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

StaR / UrbS is based on two pillars: On the one hand, the history of the 1918-1939 phase is being worked through in 8 European cities on the basis of a cultural space-semiotic concept. The city is understood as a social space, which is formed in the conditions of the material conditions (architecture, infrastructure, institutions of politics and economy etc.), in that the actions of the urban society and its urban consciousness are understood as reactive processes, which, however, not only form the social space or the urban culture in the first place, but simultaneously have an effect on it. In other words: material and ideal urban culture are in a complementary relationship. Due to their heterogeneous nature and history, the 8 cities participating in the project are well suited to describe and compare the individual cities as cultural space during the years 1918-1939. The structural insights gained can be transferred to the present and as such can be made fruitful for historical-political adult education.
This refers to the second pillar, which is based on the foundation of urban history research; it is the focus of StaR / UrbS. Historical research results in about 100 film clips, which can be combined in different forms, so that they can be used to narrate different stories about the development of urban history from 1918 to 1939. The range of variation refers on the one hand to the content, so that the urban history of a city or in a bi- or multilateral comparison or even a European development can be presented by combining the clips. Due to the multilingualism of the clips, even bi- or multilingual combinations are possible. Above all, the variety of combinations allows for different didactic concepts. This can result in films that meet the standards of historical-political didactics or contradict them in such a way that appropriate interventions become necessary in the mediation process. For this purpose, a didactic manual is being developed simultaneously with the Digital Clip Kit (DCK) on how to make films from the clips and use them in educational work (Clips build History = CbHis).
The DCK as well as the CbHis will be conceived in a joint process running parallel to the historical research work and realized with the support of experts for digital media. In the final phase of the project, they will be converted into an Internet presence that will make both permanently available and thus become a new instrument of historical-political education work in Europe.
In order for DCK and CBHis to develop the greatest possible broad effect, it must be ensured from the outset that both the basic historical research and the didactic implementation meet the conditions and needs of different European political and historical cultures. For this reason, international cooperation in the field of historical research and didactics of history must be guaranteed from the very beginning. Only through the cooperation of an internationally composed project group and the inclusion of experts in historical research and history education as well as specialists in the field of digital media development can the goal be achieved that historical-political adult education does not create a uniform and uniform European historical consciousness in Europe, but rather, through educational work, lays the foundation for enabling the broadest possible circles in Europe to discuss their historical consciousness based on different experiences. For this purpose, dealing with the urban environment is certainly better suited than national history, which is often highly politically charged.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 447271 Eur

Project Coordinator

Opladener Geschichtsverein von 1979 e.V. Leverkusen (OGV) & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Oulun Suomi-Saksa Yhdistys ry
• Jülicher Geschichtsverein 1923 e.V.
• Lehrstuhl für Mittlere und Neuere Geschichte (Rheinische Landesgeschichte) und Didaktik der Geschichte
• Schwedter Heimatverein e.V.
• UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
• Stowarzyszenie ODRA 1945
• The Bracknell Forest Society