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Azerbaijan

Pari Banu is a trans artist with an interdisciplinary and contemporary approach to her work. In her interview, she explains the connection of her inspiration to city planning. She also talks about queer oppression and her struggles while living in Baku. Authoritarian and phobic spaces leave many queers with no choice, and Pari Banu is one of those who left the city to seek a safer and more secure space where people respect her identity. She explains the issue further in the interview.

Georgia

The absolute absence of cultural institutions and events in the city of Bolnisi creates a sterile environment for the community, the city is in a small vacuum where every fifth house is for sale.

Taiwan

A guide dog and its master.

Georgia

In the late 90s there were few places where one could go as a kid and have fun. Tbilisi zoo was one of them. While skipping the school, me and my friends would go there often. By that time this place had no much meaning, it was just a place to hide. I have not been to the zoo since childhood, until my kid got 3-4 years old. After almost 20years gap, revisiting this place got me into a big emotional mess. I started to go there for my photo projects, at first, I was obsessed with the architecture of the cages. Later in 2015 Tbilisi flood happened. It resulted in around 20 peoples and in half of the zoo’s animals’ deaths. Some of the wild animals escaped from the zoo and were roaming in the city, just like in Hollywood movies or animations. For me it got more meaning to observe the life of the zoo after the flood. From a happy childhood attraction, it has transformed into a saddest place, which is located in the city center, surrounded by highways and constructions. We go there and take our kids, as if we are getting them used to have fun in a most primitive way.

United Kingdom

The event was conceived by Jan Kattein Architects, Enfield Council, and St John & St James C of E Primary School in Edmonton, North London . On 23 July 2021 we closed the street in front of the school to cars for a day to seed the idea that space in the city needs to be first and foremost reserved for people. Chalk drawing, experimental den building, an outside gallery of student artwork, an ice-cream tricycle and a pop-up zoo proposed alternative uses for the street with a view to permanently transform the street into a space for play, social interaction and biodiversity in the future.

Azerbaijan

The film highlights the citizens' struggles related to the sidewalks, certainly in the central streets where sidewalks are very narrow, cars are allowed to enter and parking is chaos. Many citizens who walk the streets where the film is made encounter different challenges. Particularly, for those who are in a hurry or coming back from shopping with some bags. Cars barely move due to the congestion, making the situation even worse for people to pass by. The narrow streets in Baku cover a huge area behind the central area from Hazi Alsanov to Bashir Safaroghlu street where plenty of shopping centers, entertainment and leisure facilities, local shops, business centers, embassies, and hotels are centered. The area requires access to a big number of citizens every day and the situation with the sidewalks demotivates many to walk around these streets. In return, people tend to take cabs to their destination and it creates a vicous circle where the cabs worsen the traffic and eventually the overall situation. At the heart of Baku, many are left without a pavement/sidewalk, and the film portrays the real every-day struggles of citizens.