“Green school, better people”

Did you ever realise that green spaces create communities? Studies conducted by the Human Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign indicate that “Green spaces are gathering places that create close-knit communities and improve well-being—and in doing so, they increase safety.”

Having this in mind, Vitaverde recently joined an innovative project initiated by NGO Ecoist in cooperation with the  Faculty of Art and Design of Megatrend University in Belgrade, Serbia  – “Green school, better people”. The first phase of the project was held in a master class workshop at Megatrend University from the 17th till the 19th of January, where more than 40 participants shared their knowledge and worked in synergy to come up with a concept and plans for high school DrvoArt.

The goal of the master class workshop was to trigger a process to create a solution to greenscape the school DrvoArt, in Belgrade. The participants from different backgrounds together with pupils from DrvoArt high school had the opportunity to create a concept and design the master plan for the school premises. Through this project, the stakeholders involved want to improve the school, the productivity and wellbeing of the students, teachers, neighbors and the general surrounding urban environment.

Above all, the participants put into practice their knowledge, gained new information about making attractive presentations, budgets that work, brainstorming, learnt to work in synergy and slowly but surely became a TEAM. A few papers, pens with inspiration, technology, designs, creativity and teamspirit were the basic ingredients which guided us through the whole process and filled the atmosphere. Everything began by setting goals and answering three main questions: why, how and what?

This is how we found out the most deep desires, aspirations and beliefs. Some were romantic others shy, some practical others famous, but one thing was sure: everybody agreed that Sky is the limit! These are some of their thoughts:

Why?   “To create awareness and interaction between different users by having a positive domino effect and an invitation for activities.”

How?  “By creating an inspiring and brighter atmosphere with application of complementary colours, natural materials and aromatic plants in order to provide different new perceptions of the space and form green subspaces.”

What?  “We want to make a place where you can feel free, inspired and safe. A place that evokes a positive and creative experience, helps improving outdoor time by spending different activities and events in multifunctional subspaces.”

At the end of the workshop certificates were given to all participants by Ecoist, while the participants delivered an estimation of the budget for their plans, presented it to media, architects and other stakeholders, and after that interacted with stakeholders to about following up on the workshop to assure the realisation of the project. They already collected a budget and invited companies to join the project. Their enlighting example deserves to be shared so more will join and form a brighter light. So don’t forget to share your light, you have many reasons to be proud. Together we will make a difference.