COMUM – Ler para Criar Mudança (Reading for Change)
The Local Challenge
In Lisbon, families, carers, and elders face mounting pressures: high living costs, housing insecurity, urban isolation, and limited access to supportive public spaces. Despite being essential to social cohesion, the daily experiences of carers remain largely invisible in cultural and urban policy. Parents, grandparents, formal and informal carers are rarely consulted in civic decision-making, even though they hold deep knowledge of the city’s everyday struggles.
The Initiative
This initiative uses books as a springboard for civic dialogue and collective problem-solving. Each month, a chosen book (fiction or non-fiction) sparks reflection on themes such as care, community, education, or public space. Discussion takes place both on an open digital platform, where families and carers can share ideas continuously, and in monthly workshops at the Alcântara Library, where participants, supported by guest experts, work in small groups to co-design civic proposals using participatory and systems-thinking methods. By the project’s end, participants’ proposals will be gathered into an illustrated civic dossier, presented to Lisbon City Council and local authorities as a collective vision for a more inclusive city.
What’s Next?
Families, carers, and neighbours are empowered to move from reflection to action, giving visibility to perspectives too often excluded from public debate. Children, elders, and carers will find in the club a safe, intergenerational space to share experiences and imagine solutions that reflect their daily lives. For the library, the project redefines its role as a site of active citizenship and civic listening, extending its impact beyond reading into community transformation. By connecting participants directly with policymakers and experts, the initiative will strengthen civic literacy, build social ties, and encourage sustained participation.
Contact theeuropechallenge@culturalfoundation.eu if you have any questions or want to be connected with the team behind the project.
