kultúrAktív is a public benefit non-governmental organization dedicated to sensitizing children and young people to the built environment. Founded in 2010 by Eszter Tóth and Ágnes Sebestyén, the association organizes activities that inspire youth to discover, observe, and understand their immediate and extended environment, and to participate in shaping it. In 2020 kultúrAktív celebrates its 10th anniversary – and has a lot of plans and ideas for the future:
“We would like to spend the following 10 years with performing activities, which strengthen the relationship between people and their neighborhoods. We are dreaming of individuals and communities, who consciously and constructively shape their own neighbourhoods on a daily basis; people who are attached to and feel responsible for their neighborhoods.”
Looking Back: kultúrAktív 2010 – 2020
kultúrAktív is dedicated to advancing and popularizing built environment education by organizing events, publishing professional books, carrying out research, and maintaining a close collaboration with professional and educational organizations.
In our activities, the urban space provides a framework for learning and active participation, and the learning process becomes a catalyst for the transformation of both the built environment and society. Theory and practice are equally important in our work; research, reflection, and working on location with children are parallel activities. We collaborate with other Hungarian organizations and individuals in the field, including architects, educators, schools and universities, professional chambers, and local governments. We intend to raise awareness and disseminate knowledge of built environment education, and to create a dynamically developing and growing professional network.
Among our members there are architects, landscape architects, teachers and pre-school educators, cultural managers, and art historians, who all enrich our Association with their various skills, research topics and methods. In the last 10 years hundreds of members, volunteers and interested individuals joined our work and together we managed to accomplish numerous innovative projects. We were granted several awards and acknowledgements and we had the opportunity to work with amazing partners, who inspired us and whom we are also trying to inspire. In our anniversary publication 10 Years of Built Environment Education we review these results and experiences – and think about our future plans.
Future Plans and Visions
- We would like to spend the following 10 years with performing activities, which strengthen the relationship between people and their neighborhoods.
- We are dreaming of individuals and communities, who consciously and constructively shape their own neighbourhoods on a daily basis; people who are attached to and feel responsible for their neighbourhoods.
- In our vision people embrace their roots in a positive manner and they consider fundamental the establishment, shaping, nurturing and passing on to the following generations the values of their neighborhoods.
- We visualise a built environment, which is liveable and safe and which inspires especially children and the youth and supports them in their development.
- In our vision the experience and knowledge obtained at the neighbourhood inspire young adults to explore their neighbourhood and to understand their own roles in the establishment of their environment and community.