“District Flags” of Veszprém to strengthen local identity
About this good practice
In 2021 the demand arose among civil organisations of Veszprém that more emphasis should be placed on the preservation of tradition and widespread local history of Veszprém neighbourhoods that differ from each other in their past, topography, population composition etc. On meetings initiated by European Capital of Culture 2023 team the result of brainstorming sessions was that the cooperation of local groups is crucial and the need to have some tools creating visibility to strengthen local identities. The coordinator of the 2-year long process was the Community for Kadarta Association with strong cooperation and support from the Municipality: regular meetings, hiring the archivist, designing the flags and other features of the 15 districts, participation on city events with the flags. The flags are now placed all around city. Beneficiaries: civil organizations (they strengthened their ties with each other and were able to increase their membership) and the Veszprém population, who are interested in and proud of the very place where they belong.
Resources needed
• Soft: Coordinator - Community for Kádárta Association: 15.000 EUR: data collection, planning, graphical design, publications, meetings, events, communication
• Infrastructure: Municipality of Veszprém 30.000 EUR, design and production of flag stands and district flags, maintenance
• Volunteers
Evidence of success
The success lays not only the production and display of district flags, but the fact that the project was realized because of civil cooperation. The civilian community took part in the research, collecting symbols, and later participated in all events where flags could be presented as a symbol of local identity. So, the success is that we were able to strengthen the sense of belonging and the sense of identity in Veszprém with the initiative.
Potential for learning or transfer
There are quite a few civic organizations in Veszprém, but not all of them were active and this is probably the experience in other cities. The greatest success of this project was that for the sake of a common cause (which everyone considered important and enthusiastic about) organisations got a new impetus to continue, they managed to (re)start communication and cooperations and in the following year they already organized meetings and programs with each other. So here again the district flags (+ arms, publications, scarfs) are visible result, they are good means but the journey that reignited the community activities is much more important. Visualisation of local identity can happen on different paths, but the local cooperation is the key achievement, and this is what we feel transferable.
Further information
Images
