An oasis in the city
Public city life is fast and anonymous, people pass each other in the streets and disappear immediately after the next corner or into a building. An open and barrier-free place for encounters and community building are often missing.
The architecture student and community manager Mais, who moved from Syria to Vienna, considers urban and neighbourly encounters to be essential for social inclusion and sustainability. As part of her work at Fremde werden Freunde (ie. “strangers become friends”)–an initiative for social inclusion–she has architecturally designed a parklet for transcultural exchange in Vienna’s public space.
Together with volunteers and public cooperation partners, they have built an oasis for new encounters with sitting and gardening possibilities. It opened under the name Freunde Diwan because of its bookshelf, which contains books in many spoken languages in Vienna, including Arabic, English and German. Diwan comes from the Arabic language and describes a place of gathering, in this context a gathering of friends.
Supported and trained by a carpentry company, the cultural and educational character of the Diwan construction was in the foreground from the beginning, Mais said:
“Of course, it can be better if people already have these skills, but in my experience it’s nicer when people don’t, and just come because they are interested. Because it’s not about building a masterpiece, but just about creating a space where people meet, that brings people together.”
In the meantime, Freunde Diwan is the summer location for the events of Fremde werden Freunde: storytelling cafés, language learning, readings, the book club or the chess salon, as well as an attempt to make the city of Vienna even greener and more attractive. Multilingualism and transcultural exchange have a particular importance. It is a place where ideas for civic engagement are discussed and implemented, or just a place to laugh and relax together.
URB_ART spoke to Mais Msto, architecture student and community manager, who works at Fremde werden Freunde (www.fremdewerdenfreunde.at), an initiative for social inclusion. The organisation runs various projects including the building of a parklet, an intercultural university mentorship program, and more.
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