Residents live better in an environment in which they feel safe, accepted and supported when they encounter difficulties.
The feeling of belonging to a caring human community committed to the well-being of its members is an essential vector of serenity and appeasement which contributes to the development and maintenance of healthy and solid social relationships.
In parallel with public policies implemented in favor of housing, urban planning, social cohesion, public peace, employment, mobility and even access to education and leisure, the HARMONY project aims to develop and strengthen good living together in the city and in particular in collective housing neighborhoods.
The project aims to disseminate and apply preventive and restorative practices with a view to preventing and resolving situations of neighborhood conflicts and disturbances to residential tranquility more effectively and sustainably. This is for the benefit of residents and professional and/or volunteer practitioners who intervene in this context.
The deployment of tools, practices and behavioral postures from the field of preventive and restorative justice constitutes a part of this global process dedicated to the social and emotional well-being of residents.
Led by a group of four partners from three European Union countries (Belgium, France and Italy) experienced in the development of restorative practices in their respective territories, the Harmony project intends to:
- Analyze, capitalize and map preventive and restorative practices and experiences whose application to the context of collective housing would be relevant to better resolve and prevent daily conflicts between residents and/or between residents and practitioners
- In partnership with field practitioners, design and test in real conditions a kit of interventions inspired by preventive and restorative culture. This “Toolbox” has a transnational dimension facilitating its deployment in intervention contexts corresponding to those of the members of the Harmony consortium;
- Train stakeholders in communities of community animation and local mediation practitioners and housing operators to use the tools from the intervention kit.
- Produce a report evaluating the impact of the tools and practices mobilized as part of the intervention kit on well-being in the city sectors integrated into the field experiment.
- The project should make it possible to evolve mediation practices and contribute to moving cities towards a global restorative model, serving peaceful interactions between citizens.
During the project, each partner of the Harmony project will regularly bring together residents, their representatives and professional practitioners involved in the field of collective housing to identify the problems encountered, and participate in the emergence of shared solutions for better living. together in the neighborhoods and facilitate the implementation of tools and practices from the intervention kit as part of the field experiment.
The Harmony project is a 27-month cooperative partnership co-financed by Erasmus+ and the European Union for adult education