Animal City project has the great ambition to educate future generations of adults to respect animals, starting from the study of their most fascinating peculiarities and curiosities!
Animal City is a project funded by Fondazione Cariverona that aims to raise awareness of the animals that live in urban environments, from the best known such as pets to the lesser known, namely all those wild animals that, choosing urban areas as their habitat, accept and adapt to continuous contact with humans.
How do we want to accomplish the project?
Awareness and knowledge of one’s own territory are important aspects of being an attentive and responsible citizen.
For this reason, learning about the characteristics of the natural environment that surrounds us, the climate and the species that live there becomes an important node in the growth of each of us.
Starting from home and observing the city in which we live, it is possible to observe the nature that surrounds us closely.
In particular, focusing on fauna, what are the animals that live in our cities? Which are the wild species? Which species are invasive or introduced by man?
With the help of educational workshops, various moments of meeting and the creation of an exhibition dedicated to the theme will be possible to answer all these questions and become experts in urban biodiversity.
1. Bibliographic research at libraries in the city and interactive workshops
20 interactive educational workshops inside the libraries of Vicenza will involve children and parents in the discovery of urban biodiversity.
What animals live in our cities? Where do they live and where do they hide?
We will discover the animals of the city like real scientists, we will study and research the habitats they prefer, we will understand what they eat and the secrets of a good coexistence. Starting from the observation of some cell samples, we will identify the characteristics of animals. With the help of samples and artifacts we will learn to classify and recognize insects, invertebrates, and other animals.
2. Bioblitz!
What is a Bioblitz?
This is a type of Citizen Science event that has a dual purpose: on the one hand to mobilize citizens, equipped with smartphones, to observe their environment with curious eyes and on the other hand to collect in a short time a large amount of naturalistic observations, useful to researchers in the area!
Accompanied by an operator, participants in the Bioblitz, “armed” with a net, microscope, magnifying glass and smartphone, will discover the wonders of nature that populate our cities.
At this stage you can join too!
How? Download the iNaturalist application on your Android or iOS smartphone, search for the “Animal City Challenge” project, enter your observations on the app following the instructions and that’s it! You will also contribute to the census of animals in cities in the Verona area and other provinces, such as Mantua, Vicenza, Belluno and Ancona.
General project on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/animal-city-challange
Challenge Vicenza: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/vicenza-animal-city-challange
Challenge Belluno: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/belluno-animal-city-challange
Challenge Mantova: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/mantova-animal-city-challange
Challenge Verona: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/verona-animal-city-challange
3. Collection, scientific support, and systematization of information collected from students
Contextually to the Bioblitz period, a scientific and professional committee will be activated with the support of the Venetian Society of Natural Sciences,
that will provide additional information and educational, informational, and playful cues to schools and families. The tutoring work will also be useful in identifying the presence of allochthonous or unusual species in urban settings and sharing the information with families and schools. The results of the surveys and Bioblitzes will be visible here.
4. Co-design of educational and cultural products
In this phase will be designed, in mode of co-design through 10 educational workshops of 2 hours and with subsequent voting extended to the entire population of the areas of Verona, Mantua, Vicenza, Belluno and Ancona:
- a temporary educational exhibition at the Children’s Museum of Verona;
- an educational guide
- a mascot that identifies and promotes the work done by the actors involved in the project.
From 16 September 2022 at the museum!
5. Animal City” travelling exhibition at Children’s Museum Verona
An educational exhibition, accessible, without any kind of architectural barrier and engaging to enhance cultural growth, interactive analog and digital.
An exhibition in which everything must be handled in order to be put into operation and understood, participatory, in which interaction between visitors is promoted in order to stimulate complicity among peers and encourage friendship.
A creative exhibition full of stimuli, to develop problem solving, and beautiful, to nurture in the visitor an “aesthetic sense”.
Covering an area of 100 square meters and developed on two levels within the Children’s Museum Verona, it will be based on immersive sets in which the user can enter inside animal dens, as well as interactive exhibits to understand the physical and morphological properties of animals.
A punctual storytelling will accompany visitors in a universe made of tales of popular tradition, in which animals are the protagonists, as helpers or as enemies of man, to make young people understand how the perception of animals (and their affectivity) has changed over the centuries.
The exhibition will be aimed at children from 3 to 8 years old (preschool, elementary school and families).
6. Galactic Guide to City Animals
After the great success of the Galactic Guide to the Coronavirus, developed by Pleiades, the Galactic Guide to City Animals will be developed with the graphics of the exhibition,
a downloadable PDF booklet of 30 pages, in which all the contents of the exhibition will find space in the form of a narrated and illustrated story, with the presence of experimental cards that will invite the user to perform various activities at home with the use of simple materials.
You’ll find here soon the link to download your free copy of the Galactic Guide!
7. Networking activities and start-up of the National Network of Animal Friendly Schools of the City
Throughout the duration of the project will be developed an interactive network that will provide for the activation of paths of youth participation using innovative methodologies,
that will lead to the definition of future strategies to achieve in a coordinated way the environmental goals of the 2030 Agenda. These activities will lead to the creation of the first National Network of Animal Friendly Schools in the city.
Soon all the information to participate with your school!
How do I sign up for workshops and Bioblitzes?
Each of the phases of the project foresees the participation of children, schools and families.
A button to the left of the different phases will signal the opening of registrations with a dedicated form.
Keep following this page, we look forward to having you among the participants!
How can I contribute to the project?
Contact us by clicking the button below, we will be happy to provide you with more information.
I am not in Verona, how can I visit the exhibition?
Don’t worry! The exhibition will have a portal accessible to everyone for the dissemination of the project and its contents at national and international level, thanks to the presence of textual info, infographics, videos and digital games on this page.
In addition, the exhibition will be traveling and, thanks to the National Network of Children’s Museums, will be placed in other locations, which we will soon communicate!
