"THE METROPOLITAN TRAILS ACADEMY Innovative education of citizens in Metropolitan Culture (Urbanism, Urban Ecology, Sociology, Art…) towards a better European metropolitan citizenship DIAGNOSIS The phenomenon of metropolisation, started in Europe decades ago on a morphological and sociological level, has been lately giving birth to administrative entities. These metropolitan administrative entities, either old (as in London) or recent (as in France since the 2014 MAPAM national law), do not necessarily correspond, for the citizens, to an awareness of their metropolitan territory, nor to a sense of belonging to a metropolitan community, nor to the existence of a “metropolitan heritage” constituting a common base of references and values. The participation of citizens to the metropolitan project, even if seeked by authorities, is difficult to achieve because of this lack of metropolitan culture. The metropolitan fact has become the contemporary urban fact – the existence of a metropolitan citizenship is a political and social stake of our time. The project METROPOLITAN TRAILS ACADEMY addresses this issue through an innovative project of adult education in metropolitan culture. “METROPOLITAN CULTURE” “Metropolitan culture” consists of three complementary dimensions: 1) the fine knowledge of a given metropolitan territory (which is always both densely populated and unrecognized) 2) the understanding of the specific cultural forms that are elaborated on this territory – the way a society establishes itself somewhere, inscribes itself into a geographic space. 3) the practice and knowledge of other metropolises in Europe and the world, since cosmopolitanism seems to be part of metropolitan culture. The innovative Adult Education project is structured and made possible by the existence in Europe of creation dynamics of ""Metropolitan Trails"", an urban practice in Europe that has been emerging in the last two decades, and made more visible by the success of the GR2013 Metropolitan Trail, one of the leading projects of Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture. To visit and deal with a metropolis on foot, is to discover and collect the great historical narratives that built it – and also to create an intimate relationship with places, sign a pact with the land where we live. THE PROJECT’S STRUCTURE The project was initiated by the not-for-profit « Sentier Métropolitains / Metropolitan Trails » after a symposium of Metropolitan Trails designers that took place in November 2017 for a collective creation for the exhibition « Connectivités ». The partners are in Athens, the ecotourism cooperative PathsofGreece with géographe Jordi Ballesta ; in Köln the Urbanism agency Urbangestalt with artist Boris Sieverts, in Milano the not-for-profit Treeking Italia with architects and authors Gianluca Migliavaca et Gianni Biondillo, in Marseille with not-for-profit Bureau des Guides du GR2013, and the Musée des Civilisation et de la Méditerranée (Mucem). The METROPOLITAN TRAILS ACADEMY project will consist in the collective production of 3 intellectual outputs in 5 languages: 2 are intended for other potential Metropolitan Trails designers: • the “reference frame”: a charter of Metropolitan Trails • the “Methodology guide”: a user manual of the “local education communities” 1 is intended for a larger audience (citizens of metropolises) • a Mooc of Metropolitan Culture After one year of elaboration, these intellectual outputs will be tested during a one-week workshop in Paris, intended to 40 European urban professionals – and then disseminated and evaluated. THE METROPOLITAN TRAILS ACADEMY constitutes a process of innovative education to the metropolitan fact, that is complementary to academic or theoretical approaches. The implementation of a Metropolitan Trail goes along with the set up of ""local educational communities"" (based on the model of Faro's ""heritage communities""). Within these communities, a civic practice of knowledge-sharing and expertise-crossing takes place on the field, while walking. Metropolitan Trails and “local education communities” go together. This project of civic and transdisciplinary education to the issues of urban planning, which was born from Metropolitan Trails, also enhances and develops this practice of Metropolitan Trails. This logic of a ""virtuous circle"" is essential in the very structure of the project, since it gives positive elements towards its sustainability on a middle/long term basis. At the end of this project, the intellectual productions in 5 languages will allow to share these educational programs of Metropolitan Trails at the European scale and beyond."