Documenting Process: The IFRC Project
This article narrates the entire participatory process organized for the IFRC Park Project through a series of videos.
The IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network. It supports local Red Cross and Red Crescent action in more than 192 countries, bringing together almost 15 million volunteers for the good of humanity. Its HQ is based in Geneva, Switzerland and has about 350 staff. It is situated on a 13,000 m2 plot comprising a large terrace, a garden and a small forest.
Location of the IFRC HQ in Petit-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland
IFRC has tasked urbz to turn the open spaces on the plot into a Red Cross & Red Crescent Park through a participatory process. The park is imagined as a tribute to the Red Cross and a civic infrastructure destined to people from Geneva and visitors from out of town. The perimeter of the project extends beyond the IFRC plot and includes physical and social connections with the neighborhood, and stretches all the way to the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC and the International Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Together with its sister organizations and local associations, the IFRC aims at marking the historical presence of the Red Cross in Petit-Saconnex and Geneva through a landscaped pedestrian and cycle pathway. The triad of Environment, Community and Security are the fundamentals of the IFRC Community Park initiative.
This participatory runs from September 2022 to February 2023. It will generate a landscape project that will be implemented in the following coming months. The urbz team brings its expertise in participatory planning as well as its extensive knowledge of international Geneva and the Petit-Saconnex neigborhood. A series of workshops, talks, walks and exhibition are open to all staff neigbors and other interested citizens. In addition a dedicated project website allows people near and far to follow all steps of the process: