ASTRA

Progetto A.S.T.R.A.

Advancing Sustainable Transition and Resilience in post-mining areas

Project Code 2020-1-IT02-KA227-ADU-095491

ASTRA (astramining.eu)

ASTRA , acronym for "Advancing Sustainable Transition and Resilience in post-mining areas", funded under the Erasmus + KA227 Program Partnerships for Creativity is a two-year project involving Idrisi Cultura e Sviluppo (Italy), non-profit association, Internet Web Solutions (Spain), technology partner and Fundacja ad Meritum (Poland), a non-profit active in the field of creative and cultural entrepreneurship.

The Project ASTRA aims to increase the awareness of adult learners about European mining history and memory: culture, nature, landscape, anthropology, industrial archeology, but also ideas for cultural entrepreneurship and opportunities for cultural tourism. The organizations involved will elaborate numerous resources and implement educational pathways in the field to enhance the European post-mining heritage. An interactive digital map will also be produced over the two years, ideally connecting several mining sites between Spain, Italy and Poland. The goal of ASTRA is to involve adult learners of different nationalities in a path of re-discovery of the European mining culture, as important as it is often forgotten or not sufficiently valued.

ASTRA involves the creation of four original intellectual works:

1. ASTRA RESOURCES SURVEY: an overview of European mining culture and history in Italy, Poland and Spain, with technical elements of analysis and mapping of post-industrial sites
2. ASTRA GEODATABASE & DIGITAL PLATFORM: an innovative e-learning web platform with elements of geolocation and digital mapping 
3. ASTRA CREATIVE UPCYCLING FEASIBILITY STUDY: a study on the educational, entrepreneurial, cultural potential offered by European mining sites and their rediscovery, with numerous examples of the revitalization of post-industrial realities in a tourist-cultural key (Poland, Italy, Spain) 
4. ASTRA PHOTOVOICE STORYTELLING: a photographic journey and an original documentary film developed in close contact with local communities in a post-mining context 
5. ASTRA HANDBOOK: an educational resource for young adults, educators and trainers, useful for integrating European mining history and memory, local cultural heritage and creative elements into the curriculum

ASTRA will therefore involve numerous local communities mainly in Italy (Sicily), Spain (Andalusia, Asturias) and Poland (Silesia) to develop a educational archive, material and immaterial, which will include ethnographic, anthropological, sociological data of the European mining and post-mining heritage, avoiding possible loss of knowledge. A further objective is to highlight, through virtuous examples, how the mining cultural heritage has in many cases offered jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, creative ideas for education and culture professionals, but also for rural and peripheral communities.

The promoted activities are therefore aimed at a large audience composed of young adults interested in the European cultural and landscape heritage, but also at cultural operators, educators, teachers and socio-cultural animators who can experiment educational and training activities outdoor and sustainable in places often little known.

ASTRA is therefore an opportunity for the enhancement, rebirth and rediscovery of the territories, thanks to the collaboration between non-profit associations, the cultural and creative sector, cultural entrepreneurship and rural areas.