“Urban trends and open micro” is a space for participation of young people from different backgrounds in the city of Logroño. Despite their official status as citizens of Logroño, and the fact that these young people share common formal spaces in Secondary Schools, they kept separating in the non-formal spaces of relationship because of their origins, being them from Latin America, Romania, Pakistan, Morocco, etc.
To avoid segregation, the city proposed to find a common point of interest that could contribute to making youth converging, interacting and creating something together. Hip Hop was chosen as a tool to bring the youth together, and the city created a free meeting space for young people to promote participation and facilitate emotional expression through urban culture and its different disciplines: dance, music, plastic art, etc. Using the language of music, art, dance, and freestyle "rap battles", beat box, etc.
A mix of young people of diverse origins participate and express themselves in a new language, their own and different ones, used to communicate their vision of the world and the emotional expression of their experiences. Hip Hop has proven to be an instrument that allows these young people to express them freely but also to develop an attitude of acceptance and respect for differences. Thanks to the specific focus on interculturality in the management of the space, the artistic results are very creative and are nourished by the influence of diverse cultural references that make them unique. The experience has become a good example of how diversity can be translated into greater creativity and cultural enrichment.
From this, and from the continued relationship of these young people with hip hop as a vehicle, other elements have been introduced to deepen aspects of democratic participation, citizenship, diversity, tolerance, anti-rumors, etc., increasing critical capacity and the commitment of youth.
There is an evaluation of this programme as a measure of the Intercultural Plan of the city and of the social and educational intervention projects with young people.
