Speakers

Joanna Erbel – sociologist, urban activist. Since 2007 she has been active in strenghtening local communities, increasing the extent of social participation and the quality of urban democracy as well as supporting sustainable development of the city and promoting good solutions for housing policy. A member of the Congress of Urban Movements (KRM) since 2011; since 2013 in the KRM Coordination Board. She is a co-author of the commentaries to the National Urban Policy Assumptions, most of which have been included in the final document. Her activity in the KRM concentrates on social involvement and housing policy issues. She is also a member of the Sustainable Development and Ecological Modernization Council under auspicies of the Mayor of the city of Słupsk. In 2012, she participated in the Defenders of the Prasowy Milk Bar initiative and in laying down the guidelines of an open profiled competition for a new lessee of the bar with the representatives of the Śródmieście District Board. In 2013, as the representative of the legal civic initiative -”Stop the Rise in Public Transport Fares”, that collected 18 thousand signatures under the resolution to put the rise in public transport fares on hold. She was also part of the Open Jazdów (Otwarty Jazdów) and Targowa Street 2.0 (Targowa 2.0) initiatives, which successfully set out the strategy for the cooperation between the local communities and the City authorities. Her latest involvement in the „Footbridge to Prague” initiative was to secure funds to the city budget for a footbridge connecting the left and right banks of the Vistula. The Blisko Foundation she co-established recently, organizes, in cooperation with social partners and local authorities, a series of seminars on „Housing Policy in 21century. Good practice for Polish cities”. The aim of the seminars is to present housing alternatives which can be implemented by local governments. The meetings are dedicated to urban activists who deal with housing policy, non-governmental organizations and local authorities.