Urban Nature Advocates, Third Gathering

Your Invitation

Next time you step outside, pause and choose one small thing: a leaf, a crack in the pavement, a patch of light, and give it your full attention for a few minutes. Notice what begins to change when you really look.

Workshop 3, hosted by Beth and assisted by Dagna, felt alive from the very first moment: a circle of blankets, warm tea in hand, and a group of six UNAs that had clearly grown more at ease with one another. They arrived as co-creators, ready to stretch their comfort zones and step more fully into curiosity.

The day unfolded as a series of playful, visual sensory invitations. Pairs wandered through the park sharing “one pair of eyes,” pointing out colours, textures, and fleeting light patterns the other might have missed. Laughter mixed with concentration as participants guided each other using only mirrors, learning what it means to trust, to lead, and to see the familiar world from entirely new angles. Later, individuals crouched quietly with magnifying glasses, sketching tiny details until leaves and bark dissolved into abstract landscapes.

The creative energy deepened in shared drawing exercises: two people, one page, capturing relationships between trees, stones, sky, and water. When the drawings were shared, others listened in, imagining the “conversations” between beings, revealing how observation can open up imagination and empathy.

Throughout, a simple idea kept returning: connection grows where attention goes. By the end, people weren’t just looking at nature, they were in a relationship with it, and with each other.

Project co-funded by the European Union.

The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.