Korail-City of Culture is a sustainable urban development initiative in collaboration with Paraa and the Goethe Institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Korail-City of Culture redefines the concept of design culture and the creative industries, particularly in terms of by whom, how, and where culture is ‘produced’, and for whom. The project aims to support cultural practitioners and producers living, working, and playing in Korail in establishing sustainable cultural practices, and to feed this knowledge back into processes of global and local learning and teaching on sustainable urban development.

The project focuses on a group of young residents, the Korail Youth team. With support from Paraa, the group has taken the lead in envisioning a community-driven play and cultural space in Korail, with a strong emphasis on universal accessibility. Over the past two years, they have actively engaged in the participatory design process and conducted surveys in the Korail area. Beyond their initial involvement in the project, they have actively participated in diverse workshops and training sessions to acquire skills in space management, shaping public spaces, and utilizing them effectively.

Moja-Kori, translating to “Let’s Have Fun”, is set to be one of the most exciting festivals of the year, taking place on December 6, 7, 13 & 14, 2024 across multiple sites in Korail, Dhaka, with the new public cultural space, Machan, at Ershad Maath of Korail, as the central venue. The festival is part of the Korail-City of Culture project funded by the Creative Economy Programme of the Federal Foreign Office in Germany, in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, its local partner Paraa and international partner Floating e.V. The festival will explore the intersections of design, arts, climate change, accessibility, and sustainability through installations, workshops, performances, and discussions led by renowned local and international artists and designers.

The exhibition and program sites are not conventional gallery spaces but busy bazaar streets, rickshaw garages, community spaces, lakeside paths, waterbody or lake in Korail.

More information about the festival on Paraa’s website!

Critical Architecture, Design and Sustainable Environments (CADSE) is a programme developed by Paraa, which is structured around a practical case study, resulting in realized projects through the student’s time on the programme. These case studies focus on a live project, placing learning through doing, at the center.

This year, the winter school-CADSE 2024 focuses on KorailPlay, a project by Paraa and Goethe-institute, Bangladesh, working on building an inclusive playspace and cultural hub for the people of Korail, by the people of Korail.

Floating contributed to CADSE with a short manual for self-publishing: “How to Make a Zine?”. During a workshop, participants explored the toolkit and created their own zines. 

You can download it in English or in Bangla. Print A3 and fold it!