Translator: Veronica Quaedvlieg Reviewer: Anna Comas-Quinn
This is Campo de Cebada, a public square,
basically a 2,500 m2 concrete area in the heart of La Latina
and currently managed by a group of neighbors
after a period of somewhat sloppy management by City Hall
who got rid of the only sports center in the Central District of Madrid.
Campo de Cebada means defining the city in a new way
by bringing the politicians who make decisions about the city closer to us,
those who have to live with their decisions.
This type of urban planning allows for complex regulations
to enable things to happen that are not usually done in a city.
It is a fully equipped square that opens its infrastructure.
Innovative details like water taps or plugs
allow for citizen participation to become active engagement
so that people decide at all times what they want to do.
Probably the most important thing
is trying to get as many people as possible involved
in making decisions on managing this space daily,
allowing all kinds of people to do all kinds of activities
at the same time and place.
For us, that is innovation.
Having a TEDx at Campo de Cebada involved learning about the many things
that make a place like this special and unique.
We managed to have the first TEDx event in the world
that took place at night, outdoors, on a public square,
created by and for the residents, and completely free.
Besides the invaluable collaboration of the people from TEDxMadrid,
we managed to get the local residents to design what went on that night.
Jota, in the back of this picture,
who usually plays basketball at Campo de Cebada,
was the one directing the sound;
Dani, who you see here with his friends,
designed the whole audio visual part.
Jacobo, the 'professional neighbour', helped everyone that was collaborating,
just like Zuloark, a collective that we work with at the square,
alongside many of the neighbors
and 60 students of the Javeriana University of Bogotá
who over the previous week designed and built all the benches and stands
that about 1000 people enjoyed that night.
But it wasn't only neighbors,
many others pitched in and put on the T-shirt
to help organize the key points of the event.
Other venues in Madrid helped providing chairs for this big crowd.
Just before the event started everybody helped out,
from the Bangladeshi who usually sell beer,
to the kids who play basketball;
they were all helping, sweeping, setting up,
making that night so special.
As the night fell, hearing the chords of maestro Isasa,
on a square dressed up as never before,
in front of almost a thousand people,
we heard people speak about the citizen innovation project
as a catalyst for social transformation in the city.
Each and every one of the themes of the talks
referred to an aspect that defines Campo de Cebada.
Like they spoke about open infrastructures
that allow for active participation.
People from Cebada came to talk
about the People's Summer University,
the series of Open Air Songs,
or the play Don Juan Tenorio, that they perform once a year.
A square where decisions are made in open assemblies
had 'El Pera' come to talk
about managing a place like Ciudad de los Muchachos in Leganés.
Authorship for this space belongs to Campo de Cebada,
not to some architect or urban planner whose name is on the project.
So Gerardo talked about Cinema Without Authors,
where the concept of authorship is also dealt with differently.
This handmade urbanism,
of a neighbor designing the furniture to be made,
led to Alberto Peralta
talking about the network of urban gardens in Madrid.
And managing conflict differently,
embracing it instead of suppressing it,
led to people coming to talk about StreetFood Mad,
or the living room through the office of political innovation.
For me, the key thing that night
goes back to what I said at the beginning:
so many people watching the talks -
at La Cebada they usually behave differently to what you see here.
They do their hair or kiss while they're there,
discuss the price of a beer with a Bangladeshi,
or eat one of Floren's potato omelettes,
one of the neighbors from the allotments who makes the best one;
many people weren't even there to listen to the talks.
I remember that just before starting, Antonella came over
and said proudly that many people had never been to La Cebada before,
and that they were here because of TEDxMadrid.
I smiled and said that the opposite was also true:
many of the people here would never go to a TEDxMadrid
but were here now because they usually are at the square.
(Applause)
What happened on the 14th of July 2014 at Campo de Cebada,
that TEDxMadrid Salon event, contrary to what you might think,
is completely repeatable.
In fact, there are thousands of spaces in Madrid
that are managed with this idea of social innovation,
just like Campo de Cebada.
Next summer,
some of you might be wherever the TEDxMadrid Salon event takes place,
maybe as a speaker, a collaborator, or in the audience,
maybe you're doing your hair, or kissing,
or maybe even eating the omelette made by their own Floren.
Lastly, one of the most exciting things was
that after each talk
there was no big applause that evening.
The day before,
a very engaged neighbor called us,
worried about the noise that a thousand people would make
in a place surrounded by houses.
The organisation decided that all clapping would be silent.
[gesture of silent clapping]
You can't imagine the disappointment
when after a talk, nobody claps and you don't hear a thing.
(Laughing)
For that reason, I ask you all to finish what we started that evening,
and that you are the stars that close
what happened at TEDxMadrid Salon at Campo de Cebada.
Don't applaud me, but applaud the people that participated,
making that night one of the most special ones ever.
(Applause)