====== Why a Methodological Guide? ======

The “//Idea(l)s in Action//” project was born in 2016 when we, the partners, were seeking ways to draw attention on existing **sustainable lifestyles** and figuring out methods to support people in their efforts to **take action** while making a living in a way that fits their values.

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Guided by our past experiences and heartened by the trust we had in each other, we designed together a project that would enable us to turn our wishes into realities. From our collective efforts, a 22-months-long project emerged, whose main objective was to **develop and spread the "Heterotopia Tour"** - a **pedagogical tool**  based on traveling and community living that we have been developing since 2013 in South-West France - in order to **empower people** and **foster social change**.  

Together, we designed and implemented 4 Heterotopia Tours within a year: 1 in France, 1 in Greece, 1 in Italy (Sicily) and 1 in Portugal. Each Tour was an opportunity to lead a **practical research** on the Tour while expanding **awareness about** and **participation in** the changes we would like to witness around us.

This Methodological Guide was born out of our will to share the **making of a "Heterotopia Tour"** and offer an **overview of the know-how required** to design it. We tried our best to share its **spirit**, to sum up the **main topics** it deals with (community living, ecological awareness, social innovation) and provide **practical information, tools and tips** to make it happen. 

Our intention was to **clarify the process** and the **practical requirements** of a Heterotopia Tour, so that other organizations are able to set it up. We did our best to take a variety of contexts, approaches and preferred way of doing into consideration, so we could extract a **pedagogical method** from our specific experiences, that would be suitable for most situations.

May this tool inspire you as it has inspire us, and contribute to **empower** people, communities and organizations towards a more sustainable and inclusive society.

Wish you a nice discovering
and a successful implementation,

The "Idea(l)s in Action" team
===== Table of contents ====
 
  - [[guide:context| What is a Heterotopia tour ? ]]
  - [[guide:design|How to design a Heterotopia tour ? ]]      
  - [[guide:resources|Which resources do we need to implement a Heterotopia tour ?]]
  - [[guide:participants|How to select and prepare the participants of the tour ?]] 
  - [[guide:implementation|How to successfully implement the tour ?]] 
  - [[guide:dissemination|Follow ups and dissemination]]