From Audience to Co-Creators
Traditionally, cultural policy has focused on providing events and spaces for people to consume culture. RECUP flips that model. Inspired by Budapest’s CUP4Creativity project, it encourages residents to co-create culture—shaping their own neighbourhood experiences rather than just observing them.
This subtle shift changes everything. When people create together, they connect more deeply—with each other and with the place they live.
Cities as “Living Labs”
Rather than relying on theory alone, each RECUP city tested small, real-world actions—what the project calls “evidence labs.”
- Dublin (Sandyford) used storytelling workshops to bring together a diverse, international community that rarely interacts. The result? A shared desire for belonging, even among highly mobile professionals.
- Bielsko-Biała (Poland) combined art, mythology, and nature—including a symbolic “Loneliness Tree”—to reconnect young people with local identity and public spaces.
- Amersfoort (Netherlands) created a buddy system pairing residents for simple, regular contact—proving that even small gestures can make a big emotional difference.
- Dubrovnik (Croatia) reimagined an old factory as a community cultural hub, shifting focus from tourism to local creative life.
- Horta Nord (Spain) built a shared digital platform to connect fragmented cultural activities across municipalities.
- Budapest (Újbuda) tested co-created neighbourhood events, from workshops to local fairs, encouraging residents to actively shape community life.
Each experiment was small—but together, they paint a larger picture of how culture can rebuild social ties.
Two Big Takeaways
Despite their differences, the cities landed on two powerful insights:
- Culture can shape policy.
It’s not just about entertainment—it’s a tool to build trust, reveal hidden needs, and empower communities. - Experimentation matters.
Before scaling up, cities need to test ideas, observe human responses, and learn from lived experiences—not just data.
In other words, emotional insight is just as important as statistics.
The Road Ahead
Of course, challenges remain—especially funding. Cultural initiatives often depend on public resources, which are limited. RECUP highlights the need for better evaluation and storytelling to demonstrate impact and attract support from businesses, foundations, and communities.
But perhaps the most compelling idea to emerge is the notion of the “reflective city.” A city that listens, experiments, and learns before investing heavily. A city that understands people not just through numbers, but through experiences.
Small Actions, Big Impact
RECUP’s biggest lesson might be its simplest: meaningful change doesn’t always come from grand strategies. Sometimes it starts with something small—a conversation, a shared activity, even a friendly greeting.
Because in the end, fighting loneliness isn’t just about policy.
It’s about helping people feel seen, included, and part of something larger.
This blog post is based on an original article written by Elisa Filippi, Lead Expert of the URBACT RECUP network. In her piece, she reflects on how European cities are experimenting with culture as a tool to address loneliness and social fragmentation, drawing on insights from the network’s activities. The full original article is attached below for those who wish to explore the topic in greater depth and context.