Alisa Aliti Vlasic

My academic background is in economics and service innovation, but my passion and most of my recent work lie in democratic innovation and participatory processes. The combination helps me design participation that works in practice: realistic budgets, clear procedures, and services built around citizens.

Here is a quick recap of some of my work:

URBACT:

• Lead Expert, Remote-IT (2023–2025)- Guided eight cities from baseline study to Integrated Action Plans co-produced with their URBACT Local Groups.
• City mentor, URBACT Pioneers Accelerator (2025–2026)- Mentored 4 Western Balkan cities from stakeholder engagement and Action Labs to prioritised actions and pilots.
• Ad hoc expert:
  • COPLACE: citizen engagement and participatory budgeting.
  • Hydro-Heritage Cities: participatory governance in the digital age.
  • ReCup: masterclass on digital tools for culture and creativity, strengthening participation and activating cultural ecosystems.
  • iPlace and Residents of the Future: on sustainable economic development
• Earlier roles on the city side. Partner city and/or URBACT Local Group coordinator in TechTown, TechRevolution 2.0 and Tourism Friendly Cities.

Coglobal (since 2023):

• Horizon Europe – Nets4Dem (2023–2029).
  • Coordinated two capacity-building programmes on democratic innovation, mentored cities across Europe in developing, implementing or improving their participatory processes.
  • The renewed phase adds youth participation labs and a fellows programme delivering tailored capacity building on citizen engagement, adapted to local contexts and in local languages.
• Eurocities – PACT, 2026–2028. Supporting Bristol, Alba Iulia and Athens through participatory processes on contested climate policy, from diagnostics and process design to city capacity building, implementation support and leadership training, with a focus on trust and polarisation. Results will feed a PACT toolbox for European cities.

Council of Europe (external expert and certified trainer since 2017)

• Trainings and Training of Trainers for local governments on participatory budgeting, participatory democracy and good governance across Bulgaria and the Western Balkans.
• Co-author of the guidebook Basic Principles of Participatory Budgeting. - Guidebook