Kostas Karamarkos

Summary

Having 34 years of experience, I was validated as URBACT III Lead Expert (May 2015) and Urbact IV Lead Expert (April 2023).

I worked as LE with the City of Rome supporting for 5 years the 2 Waves of the Transfer Network called RU:RBAN.

Since April 2018 i followed the URBACT Method guiding the 11 participating cities and their ULGs to transfer the policy topic of the project. https://urbact.eu/networks/rurban. 

I was also the core Technical Advisor for the city of Trikala supporting the VILAWATT UTM project: Innovative local public-private-citizen partnership for energy governance, that was among the 5 projects approved for this special call that succesfully compined UIA and URBACT programs https://urbact.eu/networks/vilawatt.  

In addition to my strong involvement in URBACT III, I took part in other activitiies in the framework of URBACT III:

1. Transfer Network Campus moderation, being evaluated as the best moderators in all countries Campuses.

2. URBACT City Festivals (Lisbon and Paris),

3. Moderating capacity building online workshops for cities representatives        and also 

4. The official evaluation of the EU National URBACT Points for their performance during URBACT III period (in high program level).

5. The adaptation of the new URBACT IV TOOLBOX AND TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE TRANSFER, along with 6 other very experienced Lead Experts.

Business expert in sustainable, integrated urban development (since 1992), with deep experience in urban and regional strategy, multi-level governance, and EU cohesion policy. I specialise in designing and facilitating integrated and participatory approaches for urban regeneration and regional transformation, aligning ERDF/ESF investments with RIS3 priorities. My work bridges policy and practice—helping cities and regions co-create solutions that advance inclusion, equality, skills, and jobs while accelerating the green and digital transitions.

    Core Expertise

• Integrated & participatory policies: Co-creation methods, stakeholder facilitation, place-based strategies

• Urban & regional development: Regeneration, resilience, just transition, regional competitiveness

• EU funds & programmes: Design and implementation support for ERDF/ESF/ESF+; programme governance & compliance

• Multilevel governance: Policy coordination across municipal, regional, and national levels

• RIS3 & innovation ecosystems: Strategy design, clustering, and mission-oriented approaches

• Equality, inclusion & skills: EDI mainstreaming, jobs & skills pathways, social innovation (ESF-related)

  Experience Highlights

• 1992–present: Advisor and practitioner on integrated urban and regional projects across Europe, focusing on policy design, investment prioritisation, and impact-driven delivery.

• 2021–2022: Project Manager & Lead Facilitator for two EU peer-learning/exchange programmes—authoring the winning proposals and architecting the full exchange framework (methodology, learning design, and city-to-city knowledge transfer).

During 2021-2022 I worked as project manager and facilitator in 2 massive exchange programs by EU, having prepared the proposals and the exchange framework: 

A. The International City Partnerships: Acting for Green and Inclusive Recovery is a project of the European Union and managed by DG REGIO of the EU -      City pairings with Gwangu & Athens Metropolitan Areas  https://c.ramboll.com/international-city-cooperation     Themes of Cooperation: Air Quality & Climate change  

B. International Urban Cooperation programme (IUC) (2016-2020), IURC aims to lead and develop a form of decentralised international urban and regional cooperation in the fields of sustainable urban development and innovation. Region pairings with Attica, Greece & Colima,Mexico.  https://www.iurc.eu/about/

From July 2023 to December 2025 I am supporting as Lead Expert the city of Trikala (TechDiversity APN).

I was a Jury member of the New European Bauhaus awards 2023 working for DG Regio.

more can be found:  https://kkc.gr/