Networks and cities' news

SPARK ULG Continues Building Stronger Links with the Local Business Community in Kavala

The Municipality of Kavala organised the 2nd URBACT Local Group (ULG) meeting of the SPARK network, hosted by the Kavala Trade Association, bringing together representatives of local businesses and municipal staff to continue the collaborative work initiated during the first ULG meeting.

Final Hydro-Heritage Cities meeting: Getting ready to kick off

The Network met for last time in Rome concluding its transfer journey and investment plans, while presented in public the future of Hydro-Heritage management. 

Inside Copenhagen: Urban Security and Local Practice at CITISENSE’s 5th Transnational Meeting

Cities@Heart: What Happens When Ten Cities Decide to Fall Back in Love with Their Downtowns

The network started with a simple yet radical idea: city centres are worth fighting for. Two and a half years later, ten European cities have shown how true that is.

Picture this. A city manager from Slovenia sharing how financial incentives brought new businesses back to a street full of empty shopfronts. An urban planner from Ireland explaining how activating a single public square transformed the economic pulse of an entire downtown. A policy officer from Spain walking the group through years of hard-won regulatory tools to push back against touristification. A team from Greece describing how a participatory process with residents reshaped the future of their central square. 

Different cities, different challenges, different solutions but the same willingness to learn from each other. This is Cities@Heart.

Can you transfer trust?

For more than ten years, Com'ON, a youth participatory budgeting programme from Cluj-Napoca (Romania), has trusted young people with public resources, inviting them to propose ideas, vote for the projects they believe in and turn them into reality. Hundreds of community initiatives later, this principle, tested in Cluj-Napoca, is being taken further through Com’ON City.

RECUP MASTERCLASS on Monitoring & Impact Evaluation: Measuring the Value of Culture

In April 2026, partners of the URBACT RECUP Network gathered online for a dedicated Masterclass on monitoring, evaluation and the communication of cultural impact. The session focused on helping cities better understand, measure and demonstrate the contribution of culture and creativity to urban development.