Networks and cities' news

Catch up on the latest updates from cities working together in URBACT Networks. The articles and news that are showcased below are published directly by URBACT’s beneficiaries and do not necessarily reflect the programme’s position.

Want to learn more about the projects that are featured here? Discover the URBACT Networks.

 

 

  • A conference participants posing for the picture in front of GreenPlace backdrop.

    GreenPlace in Wrocław: Two and a Half Years of Co-Creation

    Over the past two and a half years, the City of Wrocław, through the Division of Civic Participation, has been implementing the GreenPlace project within the URBACT programme, focusing on the transformation of the former Popowice tram depot into a vibrant, green and inclusive place for the city. A key element of this process was the work of the URBACT Local Group (ULG) GreenPlace in Wrocław, which brought together representatives of the municipality, municipal units, experts, NGOs, local activists, cultural operators and residents, united by a shared vision for the future of this unique site.

    Joanna Gańcza-Pawełczyk

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  • A Water Museum for Elche: a journey through the Memory of Water

    The City of Elche unveils a new cultural space dedicated to its valuable hydraulic heritage promoting citizen engagement with it.

    Christos Giovanopoulos

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  • Agents of CoExistence: final network report

    Across Europe, cities are searching for new ways to strengthen the relationship between public
    institutions and the citizens they serve. Local governments face growing expectations for
    transparency, inclusion, and responsiveness, while at the same time dealing with complex societal
    challenges, increasing polarization, and rapidly changing technologies. Many traditional approaches to
    citizen participation no longer meet the needs of contemporary urban societies.
    The Agents of Co-Existence (AoCE) Network was created in response to this changing democratic
    landscape. Supported by the URBACT IV program, the network brought together nine partner cities
    from across Europe to explore one central question:
    How can local governments organize themselves to work more effectively, creatively, and
    meaningfully with their citizens?

    Yasemin Yilmaz

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  • fieldtrip Genk

    Rebuilding Democracy from the Inside Out with the Agents of Co-Existence

    Picture this: On a Tuesday evening in Aarhus, a group of residents sit around a table with a
    local politician. There is no raised platform, no official speeches, no formal agenda handed
    down from city hall. The topics have been chosen by the citizens themselves. The discussion
    is guided not by a civil servant, but by a neighbour — trained together with municipal staff
    as a “Democracy Host”.

    Yasemin Yilmaz

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  • TechDiversity APN Project × the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): Diversity as an Urban Development Tool …

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    TechDiversity was an URBACT network of eight partners representing small and medium-sized European cities, that aim to boost and facilitate diverse local communities that are not active in Tech & Digital sector, facing specific challenges in terms of diversity, gender equality and inclusion. Furthermore, the partner cities mainly focused on an identified pressing aspect and supported at least one diverse local group, through the integrated action plans developed. 

     

    Info letter I icon (png symbol) purpleTechDiversity core policy issue was the lack of diverse communities looking to  grow  knowledge-based  digital and tech ecosystems …

     

     

    TechDiversity was built on a simple but powerful idea: if our tech & digital ecosystems aren’t inclusive by design, they won’t be effective by design. Diversity and inclusion (D&I) are not add-ons; they are developments tools that let cities educate, innovate, and govern in ways that leave no one behind. That approach unlocks measurable progress across the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - especially 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, and 17 - and it’s already shaping how TechDiversity partner cities design policies, run small scale actions, and scale what really works.

     

    Kostas Karamarkos

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  • LET'S GO CIRCULAR! meeting in Guimaraes, with a glowing 3D map of the city

    A circular revolution in European Cities: Inside the LET’S GO CIRCULAR! journey

    By Dr. Eleni Feleki, Lead Expert of ‘’Let’s Go Circular! Paving the way for circular cities’’ URBACT Action Planning Network 

    Eleni FELEKI

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