The City of Pazin (HR) has been actively involving citizens in the process of adopting the city budget since 2014. This town of around 8 600 inhabitants experienced frustration and mistrust when the small municipal budget couldn't meet all expectations. Now citizens send proposals of communal actions which should be carried out the following year. After analysis by city officials, public hearings are held in each district. Citizens vote on how the allocated budget should be spent. In three years, 370 proposals were submitted, and 80 have been approved - without any amendment by the city council. The budget allocated this way has also increased. The method can be applied in varying scales and territories.

The process of participatory budgeting allows direct participation of citizens in the decision-making on city budget funds. Citizens submit their proposals of the most necessary communal actions, after which city officials present it on public hearings in local boards. Local citizens vote on the presented proposals. Communal action(s) with the most votes within a predetermined budget are included in the city budget proposal. In addition, city representatives present citizens the most important determinants of the city budget and the budget process by which citizens are well informed, familiar with the limits of the city budget and have more realistic expectations.

That also increases their satisfaction and confidence in the work of the city administration. Within the public debates in local boards, there is a time scheduled to open discussion, questions and dialogue between the representatives of the city of Pazin and its citizens. In this way, citizens get firsthand information and answers. The multiple benefits of including citizens: budget and budget process information, involvement in decision-making and active participation in the political process which leads to an improving relationship between the city and its citizens, promoting transparency and responsibility, strengthening the public trust in the institutions and their representatives, increasing the level of political culture, a fairer distribution of financial resources and the reduction of social inequality.

The project contributes to the economical and efficient spending of available financial resources, by investing in the real needs of the citizens. The implementation of communal actions raises the quality of life and work in local communities, which indirectly results in economic development, employment increase and reduction of poverty.

Regardless of their social and political status, all citizens can send in their proposals of communal actions, participate in public debates, vote for the most necessary communal action and express their opinions and suggestions. The implementation of chosen communal actions certainly requires interventions in the environment. The city of Pazin as a local government must comply with all legal requirements, and it has to follow the principles of the economic and environmental sustainability in the implementation of communal interventions, thereby reducing the risk of environmental degradation. The participatory approach is ensured by the inclusion of the National Civil Society Organization GONG, the local civil society organisation “Naša djeca Pazin”, with the support of the following associates: National Public Scientific Institute, the Institute of Public Finance and National Community of Cities – Cities association. Moderation and guidance of public hearings are left to the civil society organisation SMART Rijeka as an impartial participant in the project. Technical assistance is provided by the representatives of local boards.

Right from the beginning of this project, public hearings in local boards gathered as much as 548 citizens. The evidence of the cooperation of all mentioned organisations can be found on the website of the project, where a lot of information about the project, photos, minutes from public hearings and much more, is published.

Since the beginning of this project, citizens have submitted a total of 370 municipal actions. Public hearings in local boards gathered 548 citizens who voted and decided on a total amount of 1,100,000.00 HRK (147 000 €), choosing 80 small communal actions in approximate value given at the disposal. After the vote, the Mayor of Pazin sent a budget proposal for the following year, including small communal actions, to the City Council of Pazin, its representative body. In three years of implementation of this project, the City Council didn't amend the small communal actions that were carried out during 2015 and 2016. Actions voted in 2016 will be implemented in 2017. Parallel to the implementation of the project, a website was created to inform and educate citizens about the budget and the project. The site is regularly updated, in order to maintain the achieved degree of the budget transparency. The project was covered by numerous media, thus raising the interest of the public and other cities and institutions, and presented on many seminars in Croatia where it received an award for the good practice.

Like the city of Pazin, other European cities might face similar problems. The limited budgetary resources, the large number of requests for infrastructure interventions and the impossibility of implementation of necessary communal actions cause frustration and dissatisfaction amongst the citizens. In addition, most citizens believe that the budget is a purely political procedure which they can't influence. This project gives all citizens the opportunity to participate in establishing a budget, thus allowing an important educational component. Direct contact with citizens creates confidence in the work of the city administration. In a similar way, other cities can reach out to its citizens. Due to proposals in public hearings, our citizens are satisfied with this unique practice. Every citizen has the possibility of direct participation in establishing the city budget, therefore allowing the city administration to identify problems and acknowledging suggestions. This city budget project suits the needs of citizens. Within the project, public discussions are held where citizens can ask questions and get answers from city administration. Finally, there is a vote for proposed communal actions.

‘Smart city’ programmes are often developed and driven by the few and don’t always take into account the majority of people who live, work and collaboratively make the city. The Bristol Approach to Citizen Sensing is a new way of working that puts communities at the heart of innovation, ensuring that new technologies are developed to meet people’s needs and tackle the issues they care about, rather than being imposed on them by ‘big tech’ companies in a ‘top-down’ process. The approach enables the development of a ‘city commons’, where resources, tools, expertise and technologies are shared and used for the common good. The 6-step framework is itself a ‘commons’ tool that other organisations and groups can learn from, implement and iterate. Over 700 people were involved in more than 45 events during the pilot project. Three sets of prototype citizen sensing tools were designed and tested: tackling damp homes, food waste and mental health.

As a mode of good practice The Bristol Approach to Citizen Sensing framework offers cities new solutions for:

• Discovering new problems and evidencing scale;
• Providing inclusive participatory ways to tackle relevant city issues;
• Increasing skills and empowering communities;
• Developing open resources;
• Creating opportunities for new business models and enterprises.

On a granular level, the framework supports communities to work in more interdisciplinary ways to co-create specific solutions to their chosen issues or problems, resulting in new open commons-based resources that are created by and of benefit to citizens.

For example, in the pilot project people who suffered from damp and mould in their homes came together with universities (humanities and engineering), businesses such as ARUP, hackers, open data specialists, city council representatives from housing, parks, building control and health, plus artists, architects, investors and housing associations to participate in a programme of practical workshops, “Hack Days”, making sessions and regular meetings.

The group developed a ‘Damp-busting’ system which included: frog-shaped temperature and humidity sensors, digital interfaces to make sense of data, mapping tools to visualise the scale of the problem and community-trained volunteers to support actionable change using citizen-generated data as evidence.

The Bristol Approach to Citizen Sensing helps to tackle social exclusion, poverty and environmental problems by empowering disadvantaged communities with opportunities to develop new knowledge, digital skills, open source tools and innovative strategies for interdisciplinary methodologies for co-design. Through a common based approach, this practice enables people from all backgrounds and disciplines to meaningfully engage in citizen sensing activities that help co-create new digital tools and open data sets that can provide evidence for long-term policy change.

At the heart of the framework is the principle of the commons, which is inherently participatory. ‘Commoning’ is an action that involves the sharing of resources and the collective agreement of how they will be used for the Solutions Workshop held as part of the project demonstrated the potential of The Approach to impact city services, infrastructure and new models of community action and business development.

It relies on collaboration between business, local authorities, research institutions and the community to solve problems that affect citizens and areas and carry a financial cost for the city. A participatory approach is built in from the development phase and carried on through implementation.

City stakeholders are mapped and brought onboard at the beginning, engaged through a series of workshops and involved in contributing to the co-designed solution.

A commons principle applied throughout is ‘low floor/high ceiling’, which ensures there are no barriers to taking part (‘a low floor’) but that everyone can be challenged to the best of their abilities (‘a high ceiling’). Varying incentives, rewards and processes of onboarding at different points are also built into the practice.

In e.g. our pilot ‘Dampbusting’ project councillors, technologists, artists, families, housing campaign groups, energy companies, charities, health professionals, data analysts were engaged in the participatory process: all bringing different skills and input.

Through the first pilot project, more than 700 people 13-80 years old were engaged in more than 45 events and workshops.

The following differences were made:

• Participants gained increased digital literacy, new digital skills and data awareness;
• Participants were more aware of their behaviour and more open to the idea of sharing data and making change;
• New networks between residents, academia, local authority and business were formed.

We gathered feedback on how to integrate technologies and successfully co-design, e.g.:

“Very thought provoking on many levels”,

“It was interesting to explore with others”,

“I liked all the input related to the technology design”,

“What’s occurred to me is that, for these things to catch on, there needs to be an emotional engagement with the technology and what it can do and how it engages with one’s community. There’s not going to be an engagement with a black box in the corner. There needs to be an aesthetic and a feel and a relationship.” (Caleb Parkin, Lead Artist.)

People felt that they were able to identify their needs that affected their lives and create solutions, leading to a greater feeling of empowerment.

Three sets of prototype citizen sensing tools were devised, designed, deployed and tested: tackling damp homes, food waste and mental health.

A framework that can be shared with other cities has been developed, and through the ENoLL, REPLICATE project and other international partnerships new ways of approaching smart city developments are being implemented.

The Bristol Approach to Citizen Sensing framework was designed to be translated to any context. Different cities experience challenges that are unique to them, and the open nature of the framework means that it could be easily used by other cities to address their challenges.

For example, Taylor’s University, Malaysia, are partnering with KWMC as part of the Smart Mobility Cities project. They participated in a sharing good practice workshop with KWMC and commented on how valuable it was to have a methodology to use that genuinely positioned a participatory approach at its heart.

The Bristol Approach effectively draws in people working on similar projects, especially in research/tech and city policy, which allows for wider skills sharing and potential for future collaborations. The Bristol Approach gathers an emergent community who is supported to develop and share the necessary skills, and responds to rewards and incentives, to co-design, deploy and sustain ad hoc sensing networks that build up a new city commons, adding a layer of infrastructural value to the territory and providing opportunities for its inhabitants and local SMEs.

In 80 years, Bilbao has transformed itself from an obsolete industrial city into a knowledge-based economic centre. Investments in infrastructure have successfully rejuvenated the city and resulted in better social cohesion. A wide range of single interventions in the fields of the environment (the clean-up of the Nervion river), mobility (the underground's construction) and culture (the building of the Guggenheim Museum) have been integrated into a coherent vision. The implementation of these projects was possible thanks to a combination of different mechanisms: a perspective on urban development that goes beyond the city's limits, a multisector governance involving both the public and private actors, and an inclusive public participation. 

Bilbao's urban evolution is the result of a wide range of single interventions integrated into a common, agreed and coherent city vision. Some interventions stand out for being not only emblematic, but for acting as catalysts in the development process. a) Environmental restoration of the heavily polluted waters of the Nervion river and estuary. b) Elimination of railway barriers and obsolete associated infrastructures, releasing public space for multiple uses c) Improvement of mobility and accessibility by means of the construction of the underground, the tram and new bridges. d) Massive regeneration of urban public space and social housing development in the river banks in Abando- Ibarra, with the construction of the Guggenheim museum as an outstanding landmark. The implementation of those projects was possible thanks to the combination of different mechanisms: a) A supra-municipal perspective of urban development, i.e. consideration of the interventions in the context of Bilbao's metropolitan functional area b) Multisector (horizontal) and multilevel (vertical) governance approach with different formulas and ad hoc public-public and public-private partnerships in place. c) Public administrations at all levels participating and contributing with a land property, resulting from abandoned infrastructures and industrial uses. d) Truly inclusive and open public participation, facilitated by external professionals in the context of the Plan for Urban Zoning.

Bilbao's urban evolution has built upon the principles of sustainability, resilience, inclusive urban development and regeneration. Bilbao has used a holistic and integrated approach in order to cope with its social challenges (poverty reduction, social exclusion), its environmental problems and the loss of competitiveness in the context of a deep economic decline. The transformation strategy relies on one hand on the horizontal integration of interventions that combine physical, economic, social, environmental and climate resilience dimensions, and on the other hand vertical integration with a multi-stakeholder cooperation at all levels of government and local players (local administration, civil society, private sector, etc.), between different levels of governance (local, regional national, EU), and finally territorial integration of interventions in the functional urban area represented in the Bilbao Metropolitan Area. The city strategy aims at contributing to the objectives of the EU Operative Program of Sustainable Growth: OT2: Smart City approach in the field of mobility and lighting. OT4: Boosting the transition to a low carbon economy OT6: Rehabilitation of urban areas, and greening of urban spaces towards flood risk reduction OT9: Development of cultural, social and entrepreneur activities in old and disused industrial facilities OT11: Developing institutional capacity, and promoting efficiency in public administration.

Since the post-industrial transformation governance, the lessons learned materialised in a mature, robust, transparent and truly social participatory and inclusive planning process. Open public participation facilitated by external professionals has been incorporated by the municipality in the context of the Plan for Urban Zoning, as a key component of the continuous urban regeneration and transformation process. The progress of the new General Plan of Urban Zoning is open to participation, allowing a redefinition of the city model for the next years. Many participation processes have been carried out, and were nourished with contributions and suggestions concerning the articulation of the city transformation strategy. Bilbao offers a multisector and multilevel governance approach with different formulas in place, depending on the needs of each project and intervention.

A) Public-public partnership: in the early 1990s, Bilbao Ria 2000, an ad hoc public company, was created for the land management and urban regeneration operations in metropolitan Bilbao. It represented an effective framework to align government, business and the community towards a shared vision for the city.

B) Public-private partnership. For a project such as the Zorrotzaurre Peninsula, an alternative model was created, namely the Commission Management.

The experience of Bilbao as a comprehensive city project, incrementally executed through more than 25 urban projects over 30 years and still ongoing, has achieved a profound transformation of the city. Bilbao has significantly improved its environment and quality of life, strengthened its social cohesiveness and cultural vibrancy and also increased its economic competitiveness. Strong GDP growth: from € 6 695m in 1980 to € 66.208m in 2009. Industrial strength: Creation and/or consolidation of Advanced Technology Centres such as Tecnalia and IK4. Investment in R+D: 2.1% of the GDP, exceeding the EU average Good Governance: zero debt. Tourist evolution: from 24.302 visitors in 1994 to 734.215 in 2012. More than a 50% increase in visitor numbers between 1997-2012, linked to the city's cultural services and attractiveness.

The good practice offered by Bilbao provides evidence of the effective performance of single interventions implemented over the years, which interrelate among them towards the construction of a common and agreed vision of the city. Bilbao has faced, and faces today, the urban challenges common in other cities across Europe (i.e. improving environmental quality and climate resilience, social cohesion and inclusion, economic prosperity and quality of life in general terms). However, the most interesting aspect of Bilbao's good practice is that it also offers an urban development pathway with key elements that have been proved successful towards sustainable, territorially coherent, socially accepted, resilient, long-term and still ongoing transformation. Those key elements are:

• An integrated and holistic approach to achieve economic, social and physical transformations;
• A multi-stakeholder management approach: considering ad hoc formulas attending different needs at different moments in the process;
• A feasible financial operation: public landowners releasing land in central areas of the city, investing in construction and/or housing. Capital gains obtained are invested in regeneration of former industrial areas;
• A robust, truly participative and sustainable public policy framework. In this context, the Plan for Urban Zoning assures, consolidates and allows a common, long-term and coherent vision for the future in the city.

For the last 7 years, Torrent’s (ES) commitment to produce the city’s Diversity Plan has made changes that many other local European authorities thought impossible. The city of Torrent used a step-by-step approach, accepting that there are no quick-fixes or short term solutions, to face problems related to Roma segregation. The city has improved inclusiveness and security on all its territories through the physical regeneration of Xenillet, a previously segregated and almost derelict neighbourhood, by the sustained delivery of social and economic programmes focused on its excluded population. Xenillet is now a district of average standing in the city where the quality of life of many inhabitants, as well as housing, training and working, has improved. Most children attend school regularly and permanently, and a local Roma association has been created.

We realised that change takes time, and that a local step-by step approach can bring long-term and sustainable change. This ongoing process in our city will continue for many more years, but a number of important achievements have already been made:

• Remodelling one of Torrent’s main thoroughfares to link the district to the city;
• Social and educational programmes, to connect and support local families;
• Educational workshops for children and adolescents, to foster teamwork and respect for others and for their district;
• Grants for the renovation of local houses and buildings;
• New technologies in the schools: interactive whiteboards in all classrooms, computer access and training for pupils;
• Training and employment workshops in plumbing, bricklaying, electricity, hairdressing, social care, painting, and youth and child development;
• Installation of a pedestrian footbridge to allow 200 local children to walk to school;
• Rehabilitation of the district’s Social Centre and the creation of new programmes of activities and education;
• Construction of a kindergarten for 102 small children aged 0 to 3 from local poor families;
• Grants to grow local commercial activity and for development of new and existing businesses;
• Landscaping of a local ravine by students of the Training and Employment Workshops;
• Workshops on environmental sensitivity and local awareness raising actions.

The good practice in Torrent was founded on URBACT principles. From 2009–2013, Torrent was part of Roma-Net which ran in parallel to an URBAN programme implementing physical regeneration in the Xenillet district of the city. The city approved a Diversity Management Plan which ensured commitment to Roma integration and improvement of local services for Xenillet, delivering an integrated and participative approach. Poverty and exclusion of a segregated community were tackled, alongside the physical regeneration of the area to connect it with the city and improve local infrastructure and living conditions. The process was inclusive, involving key stakeholders such as the local community in the decision-making and the delivery of new and improved local services. With the support of the municipality, local organisations continue to deliver these services. The Xenillet district has since improved its capacity to employ locally and to provide services tailored to meet community needs such as the kindergarten. These organisations were, and still are, a key part in the ongoing process of change.

Between 2009 and 2015, the Roma community and other local residents of the Xenillet district have been actively involved in its regeneration and improvement process. Some took an active part in the local decision-making process, others were part of the community consultation process between the URBAN management team and the community, and many were recipients of new local services and training programmes. Many local families received grants to make physical improvements to their properties. Recent political changes in Torrent have reignited the city’s commitment to Roma inclusion, and its will to continue the social and economic improvements that are still needed for families living in the Xenillet district. A new local stakeholder group has been commissioned to update the city’s Diversity Management Plan, and to review and deliver any improvements necessary to local services. A local association has been formed, linking local families to the city on political and administrative levels, that will be a key member of the stakeholder group, and an essential part in the continued improvement of the Xenillet district.

Today, the Xenillet district is better connected to the rest of the city of Torrent, and its image is improving. Its inhabitants feel more secure, and residents from other parts of the city are less afraid to enter the area. There are more connections between Roma and non-Roma residents. Many local residents have increased their work related skills, and many more are in employment, or self-employed. The district is now linked to the local school by a footbridge. The vast majority of children attend primary school, and pupils increasingly stay for a longer period of years. A complete urban renovation has totally changed Xenillet's physical appearance, and improved the local infrastructure. Its integration into the city is improving not only the quality of life for Xenillet residents, where many inhabitants are Roma, but for all of Torrents' inhabitants.

Our good practice could be interesting for other European cites in several ways. The concept of a step-by-step approach is transferable, as well as the EC “stop and think” approach. We are combining physical, social and economic actions, and using the overarching Diversity Management Plan with a multi-party agreement. However, this set of comprehensive and inclusive local actions needs to be adapted to fit different local situations.

Taking into consideration the diversity of its citizens and the diferent social and ethinical minorities on its territory, Agueda (PT) developed a partcipative budget process. It amounts to 500 000 € of the Agueda's yearly public spending. The process runs across all the activities of the  Municipality, embedded in the administrative modernisation and bottom-up approach. So far, it permitted Agueda ranking 3rd in the Municipal Transparency Index and 2nd in the Smart City Index. Since 2015, when the initative was launched, 601 projects were submitted, more than 80 000 people voted and 30 projects selected. 

The PB-Águeda is in its third edition, revealing itself as a process covering the local government’s entire range of activity. The PB Committee (CAT) is made up of all the heads of Divisions and separate Technical Units, and a member of the Municipal Assembly, under the coordination of the mayor. Each edition of PB-Águeda comprises two cycles, with a duration of one year: the cycle of budget definition and the cycle of budget execution. The propositions received (from the Internet or participatory sessions) are scanned and entered in the computer application. This process can be done at home by the proponent, using the web services available (site or APP-based).
However, we intend this process to be educational with continuous improvement, therefore meetings are held with the proponents to discuss their proposals and weekly CAT meetings take place. We use a methodology of “action-reflection-action”.

The satisfaction was evaluated using a questionnaire, submitted to the participants in the Participatory and Voting Sessions.

It is important to highlight that the reflection made by both elected officials and technical staff is based on the canvassing of the population.

The propositions not admitted, in both plenary meetings and final voting, become part of a “Bank of Ideas” which feeds a selection or recovery of 5 ideas while drafting the yearly Plan and Budget, either because of their municipal interest or because the number of votes was too close to that of the winning propositions.

“Being Smart” is the challenge of the new millennium. People are at the core of everything: technology meets the needs of citizens and they get the habit of easily accessing many things.

We want people to feel that they live in a human, inclusive, socially, technologically and economically active city, but also that they can follow and engage with the local administration by submitting proposals, which are prioritised and voted upon in order to identify the investments that need to be included in the yearly Plan and Budget.

The emerging path of Águeda as a “Human Smart City” means that the local authority provides a set of technological solutions, allowing an exact knowledge of the requests. Citizens can check the online dashboard of the local budget and follow the meeting of the Municipal Assembly through ÁguedaTV, with chat for comments. Águeda is thus a smart city, and it has the ability to develop, create and respond to the needs of its citizens. it is important for them to feel that they are an integral part of the city.

An assessment of the impacts of the two years of PB-Águeda leads us to conclude that citizens are concerned with these topics: the environment, tourism, sports, urbanism and education. It is important to highlight that approximately 80% of the projects were not initially part of the options of the municipal board for 2013-2017.

We collected figures showing the implication of the citizens:

• Propositions presented through the Internet: 21 (2015) and 12 (2016);
• Participatory sessions: 11 (2015) and 11 (2016);
• Propositions in the participatory sessions: 276 (2015) and 292 (2016);
• Participants in the participatory sessions: 435 (2015) and 495 (2016);
• Winning projects after voting: 17 (2015) and 13 (2016);
• Registrations in the Participatory Platform: 3,048 (2015) and 5,131 (2016);
• Visit by about 24 municipalities and a Scottish delegation to learn about PB-Águeda;
• 12 public presentations on the PB-Águeda methodology in national seminars and workshops, e.g. the Iberoamerican Summit of Participatory Democracy; • PB-Águeda was surveyed by the Secretary of State of Administrative Modernisation for input on the methodology of the National PB.

The implementation of PB-Águeda was accompanied by a sociological study, which allowed us to know the reality of the municipality, at the level of:

• The profile of participants, thereby allowing us to have a knowledge of the habits of participation in terms of age, gender, level of education and involvement in the associative movement;
• The profile of the population (we have been confronted with a Roma community of a significant size who didn’t know how to read and write, a reality that was unknown in the indicators of the national census);
• Skills in information and communication technologies;
• Knowledge of the real needs of the population, even those not fitting the regulations of PB-Águeda, made it possible to include them immediately in other support programmes from the local authority;
• The process of PB-Águeda is worked across all the municipal services, which implies that all employees have the same degree of knowledge in the implementation and execution of projects;
• The theorisation of the practice of the processes of participatory budgeting, based on the local experience and the action of benchmarking with 7 national experiences, where the same evaluation criteria are applied. It is important to highlight that PB-Águeda was awarded the prize for Best Participative Practice in the context of the award of the Network of Participative Municipalities (RAP) with an international judges panel.

PB-Águeda assumes itself as a good practice whose replication would benefit other European cities. The mixed model (both online and face-to-face interactions) and the methodology for the consensus tables, with the support of a team of 47 moderators (employees of the municipality, who voluntarily work for the project after working hours), make this participatory budget process inclusive to people in terms of writing skills, digital literacy, accessibility to the participatory sessions, as well as to the conciliation of family life with the exercise of active citizenship.

In the last edition, we found that 68% of the people in the sessions were participating for the first time, which means that the process is attracting more and more new participants. The experience of the PB-Águeda can be replicated in areas of low population density, given the mutual trust and closeness that has been established with the citizens throughout the process. The implementation of this process in other municipalities would have to be rooted in a participatory budget model that would reflect the institutional identity and policies followed by the elected Municipal Board.

Local collaboration is the key in this model, put forward by the Municipality of Aalborg (DK). The concerned two Aalborg neighbourhoods are situated outside the area of dynamic urban development growth, both had severe reputation and identity problems, and they were not seen as attractive residential areas. The rethinking process has shown their potential much clearer. Strategic plans focused on visions and action plans, including investments and partnerships, are main outputs of the practice. This has been developed through a ’rethinking’ process, including both physical environments, local network and cohesion, as well as storytelling and identity. Local and political ownership and partnerships, with trustful relations between the municipality, local stakeholders and investors, have been developed. This has brought security for investors, which is very important for the sustainable regeneration process.

In Skalborg, the solution was the renewal of land use and strategic plans focused on visions and action, with cohesion and much better internal connections. This was reinforced by an important communication effort.

In Tornhøj, the solutions have been structural changes, by opening up closed enclaves and by connecting different built-up areas, people and functions with new mobility solutions. The different investor partners have committed themselves to work for the common vision.

Both neighbourhoods were built up in the golden age of the welfare state to provide separation of functions, good housing and an equal supply of public service for everybody. Now, they seem worn and out-dated, as the society and its dominating values have changed. The main goal for both areas has been developing unique urban neighbourhoods that provide quality everyday life for people. The new plans focus not only on potential areas for new housing densification, with new types of housing which are needed, but also on a potential for businesses, which can be integrated with housing in local centres. The process has been focused on communication and dialogue to create trustful relations and partnerships. Temporary activities, used strategically, have created very concrete and visible successes, and common identity in the area.

In Tornhøj, the process started with a competition focusing on sustainable urban living. It developed a strategy for feasibility and new mobility to connect the neighbourhood and increase public transport, creating a ‘main street’ as the backbone for various users - pedestrians, cyclists and a new public driverless bus -, and an attractive urban space which includes not only housing, but also public institutions and other workplaces. Tornhøj is a socially vulnerable neighbourhood, and it has been crucial to rethink the area for the existing citizens in order to provide them with a sense of community and belonging, along with an invitation of new segment groups.

In Skalborg, the project was also about improving the physical surroundings for its inhabitants' everyday life. An important part of the vision is to create a local centre for the whole neighbourhood, with a spread of service functions including grocery shops and attractive meeting places.

The approach has been integrated and participative. The holistic approach is altogether the key point in the model. Horizontal integration has been the point in the cross-disciplinary work, not the least between different public sectors. Vertical integration is used in the dialogue between local school children and other groups of citizens, at different levels of government and politicians. Territorial integration is present when the vision process touches the role of the neighbourhood in the city and city region.

In Tornhøj, citizen involvement took place by workshops, guided walks with selected focus group workshops with representatives of the civic association, a local community office etc. A game was accomplished where consensus was made on activities in the urban spaces etc. Several temporary activities were carried out, which triggered involvement and good attention to the project.

In Skalborg, communication plays a central role. The civic association, the social housing association and the local institutions play an important role as the community's cornerstones. Many citizens attended the introductory meetings and workshops. Key persons and the civic association were directly involved, and the executive committee in the local civic association was an active partner in the ongoing process.

The temporary activities have been involving people in the neighbourhoods. In Skalborg, a dark and unpleasant pedestrian tunnel under the main road Hobrovej, which is a huge barrier splitting the area in two, was painted by hundreds of schoolchildren under the guidance of a professional street artist.

The opening of this fantastically coloured tunnel was a big event which brought together children, parents and the area neighbours. The result is a much more inviting passageway. Even if the barrier problem is not solved yet, awareness of the traffic and solutions for safer ways especially for school children has come on the agenda.

Listed below are the most important projects to be realised in Tornhøj:

• A narrow pedestrian tunnel is transformed into a broad path under a bridge. This project is closely connected to a new urban space;
• A new café will open in an existing building, facing the new “main street”;
• A new, driverless bus connection along the new main road (a pilot project with varied funding);
• A new public care home for people suffering from dementia;
• New grocery shops, cafés and different types of housing (including rental and ownership, as well as housing for elderly, young and families). The neighbourhood regeneration around Tornhøj into a new and sustainable suburb centre is in full swing. The renewal is both physical, social/functional and mental, as new stories about the area are changing its identity. The Skalborg project is some years “behind” the project in Tornhøj, but many goals have been reached so far, due to the strategic plan which gives security for investors. New collaborations, and a positive energy about the neighbourhood, did arise.
• Two housing projects under development: two very visible corners in the city that will become landmarks;
• The decoration of the tunnel under Hobrovej, which had a large impact and created big media coverage;
• The project of a new local centre is starting up now.

We think that the model could be interesting for many other European cities with similar neighbourhoods.

First of all, the overall goal of creating synergy using existing, limited resources and attracting interest from investors will be shared by many cities.

The use of a commitment process, focusing on special identities and storytelling in each neighbourhood, is involving citizens and pays attention to development possibilities. The model and methods employed can be inspiring for cities that also face safety and urban structure issues, negative storytelling and social exclusion in certain neighbourhoods.

The model can be adjusted to different urban situations or actors, to their resources and those of the municipality.

Some good advice on "how to":

• Get hold of possible investors and initiate a dialogue;
• An “opening picture” can be a method for dialogue about the future;
• Register and involve, interview key partners and local associations;
• Identify cooperation will in the neighbourhood, and bring people together;
• Communicate broadly, and in many different ways;
• Discuss the identity and future of the neighbourhood;
• Use a small amount of money on temporary activities;
• Arrange events and short-term activities, which generates new and positive stories about the community.

The renewal and revitalisation of Planina neighbourhood in Kranj (SI) implemented a sustainable urban strategy and brought new life to a degraded residential urban neighbourhood, according to the needs and ideas of its residents. The project focuses on integrated solutions to reduce environmental, transport and economic problems, issues of urban poverty, social exclusion and segregation, with the aim of strengthening social cohesion. It enables a comprehensive, participatory and integrated attitude of all stakeholders, bringing together the expertise and experience of the actors involved. It supports the economical use of (public) land and the transition towards rational use of energy while encouraging the cooperation between the city and the state. The project is concrete, transferable and proven in practice.

The project represents an effective tool for the implementation of measures planned by the sustainable urban strategy for Kranj. For this purpose, we have developed various tools for gathering information about the residents’ needs and wishes, as well as various methods of working with the residents through project-based learning. We have given them some space and time for an in-depth consideration of the quality of living conditions in their neighbourhood. They had the chance to get to know the status of ownership for individual areas of the neighbourhood, as well as become familiar with the notion of the general good. They could learn about the competencies and responsibilities of stakeholders and actors in their neighbourhood. A positive effect of this was that the residents know now who they can turn to when they have a certain question or problem.

We have established close cooperation between the residents and the municipal authorities, public services, non-governmental organisations and other important actors in the neighbourhood or in the municipality. We have provided small sums of financial support to carry out a planned project, so that the residents could have an experience of working together in planning and implementing the improvements that they wish to make. This is how they could directly address concrete challenges and contribute to a better quality of life in the neighbourhood.

The project supports the efficiency of urban governance and the implementation of sustainable urban strategies, offering citizens and relevant stakeholders (municipal and government bodies, economy, professional public, civil society, etc.) a comprehensive, integrated, innovative and participatory approach to tackling complex urban problems.

It contains various polycentric development policies of the municipality (social, economic, environmental policies, policies of spatial planning and infrastructure, housing, educational policies, etc.) that are aimed at identifying the challenges with the goal of finding appropriate solutions for the renewal and revitalisation of degraded urban areas, in line with the values and principles of a sustainable urban life: stimulating economic growth and the creation of new jobs, improving the quality of life for citizens/residents while reducing the environmental footprint, and taking effective measures for reducing urban poverty and social exclusion.

Several groups of people were able to benefit from the results of the participatory approach: residents of different age groups participated in planning and assumed active roles and responsibility for the development of their neighbourhood.

The sense of connectedness is increasing and there is less vandalism as public surfaces are becoming more attractive and are used more frequently by the residents. Greater optimism and a positive attitude toward an improved quality of life in the neighbourhood can be noticed in posts on social networks and in conversations with the residents.

There is an increase in the number of various activities and events in the neighbourhood, organised by the residents and different organisations. The neighbourhood is becoming more and more interesting for establishing business initiatives and its public image is improving.

Cooperation among residents, experts and several organisations was established on the national and international levels. We examined the project together with different representatives of the professional public and they confirmed that it is innovative and that it takes into account the principles and the value of sustainable urban development.

We have set an example of good practice that is becoming more and more recognizable on the national level and with which the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning wishes to encourage the renewal and revitalisation of degraded residential neighbourhoods in other towns.

The most relevant result of the project is the comprehensive plan for community programmes of neighbourhood renewal and regeneration that was made together with the residents, the experts and the stakeholders. It includes a clear timetable and a financing plan for the implementation, as well as a plan for future development.

We have developed various innovative and integrated methods of project work, aimed at the active participation of the residents, introducing them to several municipal offices, to experts in the field of urban renewal and to other stakeholders. We informed other Slovenian municipalities facing similar challenges and the interested public of our project and invited them to work together with us. We established a dialogue with several national ministries aiming at the establishment of guidelines at future tenders for co-financing the renewal and regeneration of degraded urban centres.

Since January 2016, there have been six working groups of residents, fifteen public events on the larger and on the smaller scale, attended by about 1 650 residents and taking place on nine different public surfaces and locations in the neighbourhood. Our partners were five municipal council offices, nine public services on municipal and national levels, four local communities, four kindergartens, three elementary schools, one retirement home and one local secondary school, ten NGOs, five experts in different fields and one local company for the management of apartment buildings and several private companies.

The project provides an answer to the question that planners often ask themselves: how to start and above all, how to include the residents and other stakeholders into the process? It is focused on the interests and needs of the residents, local organisations, the professional and interested public that are active in the neighbourhood and in the wider region. It is interesting because it builds upon a comprehensive, participatory and integrated attitude of all stakeholders and so brings together the expertise and experience of the actors involved.

The project is a complementary combination of two principles of cooperation, the “top-down” approach (from the decision-makers to the residents) and the “bottom-up” approach (from the residents to the decision-makers). Its innovative methods of work make it possible to include residents of different age groups with different needs and wishes. It does not look for solutions only within the neighbourhood or municipality, but it is open to the outside world, to share and test the experience of other comparable good practices. In this sense, the project is capable of self-reflection and open for development. It is also proven in practice, concrete and transferable, considering that it is necessary to adapt it to a wide variety of characteristics of an environment or a specific area in which it will be implemented.

The activities of Pop-up-to-Date pivot around the conversion of vacant commercial properties into springboards for creative entrepreneurship. Supporting pop-up shops is not an innovative solution for transforming run-down neighbourhoods into vibrant city districts. Many local authorities experiment with pop-up policies. Very few, however, have an encompassing approach such as Antwerp (BE), for linking creative entrepreneurs to vacant retail units, which has been proven to work and produces lasting effects on both district and city level. The integrated multi-stakeholder approach displayed in Antwerp's Oud Berchem neighbourhood has proven to be an effective as well as inspiring methodology to transform a depreciated shopping area into a lively axis of creativity. The success ratio for the conversion of vacant retail units stands at 70%, with 60% of the units being long-term rented, and 10% being sold to entrepreneurs.

The activities of Pop-up-to-Date pivot around the conversion of vacant commercial properties into springboards for creative entrepreneurship. However, what’s most essential is the radical choice for a collaborative multi-stakeholder approach, which brings together different government levels, entrepreneurs, non-profit actors and local inhabitants.

In this project, the local government takes up a role as enabler and funder. Non-profit organisations build on their close links with local communities and property owners to match vacant properties with creative entrepreneurial spirits. The approach starts with identifying the owners of vacant retail units on the one hand, and creative entrepreneurs on the other hand. The vacant retail unit is rented by a non-profit organisation on behalf of the local authority. Because the focus lies on decayed properties, it is lightly refurbished by means of local government funding prior to the rental period. During a fixed time frame of two months, it is then provided at a reduced tariff to starting creative entrepreneurs to try out their business in a real-life environment. After the project period, the profitability of the business and further ambitions of the starting entrepreneurs are evaluated, and customised coaching and counselling are made available.

Supporting pop-up shops is far from being an innovative solution for transforming run-down neighbourhoods into vibrant city districts. Many local authorities experiment with pop-up policies. Very few, however, have an encompassing approach in linking creative entrepreneurs to vacant retail units, which has been proven to work and produces lasting effects on both district and city level.

The integrated approach of the project in Oud Berchem is exemplary for the horizontal and vertical integrated approach championed by URBACT. Horizontal integration results from multiple stakeholders joining forces to provide a mix of policy measures, ranging from financial stimuli, direct support by refurbishing retail units, coaching and matchmaking activities, aftercare through mediation between entrepreneurs and property owners to local community building activities (e.g. a quarterly neighbourhood newspapers, workshops etc.) and neighbourhood marketing. The soft measures in this project fit into a broader neighbourhood oriented strategy, involving ‘hard’ ERDF investments to increase the attractiveness of the shopping area in Oud Berchem and stimulate owners to renovate their commercial properties.

Vertical integration is found in the expanding cooperation between the local authority, intermediary non-profit organisations, the Regional Government Agency for Entrepreneurial Education and different local stakeholders at the neighbourhood level.

In the original set-up, the local government worked in collaboration with and funded, LCB vzw (a local government non-profit organisation for local cultural policy) to match entrepreneurs and owners. The original funding scheme was elaborated in close cooperation with the local shopkeeper association. At any stage of the process, very close relationships were established with the involved creatives.

Inspired by the results during the first editions of the biennial project, a new non-profit organisation, Creative Cities vzw, was created by local entrepreneurs. Creative Cities vzw has gradually developed complementary activities by providing starter coaching and mediation between owners and creatives following the two-month rental period. Due to their involvement, the impact of the project in terms of the number of retail units and entrepreneurs involved has increased. LCB vzw and Creative Cities vzw have concluded a cooperation agreement to further fine-tune their partnership and maximise their collaborative impact towards Oud Berchem. Also, the involvement of Creative Cities vzw has taken the project to a new level by creating structural partnerships with SYNTRA (the regional Flemish Government Agency for Entrepreneurial Training) and UNIZO (Organisation for the Self-Employed and SMEs). A next step is the approved ESF Transnational funded project “The Suburb Start-up Guide”, in which a higher education institute is involved by analysing the policy measures.

After three successful editions, the results are remarkable:

• The success ratio for the conversion of vacant retail units stands at 70%, with 60% long-term rented units and 10% of units sold to entrepreneurs. 
• The streetscape has visually improved due to the refurbishment of the commercial properties, which has raised the districts' appeal.
• A majority of the entrepreneurs involved (18 so far, and 10 newcomers in 2017) have reported having either started a permanent shop in the city or are continuing their activities on a freelance basis or through web shops. Networks among the entrepreneurs involved outlive the project periods.
• New qualitative retailers are opting for long-time residence in the refurbished units.
• Native middle-class consumers are starting to visit traditional migrant shops, while local migrant property owners are renting out their properties to young creative multicultural entrepreneurs.
• The commercial success of flourishing pop-ups has also inspired owners not involved in the project, to refurbish their own retail units and/or try out new innovative business concepts.
• Other city districts and cities in Flanders are interested in or have already adopted, the project’s ideas.
• The project has been displayed by the local and supralocal press, thus contributing to a positive image of the neighbourhood.
• The neighbourhood now functions as an incubator for spilling over new retail entrepreneurs to other city districts.

Creative placemaking is applied by many European cities as a method to both tackle building vacancy and foster entrepreneurship. Similar suburbs often harbour an equivalent of the creativity and diversity found in Oud Berchem. The power of the approach presented here lies in the win-win situation in which owners, creative entrepreneurs, local residents and local traders all benefit from the pop-up activities. This coalition of the winning provides a fertile ground on which the involved creative entrepreneurs can flourish. An important success factor is the involvement of a local cultural stakeholder like an arts centre, a community centre or local cultural or arts organisations. Its role is to monitor the artistic quality of the project, which largely determines its attractiveness for potential creatives. The project will work particularly well in urban or suburban areas with a pronounced neighbourhood character and easy access to public transport. The local authority needs to ensure local anchorage through close cooperation with all involved stakeholders. Likewise, it needs to develop a ‘feeling’ of how the area functions. To succeed, the organising city needs to build on its knowledge of the creative economy to generate qualitative commercial concepts that are able to attract visitors across neighbourhood/district boundaries.

Targets to reach energy and climate standards are set at EU and national level, but it is cities who are on the front line, ensuring that these targets are met. Since 2015, the City of Tampere (FI) focuses on promoting low-carbon solutions in residential housing and urban dwellings through its TARMO+ project. It offers information about renewable energy, ways of monitoring energy consumption and other energy services for housing companies. It runs campaigns and competitions and participates in various events, in order to reach and inspire the relevant stakeholders. One particularly successful element is the Energy Expert, a resident in the building who is trained on energy efficiency and shares it with all other residents. There are now around 200 energy experts in the Tampere area. TARMO+ plays an essential role as a platform where all interested parties can operate, communicate and exchange information transparently, in order to reach the best renovation and complementary building results.

TARMO+ benefits from two earlier projects named TARMO and Ekokoti. Running in 2013-2014, TARMO was funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Its aim was to encourage residents from housing companies to participate in the energy control of the buildings. The Ekokoti project was funded by the Ministry of Environment, aiming at developing energy expert education. These previous projects gave knowledge about complementary building, and their networks are now utilised in the TARMO+ project.

Goal no. 1 is to encourage residents to make climate-friendly decisions in housing, renovating and constructing, and to improve their attitudes towards complementary construction. Goal no. 2 is to promote the energy service supply by bringing together companies, clients, investors and researchers who can work together on more sustainable housing.

One important element is the Energy Expert action. The TARMO+ project is developing tools that can be used in the Energy Experts' activity. The Energy Expert is a resident from the housing company who wants to learn more about energy-efficient housing, and then shares this knowledge with everyone in the same building. The Energy Expert action is not only connected to the TARMO+ project, it is currently also operating as an individual action, thus helping more and more housing companies to host an energy expert.

URBACT principles are about making life in cities more sustainable and taking care of social, economic and environmental problems. TARMO+ and the Energy Expert action are dealing with these problems: making Tampere and its residential buildings more energy-efficient, and educating people on energy consumption.

Citizens are involved and can be part of the solution. A well-timed renovation reduces energy loss. The TARMO+ horizontal integration is shown in the information offered to housing companies on renewable energy and other energy services, on ways of monitoring and reducing energy consumption, on running campaigns and competitions as well as participating in various events in order to reach and inspire the relevant stakeholders.

Proof of the vertical integration is how this project works with businesses, housing companies, educational institutions and municipalities. Both make it easier to pursue infill-construction and development projects and to facilitate the formulation of a robust operating model, these being achieved through workshops, seminars and collaboration with educational institutions.

TARMO+ also brings together energy service companies and their users, which helps to develop the demand and supply for the latter. The cooperation gives rise to new examples, operating models and innovative projects. The TARMO+ project yields concrete examples of how housing companies’ building processes can be made easier.

There have been around 250 housing companies attending TARMO+ actions, and many of them have a trained Energy Expert. There are around 200 Energy Experts in the Tampere area that have participated in energy expert courses.

They have been involved in more than 50 different companies that offer energy services, and other services related to housing and constructing that promote the low carbon society. TARMO+ has offered several events where companies had the opportunity of straight contact with housing companies, energy experts and city officials. TARMO+ events have been designed to encourage open discussions between all stakeholders. According to surveys concerning participant satisfaction, all stakeholders declared that TARMO+ actions have been beneficial to them. The TARMO+ project established an interactive map on the projects' homepage. At any time, housing companies can add their building, but also information about future refurbishment necessities. The map can also contain the housing company's plans to acquire renewable energy systems, or complementary construction projects in the nearby future. There are over 200 housing company targets on the map that has been used to encourage housing companies to engage in renovation projects with other local housing companies, and obtain financial and quality benefits from bigger collaborative refurbishment projects.

TARMO+ has made a difference in addressing complex challenges in urban environments, by using the integrated and participative approach. TARMO+ offers an open, communicative and interactive platform for housing companies and service providers where information, thoughts and good practices can be shared. The project has gathered case examples encouraging housing companies and building residents to make more sustainable choices such as energy and material efficiency operations and using renewable energy sources, but also complementary building (some of these cases are presented in a support package).

The project has opened the discussion about housing cooperatives responsibility, and on advancing and taking actions towards sustainable living. This has been the first step to change attitudes towards this matter. In order to improve some residential areas, a sense of community is needed. TARMO+ has made an impact by hosting multiple events, training and competitions. One of them is the Energy Expert training that educates a member of a household cooperative to find a way to reduce energy and water consumption. Expert activity creates a sense of community and social interaction between participants, which has been a well-being factor in their everyday life.

Training and competitions had an essential impact on a sustainable way of living, and also on emission reduction in house cooperatives in a participatory way.

Our project is gathering different stakeholders - the city, enterprises, housing companies, citizens, etc., in order to work together towards the low carbon city. TARMO+ is a project - a good practice - that no doubt is interesting for other European cities: it is adaptable, relevant and helps promote the EU 20-20-20 targets.

The rapid growth of the urban population, both natural and through migration, creates overcrowding in the cities and their suburbs. This issue must be addressed in a sustainable way, so that cities embrace improved environmental conditions and safe habitats for all urban populations.

This platform creates synergy between participants, but also generates a better sense of community in the area; it develops a foundation where sustainable operations are more easily conducted. With TARMO+ good practices, a consensus towards the sustainable operations in the area can be reached, which facilitates the planning and execution of energy efficient actions.

The share of the building stock comes to almost 40% of energy end-use consumption in Finland. Buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy consumption, and 36% of the CO2 emissions in the EU (Energy Efficiency in Buildings - European Commission). Therefore, addressing complex challenges in urban environments, such as the energy end-use consumption in buildings, is a major factor. This is a sector where successful actions will help us achieve more sustainable urban living and meet the 20-20-20 targets.

Forlì (IT) and the Union of surrounding towns were faced with the challenge of managing a high number of asylum seekers in a centralised way. Confronted with the burden of social services, plus the negative reactions of the press and the inhabitants, the Union put in place a territory-wide approach to welcoming them. Their aim: integrate the asylum seekers in local communities based on the availability and resources in each town of the Union.
By sharing information, mutualising knowledge and a joint management system, the Union succeeded in building a widespread welcoming system for asylum seekers over its entire territory. Spillover effects: it avoided ghettoisation and speculation on the migration phenomenon.

The Municipality of Forlì and the “Unione dei comuni della Romagna forlivese“ (hereinafter “Union”) good practice adopt a sustainable approach in the Union to deal with the asylum seekers problem, promoting an integration of asylum seekers in local communities of the Union and organising them in "small groups". This allows a proper and regulated welcome and avoid negative social impacts. The Municipalities, through ASP - Azienda Pubblica dei Servizi alla Persona - (the public company for individual services), will welcome and support asylum seekers, according to its own available resources and funds, by integrating its services with services dedicated to an efficient hospitality. They will share information on how to offer hospitality to asylum seekers and how to manage it in their local context. They encourage and increase integration. For instance, a neighbourhood committee is working alongside with asylum seekers to take care of the common areas. They seek and promote the involvement of citizens in order to ensure social cohesion and territorial development. The ASP coordinates the widespread welcome system in close collaboration with the municipalities, with the national government through the prefecture and with third sector organisations, who run the shelters.

In 2014, the “Unione dei comuni della Romagna forlivese“ (the Union) was founded. Fifteen Municipalities of the Forlì-Cesena Province, which includes Forlì itself, are part of this Union.

The aim of the Union is: to improve services, to guarantee equal access to services for the residents of the Union and to promote and coordinate the well balanced development of the territory for the benefit of future generations. Thus, the Union has a sustainable and integrated approach to solving problems in its own territory.

The good practice tackles the urban challenge of asylum seekers through:

• The coordination and management of hospitality in the Union;
• The adoption of an operators network - with different skills - by giving them a share of resources for cross-cutting projects (emergency, job placement, sports...).

The good practice is built on the sustainable and integrated approach to tackle the urban problem and management of asylum seekers, in line with URBACT's principles of sustainable urban living. The good practice is based on measures designed for the social inclusion of asylum seekers.

Municipalities of the Union are all involved in the Widespread Hospitality project. The Union held a jointly weekly meeting with the aim to share information, to oversee the situation, to discuss on how to manage problems, to find solutions to offer hospitality to asylum seekers and to manage it in their local context. A framework agreement between among parties (public, private and social areas) has been established. The agreement provides socially useful activities for involving asylum seekers. Those activities are accompanied by citizens. Thus, several neighbourhood committees are part of the project and they work alongside with the asylum seekers to organise the joint care of the common areas, in order to encourage and increase integration. Eventually, the local police are constantly involved.

We have a model of welcome and hospitality which works with integration, in order to avoid ghettoisation and speculation on the migration phenomenon. The effectiveness of our good practice is that we do not concentrate asylum seekers in one place, but we address them in several different places located in the Union area. This kind of organisation facilitates inclusion and integration, avoiding the arising of fear and tensions in the local population. In this way, the professionals involved are able to work professionally, trying to achieve full inclusion.

Moreover, the placement of asylum seekers in the Union area is also possible thanks to a detailed mapping of all the structures which accept to host migrants. The opening of the centres is shared with ASP, which is the official coordinator, and then the prefecture is alerted. The least densely populated areas are preferred, in order to avoid concentration in the common centres.

Before this project, asylum seekers were seen as invaders of public spaces, creating unease among citizens of the territories and negative reactions, with consequences towards refugees.

The "migrants" theme is an issue that concerns all Europe. Data show that, in recent years, a growing number of asylum seekers and migrants began to turn to the European Union to apply for asylum, travelling across the Mediterranean Sea, or through Turkey and south-eastern Europe. The EU provides fundings for border patrol operations in the Mediterranean. How to manage migrants is a common problem to deal in each country. Our good practice promotes an integration of migrants in local communities of our area. Migrants are organised in "small groups" and their integration is facilitated with shared projects with local stakeholders. With this system, asylum seekers may become tomorrow a rich resource of experience. It takes into account the human capital.