Heerlen (NL) is marked by a number of degenerated areas due to the collapse of the mining industry in the Limburg region. To foster social and urban regeneration in these areas the municipality uses community art as a tool to engage with communities and improve the image of depressed neighbourhoods. By capturing the potentials of a bottom-up mural art movement being developed in Heerlen over the last few years, the city facilitates its further development. All murals have been created through community engagement, in which citizens, entrepreneurs and artists co-created and took co-ownership in the works. This builds long-lasting and reciprocal social engagement. Moreover, the movement contributes to Heerlen’s positive city image both inside and outside: The city is now able to attract more and more visitors.

Heerlen Murals is a community art form that is based on the creation of mural artworks in the city through community involvement to counter social and urban degradation. Heerlen Murals’ success is in line with and based on the spreading urban trend of place making. People care about public places they use when they are emotionally connected to them, and this can contribute to sustainable use of public spaces. Community art, especially murals, is a strong and effective tool to inject life into abandoned public spaces. Artists create the murals on raw walls and derelict buildings selected with their owners. The murals reflect on local contexts of people, neighbourhoods and the city’s history. Murals are created in cooperation with citizens, local businesses and schools, as well as community organisations through a process of co-creation. By doing so, the local identity is increased, leading to an improved sense of well-being. The mural street art movement nurtured by the city of Heerlen serves as a spark for additional activities such as workshops, community events, as well as projects about green development. Moreover, the Street Art Foundation, which is an important link between mural arts and urban redevelopment, develops mural walking routes for tourist. By attracting tourists and increasing local attractiveness, Heerlen is also able to increase its economic performance.

It is well known that when culture is used for urban development, social issues are being touched upon automatically, as culture makes dynamic use of the internal energies of communities that automatically evokes social dialogues and linkages. Boosting creativity in a city can lead to leapfrogging in terms of social and economic development in small and mid-size towns. As each mural is created following a bottom-up initiative and through a co-creation process, by bringing local entrepreneurs, citizens, schools and community organisations together to co-create, the Heerlen Murals ultimately aim to create stronger local communities. By doing so they contribute to the social integration. Underlined by various bottom-up spin-offs, such as local events and workshops, community building is indeed characterised by sustainability. By increasing the attractiveness and liveability of neighbourhoods, Heerlen Murals have a positive influence on businesses as well. Visitors are attracted by the development of mural walking tours that increase the potentials of the tourism industry. Murals are also used in the process of redesigning public spaces and add to their economic value by attracting new businesses. Environmental integration is backed by experiments with the re-use of materials and the creation of murals that use green patches, this leads to an increased environmental consciousness.

All murals are created through local participation. Several examples can be mentioned: citizens and school children provide city stories and names to the murals, local businesses provide financial contributions. Several housing corporations and businesses started to provide space for murals on their properties and financially support the creation of these murals, as well as cooperating with their tenants and the Street Art Foundation. Moreover, the national trade union FNV donated a mural dedicated to the mining history of the city, inviting former miners to related ceremonies to build cohesion between citizens and Heerlen’s history. A number of murals have been realised along with the refurbishment of public areas to increase livability. The Street Art Foundation cooperates closely with the Tourist Information Centre in the creation of mural walking routes and maps for visitors. A number of murals have been realised through community financing. The cardiology department at the local hospital worked on the creation of a mural in the hospital, with the aim of strengthening its connection with the city. Weller, a local housing corporation, donated one of its properties to create an urban gallery of mural. For the mural “Heerlen Herlon”, an initiative by several creative entrepreneurs, a separate crowd-funding campaign has raised 13 000 euros in a few weeks’ time.

The Heerlen Murals project has led to the development of a total number of 67 artworks spread out over Heerlen, all co-created by artists, local citizens and businesses. It has also led to a significant increase in public and private engagement in Heerlen, as well as an increased sense of well-being.

Moreover, Heerlen Murals clearly increased the attractiveness and image of the city. In 2016, the city won the Dutch Street Art Award, confirming it the “mural capital” of the Netherlands, creating the image of an innovative cultural city also on international level, known for its street art scene. Therefore, the city is developing its reputation as an internationally recognised laboratory for the development of a street art genre.

Also, the Parkstad Region won the Tourist Tomorrow Award in 2016, in which Heerlen Murals played an important part. These all result in an increase of visitors coming to Heerlen. Based on estimates of the Tourist Information Centre in Heerlen, it amounts to a few thousand more visitors in 2016 compared to 2013.

Public figures from the liveability statistics provided by ABF research for the city of Heerlen for 2012-2014 show that the local perception of the physical surroundings in Heerlen turned more positive in the majority of the city’s districts. Although there are no later statistics available, it shows a sign of an increased positive perception of liveability in the city. Heerlen Murals contributed to the process.

Many European cities have recently started mural-painting activities (e.g. Belgrade, Kaunas, Gdansk, Antwerp, Ostend, Bristol, Malmo, Reykjavik, Budapest, Waterford). One of the most important motivations of these cities is to make neighbourhoods more attractive. Many of these cities also deal with problems of deprivation in neighbourhoods often characterised by high-rise apartment blocks, or open spaces and raw walls in between historical buildings. However, to connect and engage local communities, to inject life into depressed neighbourhoods and to foster social and urban renewal, so to maximise the potential impact community art-based mural paintings can generate is often missing. Also, in the majority of cases, a clear city-wide effort to facilitate the process is missing. Moreover, Heerlen is engaging with other cities in the Euregio, such as Liège. These cities are highly interested in the manner by which Heerlen was able to rapidly use street art to formulate answers to issues of social and urban deprivation. It is also worth mentioning that hundreds of cities in former Communist countries are painting high-rise blocks in the frame of isolating projects, but without any concepts behind colouring and targeting community engagement. This could create great interest for Heerlen’s good practice.

Throughout history, trade has played a significant role in the birth and development of cities. The city of Lisbon (PT) developed the programme Loja com História, “Shops with a History”, to recognise trade as a distinctive element of the city. The Shops with a History label is awarded to places such as shops, restaurants and cafes that have helped foster the city's identity and play a role in preserving its historical and cultural heritage. The municipality's goal is also to promote local shops, mainly in the historic town centre, as part of Lisbon's rehabilitation strategy for revitalising the city's economic and social fabric. Thanks to a multi-disciplinary team following predefined selection criteria, a first selection of 63 shops, including restaurants and patisseries, were distinguished in July 2016. A further 19 were highlighted in March 2017. A municipal fund has also been created to support the selected stores.

The candidate stores are visited and inspected by a multi-disciplinary working group set up for that purpose. This group consists of a mixed team of the municipality and the Faculty of Fine Arts that recommends the shop (or restaurant) which meets most of the criteria to be awarded with the distinction. The distinction is awarded on the basis of the cumulative assessment of various factors such as commercial activity, as well as the existence and preservation of architectural heritage or cultural and historical materials. Afterwards, the working group proposes the distinction, which will be validated by an advisory board and finally confirmed by the mayor or the deputy mayor concerned. The distinguished stores will be listed in a database with the documentary and photographic record that testifies to its current repository as well as the authenticity of its history. Each distinguished store is awarded a plaque with the insignia (Loja com História) to be placed on the façade of its building.

With the distinction awarded by the municipality, the stores benefit from greater public visibility, being a stimulus for updating their processes and methods to reach the market. This justifies the creation of a municipal fund as an integral part of the same program. This fund is intended to contribute to the costs carried out by stores in three areas: maintenance or restoration of façades or architectural and decorative elements, business dynamism or cultural initiatives.

The Shops with a History programme aims to support and promote the traditional local trade as a symbol of Lisbon, as well as to safeguard the remaining retail stores with unique and differentiating characteristics of commercial activity, and whose history is intertwined with that of the city. The concern with the retail shops (and restaurants) is recognised by the municipality with the reduction or exemption of municipal urban taxes. The City Council is committed to protecting historic shops by combating property speculation and the unrestrained increase of retail rents.

Civic participation has been encouraged by the initial meetings. Starting in February 2015, the City Council began talks with shopkeepers and representative trade and restaurant associations to reverse the commercial crisis situation and maintain business and lifestyle in the city. From these meetings some basic ideas emerged, with the formal start to happen with the probation of the criteria in February 2016 and constitution of a working group to realise the project in May 2016.

Furthermore, both the distinction and the fund were subject to their own regulations and submitted to a public consultation, before being ratified by the Municipal Assembly, the deliberative body of the city. All the distinctions were submitted for approval by the Advisory Board. This board is constituted by individual retailers and representative associations of trade and catering, as well as personalities with strong links to the history or the commercial life of the city.

The act of distinguishing a store is prestigious for commerce, but also for the city and for the owner of the store, which is not usually the shopkeeper. In some cases, having the Shop with a History/Loja com História distinction could help a store avoid eviction, displacement or forced compensation.

At the national level, the programme has already had repercussions in the country’s second largest city, Porto. Porto has held meetings with Lisbon officials in order to launch a similar initiative, called Porto with Tradition/Porto com Tradição.

Furthermore, our project manager is invited to a regional meeting to be held in Algarve, next April, organised by DG Cutura of Algarve/Ministry of Culture under the theme “Shops with a History/Encontro Lojas com História”. It will be an opportunity to present the Lisbon experience. This programme is easily transferable to other European cities, considering that the EU itself intends to improve trade and quality of life in cities, for example through funding under Horizon 2020.

For instance, a well-known blogger from Antwerp has already shown interest in publicising these ideas in her city. A meeting was scheduled with the Vice President's office.

With an electoral abstention rate of over 60%, Cascais (PT) faces a distance problem between its citizens, policies and politicians. In response, the municipality introduced a participatory budget mechanism in 2011 to bring citizens closer to decision-makers. It is a low-cost, legally binding methodology, with two cycles (decision and implementation), involving citizens from the presentation and discussion of ideas, through to the project's opening. Cascais’s participatory budget is accessible to all, promoting social inclusion, gender equality, and integration of all social groups. It is a pioneering model of public administration. Cascais, which has a population of 206 000, has used the participatory budget model for six years, involving more than 150 000 citizens, implementing 88 publicly voted projects, and strengthening people's confidence in their governors. The most voted participatory budget of Portugal, it has been replicated in more than 10 cities and has sparked interest across Europe and beyond.

The participatory budget improves service delivery and the power of citizens to make their voices heard in local politics. There is a trust that generates mobilisation. People approach the municipality because of PB and over time as an outcome, they get increasingly involved. People take responsibility for the management and maintenance of all aspects of projects. They deal with problems and find solutions. A smart city is a democratic and participative city designed through collaborative learning. It is a process by all of us, within public participation, and as a combination of participative and representative democracy. PB develops new behaviours in the community, leading it to take an active role defining priorities for the use of available resources, ensuring and enabling everybody’s right to participate in developing their territory.

PB is a new way of decision-making and a tool for active participation. So, by practising democracy and cultivating a locally participatory culture an impact on the further development of a democratic union is achieved.

PB is the most relevant project that Cascais has to promote public participation. The PB was born of the need to strengthen civil society by modernising public services and combating corruption. Our guidelines are accountability, active citizenship, participation, transparency, and the management of resources according to people’s real needs, rather than the self-interest of departments.

The sustainable development of a city involves four fundamental axes: environmental, social, economic and cultural.

In the social axis, participation emerges as a need for people’s interaction in strengthening democracy. PB emerged in the 80s in Brazil as a way to bring poor and excluded citizens into prioritizing their problems and finding solutions.

Our strategy has 5 axes:

• Territory with quality of urban life;
• Territory of creativity, knowledge and innovation;
• Territory of environmental values;
• Coherent and inclusive territory;
• Territory of active citizenship: promoting proximity and active citizenship through participatory democracy, thus fostering a spirit of community and promoting voluntarism and social responsibility.

In 2011, a new team was born in the municipality, and the PB was based on Local Agenda (A21). A Letter of Principles was prepared for PB promoting informed participation to bring citizens closer to decision-makers and contribute to administrative modernisation and the fostering of a dynamic civil society.

These objectives structured a deliberative PB in which participants could submit proposals and decide projects within a stipulated budget. In 2013, the Division of Citizenship and Participation was created, which included A21, volunteering, cultural associations, residents’ associations and the PB. With this division, local government was committed to promote governance, to increase the participation of the citizens in the management of the territory.

Compared to other municipalities, Cascais stands out for its representativeness. Our PB highlights are: high voter rate, amount of investment, participants number in public sessions, voting model, follow-up work by the first dimension is the one in which are more indicators. The number of votes is only one of them. PB is deliberative and emerges as a decision-making power based on and by people so citizens have a continuous interaction in the whole process, which is the key element of our participation concept:

• Communication (bms) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfH2U2Ws184
• Public Sessions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sppl0M34dq8
• Technical analysis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHidvE7EG10
• Voting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kg6qaMgzt8
• Implementation of the projects www.cascaisparticipa.pt

On the financial side, Cascais had the highest percentage of budget invested in PB (18% in 2015). In the last dimension, Cascais has the highest implementation rate in the country with total transparency during the process, due to high-quality technical analysis and multitask team. Cascais PB is innovative in establishing new interactions between citizens, public administration and politics, projects’ proponents, work executed percentage, and an exclusive PB team. There are three dimensions of analysis: participatory, financial and implementation that compose a diverse set of quantitative and qualitative indicators.

The Cascais PB in its six editions had a strong impact on the territory.

This impact was in participation:

Total votes (6 years) 219,307;

Sum of participants in public sessions 4,389.

Transparency impact: people can control and monitor what is happening with their projects/works at www.cascaisparticipa.pt.

Administrative modernisation impact: multitask teams were created, a dedicated team, available directly via mail, phone and face to face and ongoing bottom up evaluation;

Most participated session 210;

Total proposals (9 sessions x 6 years) 975;

Total proposals in plenary (9 sessions x 6 years) 628;

Total proposals/ technical analysis (9 sessions x 6 years) 289;

Total projects submitted to voting (6 years) 196;

Total works (after voting) 88.

The implementation rate had the following impacts:

The sum of investment in works during six years was 15.8 million euros.

The 88 projects had the following results:

PB 2011: 12 projects/ 12 fulfilled;

PB 2012: 15 projects/ 14 fulfilled;

PB 2013: 6 projects/ 5 fulfilled;

PB 2014: 9 projects/ 8 fulfilled;

PB 2015: 21 projects/ 6 fulfilled;

PB 2016: 24 projects/ 0 fulfilled.

Many of the projects had an impact in education (25). The others concerned urban rehabilitation (12 projects), green spaces (11), sport (10), the public road network (10), security and civil protection (7), culture (6), social action (5), environmental protection and energy (1) and innovation and knowledge (1).

Our PB has been recognised as an example of good practice and has been used by other cities on the national and international levels. Many other cities have reproduced our PB model, including in Portugal: Alenquer, Águeda, Caminha, Funchal (Madeira Island) Lagoa, Lousã, Mafra, Torres Vedras, Penacova, Penafiel, Portimão, Ponta Delgada (S. Miguel island, Azores). Many cities in Europe have sent representatives to study our PB practice: Brussels, Stockholm, Dubrovnik, Ríčany (Czech Republic). Worldwide: Maputo, Quelimane and Nampula (Mozambique), Manágua (Nicaragua) and New York City (USA).

In order to promote a bigger interaction, several municipalities and Cascais created a national participative network called RAP (Rede de Autarquias Participativas).

Lex Paulson, an organiser of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, visited our PB and said: “What impressed us most in Cascais was that they used Participatory Budgeting to build trust and participation, not just for a year, but for many years. There are many participatory budget processes that fluctuate and do not last for more than two or three years. What Cascais has done over the past five years has been to show that we can always improve and create more and more confidence by showing the impact and the results, so that the citizens are more and more committed, dedicated and motivated.”

So Stay Hotel was established by the Social Innovation Foundation in cooperation with the Municipality of Gdansk (PL) and business partners in 2016. The hotel was created to change the lives of young people who grew up outside of the family, in care homes. The innovative hotel's operational model - the first in Poland - combines a market approach with social responsibility. Young people gain qualification and experience under the guidance of professionals on the working site, which is highly valued in the open labour market. Youths participating in the employment programme are provided with housing support organised by the Foundation. This support gives young people opportunities to leave care facilities and start an independent, adult life.

At the starting point the practice shows how the three sectors can work together on meeting the challenges important to the city and the citizens. It is an example of a social enterprise where young people who have individual problems getting education and vocational training in the public school system can get qualifications on the work site while earning an income and starting an independent life.

Supporting young people to succeed in adulthood prevents them from returning to the welfare system. Young people learn a profession and get their first professional experience under the guidance of professionals. They learn in real working conditions. Acquiring experience and practical skills allows them to gain a first job in the open market. At an early age they are given the opportunity to build a belief in work values and life responsibilities.

Participation in the internship and first job programme at the hotel is also linked to housing assistance organised by the Foundation (assisted living). Individuals (trainee, apprentice, hotel worker) in difficult housing situations have the opportunity to rent accommodations on preferential terms, in premises managed by the Foundation. To secure this, the Foundation created a three-sector cooperation with the municipality and business which enables it to acquire apartments from the city's municipal resources, and repair and equip them in cooperation with business partners and young people themselves.

So Stay Hotel and the programmes combined with it (vocational training, job coaching, social housing) as a Good Practice refer to URBACT principles by the holistic approach in its mission and in the daily execution of this mission. It was designed and is managed now in the participatory, co-creative way involving civil, public and private sectors and the users into the whole process (public property managed by civil society organisation as a social enterprise, coached and mentored by business sector representatives and involving youngsters themselves). It aims to be the remedy for poverty combating and social exclusion of the socially challenged young people. It has an influence on physical, economic and social spheres of the city of Gdansk and is oriented for driving change in the city towards the sustainable urban living. So Stay Hotel is also an answer to Gdansk socio-economic strategy, especially social policy objectives. The motto of the hotel is “Responsible for Business - Responsible for Community”. This is an action field strengthening the development of urban community residents, creating opportunities and conditions for harnessing the potential of residents, regardless of their birth status and education.

The opening of So Stay Hotel was preceded by a three-year participatory process in which young people helped to shape the mentoring concept. Young people took part in the EU-funded project “POMOST na rynek pracy” (“Bridge to job market”) where they had an opportunity to take part in internship and skills development, as well as workshops, study visits and professional training. Study visits at the “Pan Cogito” hotel helped the young people to find out about the managerial competence needed to run a hotel. A team of five young people helped to create a working structure of So Stay and was the core of the first team of the hotel vocational training programme. Some people from this group have since found employment on the open labour market. Young people’s learning process during the planning, testing and creating phase of So Stay was crucial to developing the Hotel’s working frame as it is now. On the other hand representatives of the business sector, especially of the Craftsmen Chamber and restaurant owners, were supporting the Foundation to build a business model for this enterprise.

It has made a difference in the physical, economic and social spheres of the city life.

Physical: an old, devastated building and its surroundings, located near the city centre, was regenerated and got a new image, raising the quality of public spaces in the neighbourhood.

Social: after two years of operation the results are:

• Five people have found employment on the open job market (outside of So Stay);
• 10 people ages 16-18 have completed an internship programme and continue their formal education;
• 10 people (50%) from the So Stay staff are employed in the professional development programme, including one person in a managerial position;
• 12 young people are living independently, receiving slight non-financial support from the Foundation.

Economic: the business model of So Stay Hotel and the social housing programme enables socially challenged youngsters to start their self-sufficient independent life without any support from the welfare system.

The practice will be interesting for other European cities due to its transferability, including:

• The integrated approach to assisting young people in the transition to adulthood and independence (mentoring, paid internships, assisted living);
• The integration of potential benefits in the business, civil and public sectors;
• Cutting the operational costs of assisting young people and eliminating their dependency on social benefits and the welfare system;
• A sustainable social business model.

Glasgow (UK) committed to becoming a Co-operative City in 2012. To reach people most in need and do more with limited funds, the city trailblazes new co-design models for local people, communities and public services. It aims to help people do more in their communities while ensuring high quality, value-for-money, integrated services - citizens get what they need at the right time and place. Glasgow City Council is growing co-operative businesses and social enterprises, and devolving power to its citizens. It launched a Co-operative Development Unit to boost sustainable cooperatives and social enterprises in the city, running a Business Development Fund to support new and existing cooperatives. 56 Co-operative Glasgow Business Development Grants have sparked an increase in turnover of about 7.7 million euros in the city’s social enterprise and co-operative sector. A council-wide network of “Co-operative Champions” was also created to embed co-operative principals in service delivery opportunities.

Co-operative Glasgow fundamentally changes the culture within the local authority and offers cities a model with which to adapt their attitude towards co-designed services without radical changes in structures, something that can be bureaucratic and time-consuming. Co-operative Glasgow established the Co-operative Development Unit (CDU) to deliver the action plan of the programme. It identified two primary pieces of work:

• To develop a culture of partnership and to help the co-operative sector in the city thrive and grow through easier access to networking and funding,
• Establish a Co-operative Business Development Fund: transformational business development grants to co-operatives, mutual and social enterprises.

These two key areas of work offer a solution to improve economic growth in cities by:

• Increasing productivity, income, innovation and survival, through collaboration, achieving economies of scale, increasing attitudes towards innovation and entrepreneurial activities,
• Rooting businesses and employment within communities, by providing employment or services, meaning that they tend to stay rooted within that community and generate wealth and other employment benefits.

In terms of social benefits, they offer solutions to social disadvantage by:

• Enabling communities to be direct beneficiaries through the access of goods and services,
• Support a more balanced distribution of wealth,
• Foster greater community-based innovation and knowledge transfer.

Co-operative Glasgow has been built on the principles that integrated approaches foster the most effective results and economic growth must be combined with a reduction in poverty and community benefits. By adopting co-operative models, public services are integrated, of better quality and are designed around people’s lives, rather than being delivered in silos. It creates an ecosystem of integration by developing co-operatives that span key economic development drivers, e.g. some of the co-operatives created or supported include:

• A Youth Co-operative within a community-based housing association,
• New technology for credit unions,
• A student-led co-operative within Strathclyde University to develop industry based IT solutions,
• The creation of FareShare Glasgow, a local food distribution scheme that utilises manufacturer and supermarket waste food and redistributes around organisations that support people with low income,
• Glasgow People’s Energy – an energy switch co-operative to provide holistic energy advice, information and support for business and individuals experiencing fuel poverty.

Co-operative Glasgow promotes economic growth through a programme of activity that supports job creation, co-designed and co-created services, business development, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. Internally, the service redesign model of Co-operative Champions covers all service departments to ensure that integrated approaches are embedded in service development.

Participation, equality and community benefit are at the heart of all Co-operative Glasgow’s initiatives. GCC is part of a process called “One Glasgow”, looking at the holistic needs of the city in partnership with a number of public sector organisations and NGOs to involve citizens in decision-making. To further embed this into council processes, co-operative principles have been specifically adopted in the development of a number of community-based initiatives. Citizens can now see how decisions are made by watching live streaming of council meetings, influence how community budgets are spent through participatory budgeting and through community benefits in public procurement, over 500 long-term unemployed people have secured employment.

The CDU is an enabler for community-based project development. It develops partnerships based on mutual trust and respect, resulting in a number of community programmes across the city, e.g. it has assisted Glasgow’s 34 credit unions through dialogue, practical and financial assistance to become the most advanced credit union sector in the UK with over 25% of Glasgow’s citizens benefiting from CU membership.

The CDU has facilitated the Future Savers programme to foster a greater savings culture in Glasgow’s young people. All pupils in Glasgow in their first year of high school are provided with a credit union account with a £10 deposit. This Co-operative Glasgow model is a partnership between 14 Credit Unions and 42 high schools.

Co-operative Glasgow has utilised the CDU to support Glasgow's co-operative sector and directly benefit communities. It is a unique support resource, complementary to other business support functions. It has supported initiatives strategically important for communities. Putting co-operative values at the heart of service development and delivery has resulted in a wide range of initiatives across the city, some of which are outlined in 4.3 and are also promoted via the newsletters submitted as part of the support package. Co-operative Glasgow has both a lasting impact and long-term approach. To date, 56 Co-operative Glasgow Business Development Grants have resulted in an increase in turnover of approx. 7 700 000 euros in the cities social enterprise and co-operative sector. 75 full-time equivalent jobs or volunteer posts have, or expect to be, created, and a further 250 employment or volunteering positions have been safeguarded as a result of the Fund. This equates to a return of 3.07 euros of every 1 euro of public money spent. Organisations highly value the support received from the CDU. The benefits realised are significant for co-operatives, the communities they serve and the sector in Glasgow. The Fund has helped to increase the scale and profile of supported organisations, as well as increase member rewards, and improve working practices. A number of co-operatives reported that the funding has improved local partnerships and achieved greater levels of community participation.

As mentioned, the effects of the economic crisis are still being felt across EU cities. As an URBACT city, Glasgow is fully aware that new ways of working to deliver quality services to the citizens of cities is of great interest and can provide useful methodologies and good practice to guide cities:

• It addresses issues of challenging council cultures and provides methodologies for transformational change within local authorities – moving to a more community-based model of service delivery that creates tangible economic benefits.
• Glasgow can impart expertise in navigating difficult legal challenges to creating more democratic partnerships with external organisations.
• Glasgow understands the financial responsibilities of cities that can often lead to local authorities being “risk averse” when implementing new programmes or priorities. Co-operative Glasgow has the experience to mitigate this.
• The development of a network of “Co-operative Champions” across the council is an easily transferable model that cities can adopt. Glasgow’s experience can demonstrate to cities that meaningful buy-in from stakeholders is essential and that co-operative forms of service provision should not be imposed as a preconceived solution or purely driven by the need for cost savings – it is about valuable co-production and new ways of transforming services – knowledge that can be transferred and adapted to suit the needs of cities and their citizens.

A network of medium-sized cities in Catalonia (ES) has been working since 1988 on a collaborative, integrated and continuous Research and Development programme to get indicators to measure Quality of Life and Sustainability (QofL&S) at the local scale. This is useful for benchmarking and positioning, and for decision-making processes. The network developed a common methodology to select and discuss indicators, and manage how to use them in decision-making processes related to indicators from public policies management. The participants believe that the creation of a common resources system is useful for every agent involved in urban development processes, helping to value and measure the key elements influencing the quality of life in medium-sized cities. The Profile of the City contributes to the existing body of knowledge on the definition of public policies designed to improve the quality of life of medium-sized cities.

The project developed a methodological tool, which we will call tableau de bord, that will ease and inform policy decision-making, as well as offering an instrument to link and commit citizens to the assessment of the QofL&S in their own environments. The project will unfold in several work packages that will involve different timing and partners.

The action plan is divided in two different work lines: the first line of action, the core activity of the project refers to the measurement of the QofL&S, as defined, of European medium-sized cities based on the construction of a set of indicators relevant to policy making.

The other line of action includes the complementary activities that refer to the reinforcement of the skills needed for managing quality of life and sustainability, and all the communication and diffusion activities well beyond the network. Work packages included in the core action line are the following:

• Definition (permanent) of the tableau de bord;
• Establishment of a socio-economic observatory in each locality;
• Information collection;
• Analysis of the information;
• Review of the cities profiles and review of the decision supporting tool;
• And communication of the profiles (currently by a yearly report and a blog posted on its web site: http://www.perfilciutat.net).

The tool will be built on the conceptual development of a methodology to tackle issues related to QofL&S from a local point of view and focusing on its usefulness for city planning.

The practice is directly related to urban policy development, focusing on the core of economic and social matters. Measuring QofL is a way to obtain the very essential base to start an evaluation of those policies, as in fact these measures (the indicators) have been used for policy-makers, even in a confrontation with opinions or perceptions of citizens, especially during the deepest moments of crisis.

The actions of The Profile of the City have as their most visible result the construction of models of quantifiable profiles of the quality of life of a city, based on measures or calculations from official statistics and the local government’s management data (and also now in databases of private companies, on which the network is currently working, connected with smart-city processes and impact analyses of public policies).

The network is providing an annual report about the quality of life indicators, through which indicators city partners are compared, also thinking about the historical series to not lose evolutive dimension, divided into eight chapters (demography, labour market, housing, economic and business activity, enterprises fabric, social cohesion and sustainability, and finally a special part on synthetic diagrams of local information, related to evolution benchmarking). Also, an open blog is provided to express and debate several contributions on experiences on data use and new statistics and methodologies, and also for expressing opinions on the results of public policies, as a way of evaluation of those policies. The net also organises training sessions or conferences and meetings in order to communicate, argue and discuss the results of its reports. All the activities of this network are published through its web site (www.perfilciutat.net). The report is reviewed through deep working sessions, very participative, taking into account the significance and pertinence of indicators, their very lateness and also their usability. Members are also committed to taking part in the composition and writing of the final report and also about contributions to the experiences blog.

Profile of the City aims at improving the knowledge on structural changes in an urban environment and measures the impacts of those transformations on the QofL. It will do so by producing a conceptual and methodological tool to promote a framework of sustainable development in medium-sized cities, assess the QofL and inform urban policy decision-making. Special attention will be given to overcoming the sectoral approach to urban policy development and ensuring stakeholders participation in the definition of this decision-supporting tool. The proposal seeks a holistic view of living conditions and a multidimensional definition of sustainability and QofL. That is why this project intends to develop a common place where local authorities, economic agents, interest groups and citizens can share their notions of quality of life and sustainability and improve their measurement through agreement, sharing and the process-line “reflection/initiative/action”. The main difference is focusing on the link between the evolution of social or territorial indicators and the evolution of management ones, which leads decision-makers to ask some critical questions about the continuity and pertinence of several public programmes. The annual report is a basis for a constructive discussion on local development policies and also the treatment of sustainability matters, especially related to urban environment and the contribution on heat islands and on climate change process.

The initiative can be useful for other cities, as we have already said (see sections 1 and 2). But for a double motivation:

1. To implement progress in territorial cooperation (technically, horizontally) of cities and wider territories, on their own competencies and responsibilities, and
2. The permanent evaluation of implementation and impulse of public policies for each city from its own indicators and also in a comparative way with other cities, to get enough reference to know what position was gotten. It is from a temporary and comparative serial of quantitative indicators. In fact, this practice was shared with other partners (local authorities) in Europe in several methodological meetings. Also is related with statistic aims of Eurostat and Eurocities in actions providing indicators for territories/administrations smaller than states or regions, in a similar way than that done by EU Urban Audit for bigger (capital) cities. It was extremely interesting to compare methodologies and to learn about other experiences developed by other possible partners in other countries. Ours is rather a learning organisation.

The City Council of Esplugues (ES) follows a permanent policy of citizen participation. Municipal activity is open to citizens, based on the principles of transparency and shared responsibility. Citizens are invited to participate in the joint project of building the city. There are several spaces for such participation. Among them are the Children's Council and the Public Youth Audience. The first is a forum for fifth- and sixth-grade pupils in public schools. Here, children have the possibility to learn, reflect, discuss and agree on proposals related to their environment. The Public Youth Audience enables students in the fourth grade to take part in educational debates and make proposals for the transformation of the city. Both forums take into account a work plan developed in collaboration with schools and institutes, contributing to the young participants’ education, values and attitudes to citizen participation.

Until recently, cities were built through the eyes of adults. With the new mechanisms of participation it is intended that the construction of the city be adapted and enriched through the participation of young people and children, who live in and enjoy it.

The results of the interventions of both groups (children and youth) as well as the proposals derived from the participation actions, which are transformed into municipal actions, are considered as solutions whenever possible and feasible. That is why a series of municipal actions have been carried out after the different participatory processes developed by the Children's Council and the Public Youth Audience.

By the Children's Council:

• Rights of minors;
• Recovery of traditional games;
• Party of park;
• Design of a park;
• 50th anniversary celebration “Esplugues City”;
• Proposals to encourage reading for all citizens;
• Design of kindergartens, “The garden of the senses”. 

By the Public Youth Audience:

• Study on healthy habits;
• Times and spaces for leisure;
• Attitudes and values of entrepreneurship among young people;
• Development of the Local Youth Plan;
• Design of a campaign against sexist violence;
• Actions, proposals to combat harassment/bullying;
• Encouraging values and attitudes towards participation, association and voluntariness.

Regarding the wider integrated approach, the initiative is aligned with several of the United Nations’ sustainable development objectives. The activities carried out by Children's Council and Public Youth Audience mainly contribute to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels, relating to Goal 16 (promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels).

In addition, promoting children and youth participation makes the city more inclusive (Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable). Also, the experience of being part of these participation bodies represents a form of high-value non-formal education (Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning).

In terms of integrated urban development, the initiative falls within the scope of governance, mainly related to areas such as city management, social innovation, youth, and above all participation. Related to the vertical integration between the different stakeholders involved in the initiative, this is mainly between the political and educational fields, so it is frequent that both the mayor herself and some councillors interact directly with children and young people.

Both the Children's Council and the Public Youth Audience are initiatives whose conception and development of activities necessarily contemplate the participatory approach. On the other hand, Esplugues Local Youth Plan 2014-2017 is based on three main axes: promotion of emancipation, fostering participation (including the Children's Council and the Public Youth Audience) and promotion of leisure and culture. In addition, for the definition of this plan an intense participatory process has been developed in which children and young people have played a fundamental role. Thus, different working sessions were developed using the participatory bodies that make up this good practice, and other workshops were held in local schools. The result of all this was the elaboration of a participatory diagnosis contemplated in the same plan, as well as the definition of a series of proposals of action that were sent to the government team of the City Council of Esplugues.

Most of the participatory experiences of young people and children have focused on the civic, pedagogical and educational sphere, perhaps due to the weight of this specific competency in the Municipal Action Plan (through activities such as “Making an Educating City” or “Building Citizenship”). It has also made progress in the implementation of specific urban and cultural projects. Concrete projects have been promoted, such as the construction of a children's playground. The participation workshops have identified as a weakness:

• The lack of participatory culture among the citizens since there is usually a low interest to attend the meetings. It is proposed to increase the dissemination of participation systems to attract citizens. 

Highlights identified include:

• The diversity of channels made available to citizens to participate in the decision-making processes on the issues that concern them and affect them. They are channels open to all citizens and do not discriminate against any person who wants to be part of it;
• Citizens see their proposals reflected in the performance and municipal management.

Every city has children and young people. They could be the foundation for effective development at the local level, and if engaged they will improve many of the structural development challenges that the cities face today, including enhancing the cohesiveness of families and communities, reducing health risks and advancing livelihood opportunities. They are the bridge between effective development policy and valuable practical action on the ground.

Across many European cities, different organisations are practicing different ways of engaging children and youth through participatory activities, and the experience accumulated from Esplugues would be useful both for those cities that have already begun to work in this direction, as for those that have not yet done so but are determined to do it. Children have value as members of European society and adults can learn from and with them.

In summary, there are three main reasons why this good practice may be of interest to other European cities. Based on citizenship, young people have citizen’s rights and responsibilities. Based on pragmatism, it’s acknowledged that participation leads to better decisions. And based on vision, European cities have to recognise the mutual, life-enhancing benefits that come with engaging children and young people as equals.

Barcelona City Council's development agency launched the inclusive entrepreneurship model (IEM) in 2004 to make entrepreneurship a realistic option for everyone. Entrepreneurship is a way to create jobs and raise individuals’ economic and social autonomy. However, many barriers prevent many people from becoming entrepreneurs - particularly in specific groups, such as women, youth, and people over 45. Closely involving expert stakeholders, Barcelona Activa's IEM is “universal”, “tailor-made”, “blended”, “integrated”: it targets everyone willing to be an entrepreneur. Its tools and services are adapted for the most vulnerable population who may not benefit from conventional entrepreneurship services. It combines online and onsite tools and services, enabling people with time and mobility limitations to create their personalised itinerary to start-up. And it gives people who are not ready to start a company the possibility of training and coaching to improve their professional profiles. The model has supported 18 000 new companies, creating 32 000 jobs.

The IEM’s aim is to coach entrepreneurs from their business idea to the setting up of their company. It has four features:

• Universal: it is open to everyone. The first step to access the services is a welcome session where all the available tools are presented. 226 welcome sessions are held every year (both online and on-site). All the attendees are offered different services according to their needs. This includes personalised advice: a team of entrepreneurship experts coaches entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into feasible businesses with:
  • A set of on-line tools: an online toolkit to produce SWOT analyses of business ideas, well structured business plans, self-assessment of key entrepreneurial skills, and key information about legal procedures, access to funding and market intelligence;
  • Training seminars: entrepreneurs are offered training in those fields that are essential for the management of a new company, such as legal status and procedures, market research, financial plans, entrepreneurial skills.
• Blended: the combination of the on-site and online services provides the model with flexibility for those entrepreneurs facing mobility and time restrictions.
• Tailor-made: programmes designed for those groups that face specific hindrances due to their social/personal circumstances.
• Integrated: it has the ability to refer those who reach out to BA, but are not ready to start a business, to other services (i.e. those offered by employment or training departments).

The Inclusive Entrepreneurship Model is a genuine solution that mainly combines the economic and social dimension using physical and on-line channels to provide the services, offering both individual and group coaching and in cooperation with the city’s ecosystem. This approach makes it possible to reach a high critical mass but, at the same time, is flexible enough so that each individual can build his or her own path towards entrepreneurship.

The model is implemented in permanent contact with the different stakeholders operating at economic and social levels in the city of Barcelona, which makes it possible to adapt to changes in the society and economy. These stakeholders include different levels of governance (Catalan government, Spanish government and European Union); the academic community (universities and research centres); the private sector (other companies, financial sector...). Thus, the model is based upon horizontal integrated interventions (economic, social) with vertical integrated interventions (cooperation with local stakeholders and different levels of governance).

Furthermore, Barcelona Activa as a City Council agency is the closest level of administration to the citizens. It develops its activity in different areas of the city in collaboration with territory-rooted stakeholders as professional associations or third sector organisations. Because of this close collaboration, specific and newly raised needs are better detected.

BA acts as broker and connector: analyses, connects and “makes things happen”. While it has a wide vision of the reality of the city, it works closely with expert stakeholders to define the means of the IEM. There are different kinds of stakeholder collaborations in project development and implementation:

• Cross-cutting partners for permanent services and events’ co-design: Barcelona Fair, Chamber of Commerce, business associations and workers associations take part in permanent activities and especially in the organisation of BizBarcelona, the biggest entrepreneurship event held (more than 300 organisations involved);
• Co-development and implementation of sector-focused programmes: sector-focused promotion institutions, high schools, professional guilds or big business players act as experts and get first-hand connection to the newest and most promising ideas and startups of the sector within the sector-focused programmes;
• Permanent connection to finance sources: Caixa Capital Risc, Microbank, Banc de Sabadell, as well as Business Angels and other investment platforms are in permanent connection and co-organise events together with BA, providing them with a flux of technically viable projects to invest in.

Involvement is based on two pillars:

• Connecting expertise, co-design programmes and avoid overlapping services.
• Providing expert support for entrepreneurs with high degrees of specialisation.

The current entrepreneurship model started in 2004, although Barcelona Activa provided entrepreneurship support services from the very beginning of its activity, back in 1986.

The main results of the model in the period between 2004 and 2016 are: more than 100,000 people participated in its services (3,800 of them in tailor-made programmes). This participation turned into 26,000 business plans coached and 18,000 companies created. Up to now, these companies have created 32,000 jobs.

In OECD’s words (“The Experience of Barcelona: Promoting entrepreneurship, employment and business competitiveness,” 2009) the transformation of the economic structure of the city of Barcelona, from an industrial site into a knowledge-intensive hub, has been very successful. The agency has also encouraged entrepreneurship and business growth.

Moreover, it has promoted the adaptation of the capacities and skills of the population to meet the new demands of employees, tackling unemployment. Today, the entrepreneurial and innovative environment that stimulates the creation of new small firms and the transformation of new ideas into businesses is still perceivable.

In a nutshell, IEM is based on the idea that economic development has to be seen and projected as a means to achieve social welfare. With this purpose, BA takes people as a reference when designing and implementing its entrepreneurship support model.

The good practice would be interesting for other European cities because it is a tested approach to an unsolved common European challenge: “In the European Union, approximately 4 million jobs are needed to return to pre-crisis employment levels. Groups such as youth, women, seniors, ethnic minorities, and the disabled face particularly high risks of being marginalised in the labour market. Policies should leave no stone unturned in delivering a response, and one of the under-explored avenues is action for entrepreneurship and self-employment, targeted at disadvantaged and under-represented groups” (OECD/The European Commission (2013), The Missing Entrepreneurs: Policies for Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Europe, OECD).

Promoting inclusive entrepreneurship could be a strategic tool to fight against these problems, since stimulating successful business creation across all sections of society is an important requirement for achieving inclusive growth and reducing social and economic exclusion.

Only 2.6% of the adult population in the EU were new business owners in the 2009- 2013 period (OECD). These rates decrease dramatically in groups of people with specific problems to become entrepreneurs. Across the EU, women are half as likely as men to be new business owners (1.8% vs. 3.5%); businesses run by young people tend to have lower survival rates; and older entrepreneurs (+45) tend to run only small companies. For this reason, IEM would be an interesting good practice in EU cities.

Cities are always evolving, as are the variety and availability of urban data. Antwerp (BE) invests in a smart city strategy and strives to be a “walkable city” with mixed, high-quality neighbourhoods. To do so, for nearly a decade Antwerp has been using an “urban data scan” which maps out specific needs, problems and opportunities. Multitudes of geo- and statistical data are structured around different themes to provide a clear overview of the most relevant data. This allows policymakers to develop substantiated visions and make informed spatial decisions. Progress can be monitored for all kinds of projects and developments. Two online platforms share these data and maps with city employees, citizens, companies, project developers and other cities. The urban scan is all about optimising and sharing data, preparing good spatial decisions, and building a better city for all our citizens and partners.

Urban data scans provide a method to map out needs and shortages specifically for local amenities (e.g. schools, sport, green spaces, culture, commerce, well-being, youth). First, the capacity is gauged by analysing the number or area of amenities per target group. Next, the reach, or relative proximity and distribution of these amenities, are determined based on walking distances. Local amenities differ in reach, functioning either at the level of the neighbourhood (400 metres), a residential quarter (800 meters) or urban quarter (1 600 metres). This twofold approach creates a clear picture of needs and shortage zones, allowing policymakers to balance the distribution of amenities, based on walking distances and target groups. Simulations also allow us to take into account future residents in project areas and to calculate effects in terms of new needs or required new amenities. This enables informed policy decisions and provides a strong base for financial and strategic negotiations with all the parties involved.

For example, an urban scan has led to the decision to provide a 17-hectare park (Park Spoor Noord) in the densely populated Antwerpen-Noord quarter. New green spaces, but also schools, nurseries and sports facilities were incorporated in projects such as Nieuw Zuid, Groen Kwartier and Eilandje after thorough urban scans. The urban quarters outside of the inner city, across the Singel and Ring roads, are mapped out extensively as well.

The urban scan enables a horizontally integrated approach. It involves structuring large sets of data according to a multitude of themes and provides insight into socio-demographics, economy, housing, the legal context, mobility, environment, well-being and built and unbuilt amenities. As such, urban scans form a strong base for sustainable and integrated policies, not only in the field of spatial planning, but for other policy domains as well. The right amounts of green and open spaces, schools, sport, culture, children’s and youth’s amenities, commerce and well-being are crucial in promoting attractive urban environments. Moreover, walking and cycling distances stimulate sustainable urban mobility. The city has user-friendly tools to help make all these data and maps available for its own employees, citizens, entrepreneurs, research agencies, project developers, other cities and higher-level governments. The latter enables a vertically integrated approach. The integrated use of statistics and maps further increases the importance of data sharing.

The urban scan is a participatory and flexible instrument that has developed organically in close consultation with several partners. Fifteen years ago, the main goal was to analyse the city’s green structure. Evolving insights, amenities, data and users’ experiences have ensured that the urban scan is still an innovative tool today. Air and noise pollution, for instance, have become important themes and are now included in the scan. The platforms that share the maps and data with citizens, companies, research agencies, project developers and other cities and governments are important communication and sensitisation tools. City neighbourhoods and even cities can be compared, knowledge is shared, ambitions and goals are monitored and other governments and partners are stimulated to analyse and share their own data.

Stad in cijfers (“city statistics”) is Antwerp’s interactive online data platform. Since 2009, it has amassed more than 5,000 layers of data, structured according to themes, scales and dates. The data can be presented in tables, charts and maps and can be consulted, analysed and compared in space and time. Other Flemish and Dutch cities use the same system. Since 2013, the city also has an intranet platform for geo-data, a GIS-viewer with more than 1,000 data layers. Stad in Kaart (“city maps”) allows city employees to request information and to perform simple spatial analyses. Combinations of geo-data often provide more insight than data organised in tables.

Urban scans increase policymakers’ awareness of shortages and needs in terms of green spaces, nurseries, sport, culture, commerce, well-being and youth. Statistical data and maps indicate areas to invest in and enable the right choices. This method is used for up to 90% of urban development projects in Antwerp. Apart from amenities, the scan also sheds light on the demographic, social and economic dynamics in residential quarters. Environmental quality, mobility and housing are taken into consideration as well. And because the scan has existed for a number of years, evolutions can be traced.

In the district of Hoboken, for example, a project for low-skilled employment targeted residential areas with many unemployed citizens. Likewise, measures in the Ring Road area are focused on reducing air and noise pollution. In former port area Eilandje a new tram line brings public transport within walking distance for residents. And urban scans also lead to the development of new green spaces. The importance of the scan has even increased in the past year because it has become mandatory for large private developments. The desired programme needs to be negotiated and must be implemented or financially compensated. The urban scan thus has an important potential impact on the choices that are made within projects.

Because cities are continuously evolving, they are always first to face new challenges and problems, such as demographic evolutions, urban mobility, air and noise pollution, inclusion of migrants and refugees, housing, urban poverty and the digital transition. Throughout these evolutions, it is crucial to strive for optimal functional mixes (living, working and recreation) and mixed neighbourhoods with local amenities within walking distance of citizens. Because the urban scan touches upon all the relevant themes for the ambition of a walkable city with liveable and healthy neighbourhoods, it forms a perfect tool for sustainable urban projects. Urban scans consistently take into account new insights and data, making them a flexible instrument for evolving and complex cities. The systematic method of the urban scan enables policymakers to make the right choices and brings order in the increasing amounts and availability of data.

The online data platforms enable comparisons with other cities of similar sizes. Those cities can exchange relevant data and knowledge. Most cities already have a platform or collection method for data about city quarters and neighbourhoods. The urban scan can help broaden European instruments such as the Urban Audit, substantially as well as in terms of their scope (city quarters and neighbourhoods). If the required competencies and political support are present, the method is certainly applicable in other cities.

In reaction to the sudden arrival of tens of thousands of refugees in the city of Hamburg (DE) in 2015, the Lord Mayor requested the CityScienceLab (CSL) at HafenCity University to facilitate a public discussion and decision-making process on locations for refugee accommodation in Hamburg neighbourhoods. With highly sensitive socio-political implications, this project demanded a well-designed technological and procedural approach. CSL employed an innovative Human-Computer Interaction tool, CityScope, to facilitate public participation and urban decision-making. A workshop process was also designed to help multiple participants and stakeholders interact effectively. Running from May to July 2016, the FindingPlaces (FP) project enabled about 400 participants to identify  160 locations accepted by Hamburg’s citizens, out of which 44 passed legal confirmation by the authorities. Overall, on a qualitative level, the project facilitated surprisingly constructive and collaborative interaction, raising awareness and a sense of ownership among participants.

The solutions offered by FP are twofold: 1) a methodological solution (workshop process) and 2) a technological solution (CityScope tool). The methodological solution is a participatory workshop concept, designed especially to enable the direct involvement of citizen groups in the decision-making process concerning the allocation of refugee accommodations. As the task of establishing such accommodations (emergency and long-term) used to stir up heated debate and controversy, a detailed interaction format was designed that comprised moderated group discussion and co-creation sessions, proceeding stepwise from the review of basic urban data towards precise locations of residential housing. The technological solutions consist of a novel tool for Human Machine Interaction (HMI): an interactive modelling table, based on the CityScope technology developed by the Changing Places Group of the MIT Media Lab, Boston. CityScopes are able to represent various urban data (e.g. cadastre plans, functional zoning, accessibility information) on large projection tables, which can be augmented by simple building blocks (e.g. Lego bricks) as carriers of design information, in this case, construction of refugee shelters. The visually coded blocks are scanned and digitised by cameras from beneath the table. Thus, the effectiveness and impact of the modelled solution on the cityscape can be computed and projected as a real-time response on the tables.

FP supports sustainable urban living by solving pressing hardships on refugees and cities alike. It ensures quick and liveable accommodation in urban neighbourhoods, reduces social exclusion by locating refugee communities within urban neighbourhoods – with the direct participation of residents and neighbours who have decision-making power in the overall process. The integrative and participative approach of FP places maximum interest on engagement and involvement of local citizens who act as debaters and decision-makers. For the workshop, participants from all city wards of Hamburg were invited to maintain a fair and balanced distribution of accommodation across the city. Thus, acceptance and social sustainability were ensured. FP earned wide public attention and defined a benchmark. In Hamburg, the project has triggered multiple follow-up activities. It is envisioned to adopt the public participation processes as a basis for all public urban development projects in the future. FP followed an unusual comprehensive approach and horizontal integration by bringing together qualitative and quantitative methods of urban development, novel information technology and participatory approaches. In terms of vertical integration, it connected the Lord Mayor´s Office, city administration, universities, local city wards and civil society, which were all involved with dedicated roles and activities.

In the project, more than 400 citizens followed the widely published invitations to nearly 40 workshops, hosted and facilitated by HafenCity University’s CityScienceLab. For each city ward, multiple workshops were carried out. The invitations were publicly announced via official the Hamburg website, newspapers, and social media. Workshops were free and open to everybody to attend. In the workshop sessions, participants were asked to suggest and debate locations potentially suitable for refugee accommodation in their respective city ward. To supply the workshops, rich urban information about local conditions of the plots (quantitative data, legal constraints, emissions, zoning law etc.) were prepared by the CityScienceLab and made available on the interactive CityScope tables. That way a shared and objective basis for discussion was given and a well-informed pre-selection of potential sites for refugee shelters could be made. In following steps, pre-selected sites were discussed and commented in detail and enriched with expertise from municipal authorities and planners. In the final step of the workshops, the participants decided on specific locations to be listed for the city government to execute the construction of refugee accommodations. Several urban authorities were involved in the project, including Hamburg’s Authority for Urban Development, Authority for Refugee Coordination and Authority for Science and Research.

FP has changed the scale and quality of participation projects in Hamburg and Germany. It demonstrated how citizens could quickly find suitable solutions for urgent social and urban problems, in this case the massive accommodation of refugees within the urban community. In numbers, FP has directly involved about 400 Hamburg citizens in workshops, who experienced a straightforward and future-looking form of citizen participation in a socio-politically highly relevant topic.

The final success of the project, with 44 locations being found through collaborative work, created a sense of ownership among all participants. Throughout the city, the project has created awareness about the acute issues of appropriate refugee accommodation and a sense of collaboration. It further created a public understanding of the fairness issue in respect to distributing the loads and responsibilities between all city wards (independent from their social and economic status).

Supported by large public attention and press coverage, the project has changed the general attitude of Hamburg´s citizens towards refugees – from a perspective of passive hardship to an objective problem-solving attitude. Evidence was given on these results by track research carried out by the CityScienceLab (thesis projects of students, scientific publications, data analysis), by feedback from the public and from the media (local and national newspapers, social media, TV coverage).

FP is relevant and transferable to other European cities. In a narrow sense, the issue of massive refugee influx and their ad hoc accommodation is a challenge shared by many cities across Europe. In this context, the availability of validated and transferable methods and technologies is highly valuable. The methodology with its choreographed sequence of participatory planning and decision-making workshops can be applied in a similar way in other European cities. Similarly, the key tool – the CityScope – is ready for mobile application in other places too (in fact, it has been applied worldwide already, yet to different tasks of urban development tasks than refugee accommodation). The organiser and facilitator team of FP made great efforts to exemplify the process and procedures of FP in a way that it could be easily adapted to other places too: manuals, guidelines and visual description for easy application in workshop settings were created. In face of unstable political conditions, further inflows of refugees are possible in near future. It will be necessary to have quick and effective means to solve urgent challenges such as a rapid finding of appropriate refugee accommodations. FP has delivered a blueprint for quick and successful action. In a more general sense, the practice and technology of FP and CityScope can be applied to a broad range of similar urban problems, especially the identification of appropriate locations for specific uses.