Enhorabuena a las 27 ciudades españolas beneficiarias del programa: Vic, Mollet del Vallés, Avilés (cómo líderes de la red), Quart de Poblet, Bétera, Cieza, Jumilla, Granada, Vilanova i la Geltrù, Málaga, Coruña, Valencia, Villena, Orihuela, Alcoy, Cehegín, Onda, Sabadell, Granada, Viladecans, Cartagena, Benissa, Albacete, Murcia, Plasencia y Guía de Isora.

European cities learn how to centre their urban regeneration around measurable social impact
 

What is the social impact of urban regeneration? The URBACT network of ten European cities, U.R. Impact, aims to answer precisely that question. By prioritising social impact with a focus on community involvement, urban regeneration actions are rethought by placing citizens and their social, economic, and environmental well-being at the centre of the processes. It also allows for an increased sense of belonging and civic participation. Ballymahon in Longford (Ireland), Bielsko-Biała (Poland), Bovec (Slovenia), Brumov (Czech Republic), Cinisello Balsamo (Italy), Hannut (Belgium), Kamza (Albania), Mértola (Portugal), Murcia (Spain) and Targu-Frumos (Romania) embarked on the journey of social impact measurement in the context of their specific urban regeneration projects. With very different starting points and contexts, they are each experiencing their own challenges and learning from one another. This article is a short account of their progress so far, and an attempt to draw preliminary learnings from this leading edge urban social impact measurement project, one of the first on such scale in Europe.

Impact measurement is a complex endeavour to start with. Social impact is probably the most difficult to measure compared to environmental or economic ones. The urban context adds even more complexity, covering intertwined systems, far outweighing any challenges typically found by single public institutions, businesses or non-profits. This makes urban social impact measurement an incredibly exciting methodological challenge that is still in its nascent stage in most cities globally. The U.R. Impact cities are thus some of the trailblazers, allowing for rich learnings to be gained underway for other urban areas. How did they approach this challenge?

Guided by the ad hoc expert Lidia Gryszkiewicz of The Impact Lab, and with the strategic support of the lead expert Liat Rogel, the ten U.R. Impact cities have been refining the theories of change for their urban regeneration projects. A theory of change, often referred to as the impact chain or the logic model, starts by looking at the desired target impacts and then designing the specific inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes that would lead to these impacts. 

While it might sound simple, it is crucial that the desired impacts actually answer the needs of various involved stakeholders. Indeed, multi-stakeholder engagement is an indispensable part of any serious impact planning, especially in the social domain. For this reason, U.R. Impact cities have been working together with their Urban Local Groups (ULGs), using tools such as "Stakeholder Impact Vision" to truly understand the needs and ambitions of their different stakeholder groups. The latter typically involve categories such as citizens, local authorities, NGOs, businesses, and other urban service providers. The specific groups depend on the concrete urban regeneration challenges being tackled. And so, for Cinisello Balsamo, facing a complex process of temporary school relocation due to a renovation project, it is key to take into account the perspectives of school authorities, parents, students, local inhabitants, and business owners. For Longford, working on the regeneration of buildings to host core urban services (senior care, childcare, youth activation, and many more), or for Bovec, investing in a multi-generational activation project, the citizens, service providers, and local authorities are the core groups to include. Targu Frumos, working on a specific challenge of recuperating green spaces from private garage owners, the latter's views are key to take into consideration. For places where the scope of urban regeneration covers the city centre, such as Bielsko-Biała, Broumov, Hannut, and Kamza, or even the whole city, such as Murcia or Mértola, involving all core urban stakeholders is necessary. Indeed, an URBACT process is a great opportunity to involve different stakeholders in the ULG. But stakeholder engagement should often go further than that. To establish a joint social impact vision, oftentimes it is necessary to get in touch with the key groups directly. Depending on the scale of urban regeneration, cities have seen great success in formats such as social media polls, post surveys, or door-to-door conversations. While digital solutions allowing for citizen engagement with a tap on a smartphone keep gaining popularity, personal conversations, from short face-to-face interviews to elaborate social innovation labs, remain the most effective ways of gaining rich insights on stakeholders' needs and dreams for their cities.

And so, in Mértola, for instance, a Portuguese town with a very small population, these personal connections with citizens are proving to be the core source of information. While Mértola is building an advanced system of impact indicator monitoring based on broad datasets, it is exactly the in-depth conversations that the citizens, visitors, and authorities are holding during the local events that are allowing the city leaders to stay on top of the local developments and plan for ambitious urban regeneration initiatives in the city. For example, Mértola has been successfully turning the local challenge of extreme local weather conditions (heat further exacerbated by climate change) into opportunities, such as setting up a prestigious research centre on natural sciences, or engaging in renovation projects aiming to increase the shadow area of public spaces.

Bielsko-Biała, a dynamically developing city in the south of Poland, while leveraging the legally obligatory citizen consultation process, is considering more in-depth participation methods to complement the basic participatory requirements with richer and broader inputs.

The strategy and urban revitalisation department is at the forefront of these changes, looking at new and more effective ways of making the co-creation of urban regeneration a reality. Ideas abound in the historic city centre, where some important revitalisation works have already seen success, and major new developments like the future opening of a prestigious university campus, are opening doors for more active multi-stakeholder engagement opportunities.

Other cities are at the start of their stakeholder engagement process, taking successful first steps. The Romanian Targu Frumos, for instance, historically more prone to top-down decision making, is learning to involve their stakeholders in a more participatory way in their ongoing plans for re-greening public spaces. A perfect example are the plans of the authorities to cooperate with the local university on co-creating the new designs and including the citizens in these discussions. The city's authorities have been actively participating in transnational URBACT activities, with the mayor himself visiting a fellow partner city in Spain, Murcia, to learn from their urban transformation experiences, while sharing their own.

Once the target impact vision is defined and the theory of change to support it is sound and reflects broad stakeholder viewpoints, the next step is to work on impact indicators. These are either quantitative variables or qualitative proofs of successful impact delivery. The challenge lies in getting the right mix of numbers and stories that, together, would reliably illustrate the social impact attributable to a specific urban regeneration project.

Interestingly, larger scopes of urban regeneration, such as those covering a specific district, city centre, or even a whole city, often allow for easier-to-design sets of impact indicators. This is because, typically, larger projects justify broader impact studies and larger indicator sets, as well as because they can benefit from the already available city-wide data.

As an illustration, the ambition to regenerate the whole of Mértola, combined with the political will to approach social impact measurement in a highly professional manner, is a great opportunity to measure a wide array of impact indicators, from basic socio-economic statistics such as population growth and safety levels, to the use of public transport and tracking the quality of housing. With a small population, sampling can be relatively easy, as the whole town can be covered with low-cost surveys, meters, or even sensors. It can also be feasible to include qualitative indicators by running door-to-door surveys or collecting in-depth input from in-person gatherings.

In another example, the Spanish Murcia, which is undergoing an ambitious process of linking the two halves of the city together after they have been divided by both a river and a rail track for years, can boast an already impressive list of indicators being tracked on a city level. It is more a matter of refining them for impact measurement purposes and complementing them with more qualitative metrics than a question of putting in place a whole new impact measurement system. Cities like Murcia that already benefit from large-scale basic data collection mechanisms have the opportunity to now focus on more targeted impact questions. More subtle indicators, such as the levels of citizens' pride to be from the city, the measures of social cohesion, the feelings of belonging, or the metrics of strong community, could be the next step in impact measurement in such instances.

Conversely, more limited regeneration projects, even in larger cities, often face more challenges in their impact measurement design. For instance, in Hannut, where the regeneration of a business district is in the planning stages, an effective impact measurement approach will need to combine city-wide indicators with building- or district-level impact tracking. It will also make it more challenging to attribute any measurable impact to the specific urban regeneration project in question. Commendably, there is high ambition to make social impact measurement a standard element of any regeneration project in the city. If this attempt is successful, it could help different project owners leverage the same sets of data, build synergies across different impact measurement initiatives, and contribute to a larger impact narrative in Hannut.

In Targu Frumos, a specific project of freeing the space of old garages and storage lockers and turning them into multi-purpose green spaces for the community will require designing hyper-local indicators that are able to track the impact of the intervention on the spot. Typically, a project like this will be able to rely less on national or even city-wide data and will instead require in situ data collection to understand how the use of the new facilities is influencing people's levels of loneliness, socialising habits, mental health, community cohesion, or similar indicators. These types of questions require not only a very meticulous design of data collection instruments (such as enthnographic observation guides or in-person semi-structure interview guidelines) and highly trained staff, but they also face challenges in terms of correct attribution, accounting for the drop-off effects, or tracking of the potential negative impacts. Also in this case, the city is fortunate to have a dedicated management team that is hoping to undertake collaboration with a local university to ensure the highest scientific standards of the study.

Successful social impact measurement of urban regeneration is a balanced mix of science, art, and political will. Time will tell how the ten European cities from the U.R. Impact network fare on this journey. One thing is certain: each of the cities has a dedicated and increasingly well-qualified team in place, eager to make their city's regeneration efforts a source of true positive impact for their communities. That's a very promising start to any impact measurement endeavour! 

A city made of diversity 

Benissa, located on the Costa Blanca of the Valencian Community in Spain, effectively combines history, culture, biodiversity and environmental sustainability. With a population of 11,462 inhabitants, the town benefits from a geographical position that provides a diverse landscape ranging from clean beaches to verdant mountains, which is essential for a sustainable development and a healthy lifestyle.

The service sector dominates the local economy, accounting for 76.7%, complemented by construction, industry, and agriculture which, although limited in scale, is crucial to maintaining the area's biodiversity and landscape. The well-preserved old town, together with Benissa's historic architecture, not only attracts cultural and beach tourism, but has also made the town an attractive place for international residents, enriching the cultural diversity of the community. Currently, 40.12% of Benissa's population is of foreign origin, which contributes to a rich cultural mix and shows the relevance of its attractions for developing a healthy lifestyle.

Benissa faces the challenge of conserving and valorising its environmental heritage while improving quality of life and promoting inclusive and sustainable development, adapting to the dynamics of a changing world without compromising the health and well-being of its citizens or the integrity of its environment.

 

The One health approach to foster the process of making the city a model of sustainability

Benissa is committed to a future where wellbeing, environmental health and sustainability form an inseparable whole. In fact, the town was nominated as a "sustainable municipality" in a regional award. The city wants to adopt the "One Health" approach in its core urban planning, recognising the interdependence between human, animal and environmental health. This holistic approach responds to local challenges such as climate change, which degrades its large natural mass, and also promotes healthy lifestyles, positioning it as a role model town in sustainability.

From learning from other green models to understanding how town councils coordinate to implement cross-cutting actions, Benissa seeks to consolidate its status as a sustainable municipality by participating in the One Health 4 Cities project. Currently, the town offers a natural environment accessible in less than 15 minutes from the town centre, which promotes and enhances it as a high quality of life. Taking advantage of its natural, sporting and urban resources, Benissa aims to strengthen its commitment and action to protect its assets and provide positive social, economic and environmental impact.

The commitment to "One Health" aims to improve the quality of life of local inhabitants but also to offer high quality services to visitors for now and for the future. Benissa seeks to create a resilient and prosperous society, capable of facing future challenges with innovation and sustainability. The town hopes to be a benchmark in the integration of human, animal and ecosystem health in a unified strategy, transforming Benissa into a model of holistic wellbeing: consolidating the care economy as an engine to generate income, employment and prosperity.

Towards a strategy that enhances biodiversity and cultural heritage while promoting the health and wellbeing of its inhabitants and visitors  

Benissa plans to develop a comprehensive strategy that respects and enhances its biodiversity and cultural heritage, while promoting the health and wellbeing of all its inhabitants and visitors inclusively. The strategy will include improvements in the health and social services sector, focusing on raising the quality of life for all citizens, particularly the most vulnerable groups such as the growing elderly population and young people with mental health challenges. 

In March, the town formed a Citizens' Health Council, which will ensure clear and precise monitoring of such measures. From the Urbact Network, sustainable mobility initiatives, the development of accessible green spaces, and the adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural and waste management practices will be promoted.

In addition, efforts will be intensified to educate and raise awareness about healthy lifestyles and the importance of biodiversity and environmental conservation. With a focus on inclusion and citizen participation, Benissa aims to be an example of how local and international residents can be active partners in defining their future. This collaborative and integrated model will ensure that policies and projects not only address current challenges but are also prepared to adapt and respond to future community needs.

 

To know more about Benissa : 

• Maite Escriva, Local project coordinator maiteescriva@ajbenissa.es

• Jorge Ivars, Vice-Mayor of Benissa jorgeivars@ajbenissa.es 
  

Activities and Developments in URBACT Local Groups
The report provides an overview of activities and developments within various URBACT Local Groups. These groups offer the opportunity to observe diverse approaches and collaborative efforts undertaken by local stakeholders to address challenges faced by their respective city centres. This section showcases the diversity of strategies and solutions being implemented locally.
 

This quarter, the network has been working specifically on the following challenges:
Gentrification (t2)
The primary aspects of this phenomenon are the loss of inhabitants due to housing shortages, a lack of adaptation to current family models, or the decline of local services and commerce, as well as the management of the impacts of tourism.
Adaptation to climate change (t3)
 

Historical urban centres, particularly those with a heritage status or those inhabited by more vulnerable populations, often face greater climate risks compared to more modernised urban areas. This susceptibility may arise due to the fragility and condition of the built environment and the socio-demographic characteristics of its inhabitants.
 

Transnational Meeting in Granada

Granada hosted the second Transnational meeting, concluding the activation phase. A detailed account of the recent transnational meeting in Granada is presented in the next section and captures discussions, exchanges, and key takeaways from this pivotal gathering. At the Granada meeting, several local experts presented successful projects implemented in Granada's historic centre, which could be of interest for other participating cities, for example, social and urban regeneration in the Santa Adela neighbourhood. 

The Santa Adela neighbourhood's intervention aims to regenerate its urban landscape, encompassing around 1,500 homes built in the late 1950s for those affected by the 1956 Granada earthquake. Its primary goals include enhancing residents' quality of life, fostering community maintenance, social cohesion, and socio-economic revival. This entails a comprehensive, publicly-funded effort across five areas for new construction and green spaces, with two areas dedicated to existing building rehabilitation. To achieve this, a Special Plan was formulated, establishing an Integrated Management Area employing expropriation as a pivotal action system, including compiling assets and rights, conducting joint appraisals, executing expropriation procedures, and assigning new residences. The project notably employed circular construction principles and a plan of social programming to accompany the rehousing of inhabitants. 

To learn more, watch the video from the URBACT URGE Network for Circular Building Cities.  

Learnings from Granada
Drawing from insights gleaned from the Granada meeting, this section summarises best practices presented there and serves as a source of inspiration and guidance for future projects within the network, showcasing innovations spearheaded by the meeting’s host city, therefore underlining the value of shared learning and cross-pollination of ideas.
 

Data-Driven Approaches

This section features an exploration of methodologies and frameworks employed in defining indicators and policies tailored to the unique needs of city centres. Essential to informed decision-making and policy formulation, leveraging data enables cities to make evidence-based decisions contributing to more effective and sustainable urban development.
The workshop held in Granada aimed to achieve two primary goals: first, to cultivate a comprehensive list of common indicators that effectively respond to the network's diverse needs; and second, to explore various methodologies and stakeholders involved in acquiring pertinent data.

Throughout the workshop, each city representative provided insights into their respective data infrastructure concerning the challenges discussed: Adaptation to climate change and Gentrification. These indicators were closely tied to policies aimed at addressing the associated statistics.

Future Steps and Initiatives
Concluding the report, forthcoming steps and initiatives envisioned within the Cities@Heart network are outlined, delineating the roadmap for future endeavours. This section emphasises the collective commitment toward realising a shared vision of vibrant, inclusive, and resilient city centres.

In June, the planning phase will continue with a visit to Quadrilatero Urbano (the cities of Barcelos, Braga, Vila Nova de Famalicão and Guimarães) in Portugal. This phase will strengthen the practical knowledge and skills of partners in the defined policy areas, draw lessons from the exchanges on an ongoing basis, and focus on applying them at the local level.The main outcome will be the Integrated Action Plans (IAP). The focus for this meeting will be on New supply models and Building a city centre identity, addressing issues like vacant shops and community reinforcement. 

Overall, the first Quarterly Report provides a comprehensive overview of progress, insights, and future directions within the Cities@Heart network, showcasing the collaborative efforts and commitment to creating thriving urban centres.

The first Quarterly Report is available for download in the Cities@Heart library or accessible online with the interactive PDF Reader Calameo.

Save the date! 
In addition to the TNMs, the network will be conducting two webinars.

May 13, 2024
City Centers at Night Time with Simone d’Antonio from the URBACT Cities After Dark Network

Contact the network for registration details

September 2024
Last-Mile Logistics
Date to be determined 

Photos © La Ampliadora 

La Ampliadora Social School of Photography of Granada is a space created specifically for students, so that they can use it both inside and outside of school hours, with everything necessary to learn, research, work and enjoy photography. The school is committed to participatory training with a team of young, active professionals who come from various fields related to photography, cultural management and other artistic disciplines.

On 15 April, URBACT launched a call for Good Practices (running until 30 July 2024). The call aims to reward impactful local practices in sustainable urban development, which can be a source of inspiration and transfer to other European cities.  

If you are working on sustainable urban development, you might be asking yourself: What, exactly, makes a practice ‘good’? This article looks at a handful of the 97 URBACT Good Practices awarded to cities from 25 EU countries in 2017. While these practices cover environmental, social, governance or economic themes, what got them their URBACT label?  

Four fundamental dimensions enable a local good practice to be awarded as an URBACT Good Practice. These represent the principles and values underpinning URBACT since 2002:

- Relevance at European level

- A participatory and integrated approach

- Positive local impact

- Transferability 

Relevance at European Level

As a European Territorial Cooperation programme, URBACT has to respond to the needs and priorities of European cities on urban development in accordance with the EU Cohesion Policy and its objectives. An URBACT Good Practice, therefore, serves or contributes to this framework, or the Sustainable Development Goals, or topics of the partnerships of the Urban Agenda for the EU. This is evident in the topics covered by the 97 URBACT Good Practices awarded in 2017: 

The examples featured in this article touch on these different themes. They also exemplify other characteristics that are considered when selecting an URBACT Good Practice. 

A participatory and integrated approach  

Cities face a spectrum of environmental, economic and social challenges, which are becoming more interconnected. Even if a challenge might fall under one theme (for example, motorised mobility), an integrated approach considers other important dimensions, like gender equality, digital, green transition, related to mobility and the different groups of the local population. The participatory element of a Good Practice refers to the involvement of different local actors, not only from different departments of the city administration, but with the civil society itself.  

Riga (LV) has found a way to use social urban spaces (i.e. community centres) to boost social integration and awareness of local affairs. Established in 2013, the Riga NGO House was created in response to requests from the inhabitants of Riga, themselves. As a community-inspired initiative, the NGO House serves the educational, technical and information support needs of the immediate community. It has gone on to host thousands of visits and events, organised by different NGOs and sometimes coordinated with other municipalities (e.g. twinning and networking events).  

This practice has been officially recognised by URBACT for empowering the non-governmental sector. The lessons learnt and exchange visits are documented in the final outcome of the Active NGOs Transfer Network, ‘The Power of Civic Ecosystems’. 

Located in a designated ‘buffer zone’, the small town of Athienou (CY) faces a unique set of historical, geographical, intergenerational, urban-rural challenges. The town’s Municipal Council of Volunteers (MCV) has been recognised by URBACT for its intergenerational approach to volunteerism. Volunteers work to address local social challenges and provide support services to residents, particularly from vulnerable communities. The volunteering activities take place at the Kleanthios Elderly Home, the Konstanileneion Center for Adults, the Municipal Nursery Center and the Social Welfare Committee. The MCV’s membership is seeing an increase, particularly of younger volunteers, a general awareness and commitment to rebuilding social ties. 

Athienou’s breakthrough active civic participation solution has been adapted by other European cities through the Volunteering Cities Transfer Network.  

In 2014 Turin (IT) launched a competition for all municipal employees (counting around 10.000) to push innovative projects and ideas for the city, developing and improving new services, environment-friendly projects, using information and communication technologies. This served as a model for creating a culture for innovation within the city administration  (e.g. improving performance, reducing waste, maximising resources). In 2017, 71 projects have been submitted, 111 employees involved, and 10 proposals rewarded.  

The practice was designated as an URBACT Good Practice because it helps to increase data and digital tools management to address urban challenges. The application can be seen in the partner cities of Innovato-R Transfer Network. 

Positive impact at local level

All URBACT Good Practices need to have a concrete solution to a host of thematic urban challenges. These, inevitably, have to respond to local needs. For a practice to be an URBACT Good Practice, ‘positive impact’ really means the positive change in a community. In other words, there should be a clear ‘before’ and ‘after’ effect, and a specific explanation of how and why it was effective. 

Mouans-Sartoux (FR) has been serving 100% organic daily meals in its schools since 2012. The city’s collective school catering scheme is officially recognised as an URBACT Good Practice, not simply because of its holistic approach, which brings together municipal farmers, schools, NGOs and local organisations. The decision to procure organic meals in school canteens has welcomed a behavioural shift in the local population. More residents are becoming aware and adopting healthier and sustainable food diets. In fact, in the last five years, Mouans-Sartoux has reduced its carbon impact by more than 20%!

Mouans-Sartoux’s practice offers critical insights into how other cities can bring about shifts in food systems for the betterment of the local community. The practice has since been adapted by other European cities through two URBACT Transfer Networks, BioCanteens and BioCanteens #2 Transfer Network. 

Chemnitz (DE) has developed a real estate management solution to deal with the problem of decaying historic buildings in the city centre. The city’s real estate authority, Agentur StadtWohnen Chemnitz, conducted a survey on vacant/derelict buildings and apartments, identified potential buyers and investors and activated support from public and private stakeholders. The results were compelling, which is why URBACT recognises the practice for its positive local impact: Chemnitz has seen an increasing interest from local investors in rehabilitating historic housing and repurposing abandoned buildings (with housing cohabitations, shelters, social institutions).  

The Chemnitz practice also holds promise for how cities can combat negative trends and urban processes that are not sustainable (e.g. suburban sprawl, car use, expensive housing, etc.).  

Learn more about this practice and how it was transferred through the ALT/BAU Transfer Network. 

Santiago De Compastela (ES) developed a game-based web platform to encourage recycling and other environmentally responsible behaviour. Green points (waste disposal points) were set up in the city centre. In exchange for disposing of waste at these points, citizens have the chance to win recycling vouchers, which can be used at local shops or exchanged at the City Council. In the first 2 years, tens-of-thousands of recycling actions have been registered at civic centres and green points and more than 115 local sponsors had delivered 800 rewards via the Tropa Verde platform.  

The gamification of urban waste reduction developed by Santiago De Compastela shows how to involve local communities in the green transition. The practice has been adapted by partner cities (including Zugló (HU) involved in the Tropa Verde Transfer Network.  

Transferability 

From the 2018 to 2022, 23 of the above-mentioned 97 URBACT Good Practices have been transferred and adapted in other 188 European cities, thanks to URBACT Transfer Networks. These 23 URBACT Good Practice Cities have also benefitted from the exchanges with the other cities, and with URBACT experts, to further improve their practice. URBACT Good Practice Cities set an example through and beyond the URBACT Networks. This potential for transferability is a key award criterion: the practice should be applicable to different contexts and regions.

For instance, Ljubljana (SI) set up ‘the Bee Path’ programme in 2015 to raise awareness of the city’s bee-keeping heritage: its over 300 beekeepers, 4.500 beehives housing, more than180 million bees. The path is designed in such a way that visitors realise the importance of bees for our survival, in addition to discovering the city's beekeeping and honey-making culture.  

This practice is centred around raising awareness of and preserving urban biodiversity and contributing to a more sustainable and sufficient community in Ljubljana. However, its legacy lives on through the BeePathNet Transfer Network and a European-wide network of bee-friendly cities (‘Bee Path Cities’).  

Learn more about Bee Path Cities and check examples of how the practice has been transferred in Bydgoszcz (PL) and the other European cities. 

In 2014, Piraeus (EL) established Blue Growth Piraeus: an urban sustainable development initiative focused on the Blue Economy. Still rocking in the waves of the 2008 global financial crisis, this initiative set out to boost the local maritime economy. Still in practice, Blue Growth Piraeus aims to mentor and encourage start-ups to develop services and solutions for the  maritime economy, adapted to the digital transition.  

Piraeus was able to transfer its URBACT Good Practice as leader of the BluAct URBACT Transfer Network (2018-2021) and another pilot URBACT Transfer Network, BluAct second wave (2021-2022). What was observed in Piraeus can easily be replicated and adapted in other European cities that have coastal or maritime economies.

This transferability has been proven in Mataro (ES), which adapted the five stages of the Blue Growth Piraeus Competition and other partner cities through BluAct Transfer Networks. 

Preston (UK) developed a procurement spending practice that simultaneously jumpstarts the local economy, helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint and combats social exclusion. It is also based on a participatory approach, whereby public (universities, hospitals) in the city and social-sector institutions work together to ensure that their procurement spending is used to bring additional economic, social and environmental benefits to local economies. 

It came up with a toolkit and video series, which were useful tools for transmitting the knowledge and insights acquired by the city through the practice.

The practice has been effectively transferred to Koszalin (PL) and other European cities involved in the Making Spend Matter Transfer Network.  

Find out more: URBACT Call for Good Practices open until 30 June 2024

Evidently, URBACT Good Practices come in all shapes and sizes; the value of a practice extends beyond a specific city or example. Nevertheless, they point to a common throughline for successful and enduring approaches to developing and transferring a practice. First, urban municipalities need to work within the EU and regional policy contexts and objectives to implement good practices. Second, a participatory and integrated approach to sustainable urban development is needed to solve the multi-faceted challenges facing today’s cities. Third, local communities need to be inspired and engaged at all levels of sustainable urban policy making. Fourth, the transferability of a practice, to different cities and contexts, means a wider  impact in Europe thanks to URBACT Transfer Networks. Ultimately, by leading Transfer Networks, URBACT Good Practice Cities can improve the implementation of their practices, following the insights of their partner cities and URBACT experts. 

Interested in applying? All you need to know about the URBACT call for Good Practices (open until 30 July 2024) can be found on urbact.eu/get-involved. 

La convocatoria URBACT de Buenas Prácticas está abierta a ciudades de los 27 Estados miembros de la Unión Europea, Estados asociados (Noruega, Suiza), ciudades de países que se benefician del Instrumento de Preadhesión a la UE (Albania, Bosnia y Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia del Norte y Serbia), así como de Ucrania y Moldavia. 

El objetivo de esta convocatoria es dar visibilidad a escala europea a prácticas locales de impacto en el desarrollo urbano sostenible y ofrecer inspiración y oportunidades de transferencia a otras ciudades europeas.

Las Ciudades de Buenas Prácticas URBACT galardonadas se beneficiarán de una serie de acciones de visibilidad y promoción, entre las que destaca el URBACT City Festival, que se celebrará del 8 al 10 de abril de 2025 en Breslavia (Polonia). Las ciudades seleccionadas también tendrán la posibilidad de liderar una Red de Transferencia (Transfer Network) URBACT con fondos y recursos del programa a partir de 2025.

Además del #InfoDayES del 9 de mayo, están programadas varias sesiones online desde el Secretariado URBACT para los días 25 de abril, 23 de mayo y 20 de junio. Los temas a tratar por estas sesiones y el resto de información sobre la convocatoria está disponible aquí.

A continuación, se incluye una infografía con los principales detalles de la convocatoria.

Belgian architect Luc Schuiten envisages that in 2100 “Sustainable development will have become a pleonasm”, and as such, all urban development will inevitably be sustainable. Future cities will see new living and working habits, mobility and interfaces intersecting and co-existing with the natural environment. Local authorities will play a role in this transformative change, notably by working on infrastructure: creating green spaces out of abandoned buildings and spaces, joining the urban net, enabling a pedestrian connexion and infrastructure from one neighbourhood to another. Notwithstanding the environmental benefit of such measures, public spaces will also become spaces for creativity, learning and exchange.

Laeken 1800- 2200, La Cité végétale, Luc Schuiten. Source: Vegetalcity. 

This article looks closer at the need for green revitalisation and regeneration in the context of the URBACT GreenPlace Action Planning Network, one of  30 URBACT Action Planning Networks running from June 2023 to December 2025. Led by Wroclaw (PL), GreenPlace addresses unused, abandoned and forgotten places with green revitalisation and regeneration efforts – all involving the local community. 

The issue of forgotten and unused urban spaces

The urban landscape in Europe has evolved over the last decades. Former industrial or rail infrastructures, factories, construction sites, slaughterhouses, large health and social care facilities, shopping centres, offices or incomplete buildings and city centres, former military barracks, parks and greenfields – a variety of buildings and spaces have lost their original functions, left unused, abandoned and/or forgotten. 

Bucharest Delta. Source: Marcelline Bonneau.

These buildings and sites can be abandoned or unused for a variety of reasons:

- radical changes, conditioned by historical or economic events;

- negative connotations linked to places;

- the natural toll of time pr dereliction;

- social, historical and economic changes in a city;

- population shifts from rural to urban areas and changes in residential patterns (e.g. larger houses, fewer people per family unit);

- the low price of undeveloped greenfield land compared with the high cost of redeveloping land (e.g. regeneration of brownfields); or

- becoming too expensive to maintain.
 

Addressing the management of these under-used land, spaces and buildings is a key focal point of European regional development policy and funding frameworks. On the one hand, if nothing is done, these spaces will have a negative impact on the environment and biodiversity. For example, former storage and manoeuvring yards can form ‘heat islands’ and stored pollution can lead to further problems related to, among other things, rainwater management. Unused public spaces can also negatively impact land use, not accounting for land pressure and uncontrolled urban development (sprawl), and socio-economic inequity and insecurity. 

On the other hand, if we do something, we’ll see a positive impact on the environment. Nature-based solutions, brownfield regeneration, green infrastructure and other technical green solutions – including retrofitting or energy networks – can increase biodiversity, protect habitats, attract new fauna and flora  and integrate climate adaptation solutions, for example, related to rainwater management, water retention, cool islands, etc.  

Cities involved in URBACT networks, such as Lille (FR) and Heerlen (NL), serve as case studies on the positive impact of greener rehabilitated public spaces in their communities. Policy recommendations for the reuse of spaces and buildings include, among others: involving architects and planners in the development of land-use plans; fixing realistic land and financial budgets; considering public-private partnership models.

The need to develop green revitalisation and regeneration

Green revitalisation and regeneration are a prominent way of addressing unused, forgotten and abandoned places, both as a means to sustainable urban development and ends in themselves. The most common principles underpinning these concepts are addressed in the following approaches:

GreenPlace: 10 cities revitalising forgotten urban spaces with local communities

The above approaches to green revitalisation and regeneration form the core of the GreenPlace Action Planning Network. Led by the City of Wroclaw (PL), partner cities include Boulogne-sur-mer Développement Côte d’Opale (FR), Bucharest-Ilfov Metropolitan Area Intercommunity Development Association (RO), Cehegin (ES), Limerick (IE), Löbau (DE), Nitra (SK), Onda (ES), Quarto d’Altino (IT) and Vila Nova De Poiares (PT).

The variety of partner profiles stresses the richness and added value of such a diverse partnership. Some of these cities are small (e.g. Vila Nova de Poiares has 7.281 inhabitants) others are very large (e.g. Bucharest-Ilfov, with 2.298.000 inhabitants). Some are rural areas (e.g. Quarto d’Altino), some are very urban (e.g. Wroclaw), while others are considered developed (e.g. Limerick) or less developed (e.g. Nitra).

The partner cities may be in different stages of green revitalisation and community engagement. They may face different contexts and challenges, as indicated in the GreenPlace baseline study, which details the context, methodology and roadmap of the Action Planning Networks. Regardless of these differences, they are already learning so much from each other!

In particular, city partners are focusing on the following main categories of forgotten and unused urban spaces:

- Abandoned buildings: a Noodle Factory in Löbau, a Civic Centre in Quarto d’Altino;

- Forgotten buildings (yet, partially in use): the Popowice Tram Depot in Wroclaw, the Victorei Tram Depot in Bucharest-Ilfov; 

- Unused green areas: a medieval wall in Limerick, a Green Zone in Vila Nova de Poiares, Ejidos in Cehegin; and

- Unused built areas: a future Green Lung in Onda, the Station-Bréquerecque area in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, Martin’s Hill – a former military barracks site in Nitra.

In Löbau, partners have reported back on involving the local community in plans to revitalise an abandoned factory site.

URBACT Action Planning Networks: greener horizons

More updates are still to come from the GreenPlace Action Planning Network as the work progresses. 

In the broader scheme of the URBACT IV programme, GreenPlace is not the only URBACT Action Planning Networks making cities greener. COPE, Let’s Go Circular, BiodiverCity, Eco-Core and In4Green are a few others worth exploring!

This article was updated in April 2024. The original version was submitted by Marcelline Bonneau on 19/12/2023.