Through the introduction of innovative methods, the city of Zagreb (HR) has made the revitalisation of public spaces possible. The project "Zagreb For Me" envisages almost simultaneous interventions in at least 17 locations in the city. The project aims at initiating collaboration between the city, its citizens, institutions and programmes to encourage dialogue and exchange of ideas.
By using innovative methodology, the new added value of the city and citizens has multiple dimensions: social development achieved through participation in decision-making, cohesion, innovation and professional approach.

The project is based on an innovative methodology that involves close collaboration between the city and its citizens, but also professional and academic institutions, to develop ways of revitalising existing places, offer them a new life and give them back to the citizens. New added value benefits for the city and citizens are multiple: social development, achieved through participation in decision-making, cohesion, innovation and a professional approach. Selecting the location and defining the intervention range is carried out with active public participation to ensure acceptance and comprehension of the project, aiming at involving the largest possible number of citizens, professional organisations and administrative bodies in this process. Following the selection of locations and their budget range, preparation studies and overall professional programmes of the interventions for all individual locations are made, then carried out following the confirmation of the available budget. The design solutions for the selected locations derive from architectural contests to ensure top quality and a transparent implementation process. The result is a series of interventions in 17 carefully selected public spaces throughout the city, providing design planning and improvement of public space with reasonable budgets.

The project is based on an innovative methodology involving close collaboration between the city administration and its citizens, as well as professional and academic institutions, to develop ways of revitalising existing places, offer them a new life and return them to the citizens. Selecting the location and range of intervention is carried out with the active participation of the public, to ensure acceptance and wide-spread comprehension of the project, aiming at involving the largest possible number of citizens, professional bodies, organisations and administrative bodies in the process. The advantages of the practice are multiple: social development, achieved through participation in decision-making, innovation and a professional approach, and social cohesion of citizens through recreating public spaces based on their needs.

The selection of locations and range of interventions are carried out with the active participation of the public, thus ensuring the acceptance and feasibility of this widely comprehensive project, with the aim of involving as many citizens, professional organisations and city administrative bodies as possible in this process. The second phase of the project, the study of the locations, considers each location. Once the location is selected, and the scope of interventions and budget are defined, the general expert programme of the interventions is drafted, and urban planning and architectural competition documents are finalised for each individual location. For most of the selected locations, programmes will be developed which are planned to be tested against public opinion, thus looking to ensure citizens' participation in decision-making and the expression of real needs as a contribution to a quality programme. This bottom-up method, viewed from the perspective of citizens and associations, resulted in a better knowledge of needs in the public spaces of the city of Zagreb. A comprehensive study resulted in a quality analysis of the public space of the city.

The project has started in 2015 and is ongoing. Scientific research on urban planning has been conducted since, with a comprehensively technical review, identifying problems and giving suggestions for existing public space improvement and the potential for creating a new, kinder space. Also, an interdisciplinary research (direct public consultations, discussions, data collection) on public areas in the city of Zagreb has been conducted, whose restoration and / or improvement would / could significantly raise the quality of life. The innovative method of combining top-down and bottom-up approaches has been tested, and it was found that one method encourages the other, and that the unification enables verification and validation of the results of both studies. Based on the results of the methodology, 17 sites have been selected, and so far, public urban architectural competition for one intervention has been conducted. Although the results are not yet visible in the real space of the city, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional dialogue, and the unusually strong interest and participation of the public, indicate a successful start of the process. A competition on public space as part of "Think Space" was conducted, where numerous interesting proposals submitted, thus confirming the importance of the topic.

A comprehensive approach to the study, valorisation and organising of public space of the city, as it is used in the project "Zagreb For Me", represents an innovative methodology that may be of interest to other European cities. In contrast to the established practice of planning that relies fundamentally on professional planning attitudes, or those who consider space transformation on the basis of bottom-up initiatives, this method does not give preference to any of the approaches, but prefers an equal decision-making process. In this way, a fair, impartial and multi-founded solution to the problem of development of modern cities can be achieved.

In 2016, the City of Ostrava (CZ) developed a Strategic Development Plan for 2017-2023. The uniqueness of this process lays in communication and involving citizens under a new, unified brand “fajnOVA”, meaning “fine Ostrava” in Czech. Having a plan made for and by the citizens, ensures that the city vision lives in people's minds, not just on paper. It also ensures a sustainable long-term vision that should be less exposed to political change. In addition to the 250 experts from various fields of urban development, 20,000 residents and visitors of Ostrava have been actively involved. This is by far a unique citizens’ involvement in public decision-making that the Czech Republic has ever seen.

Our good practice describes an effective method of integrated and participative approach, in the preparation of the City Strategic Plan as an example of sustainable development city planning. For some cities, it can be an inspiration, for others a baseline that can be developed. The main benefit is the expectation of a permanently fulfilling vision of the city over a long-term period (until 2023 or 2030), which should be independent from political changes and the four-year election period. Moreover, having a high quality Strategic Plan enables more conceptual urban planning within the city in various fields of development, which makes it easier to choose, realise and communicate the best projects for the city.

Broader participation and engagement of key stakeholders and citizens have gained greater importance in the entire process. The portfolio of participating stakeholders was very wide. The goal was to get together people from different fields of urban and sustainable development in working groups, a steering committee or in individual interviews on topics such as city development and infrastructure, growth and city government, people and communities, environment and resources, vision and image, architecture and urbanism, implementation, connected city or metropolitan city (e.g. representatives of National Heritage Institute, Confederation of Industry of Czech Republic, Zoo, Hospital, Library, Regional Development Agency, city clubs, SMEs, investors, Cultural and Education Centre, Agency for Social Inclusion, Science & Technology Park, Labour Office of Czech Republic, universities, high schools, basic schools, Institute for Community developer, Parish, IT companies, Automotive Cluster, Regional Employment Pact, architects, Czech Environmental Inspectorate, Health Institute, Institute for Global Change Research, NGOs, architects, environmental experts, industrial factories, city council and assembly members, city district mayors, mayor from cities in agglomeration, regional governor, Government Office, Member of European Parliament, etc.). All their thoughts and statements were written down during the sessions, and used in the text of the Strategic document.

The new Strategic Plan is not a “document put in a drawer”, but involves many experts and citizens of Ostrava. Work started with creating a communication and participation plan, and setting the goal of involving 5,000 citizens of Ostrava. At the end of 2016, more than 20,000 people were involved, which is exceptional within the Czech Republic, maybe within Central Europe as a whole. The planning process was coordinated by the steering committee of City Council members, as well as other experts and inspirational leaders. The same pattern was used in working groups focused on specific fields (the involvement of political opponents turned out to be very useful). The Plan was created with contributions from more than 20 000 people, both citizens and visitors to Ostrava. 6 800 people completed a questionnaire giving their opinions on Ostrava, 8 000 people put 32 000 comments into emotional maps in streets and participated in debates, 1 200 people put 15 300 comments into the online emotional map, 250 experts were involved in working groups or interviews, 500 people sent us their ideas for projects and suggestions for the Strategic plan, and more than 3 250 people are member of the Facebook community. During the creation of the Strategic Plan, we published project proposals online. Anyone can send us ideas for projects in Ostrava until 2023, when the most strategic ideas will be implemented.

Created as a communication tool for the preparation and implementation phases of the strategic plan, the "fajnOVA" brand combines two key elements: “fajn”, a local dialect word meaning “fine” and pronounced like the English word “fine", and OVA, a commonly used abbreviation of the city name. Today, the "fajnOVa" brand has a positive image and is understood as a communication and participation tool informing about new projects and city plans, as well as a participation platform where citizens can get involved in public life and supporting communities. The brand helps changing the negative perception of public administration in the Czech Republic. During the process, we managed to involve 20 000 citizens, which is a remarkable achievement for a Czech city. Another exception was the active participation of the mayor, who was not only formally head of the whole process, but personally and proactively led most of the working groups. The 2016 City Council partly reallocated the city budget for the realisation of future strategic projects. Nowadays, we are invited to many experts and public meetings to present our good practice. Our experience from the participative process is reproduced by other Czech cities, and we share it through regular departmental meetings on strategic development.

It is crucial for cities to have their own development strategies, or city plans, and help local stakeholders and decision makers to implement strategies that will contribute to the city's future economy, sustainability and overall health, hence citizens' wellbeing and happiness. City planning can be done differently. The participatory approach chosen by the city of Ostrava proved successful, with broad reach and popularity among citizens, and with high expectations from everyone involved in its development, mainly in sustaining and implementing the Plan. The entire preparation process of the plan has been collaboratively carried out by the City Council, staff, external consultants, residents, visitors and local businesses. A number of various communication and participation tools have been used, and participants were invited to comment on the draft before the plan was wrapped up to its final form, and approved by the City Council. As every bigger city has strategic development documents and plans, we believe that since Ostrava has been an inspiration for many Czech cities in want of incorporating a participative process in the City Strategic Plan preparation, we might take the chance and foster our good practice beyond our borders.

In 2016, the Grand Paris Metropolis (FR), in partnership with the government and the public body responsible for building the new automatic Metro, launched the “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” challenge for its municipalities and for the private sector (companies, designers, promoters, investors). 
The challenge included two phases. First, mayors proposed public land and sites in need of transformation. Following visits to these sites and consultations with locals, private sector companies submitted innovative projects for the sites’ economic, social and environmental transformation. 
In March 2017, 164 projects out of 420 were successful, focusing on 57 sites, 27 of which are around future Metro stations. These projects are made up of more than 326 innovative startups, associations and SMEs. In total, 6.4 billion euros will be injected by the companies acquiring the sites in the coming years.

The implemented solutions have brought together elected representatives and professionals. The sites were proposed by the relevant mayor or territorial president, who presented them to the President of the Grand Paris Metropolis. Where appropriate, the site developer was included in a letter of intent addressed to the Grand Paris president. An advisory elected representative–technician pair has been appointed and a fact sheet has been drawn up with: • Information on the site location; • Its surface area; • Guidelines on the provisional programme and the developer; • Whether they have already been selected; • The type of innovation expected (intermodality, energy efficiency, urban services, digital technology, construction, culture, etc.); • The town planning restrictions. The devised solutions also aimed to cater to new city dweller habits, with shared services proposed in half of the successful projects (co-living, co-working, etc.). The decision to launch a call for projects has revamped the city's production methods by creating public/private partnerships, as the projects are led by professionals who assume the risks in return for land development potential. Given the scale of the experiment, the territorial impact can be measured, as it is led at metropolitan level. Finally, as all metropolitan territories were free to participate in the call for projects, the small towns with limited resources were able to optimise land in the same way as the larger towns.

The Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis call for projects illustrates both the process and the purposes – reinventing the city differently – of the integrated sustainable urban development drive. And while the organisers have given the team substantial freedom in terms of the programming, the economic and social model for their project and the urban or architectural styles, they have nonetheless set out a number of URBACT principles, including: • Involving the projects in the search for an innovative, sustainable, united and intelligent metropolis with a view to sustainable urban development; • Devising projects within an integrated strategy in order to: - boost economic vitality and job opportunities in the metropolis; - respond to residents’ housing and service needs; - set an example in terms of energy and the environment; - contribute to the artistic, cultural and social reach of the metropolis; - suggest new concepts, new locations, new uses and new services with a focus on functional diversity and reversibility; - suggest models to ensure efficiency in the projects and the residents' association. To ensure the integrated approach of the projects, they must be led by groups offering a range of skills, with designers, promoters, developers, investors, companies and even citizen communities or associations, in a bottom-up approach.

As France’s largest metropolis, with a population of seven million inhabitants and an entrepreneurial pull, the Grand Paris Metropolis wanted this call for projects to be an example of co-constructing the metropolitan project. To ensure extensive professional participation in the call for projects, the organisational committee – co-chaired by the Grand Paris Metropolis President and the Regional Prefect for Ile-de-France, responsible for the political management of the process – organised the call-up as early as possible in the process. In October 2016, an event was organised for all potential company candidates in order to present the 59 sites chosen by the organisational committee and invite them to respond to the consultation. Site visits were organised in October and November 2016 alongside national and international communications campaigns. The consulting website went online during the property show in December 2016, coinciding with the start of the official application submission process. A large-scale citizen debate took place in conjunction with the call for projects in order to bring residents together and make this good practice a founding act for the metropolis and a badge of its identity. The winners were chosen by a panel for each site chaired by the President, who had the option to delegate this responsibility to the mayor of the town or territory in question in order to ensure control of the site’s future.

In terms of impact on the Metropolis (the Grand Paris Metropolis was created in January 2016, see the video), the “Let's reinvent the Metropolis” call for projects has raised its profile and substantially increased its attractiveness among investors, thus enhancing the diversity and quality of projects. In terms of results, 164 company groups were selected from 420 candidates to acquire the 57 sites involved in the call for projects. The innovation goal was well reached as the groups of property and development professionals (architects, promoters and investors) place huge emphasis on urban innovation companies and a strong local presence, with more than 326 innovative start-ups, associations and SMEs. If we consider the method, the 420 applications received proposed exceptional innovative ideas with a view to transforming the Metropolis into a real “sustainable and smart city laboratory”. The “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” consultation has thus established itself as the urban innovation pioneer and Europe's largest smart city consultation process. In terms of governance, the call for projects method, bringing mayors and territorial presidents into contact with teams of professionals to work on the projects, has helped create synergies between towns and territories.

This good practice may be of interest to other cities as they are all faced with the two-pronged challenge of finding solutions for land development and attracting investors. The success of phase one of “Let's reinvent the Grand Paris Metropolis” is fully in line with the very substance of this consultation: innovation, in all its guises. For the most part, the 420 applications that were received captured this quality, transforming this consultation into a call for projects targeting environmental excellence. Of the key topics, the issue of mobility to simplify metropolitan connections is also relevant to other European cities, with connected mobility, soft mobility and smart parking. A logistics review is another area for consideration, proposed at metropolitan level. The methods of dialogue with residents are also central to this good practice, which aims to integrate them from the very early project planning stages. Indeed, the relevance of the projects is reliant on continual input from the user. An experience exchange with other European counties would only boost the process. Furthermore, involving local elected representatives in the choice of sites and teams strengthens governance at various metropolitan and local levels. The Metropolis does not impose its projects on the communities. Instead, it instigates the process and promotes territories and know-how. The call for projects attracted young agencies, big names in architecture and start-ups.

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.

Over five years of collaboration, citizens and representatives of the urban government elaborated a holistic strategy for the future urban development of Korneuburg (AT). First, an urban mission statement with common values and goals for sustainable development was formulated. On this basis, the “Masterplan Korneuburg 2036” was developed, comprising more than 100 implementation measures for nine fields of urban life. These are: urban planning, economics, education, mobility, energy, participation and communication, social issues, leisure and quality of living, as well as culture.
Finally, a charter for citizen participation, i.e. an agreement on future collaboration, was elaborated, building the groundwork for long-term collaborative structures and collective action for future urban development. Besides the tangible project outputs, the process contributed considerably to an open and trustful atmosphere and shared responsibility for urban life. The whole process was accompanied by an interdisciplinary team of external experts and scientists.

1. Visionary urban development goals: in close collaboration and in a creative process, citizens, representatives of urban government and external experts developed a common orientation (urban mission statement) for the cities’ future development. It is now binding for future urban decision-making and helped to create a common identity. A broad participatory process ensured a high social and political acceptance of the vision.
2. Long-term strategy for implementation of development goals: it was obvious to everyone involved that the mere elaboration of a common orientation wouldn’t be enough to undergo a meaningful urban transformation process. Thus, specific steps of implementation, based on the formulated development targets, were elaborated. The resulting master plan for future urban development comprises implementation measures for all dimensions of urban life (short-, mid- and long-term measures).
3. Building resilient structures and securing future dynamic development: as the trusting collaboration was a core success factor, a charter for future citizen participation was elaborated. With this, the urban government commits itself to a regulatory framework for long-term urban co-management between the city and its citizens. The centrepiece of the charter is a steering committee that supervises the implementation and dynamic adaption of the master plan and the mission statement as well as long-term citizen participation.

The project started with developing goals for sustainable urban development by illustrating a picture of how the city – being sustainable in all segments of urban life – should look in future. The mission statement and master plan take into account all dimensions of urban life (urban planning, education, mobility, economics, energy, participation and communication, social issues, leisure and quality of living as well as culture), and thus differ from other urban development strategies, which often focus on spatial planning or economic development. They build on a holistic view of urban life, including knowledge of the citizens and also considering the inseparability of issues. While elaborating these development goals and implementation measures, it became obvious that political, environmental, and social conditions may change over time and that it is at least as important to design flexible and adaptive instruments (dynamic documents) as well as learning structures and institutions, which allow for ongoing adaption to changing frameworks. A close collaboration between all urban actors (citizens, civil society, political and administrative representatives) ensured a high quality of the development process, and allowed for a profound learning process among all participants. The agreement to continue this collaboration ensures learning structures for the future. Today, the city is just beginning to take steps towards networking with other cities on the national level.

As this profound urban development process (now ongoing for more than five years) traces back to a citizens’ initiative, the participative approach is a centrepiece of the process. Citizens and municipal actors were equally represented in a steering committee, as well as experts from different disciplines. The quite exhaustive undertaking comprised more than 45 meetings in the steering committee and approximately 50 meetings in sectoral working groups. The more surprising it was, that fluctuation among people involved was quite low. All participants, who voluntarily committed themselves to the project for such a long period, spent by far more time and effort on the project, than their regular obligation would have required. It is more than just a case-related participatory endeavour, but rather laid the foundation for long-term urban co-management. The process can be characterised by a trustful collaboration on eye-level, allowing for creativity and intense social learning processes. With implementing the charter for citizen participation and a long-term steering committee, acting as an advisory board for the city council, the city committed itself to future urban co-management.

The project has developed from a citizen initiative to a broad participatory process, involving all groups of urban actors. It ended in a long-term collaboration agreement between citizens and the municipal government and generated considerable self-reinforcing tendencies over time. Each and every step gave an impetus for further development and for searching ways to consolidate newly evolving ideas and structures. In the mission statement, the vision of a new cooperation culture between citizens and municipal government was identified as a central pillar for future urban governance. Thus, when elaborating the master plan, the issue of participation became a cross-sectional topic considered in implementation measures in all of the nine fields of action. Finally, a collaboration agreement, including rules and quality criteria for future citizen participation (Korneuburger charter of citizen participation), secures the commitment of all parties to share responsibility for future urban development. In all project phases, citizens collaborated on eye-level with representatives of the municipal government in a very open and trustful atmosphere. Although the mayor’s party even increased the overall majority within the local council at the middle of the project, they continue to focus on cooperation and consensus between all political parties and urban actor groups. The process noticeably changed the understanding of how to govern and develop the city towards shared responsibility.

Sustainability and resilience of urban systems heavily depend on the ability of urban actors to interact, deliberate and collaborate as well as to continuously adapt and transform their institutional structures. Allowing for long-term and reliable but flexible and forward-thinking collaboration among citizens, politicians and municipal administration seems necessary to build networks of adaptive capacity. Of course, as each and every city has its own identity, frameworks and prerequisites, we don’t think, that there is a “one fits all” solution, which can be applied for all urban locations. Nevertheless, cities may connect themselves and learn from each other’s experiences. Based on this understanding, the Korneuburg way of urban development might inspire the design of long-term collaboration agreements. It provides knowledge about crucial issues when designing co-management strategies and offers experience in moving beyond traditional forms of case-related citizen participation. Also in terms of holistic strategy-building for urban development (master plan) the city may offer empirical know-how. Experiences with the development of scenarios as a basis for strategy building (guided by scientific experts) may as well be of interest for other cities.