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.

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. The concrete results of this participatory process can be consulted here (in Catalan).

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.

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.

Limassol (CY) has had new life breathed into it as a result of several major urban regeneration projects to improve the city's historic centre, seafront, and other areas. Over 15 years, the environment and quality of life have been improved and the city's marketability and competitiveness boosted. As a result, new businesses have opened and new jobs created. The regeneration projects have improved the attractiveness and air quality of commercial and residential areas. The local economy has been boosted as the city's new look attracts more visitors. Residents of the city - and the wider metropolitan area - have also benefited. As the city became more attractive, its public places increasingly became meeting places for social activities. The projects have helped preserve the cultural identity of Limassol's historic centre by highlighting its traditional architecture: old buildings have been restored and are now used for cultural, educational and residential purposes.

Τoday’s European approach towards cities’ design supports the principle of utilising the existing building and environmental inventory and returning to the centres to deal with the crisis and urban development problems. Initiatives and actions are not confined to the narrow context of physical development and the urban environment but extend to economic and social issues. A sustainable city is characterised by a robust environment, economy and social welfare system.

Based on the above, the Area Plan for Limassol City Centre determined the functional structures, permitted land use and pedestrian modules and creation of open spaces, all within an existing and structurally defined area, and all were converted to opportunities for successful sustainable urban development. Among the objectives leading to the exploitation of opportunities were the following:

• The completion and modernisation of the basic infrastructure to respond to the enhanced requirements for the safety, health and comfort of citizens;
• The creation of areas of special interest characterizing the city;
• The implementation of traffic management measures with an emphasis on pedestrian, bicycle and bus transport and the simultaneous discouraging of vehicular traffic;
• Exploitation of the urban free spaces/squares and their contribution to the city’s social life by using them as gathering places for events, activities and rest and relaxation;
• The identification and promotion of monuments;
• A combination of old and new.

Limassol’s practice contributes to the sustainable and integrated approach as it applies horizontal integration for interventions that combine physical, economic, social and environmental dimensions and vertical integration in terms of cooperation among all levels of government and local and EU actors. An initial stage of the preparation and adoption of the Strategic Plan for an Integrated Sustainable Urban Development to solve problems like abandoned spaces, city planning, disadvantaged neighbourhoods, urban mobility, culture and heritage, strategic planning and urban renewal was crucial, because it led to a strategic and also to a cooperative and participatory approach. Based on the above, the practice implemented in Limassol changed the city into a more sustainable urban living space as the development was accompanied by measures designed to reduce poverty, social exclusion and environmental problems. This integrated approach brought together social and economic actors to implement physical, economic, social and environmental actions, and the integrated development thus promoted a genuine solution to complex urban problems. The overall city planning strategy was followed and the objectives of the Plan were achieved: the redevelopment, upgrading and sustainable evolution of the centre of Limassol by maintaining its own symbolism and character. The implementation of the Plan contributed to the urban make-up and revival of the city centre.

The Local Authority was financially unable to undertake this huge restructuring intervention consisting of large infrastructure projects, due to its limited budget. State involvement, semi-government organisations and private sector initiatives were essential. Methods such as ΒΟΤ, ΡΡΡ and others proved to be particularly efficient.

Additionally, co-financing from the European Union was also crucial, wherever feasible. Specifically, in the projects development and implementation, there was a significant and undisputed participation on the part of:

• The Town Planning and Housing Department, for the preparation of the Area Plan for Limassol Centre;
• Limassol Municipality, which undertook the responsibility of building the main infrastructure projects in the city centre and on the seafront;
• The private sector, which promoted Limassol Marina;
• The Cyprus Ports Authority, which was responsible for the regeneration of the old port;
• The state, which contributed to the financing of some of the projects;
• Building owners, for the restoration of their buildings;
• The Archaeological Department, which contributed to the restoration of archaeological buildings and sites;
• The Cyprus University of Technology, which undertook the restoration of buildings to accommodate the university faculties;
• The bus company, which renewed its fleet;
• The Chamber of Commerce and the public, who expressed their opinions on the plans and designs during public presentations.

A New Era: Limassol flourishes again as a coastal city.

The positive results have already materialised as, despite the economic crisis plaguing the country, the centre of the city is one of the very few areas in Cyprus exhibiting growth and development. The reason is that, in addition to the areas of recreation and entertainment that were created for a young population, a large number of residential units have also been developed, attracting many residents to the centre of Limassol – a trend that would have seemed far removed 10 years ago. The active city planning aim of qualitative social improvement and round-the-clock activity in the centre of the city – in essence revitalising it both socially and economically – has been achieved.

A number of quality comforts, facilities and installations for public recreation and relaxation included in the projects have made the centre a unique area whose reputation has spread across Cyprus. The local character and colour of Limassol was also conserved and promoted. The city now offers greater hospitality, freshness and an open-hearted atmosphere, which is mainly felt during the warm Mediterranean summer and autumn days and nights. It is relaxing and offers peace of mind. Beyond the social parameters, the city centre has been enhanced through the restoration of old and abandoned buildings, providing a higher standard of built environment.

We strongly believe that Limassol’s good practice is interesting for other European cities as many of them face similar problems. Limassol’s good practice has achieved the desired results and can be recommended as a model. With the reuse of good practice, other cities will improve their own integrated urban policies and the delivery of these policies on the ground. Limassol’s good practice addresses issues widely faced by cities, offers practical and result-oriented solutions and applies a sustainable and integrated approach to tackling urban challenges. It is a participatory approach in both project development and implementation, involving all relevant stakeholders, is well-documented and has made a visible and measurable difference to the city and in the wider metropolitan area. The practice can easily be adopted and amended by any other European city. Details for comparison and adoption are available concerning the cost and the financing methods. It is a long-term practice that is still operating in Limassol. Our experience is conditional upon certain prerequisites that are valid not only for European coastal cities that are experiencing similar fiscal and climatic conditions to Cyprus but for every European city with a significant cultural background.

The Municipality of Genoa (IT) adopted the City Tax Management System in 2012, based on an official agreement between City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the tourism sector. Under the Genoa City Tax Management System, the City Tax is considered as a way to improve the marketing, communication and branding strategies and the hospitality services of the city. It is perceived as an opportunity and not as an obligation. 

The agreement’s operational instrument is the City Tax Working Group (CTWG), which defines and implements strategies to promote the city using these tax resources. Coordinated by the Deputy Mayor for Tourism and Culture, the CTWG is composed of representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, associations of hotel owners and tourism stakeholders. 
Each year, the Chamber of Commerce submits the Marketing and Communication Plan guidelines to the City Council. It is elaborated and shared among the members of CTWG, approved by the City Council, and implemented by the City Marketing, Tourism, International Relations Department of the City Hall, in collaboration with CTWG members. Results are regularly monitored during the year.

This good practice offers an effective solution to the potential conflicts between public and private sectors. It creates confidence among partners, empowering each member and avoiding useless discussions, focusing on results. It guarantees a specific budget to promote the city, and it proves, through the close and strategic cooperation between all the partners, that tourism is a strategic asset for the economic development of a city. Some of the effective solutions offered by the good practice are:

• Coordination of marketing, communication and media relations plans of all the tourism stakeholders in the city;
• Coordination of the different Departments of the Municipality in charge of road services, public transport, mobility, protection and maintenance of the urban heritage, parks and gardens, according to tourism priorities;
• Support for the implementation of new services and tourist products by independent local operators, with economic benefits and growth of employment;
• Sharing strategies, tasks and commitments between the city administration and stakeholders, in order to offer citizens a unique and incisive programme of city promotion; and
• Strong involvement of local press and media.

One of the most important challenges for a city is to face complex problems with an integrated approach. This approach is a pillar of the URBACT method. Our method includes the involvement of stakeholders and citizens, as well as the work of several municipal departments, like City Marketing, Culture, Economic Development, Public Works and Transport. The CTWG is a real public-private partnership (PPP), which shares common goals. Different opinions and professional backgrounds become a benefit.

EU institutions often stress the importance of creating PPPs to reach shared goals in urban governance. The quick and sustainable growth of Genoa as a tourist destination since the institution of the City Tax in 2012 (a 25% increase in bed nights in four years), proves that the model is the most effective way to create, in a few years, a new perspective for the city.

Participation and awareness of citizens ensures the sustainability of tourist growth, avoiding the risks of an invasive tourism that may damage the environment, authenticity, local culture and quality of life. Furthermore, tourism is an incentive for the improvement of local services, and a chance to change the look and the atmosphere of the city. The new identity of the city results in a new sentiment of belonging and pride in citizens. In short: the use of an integrated approach to promote tourism can provide permanent benefits for the urban community and the whole territory.

The City Tax Agreement sets rules and ways of partners’ involvement. The CTWG involves stakeholders at every step of the decision-making and operational processes: addressing their priorities through the “Guidelines document”, approving the “Marketing and Communication Plan”, implementing and updating it with municipal departments and monitoring the results through previously accepted criteria.

The involvement of restaurant and bar owners has been crucial to improve the level and the quality of all aspects of hospitality. Encouraging a habit of working together between institutions and stakeholders, the City Tax Management System has created the conditions for a widespread enhancement of ancient commercial and local gastronomic traditions and the creation of the historical shops’ register. Smaller thematic working groups have been created for organising big events, conferences, communication campaigns, social media, marketing and promotional actions.

The Genoa Social Media Team (strongly connected to the URBACT III Action Planning Network Interactive Cities, led by Genoa) has been created to involve citizens in the social media strategies and to coordinate and co-promote web communication actions. A working group has been created to enable citizens to propose to the city administration specific projects of public works that can be implemented using City Tax resources, i.e. restoration of monuments, maintenance of historical buildings, public gardens and parks.

The City Tax Management System has positively affected relations and cooperation between the administration, stakeholders and citizens. Furthermore, it has helped to re-establish confidence between the parties. These results confirm the importance of the integrated approach to the development of tourism implemented by Genoa. Tourism has become an important part of city governance.

From the economic point of view, the results of this good practice are strong and evident, in terms of the number of bed nights (2,000,000 in 2016, up 7.34%), the level of internationalisation of tourism in the city (51.48% on the 49.40% of Italy), the number of tourists visiting the Tourist Information Centres (358,000 in 2016, up 28.72% from 2015), time spent in Genoa (2.3 days in 2016, in 2012 it was 1.98), economic impact on the city (€491,360,000 in 2016), level of employment (approximately 1,500 new jobs in five years).

There are evident results also in terms of brand visibility, positioning and reputation of the city on the tourism market. This can be demonstrated by several indicators: press release numbers, the results of the digital campaigns, visitors to the official website www.visitgenoa.it, results achieved on social media (quality of the contents, statistics about user numbers and engagement rate) and destination reputation analysis: the City commissioned a consultancy to analyse Genoa’s reputation on the web; from 2014 to 2016 its Reputation Index grew from 35 to 74/100.

Many cities are facing the problem of relations between the city government and stakeholders as they seek to promote the city and attract tourism, talent and investments. Tourism can create an important leverage effect by boosting investments. networks and associations, like European Cities Marketing, unite a lot of cities to work together in this field and lobby the EU institutions. The importance of tourism in economic and urban development is clear, also considering the growing attention EU institutions pay to tourism by putting it as a priority in Territorial Cooperation Funding Programmes.

In several European projects, including City Logo and Interactive Cities, we have met and discussed with other cities about the right way to include tourism in their strategic planning of economic development. The economic crisis is forcing cities in this direction. Many cities are already asking us to share with them our experience, explain our City Tax Management System and help them to adopt a similar method to promote their cities as tourist destinations.

Many cities in Europe have already established a City Tax, but are dealing with the problem of managing it without the consent of hotel owners, stakeholders and citizens. Despite the economic crisis, many cities are investing resources in tourism development. This good practice, through cooperation, participation and commitment, helps achieve good results with limited funding.

Groningen (NL), like many university cities, is becoming increasingly international. This is driven by demographic need and opportunity in the knowledge economy. The good practice represents an integrated approach to internationalization to ensure a sustainable future for the city. Groningen is small and traditionally regionally oriented, thus the large-scale internationalization is a relatively new phenomenon for the town. The city manages complex processes included in an integrated and participative programme which addresses four key aspects: housing, work, city living and communication. The programme aims at attracting, retaining and integrating new residents while maintaining a high level of social cohesion and liveability. It contributes to a sustainable economic, demographic and cultural future and makes Groningen an attractive home for locals and internationals.

Our good practice addresses both the external objective of remaining competitive in a globalized knowledge economy, and the internal objective of maintaining the high social cohesion and livability that make Groningen such an attractive city. Thus we provide an integrated practice for achieving resilience in a global setting. We achieve these goals by actively managing internationalization along four key dimensions: housing, work, city living and communication. Projects address problems in these areas as follows:

• combined on- and offline platform will improve access to local housing and housing support,
• a broad regional programme “Make It in the North” will open up access to the local SME sector and international knowledge migrants (through jobs portal, internship programmes and network events), thereby also adding to the innovative capacity and global reach of local enterprises,
• several “city living” projects will make the cultural and physical life of the city more accessible to new residents by improving way-finding off- and online,
• matchmaking organisation and events, to provide language support and social integration between locals and international residents,
• a new city site will provide English-language information for prospective and new residents of the city, and contribute to Groningen’s international profile. These projects are coordinated and managed by a multidisciplinary team with local and international members.

Our integrated good practices for managing internationalization represent sustainable urban development by contributing directly to the demographic resilience, economic vitality and social cohesion of the city and its surroundings. In particular, we address inclusion by a calendar of events to stimulate and facilitate interaction between old and new residents and are exploring the possibility to include refugee groups in these too. Indirectly, we contribute to the knowledge areas prioritized by the local educational institutions: energy, sustainable society and healthy ageing, all of which are underpinned by sustainable development goals. In terms of our approach, the scope and coordination of the International Groningen programme represent both horizontal and vertical integration. The projects combine physical interventions in the city (e.g. street signage, clubhouse), with community building programmes and coordinated, online information channels to improve access to local facilities, networks and (job) opportunities, and interaction between internationals and locals. The deep vertical integration of the programme is evidenced by the support of the “Akkoord van Groningen”, a high-level strategic partnership between the municipality and the higher educational institutions, as well as the broad participation of regional bodies and the private sector in sub-projects such as the Make It in the North initiative.

The International Groningen programme is fundamentally participatory in its nature. At a strategic level the entire programme is supported by the Akkoord van Groningen, a unique partnership between the municipality and the higher educational institutions in the city. For relevant sub-projects, such as the Make It in the North to open up the regional job market to internationalisation, a much wider group of stakeholders is actively involved, including SME organisations from the surrounding provinces, the provincial government etc. The projects which comprise the programme have been developed and implemented by mixed teams of municipal and university employees, international residents operating on a freelance basis, international students and interns. In the development phase we have worked extensively with focus groups consisting of international residents and local student project groups to better understand how internationalisation is experienced and what the key challenges for the city are. Additionally, the proposed projects have been presented in diverse contexts, such as to the University’s Council and Advisory Board, the municipal board, Dutch diplomats from northern Netherlands and regional representatives.

It is difficult to show hard evidence of the effectiveness of the policies, as during the life-time of the policies (2017-2021) 2 mayor trends happened: the Covid -pandemic put an effective halt to migration, and, even during the pandemic, the number of internationals is growing faster than we can cope with. We have to prioritize in order to make sure that all newcomers can actually live in the city. Due to the migration-saldo, Groningen has a growing population, with a greater growth than average with comparable cities. So, attractiveness is there, but the policies are strained due to lack of sufficient structural funding and due to increasing demand for services. We do see local impact along several key lines:

• The topic has risen on the local and regional political agenda, thanks to the Akkoord van Groningen,
• Internationals are becoming more engaged as we ask them to join project teams and focus groups,
• Cultural stakeholders and companies are seeing ‘the international’ more and more as a potential interesting target group they have to facilitate in new ways, • The municipality starts to embrace internationals in other policy fields as well, such as public transport, health care etc,
• We have outside interest from other secondary Dutch cities

Groningen led the Welcoming International Talent Network over 2.5 years, transferring its practices to 6 other cities: Magdeburg (Germany), Parma (Italy), Bielsko-Biala (Poland), Debrecen (Hungary), Zlín (Czech Republic) and Leuven (Belgium). You can, in particular, check Debrecen‘s Good practice here. The approach was based on 5 themes on which Groningen focused and adjusted to each partner city: Cross-cutting issues ( effective governance: stakeholder co-ordination, empowering and engaging the internationals effectively), Facilities (access to housing, medical services, amenities, help with bureaucracy), Branding and marketing, Improving integration/incorporation and mutual appreciation, and Improving labour market integration

In 2013, Preston City Council (UK) and six other anchor institutions embarked on a project to identify how their wealth could be understood and harnessed more effectively for the benefit of the local economy. An element of wealth that anchors institutions can influence their procurement spend. Central to the work in Preston has been the analysis of these institutions’ procurement (1 billion euros), to understand where that spend goes geographically and on which types of business type, and what happens to it once it reaches suppliers. The anchor institutions then used the evidence gathered to inform how they undertake procurement. Some institutions have revisited the spend analysis: evidence suggests their spend has increased in the local economy and with small to medium-sized enterprises. The work demonstrates the importance of using evidence to shape policy change and the role of procurement in addressing challenges.

The good practice offered by the Preston City Council and the six other anchor institutions is a methodology and means of changing behaviour around procurement so that it generates more local economic, social, and environmental benefits. The methodology consists of three parts. First, it enables cities and institutions to understand where their procurement spend goes. So, the methodology measures the extent to which the annual 1 billion euros of procurement spend of the anchor institutions is with: businesses based in Preston and Lancashire, SMEs and social enterprises, and with businesses in particular industrial sectors. Second, it enables cities and institutions to understand the extent to which their procurement spend occurs elsewhere in the UK and across Europe and in which sector and to explore the scope for that money to be spent with different types of business, for example.. Third, it enables cities and institutions to identify the extent to which their suppliers are creating jobs or apprenticeships and find out about their practices around social sector engagement or environmental management. Effectively this activity develops an evidence base through which cities can understand the existing contribution their anchor institutions make to a local economy and assists in developing policies and practices through procurement which can enhance those contributions and further harness the potential or wealth of anchor institutions.

The good practice fits with URBACT principles because it is about harnessing the wealth of anchor institutions through procurement spend which can help to create wealth in the local economy, thereby reducing poverty and social exclusion through increased employment opportunities, the creation of new businesses and supply chains, skills development, and dealing with environmental issues, for example, by reducing carbon footprint, waste etc. It is also based on an integrated and participatory approach whereby the anchor institutions (public and social sector) work together to ensure that their procurement spend is used to bring additional economic, social, and environmental benefits to their local economies. The recent inclusion of stakeholders from business networks ensures that the voice of the private sector, and also supply chains, are involved in the process. Whilst the good practice initially focused specifically on the Preston local authority area, it has now been broadened to encompass the wider functional urban area (of Preston and South Ribble) and also the wider Lancashire region, ensuring that the horizontal, vertical, and territorial integration aspects have been taken into account.

The work around anchor institutions and spending analysis in Preston commenced in 2013 and continues in 2017. Over the last four years a range of stakeholders has been involved and the whole project is framed by a cooperative desire across the institutions to use their wealth to create greater benefits for the local economy. Stakeholders have been involved throughout the work.

1. The chief executives and political leaders (where appropriate) were visited to secure their buy-in to the principles of harnessing the wealth of institutions.
2. Procurement officers in each of the institutions were engaged to share data around their procurement spend and their suppliers to enable the analysis to take place.
3. The chief executives, politicians and procurement officers were brought together to share the findings of the supply chain analysis and to develop a collective statement of intent as to how they were going to change practices around procurement in light of the analysis.
4. The procurement officers have continued to meet through a procurement practitioners group and now an URBACT local group (as part of the Procurement Network) to discuss how they are changing practice around procurement.
5. The supply chain of some of the anchors has been engaged to identify the wider impact they are bringing through the delivery of goods and services. Engagement has been sustained over the course of the last four years with the stakeholders described above.

The overall achievements of Preston have been:

1. It has positioned Preston as a progressive place for local economic development and addressing poverty.
2. It has led to a much more effective relationship within and between institutions in Preston.
3. It has enabled a range of baseline data to be collected about the existing impact of anchor institutions and the wider business base in Preston.
4. It has secured the buy-in of senior stakeholders and enabled the development of a collective statement of intent.
5. Through the analysis of where spend goes and in what sector, it has enabled a much greater understanding of Preston’s business base and those which could potentially deliver goods and services.
6. It has changed behaviour around procurement in each of the institutions and enabled enhanced impact. For example, the proportion of spending of Preston City Council with Preston-based businesses through procurement has increased from 14% to 28%.
7. It has recognised that this is a long-term approach to addressing key challenges.
8. It recognises the importance of scale when implementing wealth-building initiatives.
9. It has had an impact on addressing wider issues including low pay and deprivation. The core impact has been in the behaviour of anchor institutions and the realisation that spending analysis and procurement can be utilised as a lever or way in which challenges facing cities can be addressed.
10. The approach has enabled more effective engagement with SMEs and subsequently a greater proportion of SMEs being successful.
11. There is a more collective approach to not only delivering local economic benefits through procurement but also to Social Value.

Over 2.5 years, Preston has led the Making Spend Matter network, transferring its practice to 6 other cities: Pamplona (Spain), Kavala (Greece), Bistriţa (Romania), Koszalin (Poland), Vila Nova de Famalicão (Portugal), Schaerbeek (Belgium). You can, in particular, check Koszalin’s Good practice here. The approach was based on Preston’s four areas of work adaptable to each city’s reality: Advanced Spend Analysis, Business Database Development, SME Capacity Building, and Social and Environmental Criteria. The final outputs are all available on the URBACT website.

People from all over Budapest (HU) take part in the city's Weekend of Open Houses – Budapest100, a festival that opens the gates of 50-60 houses and institutions each year. The event has become a tradition since its launch in 2011, with attendance reaching 20,000 visitors during the weekend.
Between 2011 and 2015 it was organised as a community-building initiative celebrating 100-year-old Budapest buildings, with the cooperation of citizens, NGOs, public institutions and district municipalities. Its main aim is to draw attention to local buildings, their architectural value and history - and to the civilian power that organises residential communities and holds them together. Since 2016, the event has been structured around a given theme or location.
The broad mission of Budapest100 is to initiate a common discussion about revival and inspire the establishment and strengthening of residential communities.

The solution offered by Budapest100 is threefold. It contributes to reforming urban community co-existence, to change the relationship between residents and the city and to help people become more responsible citizens. The weekend of open houses initiates common discussion about urban revival, underlines the values of the built environment and takes action against social isolation. Throughout Europe there are similar initiatives, but with a much lower social impact. The examples are mainly concentrating on the built environment, letting the audience enter a building and sharing with them the most important data, collected and presented by experts. Budapest100, on the other hand, adds the factors of community-building and creating value. In the apartment blocks joining the programme, residents prepare in a self-organized way (with the help of volunteers) exhibitions, cultural events, concerts and give building-history tours for the visiting audiences. The strength of the event lies in creating a demand to share and value transfer. The easiest way of social mobilisation is to create emotional engagement. The festival creates a platform for telling the stories behind closed doors and to start dialogues. Budapest100 has highlighted the possibilities of a cleverly organised, friendly city involving the residents.

Through its strong community development focus, its link to informal education, social isolation and nurturing of local organisers, Budapest100 essentially includes the social aspect related to integrated urban development. Both economic and environmental aspects of urban development are tackled by the fact that residents form communities within the programme and are more alert to physical degradation. Many apartment blocks started repeating community action in a self-organising way after Budapest100, resulting in renovations and smaller architectural changes, not to mention self-organised actions. Besides mobilising internal efforts (local people caring more), Budapest100 also draws the attention of tourists, local businesses and municipalities. The real economic impact potentially achieved through these actors is significant, even if indirect. Budapest100 not only addresses the city-loving audience, but a wide range of professionals, namely architects, landscape architects and urban planners, and initiates a common discourse on the themes affecting the city and its people. During the months of the preparations for the weekend festival a significant number of volunteers are involved and trained, who get in touch with the buildings which respond to the open call. In line with the above progress of the initiative, in 2016 the festival departed from the historical aspect of celebrating 100-year-old houses (because as a consequence of WW1 there were no buildings to celebrate) and has started to be organised around a theme. In 2016 the topic was the Grand Boulevard of Budapest, in 2017 the Danube quays, in 2018 the squares of the city while in 2019 the Bauhaus heritage.

Budapest100 was launched by the Open Society Archives and is organised by the Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre, an NGO dedicated to the dissemination of architectural practices. Budapest metropolitan and district municipalities aid the organisation by financial and in-kind support (human resources, data, communication). Since the 2011 beginning, the event has been performed with a constantly growing infrastructure and press attention, with many partners joining the initiative. The festival uses already successful methods in a further developed way: recruiting a network of 150 volunteers and involving researchers. Their composition is mixed across ages and professions, including students, retired people, architects, employees of companies and artists. There is no declared hierarchical relationship among the various actors, the structure is transparent, with open communication. Residents and volunteers are realising community programmes together alongside the principles articulated by the core team of Budapest100: culture development, information transfer, preservation of values and community cooperation. Along with the programmes in the houses, workshops and discussions on urban planning also take place attracting professionals and decision-makers. The core team pays attention to the residents and makes sure they are getting involved in these discussions, so they have the opportunity to offer their own opinions and ideas.

In the past ten years, Budapest100 has opened the gates of 50 to 60 houses and institutions yearly. Based on the feedback from involved residents, the weekends were full of experiences and lessons learnt. Many of them have highlighted that they would never have thought that so many people would be interested in their lives or their neighbourhoods. In an indirect way the festival offered them the feeling of uniqueness and importance and created conditions for neighbourhoods working together towards a common goal, making the residents’ voices heard. Local communities became stronger through the access to knowledge that helps them get closer to their own stories, their buildings and through that their cities, making them feel responsible. A more concrete success is that many apartment blocks started repeating community actions in a self-organised way following Budapest100, resulting in renovations and smaller architectural changes or organising a yard picnic or concert. The festival also got international reputation: in 2013 the Guardian chose the festival as one of the most interesting programmes of the continent, and it also received one of the prizes in “The most beautiful city feast” by Lebendige Stadt Stiftung, Hamburg. Besides the URBACT good practice label Budapest100 has become a part of the Cultural Heritage in Action Programme too.

After being awarded the URBACT Good Practice title, Újbuda was able to create the Come In! Transfer Network to which six European cities (Gheorgheni RO, Forlì IT, Varaždin HR, Pori FI, Plasencia ES, Targówek/Warsaw PL) were invited. Actually, Újbuda itself also used the method of Budapest100 in another target area, Őrmező, a prefabricated housing estate. Equipped by URBACT with a toolkit, the cities could learn from each other. The transfer process was not one-sided, during the transnational meetings the existing practices of some of the transfer cities inspired Újbuda and contributed to the development of ideas to further improve the Good Practice in the following ways. 1. Organisation of spin-off activities besides the annual big festival (like the event in the Castle District of Budapest). This has partly been inspired by the Come in! project partners which transferred the good practice in neighbourhoods and not in fragmented houses through the entire city centre. 2. Reflection on modern built environment during the annual festival. It already happened that the topic of prefabricated housing estates was one among the potential topics. Most likely one of the next BP100 festivals will reflect on modern heritage. 3. Budapest100 was inspired by the Forli website as well. In Budapest there is a massive database of houses involved in the last years, but the Italian website is very professional in terms of highlighting storytelling. This was one of the key themes of the Come in! network: describing the stories of the places (in a website and on the spot) can extend the effect of the festival, making it permanent, not only one-off event. 4. Using design thinking workshop methods as a further motivation for the volunteers. 5. Moving forward from celebration to joint placemaking actions on super local level (e.g. building an inner garden in a patio).

Every day, citizens, tourists and enterprises need to access a range of city services and resources, and in some cases to pay for them. Meanwhile, city councils are also developing various policies to boost healthy habits and social behavior to improve the quality of life.
The Gijon City Council (ES) fulfils both these groups of needs with a smart card (Gijon Citizen Card) that gives citizens access to the city's services and public facilities, such as shared transport, cultural activities and digital services. It also sets up citizenship profiles to better match citizens' needs with public policies. The Citizen Card has become both an integrated tool for public services and a coordination and loyalty mechanism. Launched in 2002, the Citizen Card is now used by more than 300.000 people to access and pay for municipal services and activities.

The following list shows the different uses of the Citizen Card:

• Citizen Terminals: there are one-stop shops where citizens can access different procedures around the clock and with terminals that are located in the neighborhoods (currently, there are 21);
• Public Transport: citizens can recharge the Citizen Card to use the bus. As it is a personal item, the card has information about citizens' situations and adapts the prices, and if someone loses their card the transport company refunds the credit previously put on the card;
• Virtual Office: access to online services;
• Parking tickets: to get a ticket to park the car in a restricted area;
• Libraries & Media Centres: the card allows members to borrow books, CDs and DVDs. There are 12 Tele-centres, each with approximately 15 computers where citizens can take courses or can connect to the Internet for one hour using the Citizen Card;
• Public toilets: with the Citizen Card, 18 equipped toilets can be used for free. Otherwise users have to pay for it;
• Free entry to local museums;
• Use of Bicycles: Throughout the city, there are 64 bikes that can be picked up and returned to eight terminals. The bikes are available for use free of charge for Citizen Card holders;
• Leisure Activities and venues: With the Citizen Card, it is possible to pay for and book different sport and cultural activities and venues;
• Car sharing of public electric vehicles: Free recharge of electric vehicles at five points in the city.

The Citizen Card will contribute to sustainable urban living because it promotes and facilitates the use of public transport and other sustainable ways of transportation such as car sharing or electric vehicles. Other uses linked to the promotion of sports and cultural activities are very important to foster integration, good health habits and to avoid social exclusion. The Citizen Card also contains details about users’ socio-economic situations, which allows us to adapt the rates of the different services, contributing in this way to the reduction of poverty. One of the current aims of the Citizen Card is to work with a holistic and participative approach, because it combines different services that are interconnected and can share relevant information. It also allows citizens to participate and use the services throughout different tools (Citizen Terminals, online, etc.). Additionally, a free training session is offered on how to use the Citizen Card, favouring the digital inclusion of some groups and connectivity, and minimizing unnecessary trips. To sum up, the Citizen Card plays a key role in the development of sustainable mobility by encouraging behaviours and habits of a healthy life, promoting a culture of energy efficiency and sustainable growth.

The Citizen Card will contribute to sustainable urban living because it promotes and facilitates the use of public transport and other sustainable ways of transportation such as car sharing or electric vehicles. Other uses linked to the promotion of sports and cultural activities are very important to foster integration, good health habits and to avoid social exclusion. The Citizen Card also contains details about users’ socio-economic situations, which allows us to adapt the rates of the different services, contributing in this way to the reduction of poverty.
One of the current aims of the Citizen Card is to work with a holistic and participative approach, because it combines different services that are interconnected and can share relevant information. It also allows citizens to participate and use the services throughout different tools (Citizen Terminals, online, etc.). Additionally, a free training session is offered on how to use the Citizen Card, favoring the digital inclusion of some groups and connectivity, and minimizing unnecessary trips.
To sum up, the Citizen Card plays a key role in the development of sustainable mobility by encouraging behaviors' and habits of a healthy life, promoting a culture of energy efficiency and sustainable growth.

People and legal entities including associations, migrants and foreigners can have a Citizen Card. Currently, there are 363.966 cards held by people and 1.496 by enterprises. Gijón has a population of 272,202 (you can check the data in real time on our open data portal), but people who are citizens and carry out any activity in Gijón can also have a Citizen Card. The city schools also have Citizen Cards to take part in the programming of cultural and sport activities. During the launch phase of the project, all citizen groups were involved. It is worth mentioning the incorporation of participative movements in the development phase. The methodology was focused on the active participation and collaboration of municipal departments in charge of each civic sector (Sport, Education, Social Services, Mobility, Governance and Sustainability) which have been acting as mediators with different citizen groups. Examples of contributors were the associative movements incorporated from neighborhood groups and economic and social sectors of the city, such as architects, engineers, the hotel industry, building and transport enterprises, traders, etc.

Gijon has sought to turn the citizen card into a living element that accomplishes the new needs of the citizens and the city: to offer citizens good quality services, have one card for all municipal actions, improve existing functions and add new ones. It has become an essential tool to the quality of life in Gijon City: "Smart living". Citizens of Gijón, businesses and tourists could access municipal services, allowing a reduction in bureaucracy, time saving, ensuring access to services, promoting policies of social inclusion, sustainability, smart growth and sustainable mobility.

During the lifetime of the URBACT Transfer Network, Gijon has enhanced the portfolio of services and turned the citizen card into the driving force to achieve a smart society for innovative and sustainable city by implementing the following measures:

• Study the use of Gijón Citizen Card with a Commerce loyalty Card to encourage retail trade
• Possibility of including credit linked to Social Services Subsidies
• Access to trash bins with citizen card: policy of tax incentives to recycle
• Access to charging points of electrical vehicles
• Interoperability of citizen cards between European cities. Evaluation of conclusions given by Eurocties Citizen Card Lab
• Communication with urban equipment and facilities (IoT)
• Energy efficiency: streetlights, smart management of equipment
• Advantageous use of data provided by the citizen cards Big data management
• App for mobile devices development
• Appointment management in public offices due to Covid-19 limitations
• Control access to different venues due to Covid-19

The Citizen Card has an average of 32,000 uses/day and around 1,000,000 uses/month.

Gijon led the Card4all Network over 2.5 years, transferring its practices to 5 other cities: Suceava (Romania), Aveiro (Portugal), Clermont Ferrand (France), Jurmala (Latvia), and Sassari (Italy). You can, in particular, check Aveiro’s Good practice here. The approach was based on the 3 learning approaches: Experiential, Reflective, and Contextual support. All these covered topics (I.T integration, standardization, interoperability of Citizen Cards between European cities, business models, governance, data protection, integration with smartphones, web applications, local cross-sectorial services, pool of services to be considered, policy support, and, marketing strategy to reach visibility and a sense of owning) whose outputs can be found in the Final report of the Network available online. Card4all and Gijón as mentor city was also a key contributor to the Eurocities’ Knowledge Society Forum on Citizen Cards.