How eight European cities are bringing heritage back into civic life: The CivicHeritage Journey
The first months of the URBACT CivicHeritage Network have unfolded through city visits, local encounters and countless kilometres across Europe. From Romania to North Macedonia, from the Czech Republic to Portugal, the network has already become much more than a transfer process. It has become a shared European journey exploring how heritage can reconnect cities, communities and civic life.
Led by Onda (ES), the URBACT CivicHeritage Network brings together Alba Iulia (RO), Alcanena (PT), Colle di Val d’Elsa (IT), Otrokovice (CZ), Tønder (DK), Tetovo (MK) and Varaždinske Toplice (HR) around one central challenge: how can underused heritage become active civic infrastructure once again?
Travelling between partner cities meant discovering not only buildings and governance models, but also the people, hospitality and stories behind them. Every city offered a different view of how heritage can shape everyday life and local identity.
As someone born in the Balkans, professionally shaped in Central Europe and now based in Western Europe, these visits felt deeply personal. They revealed how connected European urban realities are despite their different histories and political contexts.
At the centre of the network stands La Campaneta in Onda, the CivicHeritage Good Practice that inspired the transfer journey. Once an abandoned ceramic factory, it gradually evolved into a shared space for participation, learning, culture and community encounters. Rather than treating heritage only as something to preserve, Onda demonstrates how it can become an active civic resource shaped by communities themselves.
Yet, CivicHeritage was never intended as a model to simply replicate. The CivicHeritage Transferability Study combines seven pre-visit SWOT analyses with city visits, site observations, stakeholder dialogue and URBACT Local Group discussions. It examines not only the buildings, but also governance readiness, local partnerships, ownership, institutional coordination and the capacity to test new uses. Its central lesson is that transfer depends on local adaptation rather than direct copying.
