Networks and cities' news

Building cities that work for people: From Braga to Europe, a new social innovation model is travelling across Europe

In Braga, Portugal, social innovation experimentation has been underway since 2015. What began as

a strategic vision developed during the URBACT BoostINNO network - a plan to harness the city's

human potential rather than simply its economic resources - has evolved, over a decade and through

successive waves of funding and iteration, into something far more substantial: the Human Power

Hub, a permanent, municipally-anchored platform for social innovation that has helped create over

50 social enterprises, brought more than a thousand citizens into active co-creation processes, and

generated 200 jobs in the social economy.

The Human Power Hub is not a conventional incubator. Where most innovation centres operate on

Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer logic, Braga's model is built on the different premise:

a Human-to-Human philosophy, the idea that the most powerful driver of social change is a person

supported to become a change-maker. The Human Power Hub (HPH) functions simultaneously as a

physical space, a methodology toolkit, a governance framework, and a community ecosystem, all

woven into the fabric of municipal public policy through BragaHabit E.M., the city's housing public

company.

Recognised as an URBACT Good Practice in 2024, the HPH model has embarked on a new chapter. Six

European cities, Bologna, Espoo, Gdańsk, Kyiv, Leipzig, and Málaga, have come together alongside

Braga as the lead partner, under the HPH Europe URBACT IV Transfer Network to adapt, test, and

ultimately build their own versions of the Human Power Hub. The collective ambition goes well

beyond the 30-month URBACT project timeline: the network is working toward a new European

model for social innovation, a constellation of locally rooted Human Power Hubs, connected by

shared methodologies, common impact frameworks, and a culture of mutual learning.

Eat4Climate – The First Steps of the Journey

Launched in November 2025 and led by City of Mouans-Sartoux as Lead Partner, and François Jegou as Lead Expert, the Eat4Climate Transfer network brings together six cities committed to changin eating habits in order to reduce the carbon footprint of food systems. Through the adaptation and the transfer of Mouans-Sartoux’s Good Practice, partners are working to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable and climate friendly food systems.

RECUP MASTERCLASS - Grants and Beyond: Rethinking how we fund culture and creativity in cities

The RECUP Masterclass“Grants and Beyond: Rethinking How We Fund Culture and Creativity in Cities” explored how cities can move beyond traditional grant-based systems and develop more sustainable approaches to financing culture.

WATER, HERITAGE & CITIES: Exploring New Urban Futures Through Hydro-Heritage

‘Omnes viae ad Romam ducunt’ Hydro-Heritage Cities public event, 18 June 2026, Rome - Urban Center Metropolitano, 14:30 – 18:40. Happy to see you there.  

From Cultural policies to Reflective Cities: how RECUP is shaping a new policy paradigm

By Elisa Filippi, 

Lead Expert REinventing Culture in Urban Places ITN URBACT Network

This is how we found ourselves entangled, connected to one another in a collective performance, moving and interpreting a live artwork together.

It happened on a cold November day under Dublin’s bright blue sky. And no, we were not in a theatre. We were in the meeting rooms of Sandyford Business District (IE), one of Ireland’s important centres for innovation and industry.

We were not a group of actors either. We were experts and city representatives from six European cities, gathered as part of the URBACT REinventing Culture in Urban Places Network (RECUP).

What brought us together was a simple question: can culture become an enabling force for cities seeking to address loneliness and social fragmentation?

This is precisely what the RECUP network set out to explore, building on the good practice developed in Újbuda – XI District of Budapest (HU) through the Urban Innovative Actions project CUP4Creativity. That project tested a shift in cultural policy: from culture as something people consume, to culture as something people co-create.

Insights and advancements from from quartely network journal #2

Local groups and local stakeholders, what a role! One of the defining features of the URBACT Innovative Transfer Network is the central role played by the URBACT Local Groups (ULGs). EmPowerIngUs makes shows clearly how across the five partner cities, these multi-stakeholder platforms are supporting the transfer of the Energy Poverty Intelligence Unit (EPIU) Good Practice from Getafe, Spain, while adapting its methods to local contexts and priorities.

Although each city has developed its own governance structure, all ULGs share a common objective: bringing together public authorities, social actors, technical experts and community representatives to address energy poverty through collaborative and integrated approaches.