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Transnational cooperation in a pandemic situation, the story of Active Citizens network

The Covid-19 profoundly shook the world. No one was at rest. Everyone had to learn new ways of living, new ways of working, new ways of communicating, new ways of socializing. And obviously, European level cooperation programmes such as URBACT had to completely review the way it was functioning. Indeed, Action Planning Networks (but not alone) mostly rely on what is called transnational exchanges, in other words, in city administration meeting with other city administrations from all over Europe. From Estonia to Portugal, from Germany to Romania, from Republic Czech to France or Italy, partners meet, exchange, learn from one another and experiment new paths towards implementing greater participatory democracy in local governance. The power and originality of such networks, not only rely on transnational exchanges but also rely on the field experience, on “seeing one another’s reality” on the ground. But, obviously, the Covid situation made these physical encounters and exchanges absolutely impossible. Therefore, and like everyone else, Active Citizens had to move from convivial, lively physical gatherings to very unstable and uncomfortable online meetings. Everyone had to learn fast and adapt quickly. No choice.

Citizen participation? Hell no!

Citizen participation? Hell no! is a card game composed of 42 cards which are 42 reasons, arguments, pretexts, etc. for NOT doing any citizen participation! We all know, indeed, that not everyone – especially within public authorities and both from the elected officials side or the civil servants one – is keen on developing citizen participation. Not everyone is convinced of its added value, not only for democracy but also for better policies and services. Opening governance to a form of co-creation and co-decision process with citizens is quite uncomfortable for most people who hold a certain level of power (again both from the elected officials and civil servants side). What are the arguments of those who are against or at least ‘not convinced’ by citizen participation? What are you often told? What are the critiques of citizen participation that you hear?

Newsletter nr. 9: Walk on a Bee Path and learn a city Bee Story

In the main article we invite you to learn more about our cities' Bee Paths, which showcase all of our efforts to make our cities bee and pollinator friendly. Walking the Bee Paths gives visitors a unique perspective into the lives of bees and how they affect our daily lives. Knowingly and unknowingly these effects are felt in every area. When you eat a simple meal, at least one part of the meal is on your plate thanks to our wonderful pollinators. When you take a walk outside and enjoy all nature has to offer, well the view would not be spectacular in the least without them. 

So if you are a citizen of a city or a tourist visiting somewhere, the glory of all that surrounds us, would be diminished without our friends the Bees, so read how you can learn more about them while visiting our Bee Paths in Amarante, Bydgoszcz, Cesena, Hegyvidek, Nea Propontida and Ljubljana.

Place du Panthéon: Building gender into public space

What does redesigning public space from a gendered perspective look like? In this newest GenderedLandscape video case study where Chris Blache, co-founder of Genre et Ville, tells us about their work with Place du Panthéon.

“The Sea Starts Here” – Urban Art raising awareness for Environmental Preservation

The artistic interpretation of an aquarium is the subject of an urban art display in the centre of Agueda, in support of the campaign “O Mar começa aqui” (“The sea starts here”). The aim of the instillation is to increase the community awareness and importnace of environment preservation. The piece of art was inaugurated on the November 19^th, to mark World Sanitation Day.