Networks and cities' news

Seeding a new approach to local social cohesion across Europe’s cities

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” So said the American philosopher and futurist Buckminster Fuller. He could have been talking about the city of Utrecht and their innovative social transformation project that has turned traditional models of migrant reception on their head.

Utrecht (NL) has shown an approach that can meet the needs of new arrivals from their first day in the local area at the same time as the needs of the local community already in place. In doing so, they have created positive relationships, overcome distrust and fear and provided an example of local social cohesion that can, and should, inspire other cities across Europe.

This is the starting point of Plan Einstein Academy, a two-year Innovation Transfer Network supported by URBACT that is exploring how to transfer Utrecht’s innovative ‘Plan Einstein’ model to five partner cities in different European countries: Coimbra (PT); Suceava (RO); Thessaloniki (EL); Warsaw (PL); and Zagreb (HR).

How a Closed Theatre Opened a City: Alessandria's Theatre4all Is Inspiring Europe

Water Finds A Way - The Transfer experience of the Hydro-Heritage Cities

In this HHC Network Final Report, Sandra Rainero (lead expert) and Chiara Lucchini (ad hoc expert) narrate what it means to transfer in creative and inspiring ways an innovative practice of sustainable water-heritage management. 

A conversation on energy poverty, knowledge transfer, governance and the role of cities in Europe

Contacted by Maximiliano Schulz, intern at the German URBACT Point, EmPowerIngUs Coordinator Fernando Gonzalez Ferreira and Ad Hoc Expert Chiara Lucchini had the chance to dialogue and reflect about the project's development, trajectories, legacies and future perspectives. The interview was also a priceless occasion to reflect on the URBACT programme as an opportunity for cities in the EU to innovate and reframe their courses of action, as much as to explore new frontiers of governance, government and integrated development**. 

THE COM’ON CHRONICLE (Issue #1: November 2025 – August 2026)

Understanding before translating: How five European cities want to improve and rebuild their youth participatory budgeting (YPB) based on the Com’ON Cluj good practice

From Local Challenges to Shared Solutions: What Theatre4all Cities Learned in Den Bosch