MAR Movilidad is the mobility hub of the Mares Madrid project, an initiative by the city of Madrid, co-funded by the European Union’s Urban Innovative Actions programme. Bringing together a variety of actors active in the city, from citizen initiatives, startups and social enterprises to cooperative networks and economic development organisations, Mares Madrid (an acronym […]
Search Results for: economic
Like other major European cities, Barcelona has a great industrial heritage that can now be re-used for a new and different development of its urban life, regenerating spaces, places and communities. The former Can Batlló factory, a post-industrial infrastructure in La Bordeta neighbourhood of the Sants district, is part of this industrial heritage. Due to […]
Heritage is a crucial component of our individual and collective identities, communities and social infrastructure as well as our urban and rural fabrics. Heritage assets, central to the imagination of residents of an area or a broader community, enable people to create spaces of sociability, develop new businesses, create new welfare services, implement the logic […]
Edited by: Heike Oevermann, Levente Polyák, Hanna Szemzö, Harald A. Mieg
Publisher: Birkhäuser, Basel, 2023
Format: Paper size B5, 216 pages
ISBN 978-3-0356-2680-3
Published: 2023
Pages: 216
Language: English
E-Book Published: 21 Aug 2023
ISBN: 978-3-0356-2682-7
Over the past decade, market halls and open air food markets have become an important arena for urban regeneration. Although many of today’s European cities are essentially built around markets and fairs, these markets have now disappeared, relocated or, like other community infrastructures such as cinemas, public baths, psychiatric hospitals or prisons, lost some of […]
Spores Home is a self-sustaining co-living space in Spain. Founded by an innovative entrepreneur, it offers affordable housing to people from various ways of life. With no on-site management, residents rely on common sense and self-initiative to co-manage their dwellings and common spaces. The community thrives through trust and collaboration, contributing to a unique ecosystem […]
Rome’s transformative journey towards developing a comprehensive food policy reflects the profound influence of food on the city and its inhabitants. Inspired by international research and experiences the Rome municipality embraced a city-region food system approach, recognising the interconnectedness of urban and rural areas. Through a bottom-up process which began in 2018, diverse stakeholders united […]
“A new way to live” states the website of the revolutionary SällBo co-housing project where young people between the ages of 18 and 25, including refugees, and over 70s live together. The aim of mixing these different groups is to support social interactions of people who can easily feel like outsiders, isolated and lonely. The […]
In the past years, tourism’s growing share in national economies and the increasing touristification of many European cities prompted social innovators to develop new forms of tourism with new, non-extractive business models and more inclusive employment policies. So Stay Hotel in Gdańsk is one of the hotels born from this need for a more responsible […]
Free Riga is an organisation promoting the temporary use of vacant and underused buildings across the city of Riga. Founded in 2013, Free Riga gained exposure through a highly successful campaign to make visible the hundreds of empty buildings that suffered from decades of neglect. Since then, the organisation operates as a platform to help […]
Eutropian collaborated with the URBACT III network focusing on sustainable mobility as engine for social and economic cohesion of local communities. An overview on the integrated plans and pilot actions developed by nine cities involved in the network. Streets and squares of our cities play a key role in making our urban experience more enjoyable, […]
The Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava (MIB) is a new urban centre that aims to bring fresh, dynamic, participatory and data driven urban developments to the city. It can be described as a “think-and-do-tank” that is concurrently responsible for strategic urban planning, as well as for the development and implementation of architectural and spatial urban interventions […]
Eutropian collaborated with the URBACT III network focusing on sustainable mobility as engine for social and economic cohesion of local communities. This article is an overview of the knowledge produced by the network, shared through reports and factsheets produced in collaboration with experts and city practitioners. Making streets and public spaces better for people is […]
How to conceive a new cultural institution in an area already known for its strong cultural scene? How can a new venue integrate into an existing institutional network, complementing and strengthening the work of already running cultural spaces and community centres, instead of draining their resources? Adaptér will be an Art & Technology Centre in […]
The blog presents an initial reflection on emerging challenges that the influx of refugees from Ukraine – about 7 million people since 24 February 2022 – poses to cities and their housing infrastructures. Based on a recent exchange convened within the framework of the JPI-funded research project HOUSE-IN, it focuses on the project’s case studies […]
CUP4Creativity is a project of the Budapest district of Újbuda, funded by the EU’s Urban Innovative Actions programme. The project builds on the district’s current dynamic as a new cultural centre, by generating new connections between cultural producers, artists, creatives, technology initiatives, businesses and residents. CUP4Creativity tackles a variety of challenges: on the one hand, […]
In Scampia, one of the most challenged suburbs of Naples, a popular initiative uses women’s emancipation, art and culture, pedagogy, good food and social capital as main ingredients for a recipe for cultural development and social recovery.The fusion of experiences between two closely related entities, the gastronomic social enterprise La Kumpanìa and the association for […]
Prato Urban Jungle (PUJ), a project launched by the city of Prato, funded by the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) programme, will regenerate selected districts of Prato by developing high density green areas – so-called urban jungles. PUJ also aims to increase social inclusion and promote the sustainable development of the urban environment. Towards these objectives, […]
Policies for a City of Solidarity: Observations Solidarity City is a media project by Cooperative City Magazine to promote and strengthen social and solidarity economy practices throughout Europe. Taking Vienna as its starting point, the project mapped initiatives that focus on social inclusion, participation, citizen-led urban regeneration, ecological transition, sustainable food systems, ethical consumption and […]
What is Solidarity City Solidarity City is a media project of Cooperative City Magazine to promote and strengthen social and solidarity economy practices throughout Europe. Taking Vienna as its starting point, the project aims at mapping initiatives that focus on social inclusion, fair employment, participation, sustainable food systems, ethical consumption and responsible tourism. Watch our […]
Self-managed and affordable, ecological and inclusive – the pioneering project Bikes and Rails in Vienna’s Sonnwendviertel stands as an alternative to real estate speculation in the increasingly pressured housing market. The concept provides for buying houses collectively through private financing, freeing them from the market in the long term and thus securing affordable housing. The […]
In a city often regarded as the capital of classical music, a city rich in culture with renowned museums and an important contemporary arts scene, one must feel excited when approaching such a cultural heritage as a newcomer. Nevertheless, in conversation with Superar’s director Andy, an orchestra director working at Superar, we can understand how […]
On the site of the old Haschahof, a former farm at the southern edge of Vienna’s Favoriten district, stands today’s Zukunftshof (meaning Future Farm), which has been a place of forward thinking since the 1980s. Rothneusiedl, the former village where Zukunfthof is located, will become a new settlement for approximately 20,000 inhabitants in the next […]
Founded in 2015, magdas HOTEL is not only a cosy, retro-style hotel next to the famous Prater park in Vienna’s 2nd district. “Change the world while you sleep” is one of the mottos of magdas HOTEL , the first hotel in Austria that is run as a social business. It is dedicated to the integration […]
Sex & the City, a gender perspective on urban space is a research project that gathers missing yet much needed data on how different genders use and experience public spaces in the City of Milan. The project is run by Florencia Andreola and Azzurra Muzzonigro for the Urban Center of the Municipality of Milan and […]
Right in the heart of Turin, just next to the remains of the Roman city walls and the Porta Palatina, one of the four ancient city gates, lies Piazza della Repubblica, the largest square of the city, which is home to one of the biggest open markets in Europe, locally known as mercato di Porta […]
This MOOC has been designed to adapt to your needs: be it a training session, a consultation, a self-evaluation or a one-on-one coaching session. The course is based on 10 modules. Each module contains a specially designed video, based on the teacher’s draft, explaining the basic content, and composed of photos, collected video elements and/or animations; a detailed brochure supporting the video/module, including links to relevant publications and websites to facilitate a deeper understanding of the subject; quizzes for self-evaluation.
This document is Module 2 – Social Cohesion Component of Strategy 21 of the MOOC, composed by Levente Polyák, based on Eutropian’s work and Cooperative City’s network of good practices. The rest of the course can be explored here. with guidelines for the self-evaluation of practices here.
Article by Levente Polyak for publicspace.org, a project by the CCCB. In 1748, the Italian architect Giambattista Nolli published an ichnographic plan of Rome, documenting every building in the city and their adjacent spaces. The Pianta Grande di Roma, besides outlining all the buildings, and separating them from the surrounding public spaces, also depicted publicly […]
Sally Kneeshaw, Gender Equal Cities lead for URBACT, found through her work that whilst most people are generally aware of societal gender inequality, not many people realise just how differently women and men experience the city and public spaces. These differences can affect accessibility, a sense of safety and general well-being. Cities can and should […]
Local communities and their local governments have two possible ways to cooperate. One is centred upon the use of public procurement for social purposes. The second is based on new forms of partnerships. The perspective of new types of partnerships that overcome the public-private binary and allow new forms of public-community or public-private-community collaboration is […]
The city of Naples (Italy)[1] is an exemplary case study of how a city can co-design legal and sustainable urban commons governance mechanisms and enable city inhabitants and local communities to act collectively in the general interest. In 2011, the City of Naples enabled the activity of a network of local communities in Naples that […]
Community foundations are a means to mobilise resources within a territory in order to help the creation of local initiatives. In an area with limited public resources but a great density of active charities, civic organisations and private companies, a community foundation can act as an actor to raise funds, connect initiatives and trigger cooperation […]
Gólya is a self-organised community space in Budapest’s 8th district. Gólya has relocated to its current location due to intense property development and increasing real estate pressure around its previous venue. In order to counter gentrification and gain independence from the changes of the rental market, the community running Gólya decided to buy a building and […]
Confiscation is an asset security measure consisting in the expropriation, in favour of the State, of something which has been used to commit an offence or which constitutes its profit; or even of something dangerous, objectively or subjectively. This measure is a legislative tool for the Italian State to fight the power of the Mafia, […]
Local Operators’ Platform (LOCOP) is an independent initiative and research lab specialised in cultural research. LOCOP’s aim is to critically assess cultural policies and transnational funding programmes according to their real-life effects for local cultural operators and sustainability. It offers in-depth experience in practical cultural management both in independent and institutional frameworks, as well as […]
Kultura Nova is a public foundation promoting civil society organisations in the field of contemporary arts and culture. The foundation was established in 2011, when the Croatian parliament adopted the Law on Kultura Nova Foundation. The idea of this new institution was born among non-governmental associations that work in the fields of arts and culture […]
“Super, the festival of peripheries” was started in Milan in 2015 by an interdisciplinary group of professionals. The event was initially conceived to create a more accurate, diverse and complex overview of the city’s outer neighbourhoods by reporting experiences of active citizens and entities, as well as stories about the daily life of those territories. […]
When we undertake any type of project, of whatever nature, it is more necessary than ever to be able to count on natural allies for its development, so that their contribution allows us to give relevance and pertinence to our practice. By Miguel Jaenicke co-creator of [VIC] Vivero de Iniciativas Ciudadanas | www.vicvivero.net | www.civics.cc […]
Many urban regeneration schemes focus on architectural interventions or masterplans that aim to transform the social fabric of an area through shaping its built environment. However, If physical sustainability lies in the reuse of existing buildings, social sustainability builds on the ideas, visions and narratives that are already in place. Therefore, it is crucial to […]
The Power of Civic Ecosystems: How community spaces and their networks make our cities more cooperative, fair and resilient Public-civic cooperation has never been as important for European cities as today. Fading trust between public administrations and the civic society, rising authoritarianism and deteriorating services all make urban life more burdensome, especially for the most […]
Edited by Levente Polyák, Sophie Bod and Luca Sára Bródy (Eutropian – Cooperating for Urban Justice)
Design by Jorge Mosquera Suárez
Publisher: Cooperative City Books, Vienna, June 2021
Format: Paper size B5, 320 pages
ISBN 978-3-9504409-2-8
The book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Once called a sonic wonderkid by Time Out, American singer, songwriter Joe Driscoll had a successful music career in Europe when he decided to move back to the US to support the Bernie Sanders campaign. Now he serves as a District Councillor on the Common Council in Syracuse, New York. He talks to Cooperative City […]
The Power of Civic Ecosystems: How community spaces and their networks make our cities more cooperative, fair and resilient Edited by Levente Polyák, Sophie Bod and Luca Sára Bródy (Eutropian – Cooperating for Urban Justice) Design by Jorge Mosquera Suárez Publisher: Cooperative City Books, Vienna, June 2021 Format: Paper size B5, 320 pages ISBN 978-3-9504409-2-8 […]
By Nikolas Kozloff To the extent that at least some people will be able to travel after the pandemic subsides, and haven’t gone bankrupt, how will tourism change in future? A cursory search on the internet reveals scores of articles delving into such questions. “The crises of 2020,” notes the New York Times, “…have caused […]
In 2021, Europe is facing a number of challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to surface many structural problems in European societies, from climate change through innovation gaps to geopolitical tensions. Inequality is of key importance among these challenges: the gradual polarisation of European societies has brought us towards political populism, social exclusion and damaged […]
We all have beloved public spaces – spaces where we feel safe and comfortable, places we like to come back to, places where we can let our children play freely and, why not, places where we adults can play as well. Yet, as our cities grow bigger and bigger and get spruced up, truly memorable […]
2020 will remain in our memory as the year of a sudden, world-wide crisis. Although the pandemic is far from being over, with the arrival of the vaccines we can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. How did cities act with emergency measures in the spring and what could they preserve […]
Stará Tržnica (Old Market Hall) is a historical building in the centre of Bratislava. After years of unsuccessful attempts by the municipality to keep the market alive, a redevelopment plan with the input of the locals was realised by the Alianca Stará Tržnica combining a food market, cultural events, cafés, a grocery shop, a cooking school and a soda water manufacture. The space has helped to rebuild the community and runs in an economically sustainable way.
Collaborative housing can be conceived as an approach to complement state- or municipality-led public housing schemes with bottom-up, self-organised housing projects. It has been the object of a great diversity of experiments throughout Europe, turning housing into a field of innovation when it comes to community engagement, social inclusion, solidarity economy, ethical finance and participatory […]
Welcome to Cooperative City podcasts! You can follow our episodes on Anchor, Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Radio Public or Pocket Casts. CUP4Creativity In this first Zoom-in for the UIA project CUP4Creativity, Levente Polyak joins a pop-up event in the future Adaptér, to learn about the art & tech centre under construction in the heart […]
The Peter Weiss Haus is as a free educational and cultural centre located in an historical building in downtown Rostock. Through the creation of an original and spontaneous governance structure, supported and bounded by different entities in the city, the Peter Weiss Haus Association has launched a community finance scheme to buy its building and […]
Written by Eutropian Director Levente Polyak for Urbact. The COVID-19 crisis has heavily disrupted the activities of NGO Houses and their civic ecosystems. While the lockdown and rules of social distancing have made most of the activities of these spaces impossible, many NGO Houses moved their activities online and became protagonists in existing or emerging […]
Interview with Daniela Patti, Director of Eutropian by the European Urban Knowledge Network. How can we prepare for and cope with crisis situations in dense urban settings? It is evident that the current COVID-19 pandemic is causing critical damage in both physical and psychological terms to all fields of life. We are living through […]
Realising the need to create international dialogue on handling the COVID-19 crisis at the local level, Eutropian launched a weekly webinar to connect activists and experts from all parts of Europe with a broader audience. On a Sunday evening in early March, I received a few text messages. It was 8 March, and I was […]
What is the Magazine about? Cooperative City Magazine brings its readers the stories of collaborative urban development processes in different areas in Europe. It is a project run by Eutropian, a company and association developing collaborative planning processes in various cities in Europe. Latest Article More articles Explore more articles The Cooperative City Webinars Placemaking […]
Planning post-COVID-19 cooperative cities Building on existing efforts towards social economy We advocate for existing knowledge, policy recommendations and financial resources to be geared towards the strengthening of social and solidarity economy practices* throughout Europe. We believe that this is the way forward to not leave anyone behind. At the present time EU Member States […]
During the first weeks of the lockdown we noticed that there was little or no exchange across nations about how to respond to the emerging crisis. This is why we launched Cooperative City in Quarantine, bridging this gap and brought together lots of people from different backgrounds and countries to contribute to the discussion. We […]
The lockdown made the inequalities in our societies boldly visible. The key role of the community and collaborative action to reach the most vulnerable layers of society has become more visible in recent months. What are the emerging issues that we need to find better solutions to? What kinds of financial support and solidarity structures […]
Since the 2008 economic crisis, cities in Europe have witnessed a veritable revolution in community-led development processes. Prompted by the opportunities offered by the last crisis, many formerly vacant buildings and complexes have been reused by “citymakers” and “Re:Kreators” – concerned citizens with the necessary skills to make use of these spaces. In the last […]
With the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, public space was one of the most affected parts of our urban life. With the shut down of shops, parks and other gathering places, public life came to a halt in the past months, leaving scars in our social and economic life. How can we heal as a […]
The Covid crisis is changing our lives, and mobility is definitely going to be one of the hottest topics – and one of the most important challenges of “returning to normal”. Now that we are slowly exiting the quarantine, a big challenge is related to how we move around our cities, and how it is […]
Given the current situation, more than 200 million people could become unemployed as a result of this crisis. Not everyone can work home, and disadvantaged categories such as riders, sex workers, and harvest workers are risking even more. It is undeniable that we will be facing a huge employment crisis, much bigger than the 2008-09 […]
Urban Commons are all those spaces, services and resources that are directly managed by local communities for their wellbeing. Taking care of such common goods isn’t only beneficial for the immediate needs of the citizens – in fact, urban commons can play a crucial role in building a more cohesive – and inclusive – society. […]
#2 Placemaking at the street-level We discuss how tactical urbanism, notably street-level experiments can lead to systemic sustainable transition at the city-level. Watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcvbk-zpET4 #1 Circular Economy The first episode of the webinar series Cooperative Urban Futures discusses cooperation at city level for various stakeholders in building a local ecosystem. Watch video https://youtu.be/NX6ga7BPPyA #6 […]
Tourism is big business: It employs more than 12 million people in Europe, it counts for 3,9% of EU’s GDP, in 2019 global tourist revenues amounted to 9,25 trillion USD, and half of the tourists worldwide visited Europe. Due to the current lockdown, international tourism may drop by 30% in 2020, causing unprecedented damage to […]
Probably all community centres in Europe have a lot in common regarding the way they work during this challenging and totally new situation. Community venues, normally serving as spaces for encounters and exchange between individuals and organisations, now cannot accommodate any activities and had to close their doors. Nevertheless, communities organised around these venues need […]
The Coronavirus pandemic is causing huge damage in both physical and psychological terms in all fields of life. At the moment, approximately eight million people are working in the cultural sector in Europe. As the COVID-19 spreads and the lockdown expands country by country, we are evermore aware of the fact that the creative sector […]
It is hard times, we fear for the future globally and individually. Many of us feel lonely in the isolation of our homes. But many of us also gathered energies and started up helping our communities, despite all the challenges. We are Eutropian and five years ago we started up Cooperative City, an online magazine […]
Progettare città cooperative post-COVID-19. Mettendo a valore gli sforzi compiuti nell’Economia Sociale Vogliamo che in tutta Europa le conoscenze attuali, le raccomandazioni politiche e le risorse finanziarie siano volte al rafforzamento delle pratiche di economia sociale e solidale*. Questa è per noi la via da percorrere per non […]
Nel corso delle prime settimane di lockdown ci siamo resi conto che fra i paesi colpiti dalla crisi seguita alla diffusione del Covid-19 non è avvenuto, o solo in minima parte, uno scambio di informazioni rispetto alle soluzioni da adottare per rispondere a questa situazione. Abbiamo lanciato Cooperative City in Quarantine per colmare questa […]
Il lockdown ha messo in luce l’entità delle disuguaglianze nelle nostre società, ma altrettanto il ruolo fondamentale svolto dalle comunità e dall’attività cooperativa nel raggiungere gli strati più fragili della società. Quali questioni stanno emergendo e quali sono le soluzioni più adeguate? Per ottenere davvero che nessuno resti in una condizione di esclusione nella nostra […]
Fin dalla crisi economica del 2008, le città europee si sono trovate ad affrontare una vera e propria rivoluzione dei processi di sviluppo a guida comunitaria. I “citymakers” e i “Re:Kreators” – cittadini interessati e in possesso delle competenze necessarie per intervenire su determinati spazi – hanno colto le opportunità dell’ultimo periodo di crisi e […]
Con l’arrivo della pandemia e del lockdown che ne è seguito, lo spazio pubblico è stato uno degli settori più colpiti della nostra vita urbana. Con la chiusura di negozi, parchi e altri luoghi di ritrovo nei mesi scorsi la vita pubblica si è bloccata, lasciando la nostra vita sociale ed economica piena di cicatrici. […]
La crisi Covid sta cambiando la nostra vita, e la mobilità è certamente fra i temi più caldi – nonché una delle sfide più importanti del cosiddetto “ritorno alla normalità”. Ora che stiamo lentamente uscendo dalla quarantena, la grande sfida è legata al modo in cui ci muoviamo nelle nostre città e a come farlo […]
La crisi dovuta al Covid-19 ha fatto venire alla luce in modo ancora più evidente la condizione di vulnerabilità di molti gruppi sociali svantaggiati. Fra quelli particolarmente a rischio ci sono i rifugiati e i richiedenti asilo, che hanno poca visibilità rispetto ai loro bisogni e un accesso limitato ai servizi pubblici. Dal 2015 Atene […]
Alla crisi Covid-19 potrebbero seguire ad oggi oltre 200 milioni di disoccupati. Non tutte le persone, infatti, sono in condizione di poter lavorare da casa, e alcune categorie socialmente più svantaggiate – come riders, prostitute e lavoratori dei campi – sono oggi maggiormente a rischio di altri. É innegabile che ci troveremo ad affrontare un’enorme crisi […]
I beni comuni urbani (Urban Commons) sono tutti quegli spazi, servizi e risorse che favoriscono il benessere delle comunità locali e sono gestiti da queste in modo diretto. Prendersi cura di questi beni di comunità vuol dire aiutare i cittadini e le cittadine, che vedono soddisfatte le loro esigenze immediate. I beni comuni possono […]
Episodio #5: Turismo Quali danni ha subito l’industria del turismo in seguito alla crisi covid-19, e quali opportunità questa può offrire? Grande business, quello del turismo in Europa: oltre 12 milioni di lavoratori impiegati nell’UE, un settore che rappresenta il 3.9% del suo PIL, con 9.25 trilioni di dollari di entrate complessive nel 2019 e […]
Episodio #4: Centri di Comunità e network ONG Attive (ACTive NGOs) È ormai chiaro a tutti che l’epidemia di Coronavirus ha cambiato le abitudini quotidiane di tutti noi, e il modo in cui le persone vivono la propria comunità e il proprio quartiere. Cosa possono fare i centri comunitari e le ONG per continuare a offrire […]
Episodio # 3: Sfide e soluzioni potenziali per il settore culturale Viviamo tempi difficili, siamo spaventati e isolati nelle nostre case. E tuttavia in tanti hanno chiamato a raccolta le loro energie e avviato iniziative in supporto alle nostre comunità, malgrado tutte le complessità. Con Cooperative City in Quarantine vogliamo raggiungervi con queste storie, condividere […]
# 2: Sistemi di produzione e distribuzione alimentare Nel secondo episodio di ‘Cooperative City in Quarantine’ (27.3.20) abbiamo ospitato esperti di diverse città europee sul tema dei sistemi di produzione e distribuzione alimentare. Hanno condiviso con noi le loro prospettive sulla questione alimentare, sulle sfide da affrontare in questo periodo di COVID-19 e sulle iniziative […]
Viviamo tempi difficili, abbiamo temuto per la nostra salute e quella dei nostri cari, e ci siamo trovati costretti all’isolamento nelle nostre case. Malgrado tutta la complessità che ci siamo trovati a vivere, in tanti hanno chiamato a raccolta le loro energie, avviato iniziative in supporto alle comunità di appartenenza e fatto della crisi un’opportunità. […]
Abbiamo incontrato a Napoli gli attivisti del Centro Sociale Ex OPG Occupato – Je so’ pazzo, un ex ospedale psichiatrico che è stato sottratto all’abbandono, sistemato e restituito alla città e al quartiere. Je so pazzo’ è il nome che hanno scelto, “perché in un mondo dove la normalità è fatta da disoccupazione, precarietà, discriminazioni […]
Co-Hab Athens is a research project which aims to elaborate long-term models of collective housing ownership, claiming the quality of housing as a right. Active since January 2016, it aspires to act as an exchange platform for urban researchers and activists on the issue of collective ownership, to propose new policies and to promote the […]
How can a complicated, abandoned parcel of land in a dense urban tissue gain new life through gardening and housing? Ferme du Rail is an agri-urban space in the 19th district of Paris, addressing the challenges of homelessness, urban agriculture, gardening, social integration and circular economy. Selected within the framework of the project “Réinventer Paris” […]
Poveglia per Tutti is an association whose aim is to reclaim Poveglia, one of the many islands scattered across the Venetian lagoon, and make it a public place for the Venetian community to enjoy rather than yet another tourist resort. The island hosted a geriatric hospital that was abandoned in 1968. Since then, apart from […]
The extractive nature of mass tourism is made possible by tourist behaviour, missing regulations and lacking alternatives. There has been very little work done to make tourism more responsible, sustainable and enriching for local communities. While there is a growing number of emerging NGOs, cooperatives and social enterprises to channel tourism revenues into socially meaningful […]
Based on the experience developed over the past ten years in Lisbon, the Bip/Zip program is currently at the basis of the URBACT Transfer Network Com.Unity.Lab which aims at sharing the knowledge with other cities across Europe. In this article the different tools of the strategy are outlined. The Portuguese capital city of Lisbon counts […]
Polis is a platform developed by Martha Giannakopoulou and her studio, If- untitled, to enhances collaboration between architects and the Municipality of Athens. It aims to support civic engagement into urban regeneration by promoting community-led interventions and temporary use of space in vacant buildings. An important part of its work is to evaluate urban vacancy, […]
The City of Bari joined the Com.Unity.Lab Urbact network to be inspired by the Bip/Zip program to improve its local strategy. In this interview Vitandrea Marzano from the City of Bari explains to us what are the key priorities in the city and how they are developing collaborative strategies to tackle urban poverty. What is […]
Ecos is a cooperative of cooperatives which works to support the growth of single cooperatives and to promote inter-cooperatives projects in Barcelona. In this article, we share what we learned from Roger, the coordinator of Ecos, and Guernica, a member of the organisation, who explained us how does social solidarity economy work in Barcelona and […]
Gólya is a community house in Budapest. It has been working for six years on Bókay János utca in the 8th District, and currently it is relocating to a new venue because of increased gentrification of its neighbourhood and the consequent sale of their former rented venue. In this interview with Marci Biro, one of […]
Via Baltea is a multifunctional space initiated and run by Sumisura, a cooperative of architects and social workers who operate in the field of urban regeneration and local development. Via Baltea features artisan workshops, a community kitchen and spaces for services for citizens and the neighbourhood. What is Via Baltea and how was it created? […]
A Város Mindenkié, in English The City is for All, was established in 2009 to advocate for housing rights in Hungary. Homeless people, those experiencing housing poverty and their allies, work together to overcome homelessness in Hungary by campaigning for social housing policies and for a homeless care system and by fighting against the discrimination […]
ShareTown is a fictional town populated by a cast of characters, which sets out to create a positive vision of what a preferred future for cities might be. Community needs are attained in ShareTown through self-organization, as well as democratic and inclusive growth. A new relationship between citizens and local governments emerges in this new and […]
Dynamo Velostation was opened in 2015 with the support of the Incredibol tender promoted by the Municipality of Bologna. Behind Parco della Montagnola, few hundred meters away from Bologna Central Train Station, it became an intermodal hub for urban cyclists and commuters. It provides a safe bicycle parking space and a variety of services, giving […]
Bagni Pubblici di via Agliè 9 is a community space where more than 15 organizations, associations, traders, schools and institutions, work to improve the quality of life of their district and to encourage relations between neighbors. In this interview, Erika Mattarella presents the projects and its importance in the neighborhood of Barriera di Milano. […]
The role of the Studio Commissioner for Berlin exists since 1993. After the city’s reunification it became evident that affordable space for artists would become increasingly rare and contested; therefore the position of the Studio Commissioner was proposed by organised artists to tackle this challenge. Later it was installed within the KulturWerk, a part of the berufsverband […]
In the early 2000s, La Marina de Valencia hosted editions the America’s Cup and the F1 Grand Prix Race. These events attracted investment and fueled rapid infrastructure growth, but they also left behind a staggering debt. Many of the installations put in place were afterwards abandoned with no future plan. Since 2016, La Marina’s new […]
Das Packhaus is a project of Paradocks an international think- and do-tank for reuse of vacant buildings inVienna. Since 2014 Das Packhaus has been showing the potential for temporary use in the city of Vienna thanks to a community of 85 companies coming from different fields. A place where companies can support each other and […]