Eutropian

Day two of Democracy Action Days marked the inspiring conclusion of the EUARENAS project, with insightful reflections on the power of participatory democracy. ✨ One highlight was the Toolbox Game, led by Lukács Hayes from Eutropian, where participants designed an NGO house for their neighborhood—showing how citizens can lead in shaping their communities.

This blend of research and real-world engagement showcased the potential for grassroots decision-making.

A big thank you to Comparative Research Network and all participants for such an inspiring event! 🙌

🌍🏙 How can placemaking create long-lasting positive impact? How do we counter gentrification and touristification through non-speculative redevelopment of vacant spaces and neighborhood transformation?

Our Levente Polyak kicked off this year’s in Rotterdam alongside board member Laska Nenova. Hosted at the community hub Keilepand in West Rotterdam, this event showcased how local initiatives can reshape neighborhoods and create inclusive models for . 🏗️🌱

Through our work with the project, support for the Cities in Placemaking program, and participation in the place-led development working group, we helped drive the conversation on long-term Impact, Inclusiveness, and Solidarity.

📸 Photos by Placemaking Europe and Levente Polyak

🌍🏠 The InnovationLab by Eurocitieswas held just a few days ago in Turin, moderated by our colleague Daniela Patti It was the perfect moment to discuss housing, especially with the recent appointment of the new European Commissioner for Housing, Jan Jørgensen!

The event brought together key players like European Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB), and municipalities across Europe to address the current housing challenges. Workshops and site visits highlighted innovative solutions such as Community Land Trusts and cohousing models. Cities shared their experiences in social housing, fighting gentrification, and securing funding for affordable homes.

Check out our latest blog post, where we touch on key topics like:

- The role of energy efficiency in housing
- Inflation, rising mortgage rates, and housing speculation
- Housing needs of students, the elderly, and people with disabilities
- Case studies from cities like Vienna and Turin on tackling the housing crisis

https://eutropian.org/innovationlab-on-affordable-housing-by-eurocities/

Let’s keep working together for fairer, more sustainable cities! 💪🏘️

🌍🎉 We’re thrilled to gear up for next week’s Placemaking Week Europe in Rotterdam! Eutropian’s Levente Polyak, as a board member of Placemaking Europe, has been pushing the agenda of social inclusion and non-speculative urban transformation.

This year, we’ll be hosting several exciting sessions, including an consortium meeting and a workshop on place-based development with re:Kreators.

🚀 Don’t miss us at Placemaking Week Europe! See you there! 🙌

🎉🌍✨ Congratulations to Budapest for taking a huge step forward by launching its own Climate Agency, joining global leaders like London and Copenhagen!

We're excited to see how this new agency will shape a greener future for the city of Budapest Városháza, our partner in the Energy4All project!

🌱🏙️

New Climate Agency in Budapest takes the lead toward a sustainable future | Energy4All Budapest has taken a key step in its journey towards climate neutrality with the recent establishment of the Budapest Climate Agency. The city faces significant challenges with energy efficiency in its vastly outdated building stock, which is responsible for around 60% of the city’s carbon emissio...

🏊‍♀️🌊 Swimming in the city, in the open air, and turning a canal into a vibrant public space?

Last Saturday, Eutropian joined the lively Schwimmparade in Vienna— the first in nearly 100 years—organised by Schwimmverein DonauKanal. Fifty locals cooled off in the Danube Kanal on a hot summer day, celebrating the revival of urban swimming! 💦

Once a swimming hotspot, the canal is part of the global "swimmable cities" movement, focusing on the revitalisation of urban waterways to make them accessible, clean, and safe for public swimming, while promoting environmental sustainability, and community engagement.

🚶‍♂️🏙️ The Donaukanal serves as the Viennese pilot location for the Inclusive City project, a DUT (Driving Urban Transitions) initiative which focuses on transforming public spaces for inclusive and sustainable use. For this pilot, Eutropian, in collaboration with superwien and the Social Design Studio (Die Angewandte), is exploring the potential of critical placemaking within the framework of the 15-minute city model.

🔶 Learn more: https://eutropian.org/inclusive-city/

🌍 How can participatory budgeting transform communities? Our latest article explores how Gdansk empowers citizens to shape city spending, fostering civic engagement and transparency.

Check out this feature on Cooperative City, Eutropian’s online magazine! 👇

https://cooperativecity.org/2024/09/06/gdansk-participatory-budgeting/

This case study can be found in The Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods, produced in the EUARENAS project. https://euarenas-toolbox.eu/

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📣 "From Owning to Sharing: How Fritidsbanken is Revolutionising Access to Sports and Outdoor Gear" 🌟

Why buy when you can borrow? FFritidsbanken Sverige Sweden’s first “leisure bank,” offers free access to sports and outdoor gear—from skis, fishing rods to wheelchairs—making it easy for everyone to stay active.

Born from a simple idea in a small Swedish village, Fritidsbanken has now spread to over 40% of Sweden's municipalities, lending out 1.4 million pieces of equipment last year alone! 🏆 Their mission? To foster a healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive society where everyone can stay active without barriers.

Fritidsbanken significantly reduces environmental impact by promoting the reuse of sports and outdoor gear, cutting down on waste and lowering the demand for new products.

Learn more about how Fritidsbanken is changing lives and how you can get involved—whether through donating equipment or volunteering.

Read the article in our online magazine CCooperative City

https://cooperativecity.org/2024/06/12/leisure-library-fritidsbanken/

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Dear Friends in Hungary, please sign the petition of our friends Valyo, város és a folyó to revive river swimming pools on the Danube!

📢 ÉPÜLJÖN ÚJRA FOLYAMI USZODA A DUNÁN!

✍️ bit.ly/dunafurdo_peticio

✨ The use of the Danube bank and the Danube as a public space could revive a centuries-old metropolitan tradition, providing a special experience for residents and visitors alike.

🏊‍♀️ What is a river swimming pool? It is a wooden structure and a net that prevents being washed away, making river bathing safe. ☀️ In many cities around the world, residents and visitors can enjoy a river swimming.

💡Bathing on the Danube in Budapest has a past, a present and a future: we want to build the first Budapest wooden swimming pool of the 21th century and make Budapest a swimmable city again!

👉 Sign the 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐅𝐔̈𝐑𝐃𝐎̋ petition, calling on decision-makers to to coordinate with the relevant authorities to create the right legal and operational environment and to create the financial conditions for implementation!

🌊bit.ly/dunafurdo_peticio ✍️

📷: Paris, 17.07.2017: opening day of the new pools of the "Bassin de la Villette" (Canal de l'Ourcq) | Tommy Larey via Shutterstock

📢 ÉPÜLJÖN ÚJRA FOLYAMI USZODA A DUNÁN!

✨ A Duna-part és a Duna köztérként való használatával évszázados fővárosi hagyomány kelhet újra életre, mely az itt lakók és az idelátogatók számára is különleges élményként szolgál.

🏊‍♀️ Mi az a folyami uszoda? Egy fából készült szerkezet, valamint egy háló, ami nem engedi, hogy elsodorjon a víz, így biztonságos folyami fürdőzést tesz lehetővé. ☀️ A világ számos nagyvárosában élvezhetik a városlakók és látogatók a folyami hűsölést, a fotón épp Párizsban.

💡A Fővárosi dunai fürdőzésnek van múltja, jelene és jövője: szeretnénk, hogy megépüljön a XI. század első budapesti fauszodája és Budapest újra úszható város legyen!

👉 Ti is szeretnétek? 𝐈́𝐫𝐣𝐚́𝐭𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐥𝐚́ 𝐚 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐅𝐔̈𝐑𝐃𝐎̋ 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢́𝐜𝐢𝐨́𝐭, melyben arra szólítjuk fel a döntéshozókat, hogy egyeztessenek az illetékes szervekkel a megfelelő jogi és üzemeltetési környezet kialakításáért és teremtsék meg a megvalósítás anyagi feltételeit! 🌊bit.ly/dunafurdo_peticio ✍️

📷: Paris, 2017. 07.17: a "Bassin de la Villette" új medencéinek nyitónapja (Canal de l'Ourcq) | Tommy Larey via Shutterstock

Read the updated and extended article about 🌈 Szeszgyár: an ecofeminist, q***r community garden in the centre of Budapest

Published in our online magazine Cooperative City!

🥗 Located on the vacant grounds of a long-abandoned distillery factory in the centre of an inner city district, Szeszgyár is different to most community gardens: its core principles are and , placing the initiative in a unique ecological, political and social context.

🐞 https://cooperativecity.org/2023/07/18/szeszgyar-an-ecofeminist-q***r-community-garden-in-the-centre-of-budapest/

***recology

🆕 Read our latest newsletter about Energy4All project: a transnational project exploring the roles energy communities play in the green transition

https://mailchi.mp/eutropian.org/energy4all_launch

☀️ Introducing ENERGY4ALLL and launching the new website
🌍 Exploring the six pilots focusing on energy poverty, circular economy and waste-energy reuse, public-private-community partnership, and behavioural change
🏕️ Eutropian's visit to the Austrian pilots
📖 Article about neoom: an app supporting energy communities in Austria

Visiting trailbazing initiatives from Austria driving the energy transition

Eutropian met up with project partners from the Energy4All project in Austria to learn about the country's advanced landscape with booming .

Together with project partners -strom, Universitetet i Stavanger, and BOKU University we visited two of the pioneering project pilots, and the quarry where potentially the world's largest heat storage facility using renewable energy is planned to be built.

A big thanks to our hosts at the municipal energy community of KEM GU-Süd and Mayor Robert Tulnik, and chairman Stefan Sturm at the energy community assocation of Marktgemeinde Lebring-St. Margarethen!

Learn more about our trip: https://eutropian.org/creating-ecological-economic-and-social-benefits-visiting-austrian-energy-community-pilots/

⚡ 🥳 The website is live!

Visit our website and learn about the aims of our transnational research project, exploring and highlighting the role of communities and the human dimension in designing Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and Energy Communities (ECs).
Get to know our pilots, explore the topics of the good practices we are going to share, and keep up to date with our news.

☀️ https://energy4allproject.eu/

😎 🍧 Mixing summer vibes with working on exciting new projects!

Eutropian (most of the team) met up in Budapest to immerse ourselves into the several new URBACT, Interreg, European Urban Initiative, and Erasmus+ projects we are thrilled to particapate in on , , , , .

🆕 Are you an urban professional engaged in citizen participation? Do you use the Eutropian/EUARENAS Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods?

We have just published our report summarizing all aspects of the toolbox development process, providing theoretical footing, criteria for case study selection, models/methods of participation, etc. This deliverable accompanies the recently launched Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods, aimed at equipping communities and stakeholders with effective tools for participative and collaborative decision-making.

EUARENAS Project Milestone: Report published on the methodology and conceptual background of the Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods - EUTROPIAN EUTROPIAN - EUARENAS Project Milestone: Report published on the methodology and conceptual background of the Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods - Uncategorized

❗ Our latest joint Eutropian-Cooperative City newsletter is out!

GOOD CITIES: Urban communities through sharing goods

🛍️ How can the sharing of goods and spaces reduce our ecologocial footprint and lead to a sense of community, social cohesion and more equality?

NEW: Read our latest newsletter, launching our new project Good Cities.
https://mailchi.mp/eutropian.org/good_cities

🌻 Looking for funding opportunities for your ? Interested in learning about the goals and purpose of the project, which seeks to create new financing tools for community energy projects?

Then join our Energy4All project partner Transzformátor Közösségi Energia Központ's online workshop and learn about funding opportunities for at the EU level, with a specific emphasis on Community Energy Financing Schemes ( ).

💶 Invitation to our Community Energy Financing Schemes workshop

Transzformátor Közösségi Energia Központ would like to invite you to our online workshop on the topic of Community Energy Financing Schemes on 25 June 2024. This workshop aims to provide participants with valuable insights into financing options for community energy initiatives, particularly focusing on Community Energy Financing Schemes (CEFS).

The workshop objectives include:

✅ Introducing the goals and purpose of the ACCE project, which seeks to create new financing tools for community energy projects.

✅ Exploring funding opportunities for energy communities at the EU level, with a specific emphasis on CEFS.

✅ Facilitating knowledge sharing and idea generation among participants to foster the implementation of CEFS.

The ACCE project, funded by the European LIFE Programme, focuses on creating simple and effective financial tools for energy communities.

🔷 Please register here to the event, if you wish to attend: https://forms.gle/yKJ6otzBP9UxCPep9

See the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/298578223326094/
...and learn more about the ACCE project here: https://acce.rescoop.eu/

Workshop on collective ownership in Tartu

Eutropian's Levente Polyak was at the TTrans Europe Hallesconference to strengthen our cooperation with TEH and advance the movement of community-driven real estate development initiatives.

Read more: https://eutropian.org/collective-ownership-at-the-transeuropehalles/

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🏌️ InclusiveCity Kick off in Vienna!

We had a very fruitful two-day event where we debated and refined our aims and visions for , and got to know the participating Urban Living Labs from Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands.

The InclusiveCity project strives to enhance placemaking strategies within the framework of the 15-minute city concept, while placing a strong emphasis on inclusivity, mitigating adverse effects such as commercialisation and gentrification.

Thanks to superwien, Die Angewandte, NTNU - Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Fragment, Sintef, Nonna Roma, Nuove Ri-Generazioni, AS Bastogi, KÉK - Contemporary Architecture Centre, RÉV8, Budapest University of Technology and Economics - BME, Placemaking Europe,, Breda University of Applied Sciences

Read more about the Kick Off https://eutropian.org/inclusive-city-kick-off-in-vienna/

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How do Bologna's neighbourhood labs collaborate with the municipality and co-design and test new city policies?

The Laboratori di Quartiere is a shared governance model promoted by the Comune di Bologna with the coordination of Fondazione Innovazione Urbana and in collaboration with the neighbourhoods.

In this interview we explore:
🤝 Bologna's deliberative journey and culture of collaboration
🌆 The unique approaches to overcome the challenges of different neighbourhoods
🏛️ How benefits the entire administration, improving the effectiveness of city policies

Read the article: https://cooperativecity.org/2024/06/04/laboratori-di-quartiere-bologna/

Photos: photos: Margherita Caprilli and Luca Finotello for Fondazione Innovazione Urbana

This case study can be found in The Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods, produced in the Horizon 2020 EUARENAS project.
https://euarenas-toolbox.eu/

What is in the Toolbox of Experimental Participatory Methods?

✅ Database of 20 successful practices from Europe
✅ 6 innovative participatory methods
✅ Glossary of 100 key terms of participatory democracy tools

Explore the toolbox: https://euarenas-toolbox.eu/

What actions are cities taking in Europe to adapt to climate change?

The European Environment Agency report ‘Urban adaptation in Europe’ highlights the urgent need to adapt European cities to climate change and provides an overview of actions they are taking. The report provides a rich source of information to support climate adaptation policies across Europe, from EU to municipal level.

😊 We were happy to see the report including and spotlighting Free Riga, an organisation promoting temporary use of vacant buildings and plots featured in our book The Power of Civic Ecosystems.

🔶 Read more about the report: https://eutropian.org/new-report-urban-adaptation-in-europe-european-environmental-agency/
🔷 Read about Free Riga in Eutropian's Cooperative City Magazine https://cooperativecity.org/2023/02/21/free-riga-a-platform-for-temporary-use/

The team arriving to take a boat on the Danube to kick-start the flow of ideas for the project aimed to enhance strategies with an emphasis on .

💪🌞 Good Cities here we come! An invigorating and sunny Kick-off in Tartu, the European Capital of Culture 2024!

Eutropian is with partners in the Interreg Europe project which aims to reduce the volume of goods and negative consumption-related ecological impacts while improving wellbeing and social cohesion.

Thank you to Tartumaa Omavalitsuste Liit for being amazing hosts, and to for guiding us smoothly into future Good Cities projects, and of course our wonderful project partners from Gemeente Tilburg, Malmö stad, Újbuda, Jyväskylän kaupunginteatteri, Cluster of Bioeconomy & Environment of Western Macedonia - CLUBE. Watch this space for more details!

Landed in Tartu, the European Capital of Culture 2024 for the Interreg Europe project on cities stimulating new shared economy services for consumer goods in urban environments.