News of European City Centers

Today, it is rare to witness the opening of a new park inside the dense urban area of a European capital. It is even more unusual when it hosts exceptionally diverse and almost untouched wildlife. This park exists and it is called the Văcăreşti Park. A bit of history: It was first born as a construction project launched by the…

The capital city of Latvia faced real challenges in the last decades that changed its economy, morphology, and identity. After 2008, many vast spaces remained vacant because of the disappearance of former economic activities. In the meantime, the local artistic and cultural scene was booming and needed space to blossom. From that point, a citizen initiative emerged to highlight this…

Antwerp is not located under the tropics but it will suffer more than other cities from heat-waves in the future. This is due to the “urban heat islands”. This phenomenon implies higher temperatures in urban environments than in their rural surroundings. The denser and more mineral the city is, stronger is the phenomenon. This makes Antwerp’s city center especially vulnerable…

As the first snowflakes appear, most european cyclists have to return to other modes of transportation, contrary to the cyclists of Oulu in Finland. For them, it is just another day of cycling along the arctic polar circle. During the cold (with minimal under -30°c), dark and snowy winters 12% of all trips made in Oulu are by bike. By…

This year the Lithuanian city of Kaunas became one big European stag. Buzzing with activity, the European capital of culture 2022 (along with Esch-Sur-Alzette in Luxembourg) hosts 4025 events and activities such as festivals, exhibitions, stage events, and concerts. While attracting worldwide known artists such as Yoko Ono, the project aims to be highly educational and involve the inhabitants through…

In 2007, our association shot a video in the Swedish city, Lund, in order to highlight innovative actions within the city. At that time, we had the privilege to interview former Mayor Annika Annerby Jansson. Today, the city has a growing population with more than 90 000 inhabitants, with more than 40 000 students. Its university is the largest one…

Like many other cities in Italy, Udine has faced aging of its population and a decline of births over the past decades. To tackle this issue and enhance its attractiveness, the municipality had an astonishing idea: to make the city playful. This innovative public policy promotes playing everywhere in the city through different actions such as street games and gamification…

Since 2009, the German city of Bremen has been running the ZZZ. This temporary use agency wakes up vacant buildings and unused lands by filling them with innovative economic, social, and cultural projects. The ZZZ or ZwischenZeitZentrale, which means “in-between-times headquarters”, acts as a mediator between different actors. It tracks down buildings and users, advises building owners, brings people together…

The municipality of Barcelona is creating news axes and new ways of moving within the city! Since September, Barcelona has renewed the mobilities rules of one of its main avenues in the city center. Every Friday morning from 8:30 till noon, the Avenue is closed to cars and gives free movement to bikes. This concept called “velobus” wants to develop…

Milano has launched the “Quadra” project which is giving the opportunity to the citizens to invest a 600m square space while creating social link. With colorful and geometric patterns, the structure is inspired by children drawings! Green spaces and playgrounds have been created to transform the place into a convivial and meeting point. The people have been involved in the…