Citizens’ needs are changing, and so must cities adapt and assess priorities for the greater goods. In this booklet of case studies published as part of ROCK project, you can learn five ways cities invent new governance models to turn into more creative and sustainable places to live.
City administrations take on new roles as brokers or advisors, using their connections to help create new cultural partnerships: in Lyon, the Urban Heritage Observatory works with focus groups to assess the changes in the way of living and working in the World Heritage city centre. In Skopje, the SkopjeLab transforms the way public services work. Cities offer public spaces to be used by citizens, entrepreneurs, artists and other actors of urban change such as in Athens who renovated the Kypseli Market to turn it into a new agora. In the Marvila area of Lisbon, residents are taking over abandoned spaces to make them theirs again and foster creativity in the neighbourhood.
All this is not possible without the direct involvement of citizens, and them taking ownership of the public goods. Which is why Bologna developed the regulation of collaboration between citizens and the city for the care and regeneration of urban commons. The governance of the city is changing as cities test new models able to integrate as many voices as possible to deliver urban development in the most inclusive and creative way. Read more about the cities’ experiences in the booklet!
