Co-creating the city – does it work in practice?

Charlot Schans, Paula Marques, Christophe Bolot

2020 English Public Infrastructures & Space

Around the world cities have been experimenting with innovative governance instruments to support a better cooperation between governments and active citizens in addressing urban challenges collaboratively. From support mechanisms for civic initiatives, to participatory budgeting and direct democracy, European cities have been on the forefront of promoting co-creation between a variety of stakeholders. What have we learned from these experiments? What has been successful, and what could be improved? What are optimal roles and forms of collaboration between civic initiatives and governments.

Placemaking Europe and STIPO invite pioneering cities to collectively reflect on the pilots of the past years and formulate effective forms of co-creation.

Charlot Schans

Urban Sociologist / STIPO

Charlot Schans is an urban sociologist and anthropologist by training, with years of experience in developing and coordinating international networks, events and projects in the field of urban development and social innovation. Her work starts from the understanding that the most livable, sustainable and equitable cities around the globe are the result of effective co-creation between a variety of stakeholders. She is fascinated by processes that enhance collaborative city-making, cross-cutting barriers between disciplinary silos and public and private domains. In her current position as advisor at STIPO she translates this vision into longterm projects in the field of area and real estate development, placemaking and urban regeneration, co-creating better cities and places with innovative partners and professional friends. In September 2020 Charlot has been appointed as Director of Placemaking Europe, a network of over 3.000 placemakers, from civic innovators to politicians and real estate developers, working together to improve our collective public spaces in European cities.

Paula Marques

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Local Development

Paula Marques is an elected councillor – as an independent candidate of the Movimento Cidadãos por Lisboa on the Socialist Party lists – for the 2013/2017 and 2017/2021 mandate, within the Housing and Local Development portfolio.

The City of Lisbon (Portugal) is at the forefront of the global movement towards offering an alternative vision of urban development, built on community empowerment, common good and respect for nature. Since 2009, the city has been implementing a ground-breaking strategy – the BIP/ZIP programme – to address urban poverty. Paula Marques has been leading this project.

Paula Marques was born in Porto and attended the Law course, at Universidade Portucalense. In 1993 she enrolled in Theatre Higher Studies, at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo, do Instituto Politécnico do Porto [Superior School of Music and Performing Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto], and won an Acting Bachelorate in July 2006. Since 1998, she has been working intermittently as an actor and a cinema and television producer.

In 2013 I earned a Political Science Studies post-graduate degree at Instituto Superior das Ciências do Trabalho e do Emprego [Superior Institute for Labor and Business Sciences], where I am currently pursuing a Masters Degree, still in the Political Science field.

Christophe Bolot

Head of EU Office

Christophe Bolot is managing Lille Metropole’s EU Office in Brussels, an office he created 3 years ago. Before and from 2009, he was in charge of Economic development, Employment and International affairs, as Lille Metropole Deputy Managing Director. He piloted the economic development strategy design and its implementation through different action plans. He put special attention to creative industries, facilitating the creation of Lille Design, a design development agency, and was one of the initiator of Lille Metropole candidature to World design capital 2020 title.

Co-creating the city – does it work in practice?
Charlot Schans, Paula Marques, Christophe Bolot

The Grand Finale
Charles Landry, Stéphane Beemelmans

The Grand Opening
Charles Landry, Sebastian Turner, Johanna Sieben, Astrid Frohloff

The People Power Game: Draw, Imagine and Resolve the World’s Demographic Dilemmas
Adam Sharpe

Reimagining the Building Blocks of Democracy
Elina Makri, Achilles Tsaltas

Attracting and Retaining Public Sector Talent: Create Lithuania’s 10-Year Story
Monika Merkytė, Leva Jurkonienė

#FreetownTheTreeTown: A Community-Driven Tree-Planting Revolution
Eric Hubbard

10×100: Upgrading Public Action for the Long Emergency
Caroline Paulick-Thiel, Indy Johar

Slow is the New Fast: Leadership for Lasting Change
Sascha Haselmayer

One Million Jobs (and Counting!): South Africa’s Social Employment Story
Kate Philip

From Local Action to Global Networks: Catalysing Collective Change
Candelaria Yanzi, Linda Peia

The Art of Imagination
Geoff Mulgan

Change Is Not an Option
Bernd Fesel, Pier Luigi Sacco, Christian Ehler

Building Trust in Public Institutions: A Path to Innovation and Progress
Terrance Smith

From a Nobody to a Somebody: How Do You Create Truly Equitable Cities?
Tommi Laitio, Angela Reyes, Kerstin von Aretin

Call Frida: Using Technology to Combat Gender Violence in Brazil
Ana Rosa Campos, Emile Ribeiro

Power to the People: 53,000 Public Servants Transformed in Brazil
Luana Faria

From Fruits to Rock: Inspiring a Healthy Lifestyle through Music
Claudio Canales, Gabriela Hidalgo Anaiz

Nicht ohne mehr Frauen! Fachkräftemangel als Chance für Geschlechtergerechtigkeit
Ekin Deligöz

„Gamification meets Verwaltung“ am Beispiel der OZG-Security-Challenge 2023
Ralf Käck

Die digitale Verwaltung: Gekommen, um zu bleiben
Markus Richter