As part of our Good Practice campaign, we investigated in a previous article what makes an URBACT Good Practice ‘good’. Two distinguishing features are ‘local impact’ and ‘transferability’, which can take many forms and contexts – as evident in the 97 URBACT Good Practices awarded in 2017. 

This article focuses on one practice in particular and its transferability and local impact: the Playful Paradigm. Find out how one city in Ireland adapted an URBACT Good Practice, developed by an Italian city, and transferred it at a national level. Your city could experience similar benefits if you send us your good practice! 

Defining ‘transfer’ in the URBACT programme  

In the context of the URBACT programme, a ‘good practice’ can be transferred through a specific model of ‘understand-adapt-reuse' supported by transfer networks. In the Playful Paradigm Transfer Network, as Lead Partner, Udine found a way to make the city landscape playful, officially recognised as an URBACT Good Practice. Awarded by URBACT in 2017, Udine’s experience with modes of play provided a template for not only reanimating underused, car-dominated public spaces but also to improve social inclusion and initiate community-led placemaking.

Through the URBACT Playful Paradigm Transfer Network, Cork (IE) developed a host of play actions in line with Udine's Playful Paradigm practice. “We went for something that was very pioneering in terms of trying to create a ‘playful city’…what does this actually mean?”, explains Kieran McCarthy, Lord Mayor of Cork (2023-2024) and an independent member of Cork City Council. ‘It’s really about re-thinking how we use our public spaces: closing off streets and creating playful areas’. 

Cork was inspired by the Udine example to develop a variety of play actions, including:

- The re-pedestrianisation of the Marina walkway, a historic walkway dating back to the 19th century.

- Getting permission to temporarily open streets for play (for example every Sunday for a month).

- Promoting the concept of Play Streets which at its core is the repurposing of the street for free play (setting up tug-of-war stations and big Connect 4 stations).

- Playful Cultural Trail of cultural institutions (including museums, art galleries, community centres, etc.).

According to Lord Mayor McCarthy, “These spaces were playful areas in the past, so it’s great to see families engage and discover these streets, their origins, and even their own neighbours.” As a transfer partner city, Cork also embraced the power of the practice (of play) to address other urban challenges (e.g. public health, environment, place-making, etc.). For instance, play packs and place-making training helped to reduce social isolation of Cork’s elderly population during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Cork’s application of the URBACT Good Practice proved its transferability, not only to other European cities but cascaded at national level. 

Continuing the transfer from European to national scale

Starting in 2021, the Cork URBACT Local Group spearheaded URBACT’s National Practice Transfer Initiative (NPTI) in Ireland – one of five intra-country transfer pilots reinforcing best practice exchange and URBACT’s added value in different European countries. With the support of the Irish National URBACT Point and a national URBACT expert, Cork helped to transfer the Playful Paradigm practice in 5 Irish towns:  Donegal, Portlaoise, Rush, Rathdrum and Sligo. “The different groups and town representatives came to Cork”, remembers Lord Mayor McCarthy. “I had the chance to speak to them about the impact of URBACT, and why they should engage with the URBACT programme.”  

Inspired by the Cork example, the five Irish partners got to work imagining how they could make it work in their own municipalities. The partner towns developed and implemented transfer plans, involving a variety of actions based on Cork’s experience with the Playful Paradigm Project. These plans were different, depending on the local context, but all focused on liberating streets and public places to the public – not just children, but all generations and groups.  

In Donegal Town, for instance, the Diamond town square was turned into play areas, and residents young and old were invited to have fun and connect with each other. Just north of Dublin, in Rush, the URBACT Local Group (ULG) created a Play Street. An area typically occupied by cars, this space became ‘open for play’. The Rush ULG members also created a storytelling trail involving the local library and community centre. Local community organisations in Portlaoise prioritised involving disadvantaged or vulnerable communities; in particular, the town got the Ukrainian refugee community involved. Sligo reanimated its town centre with new pedestrian sidewalks and cycle lanes as well as improvements to benches and street furniture. Play events, where busy retail streets in the centre were temporarily closed for car traffic, were well received by residents and businesses alike. Some of the successful elements that Sligo decided to implement following the Cork visit included installing the first parklet in the town (taking out two parking spaces and creating a seating area where residents and visitors can meet and linger) as well as a space for colouring chalk on the street. They are now partner in a new European network called Cities@Heart, to create a healthy and harmonious heart of the city. 

In a quirky turn of events, different communities decided to use recycled materials to play. Deep in the woods of Rathdrum in County Wicklow, locals took part in ‘snowball fights’. Instead of waiting for snow, old (washed) socks were used to kick off play activities. The town’s new library provided a perfect location to adapt a variety of play actions, including a community play bag loaning system. This system has been expanded to all libraries in County Wicklow. 

Exceeding expectations:  making play a priority in Irish towns 

Throughout the URBACT National Practice Transfer Initiative, Cork was able to delve deeper into its own recognised playful practice based on engagement with Udine and other European partner cities. Cork also took a hands-on role in offering material support and guidance to the partner municipalities (e.g. a manual for incorporating playfulness, Let’s Play Cork brand guidelines, etc.) 

Looking closer at the impact of the national transfer, it is clear that the learning exchange went both ways between the Lead Partner and partner cities.  

Irish partners answer Cork’s call to action 

Feedback has been positive across the local partners, according to Wessel Badenhorst, the URBACT Lead Expert who accompanied the transfer process. Partners in the five transfer towns and cities brought fresh perspectives to the conversation with Cork on the Playful Paradigm, pushing the boundaries of what playful spaces, events and engagements could look like in a specifically local, Irish setting.  

“It is worth noting that all partners in the Ireland transfer initiative reported that the impacts of their play activities and interventions exceeded their expectations,” stated Wessel. The most telling endorsements were that residents are requesting more play activities and that funding for play activities are being secured from national and municipal sources. All partners implemented their transfer plans, hence proving the value of the adapted and re-used actions first observed in Cork (the transfer city). And, although most people instinctively know that play makes everyone feel better, the national initiative helped the partner towns to observe and understand how, over time, the opportunities for free play in public spaces in Irish towns have been reduced for example by allocating too much space for the exclusive use of cars. With practical low-cost play activities, the partner towns demonstrated to their residents that a more liveable alternative is possible.  

Cork finds its playful calling 

According to Martha Halbert, Social Inclusion Specialist in Cork City Council: “Showcasing the work to our colleagues across cities and towns in Ireland represented not only a unique network building exercise for local government colleagues, but it encouraged us to look at the local factors which made the work unique and transferable.” Lord Mayor McCarthy can attest to this: “I’ve seen the joy my team gets from telling the story of Cork and the Playful Paradigm.” 

In addition to the types of connections and exchanges, the national transfer component has also helped to boost staff training: not just keeping staff skill sets up to par but also informing them of developments in the playful paradigm in the EU context.

Stepping back even further, the URBACT Playful Paradigm kick-started Cork’s investment in restoring public spaces as ‘playful places’. They secured Healthy Ireland funding to employ a Play Coordinator for Cork City, who is dedicated to increasing the profile and value of play in communities as well as at strategic policy level. Martha adds, “Play learnings are firmly embedded in the policy and structural landscape in Cork City now”. It also provided a stepping-stone for the city to get involved in other EU-level initiatives such as Horizon projects, and the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, of which Cork is one of the 112 selected laureates.

Children playing in activities of the Playful Paradigm initiative.

URBACT’s call for Good Practices: Cork’s advice

URBACT has a legacy of recognising specific methods, approaches and tools for making cities green, just and productive. These URBACT Good Practices are part of a legacy of positive change, not just at European but also at national and local levels.

"My call to any local government is to submit your good practice!” encourages Lord Mayor McCarthy. “Some of the world’s largest challenges exist in urban areas, and every municipality across the European Union is working on some important nugget that can help other cities and towns. Don’t leave it to others to write up the good practices!”

We hope that Cork’s experience inspires you to share your good practice. 

Interested in applying to the new URBACT Call for Good Practices (open until 30 July 2024)? 

All you need to know can be found on urbact.eu/get-involved.  

Thanks to Wessel Badenhorst, URBACT expert and the six URBACT local group coordinators for the materials provided: Joy Herron (Donegal Town), Aoife Sheridan (Rush), Martha Halbert (Cork City), Leonora McConville (Sligo), Ann-Marie Maher (Portlaoise) and Deirdre Whitfield (Rathdrum).
 

Formed in 2023 and piloted by the Greater Paris Metropolis as Lead Partner, the network Cities@Heart brings together 10 different local governments working to create tools for the improvement of city centres. The first network-wide gathering since the URBACT IV launch in 2023, this transnational meeting was a new step in the network journey, an opportunity to exchange and to observe the policies of host partner Sligo County Council and Sligo Business Improvement District. Following 10 different Baseline Study Visits conducted by Lead Expert Mar Santamaria Varas, this meeting also represents the network’s shift from the preparatory to activation phase.

Meeting in the Land of Heart's Desire

The first transnational meeting provided project partners the opportunity to obtain feedback on their baseline study visit in the form of the presentation of an overarching methodology to ground the study and set the course for the following two years of inter-european collaboration.

To kick off the first morning of workshops, participants shared their experiences in the realm of public-private partnership. In Krakow (PL), the city approached the Wesoła District’s revitalization with workshops on prototyping solutions for shared spaces to build a sense of community and responsibility for its development among citizens. In Celje (SI), a vacant storefront was left to the use of local stakeholders, providing a successful brick-and-mortar testing ground for new ideas or projects. Back in Sligo, the public-private partnership has proved to be fruitful: the business perspective encourages an objective data-driven approach and the public sector can intervene to implement holistic policy improvements.

If we can make it in the city centre, we can make it anywhere

A city centre is a microcosm of social functions and represents the most intricate iteration of urban complexity. While each project partner experiences their city centre in a different way, the network Baseline Study represents the structure of all city centers using a matrix contrasting 7 challenges with 5 indicators.

From metropolises like Greater Paris (FR) or Krakow (PL)  to smaller cities like Fleurus (BE), for each partner, the diverse challenges may be more or less acute depending on the local context and the means available. Indeed, an imbalance in one of these topics or challenges can greatly aggravate the local context in the city centre, as evinced by the diagrams below.

To showcase Sligo’s strengths and best practices, the meeting focused on the management of data and local commerce in the city centre. Sligo is a lovely town nestled in a blustery corner of northwest Ireland, minutes from the Atlantic Coast and known for being a literary “land of heart’s desire” with poet W.B. Yeats as a native son. Yet, none of these attributes bring to mind words like “innovation” or “world renowned”. Public policy in Ireland is centralised in Dublin and towns “west of the Shannon” are considered out of the purview of the national stage. In fact, Sligo had historically been “left behind” by urban development schemes deployed elsewhere in the Republic of Ireland.

Urban solutions with a human approach

This brings us back to the coffee anecdote… After living and working abroad in the U.S.A. and Australia, Sligo native Gail McGibbon decided to return home. In order to start what would become Ireland’s fourth BID, Gail McGibbon went to work in a seemingly slow way: meeting for a cup of coffee with likely every single business owner in the town, having no other overt objective than sharing a chat. In her seminal work, The Death and LIfe of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs posits, “there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street." While this declaration has taken on a “big brother” connotation since the book’s publication in 1961, the principle rings just as true today. In every city centre, there is a need to be aware of what is happening in the street and with our neighbors or shopkeepers to make sure all are safe and provided for. Indeed, neighborliness proved to be the perfect ingredient to kick-starting the town’s transformation.

As Chief Executive Officer Martin Lydon explained, in a post-pandemic society, Sligo is leveraging cultural shifts to become a destination for young professionals, students and families seeking proximity to nature and a high level of services. Looking to attract a pool of potential inhabitants keen on finding property in the more affordable western coast of the country, Sligo has invested in a place branding campaign, infrastructure to increase connectivity and the tourism sector, inaugurating their National Surf Centre and a network of cycle paths.

Turning the local economy around

Now in 2023, the Sligo BID is healthy and counts 758 members. The BID and Sligo County have worked together tirelessly to introduce innovative measures for data collection, property management, tourism policy and event nightlife. Sligo has developed a Welcome Ambassador Programme, won the Purple Flag Award for night time economy, the label of Coach Friendly Destination and continues to attract international visitors curious about the town’s policies. In the end, Sligo’s shortcomings would eventually become strengths. The lack of urban sprawl meant that the town and county could promote closeness to nature and life at a human scale. The local counter-culture turned out to be a good thing for the health of the town’s high street district.

The human-ness at the origins of Sligo’s strategy is well reflected in the national Irish Town Centre First strategy which is based at the LGMA and places pragmatism and open dialogue at the forefront. One of the measuring tools of the programme, the Town Centre Health Check Programme, is a public document that serves as an objective evaluation of the town’s progress in implementing best practices. National Coordinator Mairead Hunt presented the country’s policy at the transnational meeting in Sligo and highlighted three core principles: understanding the place, defining the place and enabling the place. The national meeting of Town Regeneration Officers shies away from speeches by elected officials and focuses on peer-to-peer learning.

Soft approach, hard data

And yet, Sligo’s strategy didn’t stop at a friendly chat. The county and BID got to work monitoring, measuring and adapting their strategies. Brían Flynn, Town Regeneration Officer, presented the town’s creative use of data in developing their policies. In 2023 the Irish business platform GeoDirectory released data on commercial vacancy in the country. At 25.4%, the rate in Sligo was listed as the highest in the country. In order to curb the negative press and further investigate the truth behind this report which seemed incomplete to local officials, the town decided to collect its own data in the form of a comprehensive land-use policy survey. The study is still being carried out but the town has already gained valuable knowledge on the vacancy profile of downtown property and 16 landowners have discovered the national Croí Conaithe scheme for refurbishment of vacant buildings.

In turn, after witnessing Sligo policies first-hand through a series of site-specific visits and presentations, the network conducted a workshop on the subject of information gathering to address issues all along the chain of data management: identifying data sources, collecting data and data governance. While obtaining data can be simpler than expected, data-driven policy requires vision and advanced planning in order to identify independent sources of information and a successful, manageable tool for translating data into actionable proposals for city improvement.

An inaugural meeting for the network and for new URBACT participant Sligo, the event was opened by Cllr. Gerard Mullaney, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council and attended by Irish National URBACT Point Karl Murphy and Kristijan Radojčić of the URBACT Secretariat. The meeting was drawn to a close with a hike to glimpse the breathtaking vistas at the summit of the Knocknarea rock formation, providing a bird’s eye view of the Atlantic coast and the Sligo town centre.

With one meeting completed and the new year well on its way, the URBACT Cities@Heart network has three transnational meetings planned in Granada (ES), with the Quadrilatero Urbano Association (PT) and in Cesena (IT). Ensuing transnational meetings and those of Urban Local Groups (ULGs) will allow the network to share learnings and experiment small-scale actions over the next year.

Network members :

• The Greater Paris Metropolis, France
• The City of Cesena, Italy
• The City of Granada, Spain
• The City of Osijek, Croatia
• Amfiktyonies, a business development organization representing the City of Lamia, Greece
• The City of Celje, Slovenia
• The City of Fleurus, Belgium
• The City of Sligo, Ireland
• The Krakow Metropolis Association, Poland
• The Quadrilátero Urbano Association, Portugal

Having a chat with your neighbourhood baker, running into an old friend, finding all you need in one place: these are just some of the reasons why we feel so attached to our city centres. However, today in the 21st century, city centres are facing more than just a little competition. From the rise of big-box stores and franchises to the omnipresence of online commerce, downtown areas have lost some of their edge. A result of urban sprawl and rising property values, the spatial fragmentation of our cities further strains the resilience of the high street. Amid all these challenges, city centres are well worth understanding, defending and improving. That’s where the URBACT Cities@Heart Action Planning network comes in.

A programme supported by ERDF funds from the European Union, URBACT promotes sustainable urban development in Europe’s cities, both big and small. This year marks the beginning of URBACT IV, the fourth iteration of the programme with the launch of 30 Action Planning Networks throughout Europe and IPA countries. Harnessing an understanding of governance and recognizing the transverse coordination between the public, private and civic sectors as a driver for change, Cities@Heart partners will work together with a data-driven approach to plan, monitor and evaluate the implemented policies in the urban core. For the next 2.5 years, Cities@Heart will mobilise ten European urban areas. Network partners will work together to understand the way city centres function and create new monitoring tools to be used in city centre improvement initiatives.

The Greater Paris Metropolis (Métropole du Grand Paris, France) coordinates the network in the role of Lead Partner. With a strong track record in downtown revitalisation policy, The Greater Paris Metropolis is a public entity representing 131 cities in the French capital region including the city of Paris. Endowed with extensive experience in local economy, architecture and urban planning, Barcelona-based Mar Santamaria Varas will assist the network as Lead Expert.

The ten network partners include:

    The Greater Paris Metropolis, France (Lead Partner)
    The City of Cesena, Italy
    The City of Granada, Spain  
    The City of Osijek, Croatia
    Amfiktyonies, a business development organisation representing the City of Lamia, Greece
    The City of Celje, Slovenia
    The City of Fleurus, Belgium
    The City of Sligo, Ireland
    The Krakow Metropolis Association, Poland
    The Quadrilátero Urbano Association, Portugal

Each partner in the network is facing their own challenges: loss of inhabitants to the peripheries or the metropolitan areas, underdeveloped local commerce networks, conflicts generated by the intensive use of public space, the transition to walkable and carless environments, gentrification and over-tourism, gender equality and inclusion... Yet, all partners can agree on one thing: city centres are unique places and not just because they hold a certain affective charm: they truly are the lifeforce of our urban societies. Keeping the heart of downtown healthy is key to ensuring the vibrancy of local economies and the well-being of inhabitants.

During the network’s lifespan, project partners will have the opportunity to travel throughout the European Union to see first-hand examples of city solutions driving change for better cities as they take part in transnational meetings hosted by the different project partners. To kick things off, the URBACT Secretariat hosted Summer University in Malmö, Sweden this past 28-30 August. Here, project partners met for the first time to discuss the framework of their networks, building capacity and learning more about the URBACT methodology for better cities. 

Over the course of the autumn months, Lead Expert Mar Santamaria-Varas has travelled with the Greater Paris Metropolis to visit the ten project partners spread out across the European Union. From Poland to Greece, from Croatia to Portugal, the recent mobilities have provided a wealth of insight for this network of urban areas. The first transnational meeting of the network is planned for 6-7 December in Sligo, Ireland. After completing the Baseline Study Visit with Project Partners, the findings will allow the network to go from knowledge to action, laying out the roadmap for the next two years.

With activities well underway, Cities@Heart is off to an exciting start. Check in regularly with the LinkedIn Page and the URBACT network webpage to stay up to date on project mobilities and findings!

Cities@Heart is an URBACT Action Planning network bringing together ten urban areas from all across Europe. With three different time zones, contrasting demographics and over 12 official languages, the Cities@Heart network draws upon a diverse pool of urban professionals, civil servants and citizens dedicated to improving their downtown areas. Taking the form of an observatory, the network employs a broad approach to improving city centres. Rather than focusing on one aspect of local economy or urban planning, Cities@Heart is working to develop a tool to measure factors contributing to the success of city centres in places as diverse as Sligo, Ireland or Lamia, Greece, two of the project partners.

A network to rethink public policies, governance models and decision-making tools for city centres

As a response to this multifaceted challenge of city centre management, Cities@Heart proposes the creation of a shared methodology applicable to different types of urban contexts. Relying on a bottom-up approach integrating data management, this accessible, user-friendly framework will support decision-making processes as well as the implementation and efficiency of cross-cutting sustainable urban policies.

The Cities@Heart methodology is based on five fundamental pillars:

Governance: exploring existing models of town centre management (public vs. private, formal vs. informal) and new paradigms of participatory agreements among stakeholders in the form of multi-level partnership

Integrated Public Policies: deploying policies that cut across multiple policy domains (housing, public services, mobility, public space, commerce, etc.)

Decision-Making Tools: integrating data and indicators to support the analysis, formulation, and monitoring of implemented actions

Sustainability: ensuring urban centres can adapt to climate change despite facing greater difficulties in comparison to the rest of the city (such as scarcity and limited space in public areas, a poorly maintained built environment, household incomes incapable of coping with transformation, etc.).

Inclusion: providing optimal living conditions for all residents (regardless of gender, age, or background) and promoting personal autonomy through inclusive care

The ten network partners include:

    The Greater Paris Metropolis, France (Lead Partner)
    The City of Cesena, Italy
    The City of Granada, Spain  
    The City of Osijek, Croatia
    Amfiktyonies, a business development organisation representing the City of Lamia, Greece
    The City of Celje, Slovenia
    The City of Fleurus, Belgium
    The City of Sligo, Ireland
    The Krakow Metropolis Association, Poland
    The Quadrilátero Urbano Association, Portugal

The Cities@Heart Baseline Study

Within the context of the URBACT methodology, each Lead Partner must conduct visits with the different partners comprising the network. These study visits allow the Lead Partner and Lead Expert to better understand the local context for each project partner all while revealing the commonalities shared across the network. During this phase, from June to December 2023, each partner in the network had the opportunity to host a visit in order to highlight their best practices but also their challenges: gentrification and over-tourism, adaptation to climate change, overuse or conviviality in the public space, improvement of local commerce networks and integration of new habits of consumption, creating a sense of belonging and identity, coordination between the public and private sectors or bolstering efforts for more inclusion and gender equality in the public space.

Over the course of the Baseline Study, the network has also identified innovative solutions to these challenges in addition to methods for capacity building and scaling actions: collaborative models of town-centre management, data observatories and sectorial indicator tools, strategies to renovate listed buildings, greening initiatives for the public space, monitoring of tourism, revitalisation of vacant premises, night-life economy initiatives, creation of new commercial polarities around local markets or enlivening the city centre through festivals or citizen-based initiatives.

Contextual Examples from the Network

City centres have undergone significant changes in the past century. To understand the context of Cities@Heart, it is important to provide a brief historical background. With the advent of industrialisation, the early 1900’s witnessed the rapid growth of cities in Europe. These new metropolises developed and  gradually endowed themselves with new, more modern infrastructure and services. By the mid-20th Century, a phenomenon of urban sprawl could be observed, with peripheral, “sub-urban” areas offering a higher standard of living than the historic centres, then perceived as dense, unhealthy, and obsolete.

However, starting in the second half of the 20th century, an awareness of the importance of historic centres began to emerge. European urban centres became a prominent target for urban regeneration initiatives. City centres started to be recognised for their crucial role in urban dynamics and social cohesion. From the 1970s, city management started directing resources to the historic centre. These oftentimes obsolete and abandoned central spaces gained prominence in spite of contradictory policies encouraging unlimited urban development in the preceding decades. In response to the renewed concern for urban areas, city centres are now poised to become the focus of urban transformation and revitalization initiatives.

Today, city centres still represent an opportunity to address structural challenges in the transition to new urban models fuelled by the green transition and grounded in the principles of  proximity. As proposed by urbanist Carlos Moreno in the 15 minute-city paradigm, town centres have the potential to provide most essential services within a short walking distance: community-scale education and healthcare, retail, parks for recreation, working spaces and more. This hyper-local framework has the potential to generate dynamic local growth, stronger communities, viable businesses and commerce, active mobility, and in turn reduced emissions.

However, the configuration of contemporary city centres also creates conflicting urban realities where several functions coexist in permanent tension. Transition can come at a price. A high quality of life in the city centre also requires healthy environments, efficient infrastructure, and easy access to amenities. In addition to basic everyday amenities , citizens also need to have opportunities to develop economic activities that increase wealth and social mobility. City centres are tasked with providing housing to a diverse population, prioritising affordable housing, catering to diverse socio-economic groups and fostering inclusivity, all while ensuring accessibility to public spaces that enrich communal bonds, promote well-being and create a sense of belonging.

The Next Steps for the Cities@Heart Network

The URBACT framework enables the transfer of knowledge on transnational and local levels, promoting capacity building activities, the development of local action plans together with stakeholders (the ULG or Urban Local Groups) and the dissemination of results with the aim to transfer this evidence-based and integrated approach to other urban contexts.

An interdisciplinary, complex subject matter, city centres are certainly worth observing. Observing the core of the city provides insight to broader national and global trends. Addressing social and urbanistic issues in the city centre may in turn yield more positive effects on the greater urban area, creating more spaces for people to meet and create engagement in their communities. As the Cities@Heart Baseline Study comes to a close, the network partners are looking forward to two more years of collaboration, using the road map generated by the findings of this investigatory period.