Municipalities for an Equitable Transformation in Europe (MEET) is built upon the experience of several municipalities who have taken part in the international “Municipalities in Transition” project (MiT) since 2017. These municipalities were already committed to implementing deep and long-lasting changes to their territory, striving to reach a just and equitable society, while actively promoting behaviour and policy changes responding to the effects of climate change.
The Municipalities in Transition project was designed to create spaces of real, meaningful collaboration at the municipal scale between different territorial actors, where the well-being of the people and the natural environment were at the center. Since 2017, more than 10 municipalities in Europe have taken part in the project, with politicians, technicians, activists and citizens coming together to share their experience, learning, challenges and opportunities for synergy through the Community of Practice of the project.
The next step in the evolution of this project and network is to increase participation of European municipalities from new countries. What is intended is to build competencies, skills and knowledge for the municipalities involved, focusing on social justice and groups at risk of social exclusion.
With the priorities of the funding call and our general objectives in mind, the consortium was set up taking into consideration diversity of social contexts, geography, multi-scale organisations - from local to European level, with multi-sectorial expertise - from hands-on-doers, to planners and policy makers. The partners will promote gender equality, with gender specific approaches in all activities and the inclusion of minorities.
The city of Vila Nova de Famalicão (VNF), in Portugal, has 202 km2 occupied with a diffuse urbanization, with 133.590 residents. It faces challenges related to education, training and specialization, intensified by the green and digital transition. Famalicão has only recently been exposed to increasing cultural diversity and it is necessary, in this context to support the integration of foreign cultures, to promote and facilitate exchanges between citizens of different communities, from different countries,; to give Famalicão inhabitants the possibility to know and understand the European cultural diversity present/living in the city.
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The city of Arcueil in France, with 22.318 inhabitants, is located at the gates of Paris. It is a very dynamic city with diverse forms of housing (45% of public housing) and both dense infrastructures and calm living environment. The city of Arcueil has a rich cultural background and political history : it has been involving citizens since the 90’s, being one the first cities in France to launch neighborhood assemblies with their own budgets and local referendums.
Website | Project page | Project Contact
The city of Hernani in the Basque Country, Spain, is a municipality near San Sebastian, in the province of Gipuzkoa, with 20.100 inhabitants. The main challenge they want to address is increasing the resilience of the municipality.
Website | Project page | Project Contact
The city of Dąbrowa Górnicza, in Poland, is a city of 120.000 inhabitants close to Katowice. From the 19th century, the settlement grew to be an important coal-mining center, and is using the momentum gained during the COP at Katowice to take significant action to overcome several systemic challenges including: a shrinking local economy, very low social progress index, depopulation, unemployment, degraded land, air pollution, and a cultural heritage built on mining.
Website | Project page | Project Contact
The city of Valsamoggia, in Italy is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Bologna. It was created on 1 January 2014 after the merger of the former communes of Bazzano (the current town hall seat), Castello di Serravalle, Crespellano, Monteveglio and Savigno. It has a land area of 178 sq km and a population of 31,498 inhabitants. In 2008 the Municipality of Monteveglio was the first “Transition Town” experiment in Italy, seeing a bold engagement of civil society and local administration through a strategic partnership aimed at designing a prosperous and sustainable future for the community.
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The project is developed through a series of meetings that will involve the Partners and local actors who will be invited to join the discussions and workshops. Some meetings will be held in person, while others will be held online to allow easier participation of a wider audience without the need to travel.
Europe is changing fast in a world that is changing even faster. What do we need to understdand to adapt and act in a positive way as European community? Here we start our journey setting a first map of needs, challenges and possible solutions.
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The tragic impact on Europe of the COVID pandemic can teach us a lot about many different aspects of the European community. Let's take this opportunity to evolve our local and European solidarity, and understanding of our own capacity for resilience.
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For a safer, thriving Europe, we need a systemic understanding of the European system. How can we transcend the mainstream vertical management attitude towards a more horizontal way to evolve our communities? How do we include the most vulnerable and unheard elements of our social systems?
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Europe is changing fast in a world that is changing even faster. What do we need to understdand to adapt and act in a positive way as European community? Here we start our journey setting a first map of needs, challenges and possible solutions.
Event program and subscription
Building up on what we learned in the previous meeting, let us explore the ways to produce understanding, inclusion and empowerment.
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Here we offer a moment to rethink some elements or our social organizations. We will explore a number of questions, trying to find answers that are not obvious or ideological: What is citizen engagement? What is it for? Why and when do we want participation? How can we foster cooperation between different actors of the community? Why, how and when should we practice shared governance?
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Let us explore our significant social challenges in a shrinking economy. How can we produce prosperity for all without pushing the problem far away to another part of the planet? How can we get past the infinte growth model which is undermines our vital systems? What can be the role of local communities in this new game?
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The great recap. An opportunity for final reflection on the path of the project and on the ideas, collaborations and possibilities that emerged during these months of working together.
The municipalities in this consortium have identified that innovation in “shared governance”, social and solidarity economics, and collaboration between municipalities and communities are vital ingredients for systemically transformative solutions to climate and social crises. Each of the municipalities in this project has good practice to share in at least one of these areas, and a need and desire to learn from the innovation of the others.
The main inspiration for this project is the Municipalities in Transition project (MiT). Running from 2017 until 2021 in 4 European countries, the project brought together public administration and civil society to create environments of real collaboration and horizontal decision-making. It was innovative in its use of shared governance and in the use of a methodology that brought systemic thinking into municipality planning and implementation of actions, to ensure the maximum impact with the most efficient use of resources. Furthermore, the project helped municipalities take a bold step forward to invite and guarantee the participation of minority groups and ensure gender equality.
MEET will therefore use the Local Transformation Toolkit (LTT) derived from the MiT project, that is specifically designed to be adapted to each local context and used to ensure the cultural diversity of each city is respected.
