The Good Cities consortium meeting took place in Budapest this April (14th–16th) during a week of profound significance. Landing just days after the monumental election that saw Hungary return to a democratic path, the city was alive with a jubilant energy. This atmosphere of renewal provided the perfect backdrop for our Hungarian partners and our shared mission: building a community-led urban future through the sharing economy. 

Organised and hosted by the Bartók District of Újbuda Municipality, the meeting brought together partners from The Association of Municipalities of Tartu County (Estonia), City of Malmö (Sweden), Municipality of Újbuda (Hungary), Region of Western Macedonia (Greece), The Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CLuBE), City of Tilburg (Netherlands), City of Jyväskylä (Finland), and Eutropian (Austria). 

We were welcomed at our workshop hub on our first day, creative technology knowledge center Adaptér, by Antal Nikolett, Managing Director of KözPont Kft which provides the institutional background and resources for the cultural and community development of Bartók-negyed and Barabás Richárd, Deputy Mayor of Újbuda. Together with Bartók District’s Lili Szarvas they introduced us to the neighbourhood’s complex cultural and social ecosystem.

A cultural and circular neighbourhood

The Bartók District—centred around the iconic Bartók Béla Boulevard—is the vibrant cultural heart of Újbuda, known for its dense network of galleries, creative workshops, and community spaces. Adaptér is a cornerstone of this infrastructure, serving as a creative technology “knowledge centre” designed to bridge the gap between innovation and community needs. Within this same ecosystem, we visited Adaptér Workshop, an urban lab for sustainability and self-sufficiency where you learn to grow food, repair gear, and build your own tech to live more independently. Our local exploration also included the 1111 Gallery that revitalises vacant municipal spaces into experimental exhibition halls, art studios, and community hubs and as well as sessions at at KÉK (Contemporary Architecture Centre) focussing on Cargonomia, a community hub combining cargo bike logistics, organic food distribution, and community cooperation, and Beeco, a digital platform mapping the city’s green ecosystem.

Solidarity in the 8th District

Our study of urban cooperation continued at the Kazán Community Center, a community-owned hub operating on principles of solidarity to house various social and environmental organisations. Its heart is the Gólya Co-operative, a multi-functional social centre and pub that operates as a collective. Beyond the social side, the Kazán community manages a pioneering energy community. 

We also spent time at Repair Café Budapest, which is currently the only repair café in the capital and also serves as a social hub for the locals. It stands out by involving technicians and seamstresses who mentor residents to fix their own items, ensuring that skill-sharing and craftsmanship are at the centre of the project.

Moving to long term strategies

The core of our work focused on moving sharing into a long-term strategic agenda. We explored how to measure impact across six categories: social interaction, environmental impact, health, economic growth, accessibility, and institutional independence. This work directly informed our Policy Roadmap, where we focused on embedding these projects into local politics and funding schemes.

Eutropian, together with Bax Innovation led the workshops. Partners developed together the Playbook for GOOD CITIES, which includes the learnings and the collection of local experiences to develop a ready-to-use framework for cities to deploy. 

We also reviewed our active pilots—including sharing stations in Tilburg, sport sharing in Tartu, and household sharing in Újbuda—supported by mentoring from Malmö and Jyväskylä.

To bridge the gap between these strategies and the public, we held a final session on how to effectively communicate these local transitions to our citizens.

A final soak
To close our time together, some of the team headed to the Széchenyi Baths. Soaking in the thermal waters was the perfect ending to an intense few days and a chance to relax together in a historic, shared city space.

A huge thanks goes to our host for the full two days, Lili Szarvas (Bartók District Project Manager), and the entire Bartók District team for guiding us through the neighbourhood’s complex cultural and social ecosystem.