In early July, Eutropian’s Levente Polyák was in Olomouc, Czech Republic, for the Final Meeting of the URBACT network Daring Cities. The event, hosted by the OIomouc Municipality and marking the end of the two-year journey of Daring Cities, served as a culmination of the network’s efforts to transform urban environments through innovation, participation, and a shared vision.

The conference highlighted how diverse municipalities across Europe have tackled unique local challenges—ranging from industrial decline to physical fragmentation caused by infrastructure—by employing common methodologies such as storytelling, data analysis, and citizen engagement. 

A central theme that resonated throughout the event was the necessity of “urban diplomacy,” which involves moving beyond local technical execution to secure political commitment and foster dialogue between different levels of government and external stakeholders. As delegates from various cities shared their experiences, it became clear that the project’s success was rooted in shifting from a top-down administrative approach to a co-design model that empowers residents, particularly the youth, to shape the future of their communities.

One of the most prominent physical themes addressed during the project was the challenge of urban fragmentation, where major infrastructure acts as a barrier to social and economic cohesion. In the city of Altea (Spain), the railway line has long been viewed as a “scar” that divides the town, creating dangerous crossings and limiting accessibility to the seafront. By participating in the network, Altea moved from a state of political uncertainty to a clear strategic vision: converting the railway corridor into a permeable tram system. 

This transformation was driven by “critical walks,” where decision-makers and citizens walked the tracks together to experience the barriers firsthand, providing immediate and actionable feedback. 

Similarly, the city of Piraeus focused on regenerating an abandoned northern railway station and an inactive two-kilometer stretch into a multi-purpose green space featuring a House of Music and a Climate Lab. In the Czech Republic, the city of Prostějov, working within the Olomouc metropolitan framework, utilized both “hard data” from censuses and “soft data” from citizen questionnaires to reimagine its own local railway station area, identifying that while residents had ambivalent feelings about the site, there was a strong collective desire to preserve greenery and improve public safety.

The revitalization of industrial and cultural heritage emerged as another vital pillar of the project’s activities. The city of Kragujevac in Serbia centered its efforts on the Mechanical Workshop, a site of exceptional industrial interest that had previously been managed solely by decision-makers without public input. Through the project, they established a local urban group that fostered a sense of ownership among residents, leading to the creation of strategic documents like a storytelling plan and a transferability study. 

Dunaújváros in Hungary, a city established during the Soviet era, faced a different set of heritage challenges related to its socialist modernist architecture and a collection of large steel sculptures that felt disconnected from the modern citizenry. Their activities included the creation of a “social learning route” using QR codes to tell the stories behind these structures and the establishment of a “green archive” that documented the city’s biodiversity from its founding to the present day.

Biodiversity and climate resilience were themes that intersected with nearly every urban intervention. Dunaújváros, despite being one of Hungary’s greenest cities, faced the imminent threat of losing its aging pine forests to climate change. In response, they developed a “tree cadastre,” an innovative software tool that not only tracks the health and data of 500 trees in the city center but also incorporates gamification. This system encourages residents to water trees in exchange for points that can be redeemed for discounts at local cafes, effectively turning climate adaptation into a community-building exercise. 

A significant result of the project is the creation of robust, technically sound “investment plans” that serve as roadmaps for future action. These documents are not mere declarations of intent; they are evidence-based frameworks that organize the steps required for large-scale urban transformation. 

For Altea, the plan enables the council to approach the Valencian government with a formal request for tram conversion, backed by technical reports on permeability. 

Kragujevac is preparing to issue local bonds to finance the reconstruction of its Mechanical Workshop—a first for any city in Serbia, supported by a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance.

In Olomouc, the project resulted in a “cookbook” for the city, providing a methodology for how to approach abandoned zones like Hradisko East, which has remained a “scar” of rubbish and disarray since the departure of Soviet occupation forces. This area, which lacked a clear historical narrative because it was always empty or used as a military junkyard, is now being reimagined as a usable green space for the thousands of residents living in nearby blocks.

Ultimately, the results of the project are measured not just in documents and technical studies, but in a fundamental change in “a way of working”. The legacy of the network includes a shift toward transparency and inclusivity, as seen in Dunaújváros’s efforts to ensure that even those who cannot use digital tools can participate in open calls for biodiversity projects by submitting paper proposals. It is also seen in the way Kragujevac involved primary school students in designing the landscape for industrial sites, ensuring that the next generation feels a connection to their city’s past. 

As the project concludes, the participating cities have moved from a state of “not knowing what they wanted” to possessing a shared diagnostic and a professionalized network of peers. The experience has taught these municipalities to look at their own streets from a different perspective, recognizing that while every city has unique challenges, their ambitions for livable, sustainable, and connected spaces are common and shared.