Best Practice in Politics
We curate exemplary political work that successfully tackles today’s most pressing issues. This platform is a hub of tried and tested best practices in politics.
“Casettiamo, insieme possiamo!” – Changing the city together
A beautiful municipality with a decaying economy and population sees a revival of community life by involving citizens in all aspects of re-designing the city.
100% Fossil Free Public Transport in Skåne
Biogas and fossil-fuel free electricity now power public transport for 1.3 million people in the region around Malmö, significantly reducing carbon emissions.
Accessible Tourism for All
Tourists with disabilities can visit local sites of interest with the assistance of especially trained guides.
Administrative Exchange – Baratto Amministrativo
As an alternative to paying directly to the Municipality, taxpayers can voluntarily settle unpaid fees by working for the community.
Alpine Lamb Project
Four-legged lawnmowers, called sheep, are keeping ski slopes in good shape over summer and prevent erosion, overgrowth, and avalanches.
Arcueil, Edible City
Growing edible plants in public parks and green spaces makes this town’s community, in front of the Gates of Paris, more enjoyable, sustainable, and connected.
Brunnenpassage: A Space for Participatory Art Production
Brunnenpassage operates as a space for professional artists and amateurs to co-create art, thus fostering social cohesion in a highly diverse neighbourhood.
Choualiq Youth Community Graffiti Project
The village of Choualiq in Lebanon uses street art to show young people how they can help to shape their community through political engagement.
Citizens Round Tables / Urban Walks
Once a year, participative democracy takes place through discussing locally relevant issues with the officials over a cup of coffee or on the go, with the results being published on the town’s website.
City of Omegna Masterplan
The City of Omegna is working holistically to improve the town for the community, entrepreneurs, and the public sector.
CivicLine – a citizen-run innovative public space in a contested territory
Transforming a derelict area in northern Paris into a showcase of citizen governance opens up a new space for many activities in a formerly abandoned public space under the metro.
Cool Streets
A practice for heat adaptation in three of Vienna’s hottest areas converted urban streets to Cool Streets, offering water mist sprayers, seating, and neighbourhood-fostering features for four weeks.
Culture to the Courtyards
Kaunas brings culture to citizens throughout the pandemic thanks to decentralised artistic performances in backyards in the city.
Dunmanway Community Garden
A community garden represents much needed communal space, in a small town in Ireland, that aims to be inclusive for all people.
Empty Property as a Co-Creative City Lab
A small interdisciplinary urban consultancy promotes democratic design processes and focuses, in this project, on students becoming involved in the planning of public spaces in Asnæs, Denmark.
Engaging the Long Term Unemployed by Greening Public Spaces and Training
The city’s public green spaces are in this programme maintained by the long-term unemployed, such as people without education or war veterans, who in return get to choose from a range of training and educational courses.
EVERY ONE EVERY DAY – BARKING AND DAGENHAM
A collaboration engages locals in community business, joint cooking, and creative and social activities in one of London’s poorest boroughs, focusing on the community’s ideas and energies.
Feminist City Planning – Praxagora
Feminist architecture, focusing on female requirements in urban space in a Stockholm neighbourhood, makes women feel safer and more at ease.
Ferla Agorà – Ideas Square
Citizens take part in the democratic process and the governance of their town by meeting on the main square to discuss and vote on current issues.
First Cigarette-Butt Free Greek Beach
This endeavour unites residents and tourists in an effort to reduce the most common waste on Serifos’s beaches, cigarette butts, creating a new culture of beach behaviour.
First Paris Donation Box
A donation box for sharing objects is set up on the streets of Paris, welcoming an average of fifteen people every hour who are ready to circulate their items.
Formigine 2020
A community of 34,000 people, including city authorities and residents, come together to help the municipality recover and develop – both during and in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
Gdynia Rain Garden
Green urban spaces are designed to teach residents about rainwater retention through the creation of special gardens in residential and commercial properties.
Green Budget
A citizen budget in Lublin is dedicated to the allocation of new green spaces throughout the city, developed and chosen by citizens.
Helix (Newcastle)
Newcastle runs a project for innovative ideas in the form of a science and innovation centre that focuses on sustainable solutions for the city.
Inclusive Employment in Park Maintenance
A special consultant team provides support for employees with disabilities and to the management of the Parks and Gardens Municipal Institute in Barcelona.
Joint Campaigning for Horsh Beirut
An advocacy campaign aims to revive a park in Beirut in an inclusive and participatory way, offering the opportunity for surrounding neighbours from different backgrounds to meet and share a space instead of being separated by it.
KATOresident
Katowice involves its citizens in the development of a green and safe city that has more trees, repairs defects immediately and offers well taken care of public spaces.
Krakow Community Gardens
Community urban gardening brings residents closer to nature and strengthens social ties in a large city.
London Ealing Council – Trees for Cities Partnership
The urban Borough of Ealing sets up a comprehensive tree strategy, including free fruit for all residents from orchards, planted on public land.
Music Safari in Public Spaces
This project celebrates the music of different communities and brings people together in public space, engaging Chechen, Syrian, Bosnian, Turkish, Afghan, Sinti, Ukrainian, and Austrian citizens with their self-produced music.
Natural Play Space Programme
Children co-create their own ecological and easily accessable play-spaces within urban areas, to promote healthy lifestyles, inclusive development, and community-building.
Natural Resources Heating: using a mineral water spring for public school heating
A Bulgarian Municipality uses a geothermal water source to heat its schools and public buildings, and teaches the necessary know-how in a seminar.
Online Public Space Problem-Reporting System
To report a problem in public space, users within this project can log the current location of the device used, specify the street address, or just click on a map of the application.
Open Schools Athens
School buildings are used in the evenings and on weekends for the benefit of the wider community.
ReLabs – Laboratory of Living Waste
A circular system of material usage and re-use changes the urban design and waste management landscape of Madrid, leading to the construction of playgrounds from repurposed materials as well as fundamental systemic changes.
Revegetating License – Permis de Végétaliser
The City of Paris wants to become greener and hands out licences to those who apply, allowing them to garden in public spaces.
Spilamberto and Us: Active Citizens for the Common Good
A Municipality offers several cooperations with citizens, such as gardening and maintaining public spaces, to create a more connected way of living in Spilamberto.
Sustainability Street by Street (The Hague)
A system in the Hague supports neighbourhood sustainability projects, by providing financial support and advise.
The School of the Suburbs – Citizens Make the City
A school without classrooms empowers Milanese citizens to participate in city planning and go from designing to realising neighbourhood projects.
The Vision Symphony
Visually impaired musicians participate in research which helps them improve memorisation techniques, and thus preparing the musicians to perform a newly composed Irish symphony with an orchestra.
Two Wheels Instead of Four
A series of campaigns encourages cycling mobility while collecting data for improved bike infrastructure in Slovakia.
United Through Sports and Community Engagement
Pineto United is a grassroots football team that seeks to facilitate interaction between young asylum seekers and Italian youth through sports, helping to create a new sense of community among Pineto’s residents.
Waterford Greenway
A hiking trail built along a disused railway line from Waterford to Dungarvan encourages new tourism in Ireland.
“Casettiamo, insieme possiamo!” – Changing the city together
A beautiful municipality with a decaying economy and population sees a revival of community life by involving citizens in all aspects of re-designing the city.
100% Fossil Free Public Transport in Skåne
Biogas and fossil-fuel free electricity now power public transport for 1.3 million people in the region around Malmö, significantly reducing carbon emissions.
Accessible Tourism for All
Tourists with disabilities can visit local sites of interest with the assistance of especially trained guides.
Administrative Exchange – Baratto Amministrativo
As an alternative to paying directly to the Municipality, taxpayers can voluntarily settle unpaid fees by working for the community.
Alpine Lamb Project
Four-legged lawnmowers, called sheep, are keeping ski slopes in good shape over summer and prevent erosion, overgrowth, and avalanches.
Arcueil, Edible City
Growing edible plants in public parks and green spaces makes this town’s community, in front of the Gates of Paris, more enjoyable, sustainable, and connected.
Brunnenpassage: A Space for Participatory Art Production
Brunnenpassage operates as a space for professional artists and amateurs to co-create art, thus fostering social cohesion in a highly diverse neighbourhood.
Choualiq Youth Community Graffiti Project
The village of Choualiq in Lebanon uses street art to show young people how they can help to shape their community through political engagement.
Citizens Round Tables / Urban Walks
Once a year, participative democracy takes place through discussing locally relevant issues with the officials over a cup of coffee or on the go, with the results being published on the town’s website.
City of Omegna Masterplan
The City of Omegna is working holistically to improve the town for the community, entrepreneurs, and the public sector.
CivicLine – a citizen-run innovative public space in a contested territory
Transforming a derelict area in northern Paris into a showcase of citizen governance opens up a new space for many activities in a formerly abandoned public space under the metro.
Cool Streets
A practice for heat adaptation in three of Vienna’s hottest areas converted urban streets to Cool Streets, offering water mist sprayers, seating, and neighbourhood-fostering features for four weeks.
The Winners
of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2024
DEC112 – Digital Emergency Communication 112
In 2019, DEC112 was launched to provide an alternative to speech-based emergency communication by implementing a text-based service.
Foodcard: dignified state food aid for people in need
The Foodcard is an innovative solution which gives people the freedom and dignity to choose what food and necessities to buy, and from where.
SeaProtectorOne, Aarhus
The SeaProtectorOne robot is installed at the river mouth in Aarhus, where the river flows into the harbour, removing rubbish before it enters the sea.
