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Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societies 

Interreg makes an impact!

Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting from our projects.

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#MadeWithInterreg solutions for

Attractive cities for people

Smart handling of urban spaces and meeting people’s needs to make cities better and more sustainable.

What are we doing?

Cities around the Baltic Sea often share similar societal and climate change related challenges. Working jointly on issues that are specific to our region, Interreg projects make the most out of available resources in order to build smart, green and attractive cities for everyone. By learning and inspiring others, new solutions spread easily as if there were no borders and prepare cities to any challenges to come. But nothing for people without people: Interreg projects actively engage people in building strong communities and co-creating a happy future together.

Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
  • liveable and smart city spaces adjusting to the people’s needs
  • hybrid spaces for people to learn and interact 
  • AI and other creative methods used to co-create with the youth climate and sustainability plans for cities
  • interactive gardens to improve people’s well-being as well as social and educational needs
  • participatory budgets to implement ideas of people’s choice
  • transformation in people’s consumption, mobility, energy and social life patters
  • mix of various sustainable modes of transport available at hand
  • e-mobility integrated within city mobility plans
  • infrastructure for round-year walking and cycling

What we’ve done so far

In the early 2000s, over 50 cities and towns learned together how to develop their services for the benefit of residents. Some focused on planning and developing their urban space and reconstructing residential quarters and industrial areas, while others created investment and marketing strategies by making use of the expertise of capital cities. Between 2009 and 2014, projects brought cities closer to each other and promoted them jointly as one unique destination for tourism and for investments outside the Baltic Sea region.

In 2016-2021, projects helped cities and towns deal with emerging societal and demographic changes and climate change challenges. Urban managers together with community activists, artists, and researchers engaged residents in urban social innovation to jointly develop visions for city spaces and design them as common community projects. Cities also developed urban mobility plans, established new mobility points, and introduced living street initiatives. They integrated autonomous public transport and e-mobility solutions, such as e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-buses, to increase the liveability of cities for residents.

Ongoing projects

The ongoing projects address various challenges related to urban areas. They engage public authorities to transform cities into more innovative and smarter environments, and therefore more attractive for people. Several projects actively engage people in urban planning processes and redesigning cities to promote sustainability and green living, adopting energy-saving practices, creating models for resilient urban watersheds, and embracing environmentally friendly modes of transportation year-round. Additionally, projects introduce concepts such as nature-based garden designs, open knowledge hubs, and action plans to boost civil society engagement and foster social cohesion.

 

Explore the project solutions in detail:

Liveability

Liveability - Designing public services for resilient neighbourhoods
The project Liveability trains public administrations in innovative ways to engage people to create liveable and attractive city environments that adapt to people’s needs.
Read more about the project

BSR Cultural Pearls

Baltic Sea Region Cultural Pearls for more resilient Cities and Regions
The project BSR Cultural Pearls helps smaller cities and regions be more attractive to live in and improve their quality of life by engaging people in cultural activities and developing a stronger sense of commonship.
Read more about the project

CCI4Change

Facilitation of citizens energy consumption behavioral change in BS cities and municipalities
In the CCI4Change, public authorities cooperate with entrepreneurs from the culture and creative industry (CCI) to better engage with citizens and encourage them to reduce energy consumption.
Read more about the project

UrbanTestbeds.JR

UrbanTestbeds.JR / AI-supported urban testbeds identification, co-design and data-driven storytelling with and for Young Citizens
In the project UrbanTestbeds.JR, public authorities use artificial intelligence and storytelling to co-create, together with the youth, climate and sustainability plans for urban spaces.
Read more about the project

PPI4cities

Supporting BSR cities to implement public procurement of innovation while providing practical tools created using AI technologies and gamification methods
In the project PPI4cities, public authorities learn how to build a smart city by designing innovations already at the procurement level.
Read more about the project

BALTIC UKH

Urban Knowledge Hubs - Transformative Societal Spaces for Hybrid Libraries in the Baltic Sea Region
The project BALTIC UKH helps authorities and education institutions increase digital literacy by designing attractive hybrid spaces for people to learn, interact and exchange reliable information.
Read more about the project

UrbCulturalPlanning

Cultural Planning as a method for urban social innovation
The project UrbCulturalPlanning addressed social and urban development by involving citizens in the cultural planning.
Read more about the project

Sohjoa Baltic

Sohjoa - Baltic Sea Region transitioning into eco-friendly autonomous last mile public transportation
The Interreg project Sohjoa Baltic increased knowledge on autonomous public transport in eight countries, brought piloting experience of self-driving electric minibuses to six countries, and contributed to promotion of environmentally friendly transport solutions in the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

SUMBA

Sustainable urban mobility and commuting in Baltic cities
By developing master plans on commuting for nine municipalities in five Baltic Sea region countries, the Interreg project SUMBA paved a way for sustainable and greener transport transformation in the region.
Read more about the project

BSR electric

BSR electric - Fostering e-mobility solutions in urban areas in the Baltic Sea Region
The Interreg project BSR electric fostered and integrated e-mobility solutions such as e-logistics, e-bikes, e-buses, e-scooters, and e-ferries, in urban transport systems in eight countries across the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

EmPaci

Empowering Participatory Budgeting in the Baltic Sea Region
EmPaci allowed citizens to take part in the public budget planning and bring the most needed projects to reality.
Read more about the project

cities.multimodal

Cities.multimodal – urban transport system in transition towards low carbon mobility
The Interreg project cities.multimodal presented environmentally friendly alternatives to driving, enhanced sustainable urban mobility planning for multimodal transport in ten cities and introduced six mobility points and smartphone-based travel planning.
Read more about the project

BATS

Baltic Sea region Active mobiliTy Solutions - in darkness and all weather conditions
The project BATS helps local authorities plan and set up suitable infrastructure for year-round walking and cycling, and build an active mobility culture among people, as a green and healthy transport option regardless of the season.
Read more about the project

Results stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices:

©Teresa Marcinów

I have noticed that organisations that are active in transnational programmes are more curious and courageous when they try to get the best solutions for their regions. In this context, it is impossible not to mention small infrastructure improvements, planning investments, e.g. in tourism routes, or testing new mobility or transport solutions. Those investments are real and they often initiate bigger projects financed from national and regional resources.

Teresa Marcinów

Member of the Monitoring Committee, Poland

©Guldborgsund Municipality

Thanks to this Interreg initiative [UrbCulturalPlanning] we gained new experiences and knowledge and managed to adapt the (cultural planning) method for our own situation. Now, we have developed new methods for city planning that we can use in other areas of our municipality.

Simon Hansen

Mayor of the Danish Guldborgsund Municipality

©City of Gdańsk

Without being able to use the knowledge, experience, and data gathered by project partners and without high-level funding [as part of Sohjoa Baltic], the city would not have been able to pilot the complex and expensive technology of autonomous last-mile transport.

Piotr Grzelak

Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk