The background
Before entering Civic eState’s initiative the city of Presov was not familiar with the concept of co-governance. Furthermore, the city of Prešov devoted itself to a minimal extent to projects based on the active participation of communities, which was the core of Civic eState.
This was the reason that led the Local Administrative Group to get involved in the network. Its intentions were to gain the opportunity to improve in these areas and to lay new foundations for effective cooperation, based on the best practices of the cities participating in Civic eState’s network.
As we can understand the City of Presov had no policies regulating the commons furthermore there was a general sense of mistrust within citizens due to past public projects and policies that proved to be detrimental. Given this background the city of Presov was considered a learning city because despite the fact that there were no previous policies and regulations there was a strong motivation within the team.
The city of Presov initially selected an abandoned civil protection bunker as a transfer asset in which experiment forms of co-governance but unfortunately after some research the internal team discovered that it wasn’t totally owned by the city. For this reason, they selected another asset, an abandoned “urban oasis” next to the city center.
If you are interested in knowing how the city of Presov is prepared to face this challenge, you can download the complete transferability study.
1. The starting point
The opportunity to participate in this network was offered by the ministry of transport and for this reason the city of Presov decided to accept in order to benefit from international cooperation.
Despite this, the city was aware that the transfer process was not entirely possible. It is important to keep in mind that the mindset of the population is still partly affected by communism, and it is not common for citizens to take care of city management issues, although this is changing with newer generations.
If you want to know how the city of Presov prepared itself to face the above-mentioned challenges, download Presov’s official transfer plan.
2. Transfer journey
The creation of the ULG (Urbact Local Group) was initially extremely difficult, both in the administrative structure, where there was a lack of legal support, and at the level of experts and community participation. Progress in this respect was much slower than the rest of the network, it was necessary to create the right communication manual and a method of cooperation.
The main objectives of the journey were:
- Create a communication manual to enable cooperation among the city and relevant stakeholders for co-governance projects.
- Expanding legal possibilities in relation to land use by the citizens.
- Trying to learn the most by the other members of Civic eState’s network.
The transfer process led to the simplification of the legal rules governing the use of abandoned or unused buildings in the city of Presov. Furthermore, an “urban oasis” next to the city-center was identified as the urban asset in which experimenting forms of co-governance. The aim was to transform the “urban oasis” into a cultural space managed by citizens.
3. Transfer Journey time-line
The following section is dedicated to the main phases of the transfer journey. Main phases:
The transfer process helped Presov to improve in the field of co-governance, in fact the current legislation regulating the use of abandoned or unused buildings in the city has been simplified in order to allow citizens to truly manage urban spaces. Furthermore, an “urban oasis” next to the city-center was identified as the urban asset in which to experiment with innovative forms of co-governance. The aim was to transform the “urban oasis” into a cultural space managed by citizens.
If you want to know more on how the city of Presov coped with this amazing challenge download the official transfer diaries
4. Transfer outcomes
The biggest challenges Presov had to face was the one of simplifying bureaucracy and creating an open space that allowed communication between citizens and the city. Furthermore, even if a lot of improvements have been achieved, the city still needs to simplify bureaucratic procedures because these risk to hinder co-governance policies. For what attains the improvement of communication with citizens a lot has been done but there is still much work to do. Another crucial issue that still has to be tackled is the one of accessing adequate funding. In relation to this problem Presov implemented a fundraising and marketing platform.
If you want to know more about Presov’s concrete outputs, download their official legal memos:
5. TRANSFER JOURNEY MAPPING
Co-Gov
From Weak to Strong
University; NGOs; individuals; lawyers helping the community, both professionals and city lawyers. We can’t say it is strong, but it became stronger.
Enabling state
From Moderate to Moderate
We learnt that we can simplify the bureaucreatic procedures and solve some issues in a simpler way. The open call stimulated a very positive response from the actors.
Soc&econ pooling
From Weak to Moderate
Presov Capital of Culture, opportunity to activate resource pooling. Civic eState work was used to submit the application for the Capital of Culture. People met in the ULG and then started working together on fundraising.
Experimentalism
From Strong to Strong
We challenged the cultural norms within the administration that are against/fear involvement of civic actors. Open communication and clear rules for collaboration.
Tech Justice
From Moderate to –
From Weak to Strong
Co-Gov
University; NGOs; individuals; lawyers helping the community, both professionals and city lawyers. We can’t say it is strong, but it became stronger.
From Moderate to Moderate
Enabling State
We learnt that we can simplify the bureaucreatic procedures and solve some issues in a simpler way. The open call stimulated a very positive response from the actors.
From Weak to Moderate
Soc&econ Pooling
Presov Capital of Culture, opportunity to activate resource pooling. Civic eState work was used to submit the application for the Capital of Culture. People met in the ULG and then started working together on fundraising.
From Strong to Strong
Experimentalism
We challenged the cultural norms within the administration that are against/fear involvement of civic actors. Open communication and clear rules for collaboration.
From Moderate to –
Tech Justice
–
From Weak to Strong
Co-Gov
University; NGOs; individuals; lawyers helping the community, both professionals and city lawyers. We can’t say it is strong, but it became stronger.
From Moderate to Moderate
Enabling State
We learnt that we can simplify the bureaucreatic procedures and solve some issues in a simpler way. The open call stimulated a very positive response from the actors.
From Weak to Moderate
Soc&econ Pooling
Presov Capital of Culture, opportunity to activate resource pooling. Civic eState work was used to submit the application for the Capital of Culture. People met in the ULG and then started working together on fundraising.
From Strong to Strong
Experimentalism
The project is methodologically innovative, is inspired from experiences of other partners, the stakeholders have adapted to the local context some of the lessons learned.
From Moderate to –
Tech Justice
Do you what to know more about Presov?
Read all the details of the journey with the city of Presov.