Based in Helsingborg, Sweden, Abbas runs a placemaking project that gives local residents opportunities to interact and organise events for the community. Abbas focused on strengthening a key local asset – diverse local associations – through a series of capacity-building workshops.

Daniel designed and led a participatory transformation lab for the National Museum of Decorative Arts to help it develop into a design museum. He engaged the museum’s existing audiences and new groups in the transformation process, giving them the space to shape the museum’s future.

Bernadett, a biologist by training, brought together villagers of different generations to share their knowledge and skills through a series of crafting sessions. The events offered opportunities for broader relationship-building among village residents.

Edina Mató, a sociologist who works with Roma children in her native Miskolc, Hungary, is also a co-founder of the Miskolc Community Foundation. She has been engaging residents in listening conversations and other activities to gather ideas and support for the new community foundation.

Livia Mateiaş, a visual artist based in Timișoara, Romania, engaged residents in leading a series of creative workshops for the public. Each workshop was led by a different volunteer who shared his or her skills – from yoga to origami to clay modeling – with the community.

Petr Globočník runs the Libuše community centre in the largest socially excluded locality in the Czech Republic. He involves Roma and non-Roma residents in shared activities and is empowering them to change a public space using their own skills and ideas.

Míša Valášková created a network of active residents across her city, Ústí nad Labem, to share equipment, contacts, information and other resources. Network members also now collaborate to put on city-wide community events and communicate with the municipality.

Gabriela Solomon of Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania, connected science teachers and other mentors from her city and the surrounding area into a peer community. They support each other by sharing teaching ideas and collaborating on an annual science fair.