Our journey in creating values ​​with communities

During our recent “Go Green Routes and Sister Project” cluster event held on June 2-3, we joined forces with our fellow projects—Go Green Routes, Varcities, and EuPolis. Over the past four years, we’ve collectively engaged in parallel efforts across 21 European cities. Our shared purpose? To drive urban transformation aimed at enhancing health, well-being, and community inclusion.

Diverse ideas and a wide range of expertise converge in service of innovation—a common challenge across these four projects, all driven by people for the benefit of others.

In every such endeavor, we begin with communities, identifying relevant elements and creating impact-focused plans. However, it’s during the journey that we truly learn what it means to benefit people. The concept of benefit isn’t always what we imagine; it’s the communities themselves that possess extraordinary strength in guiding us toward their well-being equilibrium—even when they appear to struggle autonomously. Achieving this equilibrium allows us to find continuity and build a legacy that stands firm, even amidst initial doubts, resistance to change, and the awe-inspiring vertigo that accompanies any transformation, no matter how positive.

Beyond official spaces, we’ve discussed how urgency often prevents us from pausing to consider the personal dimension—a dimension we seek to improve. We’ve exchanged views on timing change, recognizing that it’s the only way to integrate it into community life and motivations.

Our journey presents a significant challenge: as we innovate, we must also learn to overcome social, cultural, material, and relational obstacles. These challenges manifest as symptoms, including difficulties in engaging local communities and the occasional struggle to find practical and effective solutions for inclusion.

At the local level, aligning collective values with individual perceptions is equally challenging. Sensitivities and awareness don’t always mature simultaneously. It’s crucial for those exercising leadership and shaping the future of places to ensure this sensitivity resonates with the motivations and experiences of those who inhabit them (in line with the NEB values which inspired a lot the IN HABIT Project)

We take pride in our project and our partners, who face these daily challenges alongside us. Together, we’ve learned valuable lessons. Today, we assert that what makes projects like “In Habit” and the cluster initiatives revolutionary isn’t just their innovative solutions—it’s their ability to empower people, especially the most vulnerable. These projects redefine urban spaces, emphasizing inclusivity and personal dignity.

The path of “In Habit” and the cluster projects has been extraordinary, not only due to their innovative value but also because of their substantial impact. Our current challenge is to equip communities with the skills and commitment needed to transform today’s innovations into daily practices—a journey toward a healthier, more inclusive future.

The most profound change that we hope to leave in the future of our pilot cities concerns an acquired inclination of the various parts of the local community to mutually enrich each other with their diversity, but we also hope to leave inspiration and skills to allow them to bring the Visionaries Solution to life and to enhance them in representations of the achievement of a new sense of social cohesion.

The small sized cities of the future trace a clear path for everyone: we cannot only worry about creating livable and inclusive spaces, but we need to focus on  inhabitants, while co-designing and co-creating a world in which to live, they are recognizing their right to well-being, to health and rediscovering a sense of personal dignity.