The First Year of UrbCitizenPower: Kosice’s Perspective

Highlights from the First Year of the UrbCitizenPower Project in Kosice

The UrbCitizenPower project, launched in 2024 and the initiative kicked off with a meeting in Kiel, Germany, on June 3-4, 2024. A major focus of the project for Kosice is the creation of a Manual of Public Spaces, emphasizing blue infrastructure and biodiversity. This aligns with Košice’s new Spatial Masterplan, the city’s first major urban planning update. In response, the project aims to enhance the Public Spaces Manual, making it a comprehensive guide for citizens, policymakers, and stakeholders. The manual will integrate strategies from the Masterplan, the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. It will focus on blue infrastructure, biodiversity, and other key areas like sustainable mobility and brownfield revitalization.

The first year of the project focused on the collection of important strategic documents and materials necessary for the manual and collaboration with strategic partners and experts.  Two stakeholder meetings were held in September 2024 and March 2025 to discuss the manual’s development with a group of local stakeholders - City of Košice, urban greenery management organizations, Karpatský rozvojový inštitút, ETP Slovakia and civic groups (Klíma ťa potrebuje, Poď na dvor and Východné pobrežie.)   During the second stakeholder meeting, the actual timeline for the manual was discussed to clarify the process and ensure that each element of the manual could be reviewed with the appropriate expert. The first year of UrbCitizenPower has established a solid foundation for developing an inclusive and sustainable manual for public spaces in Košice. Collaboration with stakeholders is essential to the success of the project.   Stay tuned for more updates as the project continues to unfold!