The partners of the project’s main leader, the City of Brno, include the cities of Warsaw, Ostrava and the metropolitan areas of Stuttgart, Turin and Berlin, while the metropolitan area of Milan and the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area are associated partners. Research institutions Charles University, the Silesian University in Katowice and the Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI) in Budapest cooperate in the project. Other associated partners are also part of the project: the Union of Polish Metropolises, the Ministry of Regional Development and partners representing European metropolitan networks and structures (Eurocities, Metrex).
The method of work consists of intensive cooperation between the partner cities, research experts and representatives of international networks. The cooperation is based on international meetings aimed at sharing good practices. During the joint meetings, the current status quo of metropolitan cooperation and governance in the partner cities will first be summarised by the partners and then the best tools/examples of good practice will be identified to be shared and applied to other cities in their operation.
At the same time, new tools will be identified that can be used to deepen metropolitan cooperation and governance (inspiration from other parts of Europe). On the basis of the selected tools and examples of good practice, the partners will create “study clusters“, whose main objective will be to deepen the sharing of experience in the implementation, management and transferability of these tools. The main objective of the partners’ cooperation is the development of a Strategy for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe and the creation of action plans for each partner city. The cooperation also includes pilot actions to test selected tools and methods in practice. The project will also include the production of position papers towards the European level, reflecting the position of metropolitan areas and cities and their challenges (in the context of strategic European documents). At the same time, a general transferable methodology for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance will be developed and shared with other cities in Central Europe.
The project started in April 2023 and will run until the end of March 2026. It is co-funded by European Union funds through the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme.
Introduction of the project can also be found in this storymap.
