Conference The Power of Civic Ecosystems

NGOs and civic initiatives are proving to be a key link to overcome the growing mistrust between public administrations and the citizens. In cities across Europe, various forms of cooperation between cities and civil society are therefore becoming increasingly important for the quality of life and services in cities. Only strong and connected local communities are able to adapt effectively to the constant changes in society and the wider environment. 

Join us in Ljubljana on 8th and 9th of November 2022 for the international conference The Power of Civic Ecosystems: How community spaces and their networks make our cities more cooperative, fair and resilient

The conference will explore different foreign and Slovenian examples of cities working with NGOs and civic initiatives. Active NGOs Lead expert Levente Polyak will join us at the conference with a presentation of a broader European picture of city-civil society cooperation, Irina Vasiljeva from Riga with a URBACT good practice NGO House Riga, Petra Marčinko with the story of Lazareti complex in Dubrovnik and Jan Franjul with a presentation of the Rojc Community Centre from Pula. We will also find out how Slovenian cities have taken the good practice of the City Living Room from Idrija and adapted it to suit their local context under the URBACT's National practice transfer initiative.

Registration (The event will be live. Registration is required.)

Programme will be announced soon. The conference will be held in Slovenian and English with simultaneous translation. 

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The conference will be accompanied by a publication of the same name, published by IPoP and Eutropian, which will summarise and build on the 2021 publication The Power of Civic Ecosystems.

The conference is organised by IPoP – Institute for Spatial Policies, acting as the National URBACT Point and Coordinator of the Mreža za prostor, Slovenian network of NGOs in the field of sustainable urban planning. The first day of the event is co-financed by the URBACT Programme, while the second day is organised under the Climate Programme of Mreža za prostor. The Climate Programme is funded by the EcoFund and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning from the Climate Change Fund. The opinions expressed at this event are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, the EcoFund or the project partners.

Graphic: Darja Klančar, Darka, updated after the original in the publication.