CareFabric

CareFabric (Cross-disciplinary Approach to Research European Neighbourhoods – Facilitating the Acceleration of NEB Principles for Resilience in Cities) is a Horizon-funded project led by the consortium of 17 partners from 6 countries. It brings together municipalities, universities, cultural and civic organisations, and European networks to explore how cultural participation can strengthen the social fabric of neighbourhoods and support a fair, inclusive green transition. Over 42 months, they will work with residents in four neighbourhoods in Umeå, Bologna, Limassol and Grenoble.

Across Europe, neighbourhoods are losing the ties that hold them together. Loneliness is rising, civic engagement is falling, and inequality is growing. At the same time, the green transition asks residents to change how they live, often without giving them a real say in what changes. Cultural participation builds trust, empathy, and belonging, yet cultural organisations are rarely part of local planning or climate strategies. Public authorities, cultural organisations, and community groups also lack the data, tested methods, and partnerships they need to change this.

The project team will generate comparative evidence on how cultural participation affects trust, belonging and civic engagement, and test practical methods for involving residents in shaping their neighbourhoods. It will also develop policy recommendations to help cities bring culture into their climate and urban planning. We see the green transition as a social challenge as much as a technical one: it depends on people feeling connected, heard and responsible for the places they live in.

CareFabric is grounded in the New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles of sustainability, inclusion and beauty. Its guiding concept, CARE-IS-MORE, treats care as civic infrastructure: the everyday acts of maintaining, sharing and looking after places that connect people with each other and with their environment. Cultural organisations play a central role, acting as mediators between residents and public authorities and turning climate goals into shared local stories.

The project works across three themes (cultural participation, social capital, and green transition) through four strands: new knowledge, new narratives, new spaces, and new connections. Four neighbourhood pilots, all in cities among the EU’s 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, act as living laboratories:

• Ålidhem, Umeå (Sweden): a diverse district of around 9,000 residents, many of them students, where the pilot builds on the city’s long-term measurement of social capital to keep trust and inclusion high during regeneration.
• Ex Scalo Ravone and Porto–Saragozza, Bologna (Italy): a former rail yard of more than 10 hectares becoming a green, creative and social district, including a co-created memorial wood of 85 trees, one for each person killed in the 1980 bombing of Bologna Central Station.
• Municipal Garden and cultural corridor, Limassol (Cyprus): a coastal city centre facing severe summer heat, where residents, artists, and cultural institutions will co-design shaded green routes linking museums, the library, and the garden.
• Villeneuve, Grenoble (France): a 1970s neighbourhood of 9,500 residents, first designed as an experiment in participatory urbanism and now being renewed as an eco-district, with young people at the centre of the work.

These place-based experiences feed directly into three connected groups:

• Communities of Place: one in each pilot city, bringing together the municipality, a research partner, a local cultural or civic organisation, and residents to co-design and run local actions.
• Community of Practice: connects the four pilot teams with members of the partner networks to compare methods, share what works and learn from what doesn’t.
• Community of Interest: a wider European circle that will bring in eight more cities, alongside cultural organisations, researchers, and policymakers, to adapt and replicate the project’s results.

All of CareFabric’s results will be openly available. They include the Atlas for Urban and Cultural Knowledge, an open participatory mapping tool combining cultural, social and environmental data; toolkits for participatory mapping and for the shared management of public, green and cultural spaces; shared indicators for trust, belonging and participation; a New European Bauhaus playbook; policy recommendations; and open training materials for cities and cultural practitioners.

CareFabric is delivered by a consortium of 17 organisations across 6 countries, each bringing a distinct piece of expertise to the table:

• RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden: coordinates the project and leads research on how cultural participation, social capital and the green transition connect across the pilots.
• ICLEI European Secretariat, Germany: leads the pilot demonstrations and the Community of Interest, drawing on its network of local governments across Europe.
• The Democratic Society, Belgium: leads communication and policy uptake, and runs citizen panels and participatory forums in the pilot neighbourhoods.
• Trans Europe Halles, Sweden: leads the co-design of local strategies and the capacity-building programme, facilitates engagement in the pilots, and connects the project to its network of 180+ independent cultural centres across 40+ countries.
• City of Umeå, Sweden: leads the pilot in Ålidhem.
• Umeå University, Sweden: leads the project’s research framework and evidence base, including case studies and interviews in the pilot neighbourhoods.
• Studiefrämjandet, Sweden: leads the cultural side of the Umeå pilot, drawing on its community work at the Klossen Cultural Centre in Ålidhem.
• City of Bologna, Italy: leads the pilot in Ex Scalo Ravone and Porto–Saragozza.
• University of Bologna, Italy: leads the project’s review of existing research and brings expertise in sustainable urban transformation, cultural heritage and democratic innovation.
• Fondazione Innovazione Urbana Rusconi Ghigi, Italy: leads the social side of the Bologna pilot, bringing experience in co-design, urban commons, and social innovation.
• Limassol Municipality, Cyprus: leads the pilot in the Municipal Garden and cultural corridor.
• University of Cyprus, Cyprus: supports the Limassol pilot with research on accessibility and connectivity.
• SocialTech Lab, Cyprus: leads the project’s evaluation and the Community of Practice, and the social side of the Limassol pilot.
• City of Grenoble, France: leads the pilot in Villeneuve.
• Grenoble School of Architecture (ENSAG), France: contributes expertise in participatory design and neighbourhood strategies through its CRESSON urban research lab.
• Sciences Po Grenoble, France: contributes social science research on participatory cultural activities and governance through its Pacte research lab.
• Régie de Quartier Villeneuve, France: a residents’ organisation that combines neighbourhood maintenance with civic engagement, leading the social side of the Grenoble pilot.

CareFabric is building an open, growing community. As the Community of Interest takes shape, cities, cultural organisations, researchers and civic actors across Europe will be invited to follow the pilots, test the tools, and take part in peer learning. Cultural centres in our network outside the four pilot cities will also be able to join the capacity-building programme and try out the project’s methods in their own contexts. Follow along here for updates, resources, and ways to join in.

CareFabric is funded by the European Union under grant agreement No 101308908, through the Horizon Europe programme (HORIZON-NEB-2025-01, A research agenda for a beautiful, inclusive and sustainable transformation of neighbourhoods). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.