In the 30th month of working together, the AGORA partners got together for their final conference and capacity building. The event took place on December 6-7th, 2022, in Cluj-Napoca, the project lead partner, and online, as a hybrid event.

The final conference engaged all project partners, external experts and key stakeholders like national policy makers, operators, scientists and artists in an empowering exchange, knowledge transfer and networking.

The 10 territorial partners that worked on urban void regeneration policies and implemented pilot actions – with Sofia Municipality and Sofia Development Association among them, reflected on their experience, achievements, lessons learned from the pilots and future oriented strategies. Sofia presented its two pilot initiatives – linking Toplocentrala with the adjacent river (хиперлинк към видеото) and a renovated open-air stage in Sveta Troitsa Park (също хиперлинк към видеото). No matter how different the two may seem, what they have in common is the citizen engagement and empowerment process and participatory decision-making, the core approach of AGORA.

The final conference presented other transferable project outcomes as well – the matchmaking platform, tools and policy guidance developed by the scientific project partners – instruments and practices that will contribute to making the Danube region a more innovative and sustainable place.

CONNECTION project: CONNECTING Cities Towards Integration action, is co-funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.