Last year’s winners of the EUROCITIES Awards ‘Building active cities – modern citizenship and integrated governance’ were:
- Newcastle, for the EUROCITIES Award for Participation
This project enables the city’s residents to participate in the discussions and decisions on a wide range of projects and ideas originating in their community. "Udecide" enables people to be engaged in prioritising the needs of their neighbourhood and setting budgets that will meet their needs. This concept has the potential to be transferable to other cities and has been very positively received by the people participating in "Udecide". The project is now part of the everyday work of the Newcastle Council.
- Ghent, for the EUROCITIES Award for Cooperation
Gentinfo is a service facilitating the communication between citizens and a wide range of public and private services. Gentinfo is a one-stop shop which provides information on a wide range of subjects such as child-care initiatives, library-passes or taking note of complaints. Citizens can access Gentinfo by telephone, web or through info-kiosks, six days a week and people always receive a personal answer. We would like to highlight the successful cooperation and sharing of information between various local services within the city administration and with external partners.
- Espoo, for the EUROCITIES Award for Innovation
This project provides elderly residents who are no longer able to attend cultural events with arts and culture at home. Elderly people are generally provided with services such as meals-on-wheels or care-services, whereas this innovate project brings culture, music and arts to their home. Various cultural and sports institutes in Espoo have agreed to offer intergenerational arts and sports events on a voluntary basis. Unused facilities at care homes are put to use as rehearsal spaces and teachers in arts institutions include activities for and with the elderly in their timetables.