Throughout Europe, civic spaces serve as vital arenas for democratic life… These are the places, the platforms, the events, where individuals and communities converge to engage, organise, innovate, express dissent, and collectively envision the future. These spaces are not fixed; they transform over time, thriving in some contexts while facing constraints from political, social, or economic pressures in others.
Capturing their dynamics demands more than isolated case studies or static snapshots; it calls for a framework that reflects their complexity, interconnectedness, and continual evolution.
The B.RIGHT SPACES CARTOGRAPHY responds to this need, offering a living, interactive, and accessible map that charts these spaces as a shared landscape of civic activity, fostering understanding, visibility, and dialogue across Europe’s diverse communities.
The Comunalitat del Güell promotes a people-centred economy rooted in community ties, social rights, and environmental care across the neighbourhoods it serves. It works to strengthen popular organisations, local economic initiatives, and mutual aid networks by supporting projects that ensure long-term stability and resilience. Central to this approach is the role of urban commons which act as key drivers of a community-based economy focused on people.
The Ateneu Popular Nou Barris is a public socio-cultural space managed through a community-led model that originated from a neighbourhood occupation in 1977. Rooted in this history of grassroots activism, the Ateneu embodies a long-standing commitment to collective self-management and civic participation.
Ilú – Associação de Dança – Teatro de Intervenção Urbana operates through a multidisciplinary model that includes:
artistic interventions, specialized programmes, professional development and capacity-building Initiatives.
Turin Community Land Trust (Turin CLT) represents a socially driven, anti-speculative housing model that has been experimented in Aurora Neighbourhood, on a building located in Corso Giulio 34, an urban area interested by gentrification processes. This model promotes inclusion, social justice, and the right to housing for all while regenerating urban spaces and strengthening community bonds.
Ateneu L’Harmonia is a local social and cultural facility located in a renovated building of the former Fabra i Coats factory in Sant Andreu, Barcelona. It hosts and supports community-led activities that strengthen the neighborhood’s social, cultural, and leisure life, promote participation and collective action, and foster a more inclusive, creative, cohesive, and sustainable local community.
Fabra i Coats in Barcelona stands out for its innovative governance model, where a municipal technical team collaborates with the “Fabra Council,” a participatory platform bringing together workers, residents, and external entities.