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 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.
Launched in October 2021 in Encosta de São Vicente, in the former Matadouro area (Torres Vedras Municipality), Somos Comunidade is a community-based initiative that uses arts, communication, and social innovation to strengthen civic engagement and social cohesion. Through a local TV channel, a community newspaper, and participatory artistic workshops, the project works to reduce social isolation, empower residents, and foster a shared local cultural identity.
Located in the Encosta de São Vicente requalification area, Porta do Bairro is a community house promoted by the Centro Social Paroquial de Torres Vedras that operates as an open and inclusive civic space within a regenerated urban environment.
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.
The Via Cumiana 15 Collaboration Pact concerns the old abadoned Lancia industrial warehouse, redeveloped as a covered multipurpose square in San Paolo neighborhood. In this space civil society in collaboration with the Municipality and District 3, offers educational, cultural, and sports activities for the local community. Over the years, the co-management of the spaces has also expanded to the adjacent street, which has been pedestrianized, and to the neighboring green areas.
The Giardino Pellegrino, also known as the Cardinal Michele Pellegrino Garden, is located in the Aurora district, near Piazza Borgo Dora and Porta Palazzo neighbourhoods in Turin, just a short walk from the famous Balon market. It is the only public garden in this area and has become, in recent years, a true point of reference for the local community.
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.
The Open Jazdów Partnership (Wolny Jazdów) focuses on community building through co-management, creating networks of mutual aid and integration. It functions as a grassroots center for culture and education, organizing thousands of events annually within an “urban laboratory” framework.
POLEIS – the Polo Civico Esquilino (Esquilino Civic Hub) represents an innovative governance model for metropolitan social cohesion. Established in 2024 in a socially marginalised yet central district characterised by high ethnic diversity, the Hub channels strong community traditions of solidarity and mutualism into structured civic action.
Casa Internazionale delle Donne (the International Women’s House) has been operating for four decades in support and protection of women’s rights and freedoms. Since 1992, thanks to the support of the Coordination of Elected Women of the Municipality of Rome, the International Women’s House is an autonomous body in charge of promoting rights, culture, policies, knowledge and experiences produced by and for women.
The Cinema Troisi is located in the historic district of Trastevere in the centre of Rome (Italy). Its inclusive and participatory model has earned national recognition, with multiple “Biglietto d’Oro del Cinema Italiano” awards, confirming the public’s strong appreciation and the effectiveness of its community-based approach.