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 digital and democratic participation platform Decidim.Barcelona wants to give citizens a voice so that they can decide on the future of their environment. It is a digital space for a participatory process to debate, contrast and collect proposals. The tool is developed with free and open source software, so that it can be reused or improved.
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.
Barriera di Milano is historically one of Turin’s primary reception areas for new residents, currently distinguished as a highly multicultural district with a significant youth population. Key challenges include the concentration of poverty among specific social groups. Additionally, parts of the district are stigmatized and often perceived as insecure or prone to violence.
The Casa del Quartiere di San Salvario is a vibrant community hub located in a dense, multicultural neighbourhood in central Turin, close to Porta Nuova railway station. Historically diverse and socially dynamic, the area hosts families, students, migrants, artists and small businesses. The Neighborhood House explicitly works to ensure equal access to cultural, educational, and social opportunities.
The Portineria di comunità is a social space that mainly offers community services, allocated inside an old newsstand. It is located in the working-class neighborhood of Porta Palazzo. Although it is part of the city’s historic center, the neighborhood has historically been one of the districts that welcomed immigrants from Southern Italy throughout the twentieth century and currently hosts a large number of citizens of foreign origin.
Comala is a very active multipurpose cultural space and youth gathering place in Turin, located in the area of the former La Marmora Barracks in the former working-class district of San Paolo. This area was repurposed in the 1990s and became home to the Polytechnic University of Turin, contributing to the change in the neighborhood’s social structure.
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.
Cascina Roccafranca is a multifunctional socio-cultural center located in the Mirafiori Nord neighborhood of Turin. It was founded in the 17th century as a farmhouse in the rural area of Turin. With urban expansion and the end of agricultural activity, it was abandoned until public redevelopment transformed it into a Neighbourhood House (Casa del Quartiere).
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.
Warsaw Social Innovation Laboratory “Synergy” (Warszawskie Laboratorium Innowacji Społecznych „Synergia”, or WLIS „Synergia”) is an innovative space within Warsaw, aimed at initiating and implementing projects that improve the quality of life. It is located in a pre-war tenement house at 16 Markowska Street in the Praga-Północ district and operates within the structures of the Office of Social Aid and Projects of the City of Warsaw.
MAL Grójecka 109 is a local activity center in Warsaw’s Ochota district, providing a community space for residents to meet, organize workshops, events, and work on local initiatives.
The Polo Civico del Quarticciolo (Quarticciolo Civic Hub) is one of Rome’s most advanced experiments in civic space activation, supported by a strong, collaborative network of local and institutional actors promoting community welfare and territorial development.
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.