Cultures in Regeneration:
Urban Ecologies in the Making
Over four years, Future DiverCities brought together cultural organisations, artists, researchers, municipalities, and local communities in eight European cities to explore culture-led ways of regenerating the ecology of unused urban spaces, through a lens where vacancy is seen as a shared resource: a space for experimentation, for biodiversity to thrive, for collective stewardship, and for imagination. Through locally rooted pilot actions, the project explored three interconnected themes: biodiversity, commoning, and impermanence.
Across the four-year programme, these local pilots generated cultural actions that fostered positive ripples: new alliances, shifts in how spaces are governed, deeper ecological awareness, and renewed ways of working together across sectors. These ripples extended beyond individual sites, influencing social, environmental, and economic dynamics in ways that continue to unfold.
The final event of Future DiverCities will take place on 16 April 2026 and will be hosted by La Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, in parallel with the Trans Europe Halles General Assembly. The project partners will reflect on the experiences and explore how they can evolve into purposeful harmonies, intentional, caring, and regenerative approaches to urban transformation. The event is both a moment of collective reflection and an invitation to imagine how culture can help cities thrive within planetary limits, creating places that are inclusive, resilient, and vibrant.
More information will follow soon!
