How did we select and highlight the examples?

One of the key tasks of Urban Maestro has been to identify and collect innovative governance approaches and tools aiming to improve the quality of the built environment.

1. To do so, and in order to develop a common view on the practices to be investigated, the project team produced an analytical framework. This framework took a ‘tools-based’ approach that classified a range of informal urban design governance tools, allowing us to limit the breadth of the study, which helped maintain its focus on a clearly defined spectrum of practices.
2. Using this analytical framework to structure our questions, we launched a European survey, with which we approached governmental and non-governmental bodies across Europe at both the national and local levels and invited them to identify the range of relevant practices in their territory. This exercise resulted in a valuable inventory of urban strategies.
3. Apart from the survey, the Urban Maestro team gathered the existing knowledge from within the team and its advisors through research and direct exchanges at various events.
4. The most promising examples of innovative approaches were then featured in Urban Maestro’s workshops and later developed into in-depth case studies through analysis, discussions, and live interviews.

We would like to share a variety of examples in more extensive (“Case studies”) and more concise (“Inspiring examples”) formats with you.* We hope that this knowledge platform can serve for following up on interesting practices and allied approaches elsewhere in the world and, more than that, suggest alternative solutions for urban design issues at a governance level.

* The project team has been careful to indicate all of the copyright holders of the materials appearing on the website. If you claim ownership of any of these materials and have not been properly credited, please contact us and we will be happy to fix this information and correctly attribute the material(s).