Project MECOG-CE

The project aims to identify the best tools, procedures, initiatives and examples of good practices for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe and apply them in metropolitan areas to improve strategic planning and sustainable territorial development but also the quality of life of their inhabitants. At the same time, the project increases the awareness about the importance of metropolitan cooperation in national and European development.

The project started in April 2023 and will run until the end of March 2026.

Urban and rural regions are growing closer together across Central Europe, but cooperation between a city and its hinterland often remains challenging. This creates inefficiencies in various fields important for citizens and their daily life.

To tackle persisting challenges, new tools are needed to improve cooperation between cities and its hinterland - metropolitan cooperation. The potential of this cooperation is not fully exploited.

What if Central European metropolitan areas join forces and develop solutions for better metropolitan cooperation and governance?

New solutions will be jointly developed and will bebased on existing best practices and tools for enhancing metropolitan cooperation. These will be tested and applied in partner metropolitan areas.

The method of work consists of intensive cooperation between the partner cities, research experts and representatives of international networks. The cooperation is based on international meetings aimed at sharing knowledge and good practices, but also at highlighting the importance of metropolitan cooperation. The project is divided into three parts covering each year of the project.

These will include the already mentioned documents, such as the Strategy and Action Plans, but also pilot actions, proposed new solutions for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance or the policy document  Common Metropolitan Vision  summarising the needs of metropolitan areas. In addition, sub-outputs or deliverables such as the  analysis of existing best practices and tools  for enhancing metropolitan cooperation or a catalogue of newly developed solutions.

Thanks to the MECOG-CE project, finding best practice tools and sharing experiences with one another, metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe will be strengthened. The awareness about the importance of metropolitan dimension will be also increased. Keep your fingers crossed for this project.

You can follow the project on its own official website and on LinkedIn.