Reimagine Urban Neighborhoods Through Civic Action
Empowering Communities with Knowledge, Tools, Courses and Real-World Case Studies for Lasting Urban Resilience.
An open learning platform that connects civic knowledge with urban transformation. Discover how public spaces, community engagement, and planning tools shape more just and resilient neighborhoods.
What is Learning UPRUN ?
Civic Tools
Practical methods like open calls, mapping, and workshops that empower citizens to shape urban transformation together.
Design
Human-centered design processes that turn ideas into inclusive, resilient spaces and participatory planning solutions.
Real Stories
True accounts from cities and neighborhoods—showcasing how everyday people co-create more just and livable urban futures.
Courses
14 - Designing Social Infrastructure: Public Spaces and Third Places
Students focus on designing social infrastructure and third places that strengthen community resilience, using a human-centred, Design Thinking approach to analyse local needs and develop initial ideas for inclusive spaces that foster social connection.
12 - Voices from the Ground: Community-Led Urbanism and the Struggle for Integration
Students explore civic-public partnerships through the lens of grassroots initiatives and urban commons, developing strategies to strengthen civic agency in planning through storytelling, mapping, role-play, and a toolkit exercise.
11 - Governance for Resilience: Designing Civic-Public Partnerships from the Municipal Perspective
Students take part in a municipal council simulation where civic proposals are presented and evaluated, exploring how communities and public authorities negotiate responsibilities, resources, and shared goals to develop a preliminary Civic-Public Partnership Strategy.
7 - Planning with People: A Stakeholder Simulation for Resilient Cities
Students explore participatory urban planning through the question of who has the right to shape the city, taking on stakeholder perspectives in real European case studies to practise empathy, negotiation, and collaborative problem-solving through role-play and reflective discussion.
6 - Co-Creation, Co-Production and Community-Driven Neighbourhood Development
Students explore civic engagement, co-creation, and co-production as approaches to building resilient neighbourhoods, analysing stakeholder roles and collaborative strategies through case studies, flipped classroom, and problem-based learning.
18 - Conclusion and Presentation of Assignments
In this final unit, students bring together the module’s key concepts and methods, presenting their assignments and reflecting on civic engagement, social resilience, co-production, and neighbourhood transformation, while considering their future role as built-environment professionals.
Case Studies
Velika Hoča
The Velika Hoča case study shows how externally driven initiatives—reviving viticulture, heritage, infrastructure, and people-centered support—rebuilt community resilience after 1999 despite economic hardship and social fragmentation. Leveraging local natural and cultural resources, it offers a blueprint for other underdeveloped communities, though political instability, youth emigration, and limited services still threaten long-term sustainability.
Peti Parkić
Belgrade’s Peti Parkić case shows how a sixteen-year community campaign (2005–2021)—using protests, petitions, legal challenges, and alliances—stopped a private commercial development from replacing a 3,500 m² neighborhood park. The City ultimately reclaimed and collaboratively revitalized the space, making it a model for the “right to the city” and the value of public open spaces.
Magdon Energy Community
Serbia’s first energy community, formed by residents of the Magdon complex in Niš with support from CORE and the Government of Japan, installed rooftop solar panels and EV chargers to cut high common electricity costs. Beyond a two-year payback and long-term savings, it reduces GHG emissions by 71.4 tons annually, serving as a model for other residential communities adopting renewables.
Block 19A
In New Belgrade’s Block 19A, residents rapidly mobilized over the 2023–2024 winter holidays to oppose the Republic Directorate’s sale of local open space for commercial development, which had proceeded without prior public consultation. Their unified grassroots resistance underscored the need for collaborative platforms enabling community participation in urban planning and land-use decisions.
Na Tochak
NaTochak is a grassroots cycling initiative launched in Skopje in 2012, using Critical Mass rides, advocacy, and workshops to challenge car-dominated planning and promote safe, sustainable mobility. Horizontally run by volunteers, it has driven new bike lanes and shifted public discourse toward urban resilience and citizen agency.
KomshiLOOK
KomshiLook, a self-organized civic festival launched in 2024 in Skopje’s Železara neighbourhood, revives komšiluk—the sense of neighbourly closeness—by turning overlooked spaces like balconies, staircases, and entrances into stages for exhibitions, food, and performances. Run by a small civic group, it reclaims communal space as a site of connection, care, and shared urban imagination.