Culture and youth networks for releasing urban potentials

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of the possibilities for application of networks and collaboration in planning and urban governance in the case of complex and changing places in a specific local transition context. Culture and youth networks were developed through six master students’ projects in the City of Smederevo within the thematic framework ‘Strengthening Cultural Identity in the Danube Region’ under INTERREG IV transnational cooperation programme. Network governance represents one type of governance. Culture and youth networks are used in urban governance due to their spatial dimension and the results they may achieve. The main aim of this paper is to point out at some of the advantages of network coordination within students’ integrated urban projects identified as: improved capacities to solve complex problems, increased recognition and competitiveness, more efficient use of resources, and development of other governance and planning instruments. Completed students’ projects point to the possibility of applying networks as urban governance instruments for activation of underused urban potentials, incorporation of new activities and land uses and establishing standards for entering European regional networks, integrating spatial interventions with actors and resources, and proposing new governance practices, which aim to enable innovation, as well as complementarity with traditional planning instruments.