Co-creation Techniques and Tools for Sustainable and Inclusive Planning at Neighbourhood Level. Experience from Four European Research and Innovation Projects.

This paper presents outcomes from the cluster workshop of the Horizon2020 SUNRISE, MUV, Cities4People and Metamorphosis projects, and specifically the workshop session for the use of co-creation tools and techniques across the four Horizon2020 projects. The workshop was organised by CIVITAS SATELLITE in cooperation with the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency of the European Commission on the 19th of November 2019 at the premises of INEA in Brussels. Several different participation techniques & tools are being used by the projects, including co-creation workshops, serious games, interviews, simple questionnaires at the place of the intervention, field trips, school scans and thematic walks/scans, cultural probes, focus groups, etc.. In general lines, the projects have opted for practical, hands-on tools rather than online and complicated tools. A series of key learnings about the practical use of those tools emerged; co-creation activities should try to incorporate diverse neighbourhoods and settings; it is preferable that only one challenge is addressed at a time; evidence is an excellent prompt for discussion; discussion topics should be important to the participants, rather than the organisers; silent observation helps achieve a deeper understanding; and methods and tools that involve the physical presence of the users at the place of intervention are most effective.