UTOPIA Labs

Spaces for Community-Driven Change

Find out more

UTOPIA Labs are a key part of the UTOPIZE project. They are local spaces where communities come together to take an active role in shaping their neighbourhoods.

Set up in public areas across our pilot cities (Karlskoga, Ponte Lambro (Milano) and Penacova) and later in twinning partners, the Labs support co-creation, experimentation, and inclusive civic
participation. They are open to everyone. In each Lab, all interested actors work with local authorities to explore ideas and design improvements to public spaces. The process is practical and collaborative, grounded in local needs and everyday experience.

The Labs are equipped with digital tools to help people visualise possible changes and make more informed decisions together:

Extended Reality (XR), including Virtual and
Augmented Reality

Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) and
Digital Twins

Building Information
Modeling (BIM)
and nature-based
solution libraries

UTOPIA Labs host workshops, training sessions, and design activities, and serve as a meeting point between communities and city planners. Over time, they aim to become lasting spaces for local collaboration, where ideas can be tested, adapted, and built on.

UTOPIZE in action

UTOPIZE begins with three diverse locations across Europe, each with its own social, environmental, and urban challenges. In these places, UTOPIA Labs are being set up as testing grounds for co-designing public spaces with local communities. These pilot sites will help shape methods and tools that can be shared and adapted by other cities in the future.

These are just the first steps. UTOPIZE will expand to six more cities through a Twinning Program adapting lessons from these pilot Labs and applying them in new places across Europe.
Challenges: Population decline, social isolation
Opportunities: Industrial transformation, green infrastructure
Challenges: Population decline, social isolation
Opportunities: Industrial transformation, green infrastructure
Challenges: Population decline, social isolation
Opportunities: Industrial transformation, green infrastructure

Get Involved

UTOPIZE is built with communities, not just for them. Whether you’re a resident, student, community leader, local group, or just someone curious about your neighbourhood’s future, there will be ways to take part.
In each city, UTOPIA Labs will host workshops, co-creation sessions, and public events where you can share your ideas, learn new tools, and help shape local public spaces. The goal is simple: to make neighbourhoods
more inclusive, more sustainable, and more connected to the people who live in them.

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events and wokshops
in your area

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