Solidaritown connects European municipalities through shared cultural heritage, transforming community traditions into opportunities for civic participation, peer learning, and democratic renewal.
CULTURE AS A GATEWAY TO CIVIC PARTICIPATION
Across Europe, municipalities face the same set of challenges: citizens disengaging from local governance, communities fragmenting, and local governments struggling to respond. Solidaritown, led by the Municipality of Medina de Rioseco within the Christmas Cities Network, starts from an unexpected place. Rather than approaching civic engagement as a governance problem to be solved top-down, it uses shared Christmas traditions as an entry point for participation and democratic renewal. Culture becomes the bridge — reaching citizens who would never engage with a governance workshop but will engage with something they already value and share.
MUNICIPALITIES AS LEARNING LABORATORIES
The project brings together municipalities across Europe in a structured exchange programme. Study visits, peer review workshops, and thematic seminars allow local governments to observe, compare, and adapt practices from one another — not in conference rooms, but on the ground, in the communities where those practices live. Eight international events explored solidarity across different contexts, from youth participation to cultural economy and sustainability. By anchoring transnational cooperation in shared cultural identity, Solidaritown transforms peer learning from a bureaucratic exercise into something genuinely participatory, bringing local governments, community organisations, and citizens together on equal terms.
EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY IN PRACTICE
More than 500 participants have developed skills in community organisation, social inclusion, and participatory decision-making. The project produced concrete outputs including jointly developed Good Practices Guidelines, offering a replicable model for municipalities across Europe. Solidarity extended beyond the programme itself: the participation of the National Polytechnic University of Lviv during the war in Ukraine stands as a powerful symbol of what European civic solidarity looks like in practice. Solidaritown demonstrates that when municipalities learn from each other, the benefits travel back to the communities they serve.
