About
Košice 2.0 project is being implemented thanks to the European Commission Urban Innovative Actions Initiative (UIA). The aim is to support innovative and experimental sustainable urban development projects beyond what cities would normally fund themselves.
Košice became the first city in Slovakia to succeed in the challenge. Over the next three years, nine partners will fulfill their common ambition to transform Košice into a creative city with a high civic engagement level.
The Košice 2.0 project focuses on:
- improving the quality of life in the city by improving and developing urban services,
- increasing civic engagement in cultural, social, and economic activities,
- developing cultural and creative industries and educational opportunities to create new jobs.
The goal of the Košice 2.0 project is to build a creative ecosystem in which individual stakeholders (local government, population, businesses) will coexist, cooperate and make informed decisions to improve the quality of life in the city.
The creative ecosystem consists of:
CX Institute (Citizen Experience and Well-Being Institute)
This is one of the main planned outcomes of the Košice 2.0 project. Within the Košice 2.0 project, the CX Institute’s task is to identify, collect, and analyze the data necessary for the improvement and development of urban services.
Innovation programs
These programs create opportunities for startups, entrepreneurs, NGOs, and professionals from the IT and creative industries and active local citizens to solve urban challenges.
Bravo Hub
This space is home to various creative companies and individuals. It consists of a Co-working space, FabLab, Community & Meetup space, and Audiovisual center. Its purpose is to support collaboration, idea generation, testing, prototyping, and community activities.
Educational programs
The educational programs’ goal is to build capacities at the level of local government, academia, and the general public. During the project, partners will implement three educational programs for the following target groups:
City – Creative City: A training program for officials focused on decision-making processes at the local government level, new business models, and civic participation.
University – Creative University: A new educational program focused on data collection, analysis, and visualization will be created at the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Arts.
Citizens – Cre/active Citizens: An educational program designed for the general public, citizens interested in active civic participation to develop their skills, spread awareness and increase civic involvement in urban development.
Open Data Platform
Access to information is essential for transparent and effective decision-making of the local government, the launch of innovation activity, and, ultimately, for the improvement of services provided to citizens and businesses in the city.
Open data is information or data accessible freely and without a cost for everyone under the same conditions – everyone can use it. Thanks to the Košice 2.0 project, a central platform for open data, the so-called Open Data Platform is created. It gathers public administration data in one place, and it will make it fully accessible to citizens, entrepreneurs, the third sector, and local government.
Art installations and media art interventions
Art interventions and media art installations are innovative means for increasing the general public’s interest in civic participation and communicating with the public, and obtaining data for research carried out by the CX Institute. They allow citizens to live a fulfilling life in an urban environment.
While art interventions represent temporary art interventions in the public space, media art installations are permanent artworks. The planned locations for their exhibition are the East Slovak Gallery and the Kasárne/Kulturpark complex.
Mobile Urban Lab (MUL)
MUL is a research unit – a car equipped with modern digital technologies and displays.
The role of MUL is to map public space, specifically the so-called non-places – the unused areas in the city. During the project, it will examine the needs and communicate with the citizens. Simultaneously, it is a means of reaching out to citizens and involving them in defining urban challenges – through discussions, workshops, surveys, and art interventions in the public space.