FABRICATE – Living Labs for Governing the Social Fabric of Green Neighbourhoods - PARTICIPATION-02

FABRICATE – Measuring and Governing the Social Fabric of Green Neighbourhoods

FABRICATE is a transnational project cooperation initiative designed under the New European Bauhaus (NEB) framework to connect green transformation, social inclusion and local democracy at neighbourhood scale.

Across Europe, green transition policies often fail to translate into lived social benefits at local level. While cities invest in sustainability, digitalisation and urban renewal, the social fabric of neighbourhoods — trust, participation, belonging and civic agency — remains largely unmeasured and weakly governed.

FABRICATE addresses this gap by introducing an integrated Living Lab–based methodology that combines citizen participation, data-driven tools and municipal governance innovation.

What FABRICATE does

FABRICATE develops and tests a Neighbourhood Social Fabric Index (NSFI) and an Urban Observatory & NSFI-MIS platform that enable cities to:

• measure social cohesion, trust and participation alongside environmental and spatial indicators,

• integrate citizen-generated data into planning and decision-making,

• support inclusive green transition through evidence-based local governance,

• strengthen local democracy via co-creation and transparency.

Living Labs as engines of change

The project is implemented through Living Labs in multiple countries, where municipalities, universities, NGOs, SMEs and citizens jointly:

• co-design neighbourhood-level interventions aligned with NEB values,

• test participatory planning methods and digital tools in real-life settings,

• run co-creation workshops, citizen science activities and local training modules,

• validate social, environmental and governance impacts.

Each Living Lab functions as a Planning Hub, linking digital innovation with community engagement and local policy action.

Digital and social innovation combined

FABRICATE integrates:

• AI and GIS-based urban observatories,

• participatory data collection and citizen science,

• open-source and FAIR data principles,

• policy-oriented evaluation and replication tools.

This ensures that technological innovation serves social inclusion and democratic governance, rather than replacing them.

European added value and replication

FABRICATE delivers:

• a validated NSFI methodology,

• an open Urban Observatory platform,

• replication toolkits for municipalities,

• policy-oriented guidance aligned with NEB and EU frameworks.

The project creates a replicable European model that can be adopted by cities seeking to implement green transition strategies that are socially inclusive, democratically governed and locally rooted.

Vision

FABRICATE envisions neighbourhoods where green transformation is co-created with citizens, social cohesion is measurable and governable, and local democracy is strengthened through transparent, data-informed participation.