Kdz. Ereğli Municipality is seeking to join a strong European consortium for HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03 as a real-life pilot municipality and demonstration site.
Our proposed pilot is Sanat Sokağı (Art Street), a municipally managed cultural and creative public space located on the Black Sea waterfront in Kdz. Ereğli, Türkiye.
Sanat Sokağı includes 32 artisan stands, 22 of which are operated by women, and brings together traditional craftsmanship, local creative production, cultural activities and community interaction.
Despite its strong cultural, social and economic potential, the area is currently underused due to seasonal operation, infrastructure limitations and climate-related vulnerabilities. Its waterfront location also creates a relevant context for testing approaches related to climate resilience and the sustainable year-round use of public space.
Through our RE-LIVE EREĞLİ initiative, we aim to transform Sanat Sokağı into a year-round, climate-resilient, inclusive and economically sustainable creative hub.
The pilot offers an opportunity to test and validate innovative approaches combining:
• adaptive reuse and activation of underused public space
• participatory and community-based regeneration
• preservation and transmission of living cultural heritage
• women-led and local creative entrepreneurship
• new sustainable business and operational models
• digital tools and enhanced visitor experiences
• climate resilience in a waterfront urban context
• year-round cultural and creative programming
Kdz. Ereğli Municipality can provide a real municipal implementation environment, an existing community of artisans and local stakeholders, access to a functioning cultural site, municipal coordination capacity and opportunities for real-life testing, co-design, demonstration and impact assessment.
We are particularly interested in connecting with coordinators and consortia that are currently developing or completing proposals under HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03 and are looking for municipalities, demonstration sites or real-life pilots in different European territorial contexts.
We are open to discussing how Sanat Sokağı and the RE-LIVE EREĞLİ concept could complement other European pilot sites within a comparative and transferable demonstration framework.