The edited volume Funding the Cooperative City: Community Finance and the Economy of Civic Spaces was recently published in Vienna, presenting stories and models of community finance and civic economy. The volume’s chapter on Central and Eastern European urban civic initiatives was authored by Hanna Szemző, managing director of Metropolitan Research Institute.
Szemző’s chapter shows examples of third sector initiatives and civic participation in CEE countries, particularly in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Its aim, nevertheless, goes beyond the mere presentation: it discusses the particular situation of CEE transition countries in the European landscape. Civic initiatives in these countries are quite recent, and sporadic compared to Western and Southern European urban areas; and their success if often strongly dependent on the attitude and actions of the public sector.
The full volume, in which Szemző’s chapter on CEE issues, is available here.