Co-creation Pilots and New Communities

CHALLENGE

In their strategy, The Frederiksberg Strategy (Frederiksberg strategien), Frederiksberg Municipality puts a spotlight on their complex welfare challenges. The municipality faced challenges with socially exposed neighborhoods, young people testing the boundaries, lonely elderly people, and vulnerable families. They decided to make the creation of new urban spaces the focus of their strategic development work, and they started cooperating with citizens on developing innovative and sustainable welfare solutions for the future.

SOLUTION

Recognizing that no profession can solve complex challenges by itself, the various specialists employed at the municipality started working together on inviting citizens, associations, and local players into the process of developing new solutions. 100 employees of the municipality were trained as “co-creation pilots”, which together with citizens and external players performed “everyday experiments” through which they developed and tested new solutions.

RESULT

These everyday experiments set the path for a holistic effort concerning young people in the Lindevang neighborhood in Frederiksberg at risk of turning to crime. The trust between these young people and the rest of the residents in the neighborhood was strengthened, and new communities for lonely elderly people across generations were created. The municipality also created a communication network consisting of local cultural players and experts on the target group to bridge the gap between socially vulnerable families and the many cultural activities of the area.