International project MECOG-CE

The Brno Metropolitan Area (BMA) was part of the international project MECOG-CE – Strengthening metropolitan cooperation and Governance in Central Europe. The project started in April 2023 and ran until the end of March 2026. It was co-funded by European Union funds through the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme. 

The goal of the project was to strengthen metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe in the partner metropolitan areas. The project aimed to identify the best tools, procedures and examples of good practices for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe and apply them in metropolitan areas towards strengthening integrated metropolitan strategic and spatial development.

The project included partners from cities, metropolitan areas and research institutions. These were:

By participating in the project, the City of Brno expected to find examples and tools to further strengthen the voluntary metropolitan cooperation in the BMA with the aim of its institutionalization, which will facilitate the subsequent integrated metropolitan strategic and territorial development. Such development is beneficial not only for the cities and municipalities in the BMA but also for the citizens themselves. The city and BMA gained much experience and knowledge in managing a project of this significance. The opportunity to be the lead partner of the Interreg project was given to the City of Brno for the first time.

The method of work consisted of intensive cooperation between the partner cities, research experts and representatives of international networks. The cooperation was based on international meetings aimed at sharing good practices. The first transnational partner meeting took place in Brno. More about this meeting here. The second transnational meeting was held in Warsaw. Outcomes of this meeting are available here. Stuttgart was the venue for the third meeting of the partners and information on this meeting can be found here. The fourth meeting in Ostrava and its outcomes can be found here. The fifth meeting took place in Berlin and the most important results are summarised in this article. Last transnational meeting took place in Turin and project was concluded by the transnational conference in Brno.

The project was divided into three work packages:

• Within the first work package, the partners summarized the current status quo of metropolitan cooperation and governance in the partner cities and then the best tools/examples of good practice were identified that can be shared and applied to other cities and metropolitan areas. At the same time, new tools were identified that can be used to deepen metropolitan cooperation and governance (inspiration from other parts of Europe). 
• On the basis of the selected tools and examples of good practice, the partners created “study clusters“ as part of the second work package, whose main objective was to deepen the sharing of experience in the implementation, management and transferability of these tools. This package also included pilot actions to test selected tools and methods in practice. The partners then proposed new solutions within individual clusters, which bring innovative approaches and improve the existing selected tools. 
• The third work package focused on the main objective of the partners’ cooperation, namely the development of a Strategy for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe and the creation of action plans for cities and metropolitan areas involved. 

The project also included the production of position papers towards the European level, reflecting the position of metropolitan areas and cities and their challenges (in the context of strategic European documents). At the same time, a general transferable methodology for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance was developed and shared with other cities in Central Europe. 

Outputs and results

The individual outputs and results of the project are continuously updated throughout the project. These outputs and results include the already mentioned documents such as the Strategy and Action Plans, pilot actions and proposed new solutions or Common Metropolitan Vision summarising the needs of metropolitan areas. In addition, sub-outputs or deliverables such as the analysis of existing best practices and tools for enhancing metropolitan cooperation or catalogue of newly developed solutions are also shared. 

Outputs of the first work package:

• The first deliverable of the project is the Identification of challenges specific for Central European Metropolitan Areas. This analytical document summarises not only the current challenges for Central European metropolitan areas, but also the opportunities for the enhancement of metropolitan dimension and the presence of this dimension in European and international policies. The summary of this analysis can be found in this article or in the form of leaflet.
• One of the main outputs of the project is the Common Metropolitan Vision. It is a policy document advocating the metropolitan agenda at European and national level, while summarising the needs and strengths of metropolitan areas. The vision is presented at different levels to strengthen metropolitan issues.
• Among other outcomes is also the Analysis of the metropolitan governance systems of metropolitan areas involved in the project and their best practices and tools. This unique document presents an analysis of the partner metropolitan areas in terms of their metropolitan structures and the functioning of metropolitan cooperation in the territory. The information given is also set in the national context in more detail. The next part of the document presents and compares the identified tools and examples of good practice that have proved successful in the metropolitan areas. In total, we have collected 47 examples of good practice. You can also take a look at the individual metropolitan structures and selected tools in this storymap or in the executive summaries of metropolitan areas and their best practices.
• Similar outcomes represents the Analysis of the best practices outside Central Europe region. The document presents 29 good practice tools that have been successfully applied in metropolitan areas that are not part of the project. These include the Amsterdam, Barcelona and Birmingham metropolitan areas. The individual tools are then graphically presented in this summary.
• The document Status quo of metropolitan dimension in Central Europe and its future development summarizes the above-mentioned outcomes. It presents all the findings together to give a good picture of all the outcomes achieved.

Outputs of the second work package:

• Based on the outputs of the above-mentioned best practices, individual partners identified those that interested them most for further study in so-called “study clusters”. As the Brno Metropolitan Area, we focused on three tools during 2024: Food Districts from the Metropolitan City of Turin, the Warsaw Metropolitan Association and its functioning, and the Municipal Neighbourhood Forum from the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Area. Our partners’ experience with these tools provided us with inspiration for strengthening metropolitan cooperation in the BMA, both from a thematic and a procedural perspective. At the same time, we shared with our partners our experience with our questionnaire among mayors of BMA. All partners then compiled the results of this learning in the detailed report. 
• The Food Districts tool, which received the most support among metropolitan stakeholders, was subsequently tested in the Brno Metropolitan Area. Fundamental to this testing was the creation of an Analysis of the potential for food cooperation at the BMA level, which analysed the current state of agriculture and local production, and also looked at possible ways of setting up cooperation using the Italian model. Similarly, other partners in their metropolitan areas tested selected tools that helped them improve metropolitan cooperation on various topics. All findings from the testing phase are included in the Report on pilot actions and presented graphically in a brochure. 
• Testing best practices enabled all partners to propose long-term and innovative new solutions that they will implement in the coming months and years. In the case of BMA, it focuses on food cooperation for metropolitan areas, the purpose of which is to establish and develop more formal coordination of activities between individual stakeholders in the territory with the aim of increasing the use of local products in the BMA. All solutions developed within the project (dealing, for example, with the topic of transport or innovative approaches to affordable housing) are included in the brochure of new solutions and described in more detail in the Catalogue of newly developed solutions. 
• Both key outputs of the second part of the project, i.e. pilot actions and new solutions, can be found in a joint brochure that combines the two above-mentioned outputs.

Outputs of the third work package:

• The most important output of the project is represented by the Strategy for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe. The Strategy provides a structured and actionable framework that guides European metropolitan areas in strengthening metropolitan governance, enhancing cooperation, and promoting territorial development. The Strategy is built on the understanding that there is no universal model for metropolitan governance, so the framework provides practical steps how to strengthen metropolitan cooperation based on the specific needs and maturity of each metropolitan area. The Strategy offers clear objectives on both the structural and thematic elements essential for effective cooperation and governance. These include: establish a clear metropolitan vision and strategic objectives, define and optimise metropolitan territories, develop and strengthen governance structures, integrate relevant themes into metropolitan policy, establish metropolitan financial schemes, strengthen stakeholder involvement and participatory governance, monitor and evaluate metropolitan strategies.
• The second key output of the package was the development of action plans for individual metropolitan areas. A total of six action plans were developed for the following metropolitan areas: Brno, Berlin-Brandenburg, Ostrava, Stuttgart, Turin and Warsaw. The Brno plan focuses on a total of five actions: support for the institutionalization of BMA, strengthening support for food cooperation in BMA, addressing spatial planning at the metropolitan level, improving the evaluation system for BMA’s integrated development strategy, strengthening the participation of representatives of the innovation ecosystem in metropolitan issues. All of these actions are further divided into specific steps, covering the short-, medium-, and long-term. They aim to strengthen metropolitan cooperation and governance in the coming years within the Brno Metropolitan Area.

The project had a budget of €1.647 million over three years, 80% of which was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and 5 % through state subsidy.

An introduction to the project with an overview of all partners can be found in this storymap. The project has its own official website, which is maintained within the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE website. You can visit it here. The project also has its own profile on the social network LinkedIn, which you can follow here.