Regaining a sense of belonging
mo Festival
Reimagining Urban Spaces Through Co-Design and Action
Mo festival transforms urban spaces into greener, safer, and more inclusive environments while fostering democracy in urban planning and transformation. By promoting co-design, co-implementation, and community voting, Mo empowers citizens to actively shape their cities. From safe school streets to urban reforestation, Mo provides a platform for collaborative decision-making and sustainable urban innovation, addressing the social and environmental challenges of our time.
Italy
Local
Alghero, Sardinia, Italy
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Early concept
No
No
As an individual
"Mo" means "now" in Italian dialect, symbolizing urgency and action—core principles of Mo Festival, an initiative dedicated to transforming urban spaces into greener, safer, and more inclusive environments through participatory urbanism, community engagement, and academic collaboration.
Held in Alghero, Sardinia, a historic Mediterranean city, Mo addresses sustainability challenges such as urban heat islands, shoreline erosion, and mobility inefficiencies. As a tourism-driven, car-oriented city, Alghero faces seasonal infrastructure pressures, urban sprawl, and gentrification, requiring strategies for resilience and inclusivity.
More than an urban festival, Mo aims to shape the city's culture, reinforcing a sense of community and shared responsibility for its future. It will leverage the Department of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning at the University of Sassari (DADU) to connect students, researchers, and professionals with real-world urban challenges. By bridging academia, institutions, and communities, Mo fosters a collaborative platform where academic knowledge meets civic participation, encouraging evidence-based, citizen-driven urban transformation.
Mo’s key objectives include transformative actions such as safe school streets, pedestrian zones, and urban reforestation, ensuring broad civic engagement through public consultations, voting, hands-on participation, and academic contributions. Alongside physical improvements, Mo will activate urban spaces through cultural, social, educational, and recreational initiatives, reinforcing public spaces as dynamic, inclusive hubs of community life.
By embedding NEB values, principles, and tools, Mo will strengthen Alghero’s identity as a participatory city where urban spaces reflect shared knowledge and collective decision-making. As a living lab, it will connect students, researchers, and citizens in urban renewal, fostering community cohesion, environmental awareness, and participatory design.
Held in Alghero, Sardinia, a historic Mediterranean city, Mo addresses sustainability challenges such as urban heat islands, shoreline erosion, and mobility inefficiencies. As a tourism-driven, car-oriented city, Alghero faces seasonal infrastructure pressures, urban sprawl, and gentrification, requiring strategies for resilience and inclusivity.
More than an urban festival, Mo aims to shape the city's culture, reinforcing a sense of community and shared responsibility for its future. It will leverage the Department of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning at the University of Sassari (DADU) to connect students, researchers, and professionals with real-world urban challenges. By bridging academia, institutions, and communities, Mo fosters a collaborative platform where academic knowledge meets civic participation, encouraging evidence-based, citizen-driven urban transformation.
Mo’s key objectives include transformative actions such as safe school streets, pedestrian zones, and urban reforestation, ensuring broad civic engagement through public consultations, voting, hands-on participation, and academic contributions. Alongside physical improvements, Mo will activate urban spaces through cultural, social, educational, and recreational initiatives, reinforcing public spaces as dynamic, inclusive hubs of community life.
By embedding NEB values, principles, and tools, Mo will strengthen Alghero’s identity as a participatory city where urban spaces reflect shared knowledge and collective decision-making. As a living lab, it will connect students, researchers, and citizens in urban renewal, fostering community cohesion, environmental awareness, and participatory design.
Participation
Placemaking
Culture
Collaboration
Urban Regenaration
Mo Festival integrates sustainability into both its event organization and the urban interventions it generates, ensuring a lasting positive impact on Alghero. The festival aligns with Ambition I - To Repurpose - in event planning while aiming for Ambition III - To Regenerate - through its urban projects.
The event will minimize its environmental footprint by applying circular economy principles and resource efficiency, focusing on:
- Reducing waste through recycled and reusable materials.
- Promoting responsible waste sorting and composting to minimize landfill use.
- Encouraging walking, cycling, and public transport to reduce emissions and car dependency.
- Using temporary, modular structures made from low-carbon materials, ensuring adaptability and minimal resource consumption.
- Prioritizing sustainable catering, emphasizing plant-based, locally sourced, and fair-trade options, reducing food miles and food waste.
Beyond the event, Mo Festival’s urban interventions will target Ambition III by restoring ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity, and embedding sustainability into Alghero’s urban fabric. These projects include:
- Expanding urban greening to combat heat islands and improve biodiversity.
- Implementing nature-based solutions such as dune restoration and rainwater harvesting for coastal resilience.
- Developing pedestrian-friendly streets and bike lanes to reduce car reliance and reclaim public spaces.
- Repurposing underutilized spaces for community-driven, low-impact uses.
To amplify its impact, Mo Festival will actively educate participants on sustainability through workshops, informational signage, and online resources, fostering long-term environmental awareness and responsible behaviors.
The event will minimize its environmental footprint by applying circular economy principles and resource efficiency, focusing on:
- Reducing waste through recycled and reusable materials.
- Promoting responsible waste sorting and composting to minimize landfill use.
- Encouraging walking, cycling, and public transport to reduce emissions and car dependency.
- Using temporary, modular structures made from low-carbon materials, ensuring adaptability and minimal resource consumption.
- Prioritizing sustainable catering, emphasizing plant-based, locally sourced, and fair-trade options, reducing food miles and food waste.
Beyond the event, Mo Festival’s urban interventions will target Ambition III by restoring ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity, and embedding sustainability into Alghero’s urban fabric. These projects include:
- Expanding urban greening to combat heat islands and improve biodiversity.
- Implementing nature-based solutions such as dune restoration and rainwater harvesting for coastal resilience.
- Developing pedestrian-friendly streets and bike lanes to reduce car reliance and reclaim public spaces.
- Repurposing underutilized spaces for community-driven, low-impact uses.
To amplify its impact, Mo Festival will actively educate participants on sustainability through workshops, informational signage, and online resources, fostering long-term environmental awareness and responsible behaviors.
Mo Festival is deeply rooted in the socio-cultural and aesthetic fabric of Alghero, ensuring that urban transformation fosters collective experiences and a shared sense of belonging, aligning with Ambition II – To Connect.
Its visual identity draws inspiration from San Michele’s dome, a historic landmark symbolizing the city’s rich architectural heritage and collective memory.
Mo fosters civic engagement through a three-phase approach that integrates civic dialogue, artistic expression, and hands-on urban transformation:
1. Pre-Festival – Civic Dialogue
Mo Civic Talks engages NGOs, cultural institutions, and urban organizations to shape the festival’s themes, ensuring interventions respond to local identity and community needs while fostering a shared vision for a more beautiful, livable city.
2.During the Festival – Cultural Activation on the Waterfront
The main event will take place on Alghero’s waterfront, Giuseppe Garibaldi Street, the city’s iconic seaside promenade. A space already home to major events such as Cap d’Any de l’Alguer (New Year’s Eve celebrations) and the World Rally Championship, it will serve as a symbolic and high-profile stage to celebrate urban transformation and civic participation. The Stage will host performances, an emerging artist contest, and artistic installations, turning the waterfront into a dynamic cultural and social space where the city’s evolving identity, sustainability goals, and collective creativity come together.
3. After the Festival – Co-Implementation & Placemaking
Mo moves beyond dialogue, inviting citizens to physically shape their environment through urban greening, tactical urbanism, and community-led redesigns of public spaces. These interventions enhance the sensory experience of the city, ensuring that public spaces not only function well but also evoke beauty, comfort, and a sense of belonging, reinforcing Ambition II’s goal of strengthening meaningful social connections through design.
Its visual identity draws inspiration from San Michele’s dome, a historic landmark symbolizing the city’s rich architectural heritage and collective memory.
Mo fosters civic engagement through a three-phase approach that integrates civic dialogue, artistic expression, and hands-on urban transformation:
1. Pre-Festival – Civic Dialogue
Mo Civic Talks engages NGOs, cultural institutions, and urban organizations to shape the festival’s themes, ensuring interventions respond to local identity and community needs while fostering a shared vision for a more beautiful, livable city.
2.During the Festival – Cultural Activation on the Waterfront
The main event will take place on Alghero’s waterfront, Giuseppe Garibaldi Street, the city’s iconic seaside promenade. A space already home to major events such as Cap d’Any de l’Alguer (New Year’s Eve celebrations) and the World Rally Championship, it will serve as a symbolic and high-profile stage to celebrate urban transformation and civic participation. The Stage will host performances, an emerging artist contest, and artistic installations, turning the waterfront into a dynamic cultural and social space where the city’s evolving identity, sustainability goals, and collective creativity come together.
3. After the Festival – Co-Implementation & Placemaking
Mo moves beyond dialogue, inviting citizens to physically shape their environment through urban greening, tactical urbanism, and community-led redesigns of public spaces. These interventions enhance the sensory experience of the city, ensuring that public spaces not only function well but also evoke beauty, comfort, and a sense of belonging, reinforcing Ambition II’s goal of strengthening meaningful social connections through design.
Mo Festival sets an Ambition III for Inclusion, aiming to transform traditional urban planning dynamics through democratic participation, shared governance, and long-term institutionalization of inclusive urbanism.
It introduces voting, civic crowdfunding, co-design, and co-implementation as structural mechanisms that empower communities to actively shape their city.
Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), which brings together public administrations, academia, businesses, and civil society, ensures that participatory decision-making is embedded into the initiative’s governance.
Festival venues follow universal design principles, incorporating barrier-free routes and inclusive signage.
An open call for urban innovators invites students, planners, and social entrepreneurs to propose solutions for urban interventions, fostering diverse representation and equal access to urban transformation processes. Co-design sessions serve as a bridge between academia, public administration, and citizens, ensuring that proposed interventions are feasible, context-sensitive, and aligned with urban strategies.
Public voting and civic crowdfunding allow citizens to collectively decide which projects should receive funding and implementation priority, reinforcing direct democracy in urbanism. A digital platform extends accessibility to these key processes to a broader audience, ensuring that decision-making is inclusive, even for those who cannot attend in person.
Beyond discussion, Mo’s co-implementation phase turns participation into action. Citizens engage in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and redesigning underutilized spaces, ensuring that Mo’s impact is not just conceptual but physically embedded into Alghero’s evolving landscape.
Mo fosters participatory governance, making inclusion a continuous process where urban spaces are shaped and maintained collectively. It offers a replicable model of shared responsibility, proving inclusivity means co-creating the city.
It introduces voting, civic crowdfunding, co-design, and co-implementation as structural mechanisms that empower communities to actively shape their city.
Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), which brings together public administrations, academia, businesses, and civil society, ensures that participatory decision-making is embedded into the initiative’s governance.
Festival venues follow universal design principles, incorporating barrier-free routes and inclusive signage.
An open call for urban innovators invites students, planners, and social entrepreneurs to propose solutions for urban interventions, fostering diverse representation and equal access to urban transformation processes. Co-design sessions serve as a bridge between academia, public administration, and citizens, ensuring that proposed interventions are feasible, context-sensitive, and aligned with urban strategies.
Public voting and civic crowdfunding allow citizens to collectively decide which projects should receive funding and implementation priority, reinforcing direct democracy in urbanism. A digital platform extends accessibility to these key processes to a broader audience, ensuring that decision-making is inclusive, even for those who cannot attend in person.
Beyond discussion, Mo’s co-implementation phase turns participation into action. Citizens engage in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and redesigning underutilized spaces, ensuring that Mo’s impact is not just conceptual but physically embedded into Alghero’s evolving landscape.
Mo fosters participatory governance, making inclusion a continuous process where urban spaces are shaped and maintained collectively. It offers a replicable model of shared responsibility, proving inclusivity means co-creating the city.
Mo Festival places citizens and civil society at the center of urban transformation, ensuring that participation is not just symbolic but actively shapes decisions, projects, and outcomes. Aligning with Ambition III for participatory process, Mo fosters shared governance, direct democracy, and long-term community engagement through structured participatory mechanisms.
Citizens are engaged at multiple levels:
Pre-Festival Phase - Agenda Setting & Mobilization:
The Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), composed of public administrations, academia, businesses, and civic organizations, identifies urban priorities through public consultations and stakeholder dialogues. Mo Civic Talks and co-design sessions engage local NGOs and active citizens, ensuring that festival themes respond to real urban needs and directly shape the open call for urban interventions.
During the Festival:
- The Urban Forum (physical + digital) allows citizens to debate urban proposals, contribute ideas, and vote on projects, ensuring inclusive decision-making. Public voting and civic crowdfunding give citizens direct influence over which interventions receive funding and implementation priority.
- Mo Lab is an educational hub where participants learn and experiment with urban prototypes, artistic interventions, and tactical urbanism, fostering skill-building and critical thinking on sustainable urban transformation.
Co-Implementation Phase:
Mo turns participation into hands-on action, inviting citizens to co-create their city through urban greening, street redesigns, and collaborative interventions in public spaces.
By integrating participatory governance into urban planning, Mo encourages citizens to actively contribute to shaping their environment. This approach strengthens social connections, fosters shared responsibility and supports ongoing engagement, making urban transformation a collaborative and evolving process rather than a one-time initiative.
Citizens are engaged at multiple levels:
Pre-Festival Phase - Agenda Setting & Mobilization:
The Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), composed of public administrations, academia, businesses, and civic organizations, identifies urban priorities through public consultations and stakeholder dialogues. Mo Civic Talks and co-design sessions engage local NGOs and active citizens, ensuring that festival themes respond to real urban needs and directly shape the open call for urban interventions.
During the Festival:
- The Urban Forum (physical + digital) allows citizens to debate urban proposals, contribute ideas, and vote on projects, ensuring inclusive decision-making. Public voting and civic crowdfunding give citizens direct influence over which interventions receive funding and implementation priority.
- Mo Lab is an educational hub where participants learn and experiment with urban prototypes, artistic interventions, and tactical urbanism, fostering skill-building and critical thinking on sustainable urban transformation.
Co-Implementation Phase:
Mo turns participation into hands-on action, inviting citizens to co-create their city through urban greening, street redesigns, and collaborative interventions in public spaces.
By integrating participatory governance into urban planning, Mo encourages citizens to actively contribute to shaping their environment. This approach strengthens social connections, fosters shared responsibility and supports ongoing engagement, making urban transformation a collaborative and evolving process rather than a one-time initiative.
Mo Festival applies a multi-level engagement strategy, ensuring stakeholders from local to European levels actively shape its development.
At the local level, engagement efforts focus on establishing Mo Civic Talks (MCTs), a series of discussions with civil society organizations (e.g. Arkimastria, Ginquetes, Fondazione Alghero, Rumundu, Landworks), the University of Sassari (DADU), and public administration. These meetings aim to align the festival’s priorities with community needs, fostering early partnerships and institutional support, and ultimately formalizing partnership agreements with key actors. At this stage, we have held initial consultations with the Councillor for Urban Planning, who has secured a formal expression of interest from the Mayor and the municipality.
After securing local partnerships, Mo Festival will target businesses interested in urban sustainability through a brand urbanism approach. This engagement strategy focuses on attracting financial supporters and sponsors who align with Mo Festival’s values of sustainable and inclusive urban transformation, reinforcing the economic sustainability of the project.
Once a local support system is established, Mo Festival will expand its outreach to regional and national planning bodies, ensuring that festival interventions are aligned with long-term urban strategies.
At the national and transnational levels, a first stakeholder mapping already identified potential strategic collaboration with LabGov (collaborative governance network), Eutropian (inclusive urban processes), Arch-E (architectural competitions), and ASviS (sustainability alliance).
This engagement establishes a strong foundation at Ambition I, with the goal of advancing to Ambition II by working across levels. By integrating Mo Festival into larger urban innovation ecosystems, it enhances scalability, policy alignment, and knowledge-sharing, fostering deeper collaboration and long-term impact.
At the local level, engagement efforts focus on establishing Mo Civic Talks (MCTs), a series of discussions with civil society organizations (e.g. Arkimastria, Ginquetes, Fondazione Alghero, Rumundu, Landworks), the University of Sassari (DADU), and public administration. These meetings aim to align the festival’s priorities with community needs, fostering early partnerships and institutional support, and ultimately formalizing partnership agreements with key actors. At this stage, we have held initial consultations with the Councillor for Urban Planning, who has secured a formal expression of interest from the Mayor and the municipality.
After securing local partnerships, Mo Festival will target businesses interested in urban sustainability through a brand urbanism approach. This engagement strategy focuses on attracting financial supporters and sponsors who align with Mo Festival’s values of sustainable and inclusive urban transformation, reinforcing the economic sustainability of the project.
Once a local support system is established, Mo Festival will expand its outreach to regional and national planning bodies, ensuring that festival interventions are aligned with long-term urban strategies.
At the national and transnational levels, a first stakeholder mapping already identified potential strategic collaboration with LabGov (collaborative governance network), Eutropian (inclusive urban processes), Arch-E (architectural competitions), and ASviS (sustainability alliance).
This engagement establishes a strong foundation at Ambition I, with the goal of advancing to Ambition II by working across levels. By integrating Mo Festival into larger urban innovation ecosystems, it enhances scalability, policy alignment, and knowledge-sharing, fostering deeper collaboration and long-term impact.
The Mo Festival concept is shaped by the combined expertise of architecture, urban planning, and community psychology, ensuring an approach that integrates spatial design, social inclusion, and participatory governance.
The team consists of two architects, former Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning (DADU) students, and a community psychologist specializing in community building and empowerment. All team members have lived and studied in the city, and two of us were born and raised in Alghero, giving us firsthand experience of Alghero’s socio-cultural and urban fabric.
This local perspective, combined with our interdisciplinary expertise, ensures that Mo Festival is rooted in the realities of the territory while aligning with broader urban innovation frameworks.
Each discipline plays a crucial role in shaping the festival’s methodology and impact:
- Architecture and Urban Planning: focuses on eco-social design, adaptive reuse of public spaces, and tactical urbanism, ensuring that Mo’s interventions are functional, aesthetically coherent, and environmentally sustainable. Moreover, DADU’s engagement will provide technical supervision during the co-design phase, assess proposals, and support the co-implementation process, strengthening the festival’s impact.
- Community Psychology: brings expertise in community empowerment, participatory decision-making, and behavioral change, ensuring that Mo’s engagement model fosters long-term civic participation and cultural shift.
- Project Design and Civic Engagement: Ensures that collaborative methodologies and co-creation processes are effectively structured, making the festival an inclusive, accessible, and action-driven initiative.
The festival will work with a multidisciplinary approach - ambition I - to develop a participatory urbanism approach that is both informed by theory and adaptable to real-world applications.
The team consists of two architects, former Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning (DADU) students, and a community psychologist specializing in community building and empowerment. All team members have lived and studied in the city, and two of us were born and raised in Alghero, giving us firsthand experience of Alghero’s socio-cultural and urban fabric.
This local perspective, combined with our interdisciplinary expertise, ensures that Mo Festival is rooted in the realities of the territory while aligning with broader urban innovation frameworks.
Each discipline plays a crucial role in shaping the festival’s methodology and impact:
- Architecture and Urban Planning: focuses on eco-social design, adaptive reuse of public spaces, and tactical urbanism, ensuring that Mo’s interventions are functional, aesthetically coherent, and environmentally sustainable. Moreover, DADU’s engagement will provide technical supervision during the co-design phase, assess proposals, and support the co-implementation process, strengthening the festival’s impact.
- Community Psychology: brings expertise in community empowerment, participatory decision-making, and behavioral change, ensuring that Mo’s engagement model fosters long-term civic participation and cultural shift.
- Project Design and Civic Engagement: Ensures that collaborative methodologies and co-creation processes are effectively structured, making the festival an inclusive, accessible, and action-driven initiative.
The festival will work with a multidisciplinary approach - ambition I - to develop a participatory urbanism approach that is both informed by theory and adaptable to real-world applications.
Mo Festival redefines local urban transformation by merging participatory governance, cultural expression, and hands-on interventions, ensuring that citizens, institutions, academia, businesses, and civil society collaboratively design and implement change. Unlike traditional festivals or passive urban consultations, Mo accelerates real-world impact, embedding participation into structured governance and long-term planning.
Through the Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), municipal authorities, academia, businesses, and civic organizations co-develop urban strategies, ensuring alignment with regional and European frameworks.
The Urban Forum, operating physically and digitally, expands accessibility, allowing remote participation and broader civic engagement.
Mo’s co-implementation phase moves beyond consultation, engaging citizens in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and community-led projects.
Its brand urbanism and civic crowdfunding model diversify funding sources, ensuring financial sustainability and public ownership.
By integrating multi-level governance, digital accessibility, and alternative funding, Mo evolves from a festival into a scalable, replicable model for inclusive urban transformation.
Through the Mo Organizing Committee (MOC), municipal authorities, academia, businesses, and civic organizations co-develop urban strategies, ensuring alignment with regional and European frameworks.
The Urban Forum, operating physically and digitally, expands accessibility, allowing remote participation and broader civic engagement.
Mo’s co-implementation phase moves beyond consultation, engaging citizens in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and community-led projects.
Its brand urbanism and civic crowdfunding model diversify funding sources, ensuring financial sustainability and public ownership.
By integrating multi-level governance, digital accessibility, and alternative funding, Mo evolves from a festival into a scalable, replicable model for inclusive urban transformation.
Mo Festival applies principles from Placemaking, Participatory Budgeting (as applied in Bologna and Helsinki), and the City as a Commons, fostering inclusive, engaging, and community-driven urban spaces.
Through Mo Civic Talks (the “cheap talks” phase of the Co-City protocol), local organizations, public administration, and academia identify urban challenges, priorities, and partnerships, ensuring the festival responds to real community needs.
The Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) brings together diverse stakeholders, ensuring that urban initiatives reflect multiple perspectives. The Department of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning (DADU) plays a key role by providing technical supervision during the co-design phase, supporting proposal evaluation, and contributing to co-implementation.
Following the participatory budgeting models of Bologna and Helsinki, Mo Festival launches an open call for urban designers, social innovators, artists and the general public. A co-design phase defines and finalizes proposals with stakeholder collaboration, ensuring feasibility and alignment with urban priorities. Public voting and civic crowdfunding allow the community to decide which projects receive funding and implementation priority.
To ensure participation leads to tangible change, the festival includes a co-implementation phase, where citizens engage in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and small-scale public space redesigns. These interventions follow placemaking principles, creating more accessible, livable, and community-driven urban spaces. The Urban Forum, available physically and digitally, expands accessibility and ensures an open and inclusive process.
By applying collaborative governance, participatory budgeting, and placemaking, Mo Festival aspires to be a practical and adaptive model for participatory urbanism, where citizens, researchers, and urban practitioners co-create meaningful urban transformations.
Through Mo Civic Talks (the “cheap talks” phase of the Co-City protocol), local organizations, public administration, and academia identify urban challenges, priorities, and partnerships, ensuring the festival responds to real community needs.
The Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) brings together diverse stakeholders, ensuring that urban initiatives reflect multiple perspectives. The Department of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning (DADU) plays a key role by providing technical supervision during the co-design phase, supporting proposal evaluation, and contributing to co-implementation.
Following the participatory budgeting models of Bologna and Helsinki, Mo Festival launches an open call for urban designers, social innovators, artists and the general public. A co-design phase defines and finalizes proposals with stakeholder collaboration, ensuring feasibility and alignment with urban priorities. Public voting and civic crowdfunding allow the community to decide which projects receive funding and implementation priority.
To ensure participation leads to tangible change, the festival includes a co-implementation phase, where citizens engage in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and small-scale public space redesigns. These interventions follow placemaking principles, creating more accessible, livable, and community-driven urban spaces. The Urban Forum, available physically and digitally, expands accessibility and ensures an open and inclusive process.
By applying collaborative governance, participatory budgeting, and placemaking, Mo Festival aspires to be a practical and adaptive model for participatory urbanism, where citizens, researchers, and urban practitioners co-create meaningful urban transformations.
Mo Festival’s methodology, governance model, and participatory processes can be adapted to different cities, communities, and contexts, making it a scalable and replicable model for urban transformation.
- Participatory Urbanism Framework. The Mo Civic Talks and Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) provide a structured yet adaptable approach to engaging stakeholders, aligning local priorities, and ensuring inclusive decision-making. This model can be applied in cities seeking to activate civic participation in urban planning.
- Open Call & Public Voting System. The combination of open calls for urban designers, public voting, and civic crowdfunding allows communities to select and finance urban projects collaboratively. This method ensures that local voices shape urban transformations and can be replicated in contexts seeking co-governance mechanisms.
- Co-Implementation & Placemaking. The hands-on approach of engaging citizens in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and public space redesigns follows placemaking principles that are easily transferable to other urban areas. Cities can use this approach to revitalize underutilized spaces through community-driven interventions.
- Integration of Academia & Technical Supervision. The involvement of universities and research institutions, as seen with DADU’s role in Mo Festival, provides a replicable model for bridging academic knowledge with practical urban interventions. This can be applied to other university-led or research-based urban initiatives.
By integrating participatory governance, academic collaboration, and community-driven urban interventions, Mo Festival provides a flexible approach that can be adapted to different urban contexts, supporting more inclusive and sustainable city-making.
- Participatory Urbanism Framework. The Mo Civic Talks and Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) provide a structured yet adaptable approach to engaging stakeholders, aligning local priorities, and ensuring inclusive decision-making. This model can be applied in cities seeking to activate civic participation in urban planning.
- Open Call & Public Voting System. The combination of open calls for urban designers, public voting, and civic crowdfunding allows communities to select and finance urban projects collaboratively. This method ensures that local voices shape urban transformations and can be replicated in contexts seeking co-governance mechanisms.
- Co-Implementation & Placemaking. The hands-on approach of engaging citizens in urban greening, tactical urbanism, and public space redesigns follows placemaking principles that are easily transferable to other urban areas. Cities can use this approach to revitalize underutilized spaces through community-driven interventions.
- Integration of Academia & Technical Supervision. The involvement of universities and research institutions, as seen with DADU’s role in Mo Festival, provides a replicable model for bridging academic knowledge with practical urban interventions. This can be applied to other university-led or research-based urban initiatives.
By integrating participatory governance, academic collaboration, and community-driven urban interventions, Mo Festival provides a flexible approach that can be adapted to different urban contexts, supporting more inclusive and sustainable city-making.
Mo Festival tackles key global challenges by implementing local, community-driven solutions that promote sustainability, inclusivity, and participatory urbanism.
- Climate Change and Urban Heat Islands.
Cities worldwide struggle with rising temperatures and environmental degradation. Mo responds by expanding urban greening, promoting nature-based solutions, and integrating tactical urbanism, helping to mitigate heat islands and enhance climate resilience.
- Car Dependency and Sustainable Mobility.
Many urban areas face traffic congestion, pollution, and lack of pedestrian-friendly spaces. Mo promotes walkable streets, bike lanes, and low-carbon mobility, encouraging more accessible and people-centered public spaces.
- Social Fragmentation, loss of Community Identity.
Rapid urbanization and gentrification often weaken social cohesion and local identity. Mo fosters civic engagement through cultural activation, co-design processes, and place-based interventions, ensuring that public spaces reflect and strengthen community bonds.
- Lack of Participatory Governance.
In many cities, urban planning is top-down and disconnected from citizens' needs. Mo introduces participatory governance models, where citizens, institutions, and academia collaborate to shape and co-implement urban interventions, making decision-making more inclusive and transparent.
- Limited Access to Public and Cultural Spaces.
Many communities face barriers to engaging with cultural and public spaces. Mo transforms underutilized areas into dynamic, inclusive hubs by integrating art, education, and community-led activities, making urban spaces more engaging and accessible to all.
By addressing these challenges through local action, Mo Festival provides a scalable model for cities seeking sustainable, inclusive, and community-driven urban transformation.
- Climate Change and Urban Heat Islands.
Cities worldwide struggle with rising temperatures and environmental degradation. Mo responds by expanding urban greening, promoting nature-based solutions, and integrating tactical urbanism, helping to mitigate heat islands and enhance climate resilience.
- Car Dependency and Sustainable Mobility.
Many urban areas face traffic congestion, pollution, and lack of pedestrian-friendly spaces. Mo promotes walkable streets, bike lanes, and low-carbon mobility, encouraging more accessible and people-centered public spaces.
- Social Fragmentation, loss of Community Identity.
Rapid urbanization and gentrification often weaken social cohesion and local identity. Mo fosters civic engagement through cultural activation, co-design processes, and place-based interventions, ensuring that public spaces reflect and strengthen community bonds.
- Lack of Participatory Governance.
In many cities, urban planning is top-down and disconnected from citizens' needs. Mo introduces participatory governance models, where citizens, institutions, and academia collaborate to shape and co-implement urban interventions, making decision-making more inclusive and transparent.
- Limited Access to Public and Cultural Spaces.
Many communities face barriers to engaging with cultural and public spaces. Mo transforms underutilized areas into dynamic, inclusive hubs by integrating art, education, and community-led activities, making urban spaces more engaging and accessible to all.
By addressing these challenges through local action, Mo Festival provides a scalable model for cities seeking sustainable, inclusive, and community-driven urban transformation.
Following the initial engagement with the Councillor for Urban Planning and the municipality, Mo Festival will take structured steps to formalize its governance, engage the community, and implement the first edition, while ensuring visibility and long-term impact.
March – August 2025 | Institutional Foundation & Outreach
- Establish the Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) with bylaws and governance structure.
- Launch Mo Civic Talks, engaging local NGOs, public administration, and academia to refine urban priorities.
- Define thematic teams to shape the festival’s focus areas.
- Initiate public outreach campaigns to promote participation.
September – December 2025 | Open Call & Proposal Development
- Launch the open call for urban designers, social innovators, and artists.
- Promote the call via social media, public events, and institutional networks.
- Collect and assess submissions with technical supervision from DADU.
- Initial development of logistics, materials, permits and infrastructure.
January - April 2026 | Co-Design & Preparation
- Host co-design workshops with experts, institutions, and citizens to refine proposals.
- Ensure feasibility through technical assessment and financial planning.
- Secure necessary resources, permits, and logistics for the event and projects.
May 2026 | Festival Launch & Winning Projects
- Organize the main event on Alghero’s waterfront, featuring art, community activities, and urban interventions.
- Public voting and crowdfunding determine winning proposals.
- Engage media and document outcomes for visibility and knowledge-sharing.
June - December 2026 | Co-Implementation & Institutionalization
- Support hands-on implementation of selected projects.
- Evaluate outcomes, document best practices, and compile a post-event report.
- Develop policy recommendations and secure funding sources for continuity.
- Engage with national and EU networks to promote scalability and replicability.
March – August 2025 | Institutional Foundation & Outreach
- Establish the Mo Organizing Committee (MOC) with bylaws and governance structure.
- Launch Mo Civic Talks, engaging local NGOs, public administration, and academia to refine urban priorities.
- Define thematic teams to shape the festival’s focus areas.
- Initiate public outreach campaigns to promote participation.
September – December 2025 | Open Call & Proposal Development
- Launch the open call for urban designers, social innovators, and artists.
- Promote the call via social media, public events, and institutional networks.
- Collect and assess submissions with technical supervision from DADU.
- Initial development of logistics, materials, permits and infrastructure.
January - April 2026 | Co-Design & Preparation
- Host co-design workshops with experts, institutions, and citizens to refine proposals.
- Ensure feasibility through technical assessment and financial planning.
- Secure necessary resources, permits, and logistics for the event and projects.
May 2026 | Festival Launch & Winning Projects
- Organize the main event on Alghero’s waterfront, featuring art, community activities, and urban interventions.
- Public voting and crowdfunding determine winning proposals.
- Engage media and document outcomes for visibility and knowledge-sharing.
June - December 2026 | Co-Implementation & Institutionalization
- Support hands-on implementation of selected projects.
- Evaluate outcomes, document best practices, and compile a post-event report.
- Develop policy recommendations and secure funding sources for continuity.
- Engage with national and EU networks to promote scalability and replicability.
