The non-prof­it ini­tia­tive Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Democ­ra­cy pur­sues the goal of form­ing a net­work of cities to strength­en democ­ra­cy in Europe and awards cities for inno­v­a­tive and coura­geous steps to fur­ther devel­op democ­ra­cy in urban areas. With the inter­ac­tion of cit­i­zens, politi­cians, and insti­tu­tions, a plat­form for the exchange of new ideas and “best prac­tices” will be cre­at­ed. Cities can apply to become the “Euro­pean Cap­i­tal of Democ­ra­cy” from March 2022.

d|part sup­ports the ven­ture in the pilot phase and con­ducts an audit of the first appli­ca­tion cycle. With the help of var­i­ous eval­u­a­tion meth­ods, based on data we will col­lect, we will iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties for improve­ment in the appli­ca­tion process and will — through close dia­logue with the organ­is­ing ini­tia­tive — con­tribute to achiev­ing the set goals.