Next Network

The Next Network is an international group of urban experts working in the field of participatory urban development and co-creation. “Firstly, we need to change a city in the mind of people” - with this motto an urban planner Julian Petrin founded “Nexthamburg”, the first German citizens' think-tank for participatory urban development. The aim of Nexthamburg is to provide a “safe room” for citizens' ideas and to facilitate a constructive and balanced dialogue between various urban actors. Gathering citizens' ideas and giving a stage for previously “no-go” urban topics, a “Hamburg 2030: Citizens' Vision” was created out of more than 700 citizens' ideas. In autumn 2014 the second stage of Nexthamburg process – “Stadtmacher” crowd-resourcing platform – was developed, enabling every citizen to become an active city-maker and to implement her or his project with the help of community. Meanwhile, the bottom-up co-creation approach, shaped by Nexthamburg, resonated in other German cities as well as internationally. The open innovation and smart knowledge transfer laid a basis for creation of the “Next Network”, bringing together active citizens and urban experts with the knowledge, experience and belief in urban co-creation. At the moment, the Next Network is present with projects in the following cities: Hamburg (Germany), Kassel (Germany), Lisbon (Portugal), Bangalore (India), Belgrade (Serbia), Istanbul (Turkey), Zuerich (Switzerland).