Co-Creating Across Borders – Highlights from the Transnational Co-Design Session

In January 2025, WATERFRONTS brought together partners and selected artists from Sweden, Greece, and Croatia for its highly anticipated transnational co-design session. Held online, the session served as a key milestone in the project, uniting creative practitioners and experts from across Europe to collaboratively define the framework for the WATERFRONTS methodology—a cultural response to the climate crisis in coastal communities.

Building on insights from previous local sessions in Gothenburg, Lesvos, and Zadar, the transnational meeting focused on setting the parameters for the co-design process, ensuring it remains inclusive, youth-centered, and grounded in both artistic practice and environmental care. Partners and artists collectively shaped the guiding principles for how community artivism should be implemented across contexts, with an emphasis on accessibility, intergenerational dialogue, and emotional resilience.

The session also outlined the scope of the upcoming Capacity-Building Clinic, which will equip selected artists with tools in mental health awareness, blue innovation, and community engagement. By combining artistic experimentation with scientific knowledge and local wisdom, the clinic aims to strengthen the ability of artists to act as both creators and facilitators of social change.

This collaborative session reaffirmed WATERFRONTS’ core commitment: to place art at the heart of climate adaptation, empowering coastal communities through creativity, care, and co-creation.

Stay tuned as the project moves forward—next stop: the Capacity-Building Clinic!