This initiative was developed in 2022/2023 in Belgium, France, and Italy. The first objective was to support the actors engaged in degentrification processes, by involving more the beneficiaries of the organisations occupying vacant places, as the first concerned by the gentrification of neighbourhoods. The second objective was to structure a network, DEGENTRIFY.EUROPE, to equip the organisations in their development strategies.
The Degentrify.Europe association decided to apply to this project to work on the links between temporary occupation, transitional urbanism and gentrification. The project was set up with a number of different organisations: a research cooperative called Coop'Eskemm (Rennes, France) and three platforms occupying vacant spaces in Europe (Communa in Belgium, Free Riga in Latvia and Scomodo in Italy). This project was also set up to ensure that European networks could be further structured between the members of this consortium and other players involved in occupying vacant spaces and transitional urbanism. It was also a question of organising our exchanges of knowledge more effectively, in particular by structuring joint training programs. These two elements (structuring networks and training programs) should make it possible to respond to the strong need for professionalisation of organisations in the sector of occupation of vacant spaces in Europe. It was also a question of developing a strategy for better integrating the social actions of the organisations into the development of public policies, to ensure that these policies are grounded in the grassroots practices of the organisations.