Security in public spaces can no longer be understood solely as a technical or institutional issue. In increasingly complex cities, shaped by major events, intense mobility, social diversity and new ways of perceiving risk, security has also become a matter of trust, participation and shared responsibility.
This is one of the core ideas behind CO-SECUR, a European project coordinated by Kveloce and funded by Horizon Europe, which works to promote more effective, responsible and society co-produced urban security solutions. The project focuses particularly on public spaces, major events and crowded places, with the aim of reducing security risks while fostering perceptions and behaviours consistent with a safe environment.
In this context, CO-SECUR has carried out a participatory phase linked to the development of the Societal Development Plan (SDP), one of the project’s main results. The SDP aims to become a roadmap for actors involved in social innovation for security, incorporating content that is useful to all of them. To achieve this, it is essential to map these actors: who they are and what roles they play, what needs arise, and how they can contribute to solutions that are better adapted to real contexts.
A consultation to involve the entire security ecosystem
The consultation formed part of the collaborative development and validation process of the SDP. The document will bring together recommendations, lessons learned and tools to promote more effective, responsible and co-produced approaches, applicable to major events and crowded places, while strengthening trust, social acceptance and safe behaviours.
The consultation linked to the development of the SDP made it possible to activate a diverse network of actors interested in contributing to the debate on social innovation and urban security. In a first phase, CO-SECUR opened an interest registration form to share documentation, updates and materials related to the SDP. A total of 39 people requested to receive this information, from 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The registered participants represented diverse profiles, including academia, science and research, civil society, the private sector, the public sector, private and public security providers, and SMEs.
Following this first phase, CO-SECUR shared the Societal Development Plan with the registered participants and opened a feedback process to review and enrich its content. In the end, 11 stakeholders provided comments and contributions to the document. Their input will help further refine the SDP and ensure that its recommendations better respond to the needs, experiences and expectations of different actors within the European and international urban security ecosystem.
For the plan to be useful, however, the first step is to properly understand the stakeholder landscape. CO-SECUR works with a Quintuple Helix + media approach, integrating public administration, academia, industry, citizens, civil society and the media. This broad perspective responds to a clear premise: urban security is not built from a single sector, but through the interaction of multiple perspectives.
The consultation, which remained open until the end of May, made it possible to incorporate the views of key actors — current, potential and interested — from the urban security ecosystem. This exchange will help refine the project’s results and ensure that the future recommendations of the SDP respond to the real needs of communities and local contexts.
From accumulated knowledge to practical tools
The Societal Development Plan does not start from scratch. CO-SECUR has previously worked on a literature review on security, perceptions of security, social innovation and RRI, as well as on the mapping and analysis of social innovation in security cases across several European countries. The project has analysed 160 Social Innovation in Security (SIS) cases, with the aim of identifying good practices, barriers, capacities and transferable lessons learned.
All this knowledge is being integrated into a practical guidance document. In line with the project design, the SDP will include a description of the state of social innovation in security in Europe, a synthesis of cases, good practices and a roadmap of actions to foster SIS solutions. It will also be accompanied by specific tools, such as public policy recommendations, materials on smart local communities, guidance to align security solutions with RRI and social innovation, and an overview of innovative, transferable and scalable security technologies.
This combination of evidence, participation and practical guidance is key. The aim is not to produce yet another academic document, but a useful tool for cities, regions, professionals and organisations seeking to promote more inclusive, responsible security solutions that are better aligned with social realities.
Why mapping stakeholders matters
Identifying the actors involved is not an administrative exercise. In urban security projects, knowing who is included, and who is often left out, can determine the quality of the solutions.
Public authorities provide institutional and regulatory capacity. Security forces and professionals understand operational challenges. Academia contributes evidence and analysis. Companies develop technologies, services and implementation models. Civil society and citizens bring situated experience, needs, perceptions and expectations. And the media play an important role in shaping public debate on security, risk and trust.
Without this mapping, solutions can become unbalanced: too technical, too institutional or insufficiently connected to citizens’ perceptions. With it, the SDP can help guide more participatory and realistic processes, where security is not understood only as a service, but as a shared construction.
This idea lies at the heart of CO-SECUR’s approach. The project seeks to promote “smart citizens” and “smart local communities”: communities and citizens capable of actively participating in the security of their environments based on the principles of social innovation and RRI.
Kveloce and the coordination of a European participatory process
As the coordinator of CO-SECUR, Kveloce plays a central role in articulating this process. The development of the SDP is based on an iterative cycle of validation and collaborative development that includes hybrid seminars, national working groups, participatory workshops and open validation at European level. The project foresees activities in nine countries — Spain, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Greece and Lithuania — reflecting the regulatory, social and historical diversity of urban security in Europe.
According to the project design, Kveloce leads the drafting of the SDP, integrating the results and knowledge generated in previous phases to prepare a version that will be discussed and validated with key actors at national and European level.
This work reflects one of Kveloce’s distinctive strengths in European projects: integrating participation, Social Sciences and Humanities, applied evidence and policy orientation to turn research results into useful tools. In CO-SECUR, this experience translates into a process that not only seeks to study social innovation in security, but also to build, together with the actors involved, a guide capable of supporting its adoption in real contexts.
A participatory phase to guide the SDP
The open consultation on the SDP made it possible to gather contributions from public administrations, security professionals, researchers, companies, social organisations, citizens and the media, helping to define how urban security solutions in Europe should be oriented.
This participatory process incorporated knowledge, experience and diverse perspectives around an increasingly relevant question: how can we build safer public spaces without losing sight of trust, inclusion and social participation?
At a time when urban security requires complex responses, CO-SECUR proposes a clear path: listen better, map better and design better. Because the most effective solutions are not only those that protect, but also those that are understood, accepted and built with society.
Find out more about the project here: www.cosecur.eu
