Appendix 1 – Phases of the Research

Phase 1 – April-November 2022

• Online Focus Group with UIA Project Officers, geared towards preliminarily identifying the main challenges faced and most effective responses deployed by UIA projects.
• Survey sent to UIA projects with a combination of multiple-choice and open questions, geared towards identifying the types of challenges that cities had to cope with during the pandemic, as well as to gain insights on the measures and responses implemented to overcome such challenges. 34 UIA cities responded to the survey.
• Analysis of the responses to the survey and identification of the main challenge categories faced by projects:
  • Implementation delays
  • Partnership issues
  • Participation and engagement constraints
  • Financial sustainability
  • Uncertainty caused by COVID
• Focus Group with 19 projects selected as most relevant model examples, geared towards validating the survey’s findings and diving deeper into each project’s specific responses to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
• Elaboration of the Focus Group’s outcomes and drawing up of the first draft of this study

Phase 2 – November 2022 - May 2023

• Capacity Building Workshop with UIA and URBACT cities aimed at sharing, discussing, and peer-reviewing the lessons learnt throughout the activity with other cities and experts.
• Finalisation and release of the study.