Across Europe, daily life often extends beyond municipal borders. People may live in one municipality, work in another, and rely on services that operate across entire urban regions. Housing, mobility, food systems, education, and climate action all unfold at a metropolitan scale, yet governance frequently remains fragmented. This gap between how territories function and how they are governed continues to widen.
In Central Europe, suburbanisation (where people move from cities to their suburbs) has increased interdependence between core cities and their surrounding areas. Growing commuting flows and shared social and environmental challenges demand coordinated responses, but stable metropolitan frameworks are often limited.
Strengthening metropolitan cooperation is therefore not just technical; it directly improves people’s lives. Coordinated mobility makes journeys smoother and greener, while aligned social services reach citizens more effectively.
In the city of Brno, this approach is already taking shape. Through the MECOG-CE project, supported by the Interreg Central Europe programme, Brno and eight other metropolitan partners across Central Europe, have worked to strengthen metropolitan governance and cooperation.
Bringing together cities, metropolitan areas and networks such as Eurocities, the project focuses on sharing best practices, addressing common challenges, and developing practical tools for strategic and territorial development. While Brno,, as the project lead, has advanced its metropolitan food cooperation agenda, other partners have explored improved governance models, participatory processes and integrated mobility solutions.
We spoke to Martin Příborský, Member of the City Assembly of the City of Brno, about the outcomes and key learnings of the MECOG-CE project, and the city’s ambitions and future priorities for metropolitan cooperation.
What is the core ‘metropolitan problem’ MECOG-CE set out to solve, and why does it matter Brno?
“MECOG-CE deals primarily with the issue of metropolitan cooperation and governance. We are trying to find solutions to problems of insufficient cooperation within the area or explore new topics of mutual collaboration in our territory. So, our primary aim is not to focus on a single concrete theme, but to cooperate better and strengthen governance in metropolitan areas.
“In Brno, we are aware of the fact that we are interconnected with municipalities in our hinterland and have to cooperate with various stakeholders. We are currently using the Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) tool that enables us to fund metropolitan projects in the fields of mobility, social services, education or environment. But we do not want to rely solely on this tool to boost cooperation in the territory, so through MECOG-CE we want to draw inspiration from other European metropolitan areas.
“Currently, thanks to our partners in Turin, we are focusing on cooperation on food. We want to enhance local production and consumption in the Brno Metropolitan Area, and this will have a direct impact on the local economy, environment and health of our citizens. This topic is quite new for us and we are exploring ways to give it more prominence at the metropolitan level.”
What MECOG-CE project insights should other European metropolitan areas know about?
“First, I would emphasise practical solutions. The project enabled metropolitan areas to learn from one another through transnational cooperation, focusing on concrete themes such as food, mobility and participatory processes. Partners exchanged perspectives, identified transferable practices and developed action plans with clear steps and responsibilities to strengthen future cooperation. I would therefore encourage metropolitan areas to work together across Europe and explore shared priorities.
We produced a transnational ‘cookbook’ for European metropolitan areas. It offers practical advice on defining territories, setting up governance structures and engaging stakeholders
“Second, we produced a strategic guidance document for European metropolitan areas. Designed as a transnational ‘cookbook’ by the Metropolitan Research Institute, it offers practical advice on defining territories, setting up governance structures and engaging stakeholders. Recognising that there is no single model for metropolitan governance, it provides flexible steps tailored to different contexts and levels of maturity.”
The project’s Common Metropolitan Vision states that metropolitan areas need stronger recognition and resources. What two changes would you most like to see at EU and national level?
“At European level, the next seven-year EU budget should place greater emphasis on metropolitan areas and cities. In the current period, 8% of the ERDF is earmarked for sustainable urban development; this support should be maintained and strengthened. As centres of growth, innovation and competitiveness, and home to most of Europe’s population, metropolitan areas should be better reflected in EU policies and involved as partners in shaping them. While the new EU Policy Agenda for Cities is a positive step, this ambition is not yet matched in the proposed budget.
“At national level, an adequate legislative framework for metropolitan cooperation is still missing. In Brno, collaboration relies largely on voluntary arrangements and the ITI tool. Clearer competencies and stronger legal recognition would enable metropolitan areas to address shared challenges more effectively. These changes would help realise the Common Metropolitan Vision, one of the project documents, which sets out a shared future for well-functioning and resilient metropolitan areas across Europe.”
Why is metropolitan cooperation particularly important in Central Europe?
“It is very important because many people live in the hinterland of the core city due to suburbanisation, which started in the late 1990s. They commute to the core city for work, education, or leisure and cultural activities. This requires cooperation not only between the city and surrounding municipalities, but also with the region, universities and NGOs, so that we can find solutions to challenges associated with such interconnected territories.
“Fragmented structures and limited formal tools make it more difficult to respond to these challenges, especially in Czechia, where fragmentation is very high. To provide perspective, in Czechia, there are 6,258 municipalities; in Poland, which is 3.5 times larger, there are 2,479 municipalities.
To provide perspective, in Czechia, there are 6,258 municipalities; in Poland, which is 3.5 times larger, there are 2,479 municipalities.
“But I think many stakeholders in Central Europe at local and regional level are aware that metropolitan areas are important, and this awareness helps, because it results in many bottom-up activities that strengthen the metropolitan level. For example, the mayors of the 14 biggest Czech cities recently established the Association of Metropolitan Areas and Agglomerations in the Czech Republic. They will focus on enhancing the metropolitan voice primarily at the national level and on finding joint solutions.”
Brno used the project to push metropolitan food policy forward. What did your pilot work reveal?
“This food policy is quite new at the metropolitan level in Brno, so we appreciate that MECOG-CE allowed us to focus on it. Thanks to our pilot action, analysing possibilities for food cooperation in the Brno Metropolitan Area, we discovered that there are food-related activities in the territory, but they are not coordinated.
“We established a working group to which we invited the most important stakeholders: farmers’ associations, local action groups, universities, and local and regional authorities. This cooperation celebrated its one-year anniversary last month.
“Last year, we organised several events for the public, prepared materials and workshops for school canteens, and developed the map application Farmers from the Region, where citizens can find local farmers based on their production and distribution type. We also focused on children and school catering, supporting heads of school cafeterias to use local products and cooperate with farmers.
“This year, we plan to continue these activities and would also like to focus more on a strategic approach, including this topic in the new Integrated Development Strategy of the Brno Metropolitan Area 2028+.”
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The MECOG-CE project, supports stronger metropolitan cooperation and governance across Central Europe. The project involved Brno (lead partner), Warsaw, Ostrava, Stuttgart Region, Metropolitan City of Turin, and Berlin-Brandenburg, along with academic partners. Through shared good practices and joint strategy development, the partners aimed to improve metropolitan governance structures and regional cooperation. To learn more, visit the project website.
