11/06/2026 New Interreg BSR Projects Selected: What They Mean for Spatial Planners Across the Region?
A new list of Interreg Baltic Sea Region projects has been selected, and for spatial planners across the Baltic Sea Region, this matters. Four project platforms and six small projects contribute directly to spatial planning in the region, bringing fresh knowledge, tools, and peer networks that are being built, explicitly, aiming to support planners at municipal, regional, and national level. VASAB participated in both the Platform Kick-off in Berlin (9–10 June) and the Small Project Lead Partner Seminar in Kiel (16–17 June) as Policy Area Coordinator for Spatial Planning, sharing experiences, connecting with new projects and platforms, and reinforcing the role of spatial planning in the Baltic Sea Region’s strategic cooperation.
Project Platform Kick-off: A New Chapter for BSR Project Platforms
9-10 June 2026, Berlin, Germany
The kick-off meeting brought together five new project platforms selected in the second call as Operations of Strategic Importance (OSI) – programme actions of the highest strategic value, chosen by the Monitoring Committee. In practice, this means projects specifically selected to turn EU-funded research into usable tools and knowledge for public authorities, including planning bodies at all governance levels. New Platforms join the eight project platforms selected in the first call, bringing the total number of active OSI project platforms in the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme to thirteen. The two-day event at the H4 Hotel Berlin Alexanderplatz was organised by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat. The first day focused on supporting platforms in starting their implementation, clarifying expectations, and building a shared understanding of what it means to work as an OSI. The second day offered platforms the opportunity to meet directly with Monitoring Committee members.
For spatial planners, four of these platforms are directly relevant: Baltic PlaNet (Baltic Climate-Resilient Coastal Planning Network), SEABAS (Strategic Ecosystem-Based Planning for a Sustainable Future of the Baltic Sea), BSR Urban Mobility (Enhancing Active and Efficient Urban Mobility in the Baltic Sea Region), and Future Cities (Co-creating the future of BSR cities through culture and civic participation). Together, they mobilise results from more than 36 EU-funded projects and direct them towards public authorities across all Baltic Sea Region countries.
Tools, Not Reports: What It Takes to Reach Spatial Planners?
Egija Stapkēviča, Deputy Head of the VASAB Secretariat and Policy Area Coordinator for Spatial Planning, gave a presentation titled "Learning from Experience" during the session "Project platforms: from ambitions to impact." She spoke from a unique dual perspective - as a Policy Area Coordinator for Spatial Planning and as a project platform practitioner, having served as Lead Partner of the Capacity4MSP project platform (2019-2022) and currently as a partner in the Baltic PlaNet platform, making the case for what cooperation between policy coordinators and project platforms looks like in practice.
The presentation explained why project platforms matter and what it takes to make them work for the right audience. Drawing on VASAB’s own experience of working with PA Spatial Planning’s core target group – spatial planners from all governance levels, it highlighted a persistent challenge: sub-national planners, those working in municipalities and regional authorities, are the hardest to reach through traditional project channels. The presentation then gave context to the findings of the VASAB Land-based Planners’ Forum Feasibility Study, confirmed by planners at the Launch Conference in Tallinn (February 2026): spatial planners across the Baltic Sea Region need up-to-date knowledge on climate adaptation, land use and cross-sectoral integration, and they want to receive it through interactive online workshops, short peer-exchange formats, and practical tools, not lengthy project reports.
Second, the presentation drew on VASAB’s experience as Lead Partner of Capacity4MSP (2019-2022) – a project platform for which VASAB served as Lead Partner – and as partner in Baltic PlaNet (2025 – currently) to share practical lessons on what it takes to synthesise results from multiple EU-funded projects and transfer them to public authorities as usable knowledge, exactly what OSI platforms are selected by the Monitoring Committee to do. Two lessons stood out: agree on a common framework before synthesis begins; and plan dedicated time and budget for turning project outputs into tools that planners can actually use.
Third, the cooperation with PA Spatial Planning was illustrated through concrete examples from three platforms. BSR Urban Mobility highlighted how PA coordination bridges governance levels and brings local needs to the macro-regional discussion, including a joint session at the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2026 in Tallinn. SEABAS described how PA support enables access to macroregional working groups and cross-sea basin dialogues that the platform could not reach alone, directly advancing the Baltic MSP Roadmap 2030 targets. Baltic PlaNet pointed to the network of experts provided through HELCOM and VASAB as consortium partners, joint workshops and publications, and direct stakeholder outreach at EUSBSR events.
The central message of the presentation was clear: Policy Area Spatial Planning is not a reporting obligation. It is a strategic door-opener to the right audiences, policy processes, and expert networks across the Baltic Sea Region. And the relationship works in both directions: platforms give PA Spatial Planning access to practice-based evidence, local-level knowledge, and a growing community of spatial planning professionals.
Photo copyright: IB.SH
Spotlight: Future Cities Platform
Among the platforms represented at the kick-off was Future Cities, an Interreg BSR Operation of Strategic Importance led by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Schleswig-Holstein and running from July 2026 to December 2028. Future Cities contributes to PA Spatial Planning and PA Culture as relevant EUSBSR policy areas.
The platform brings together the results of successful EU projects, including BSR Cultural Pearls, Liveability, CCI4Change, NEB-STAR and EDITUA, that have tested innovative approaches to civil participation, using culture, creativity and design to strengthen urban resilience. Its partners include the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture, the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk, the City of Espoo, Nordic Edge, the Estonian Academy of Arts, and Ars Baltica.
Future Cities Platform challenges are directly relevant to spatial planning: small and medium-sized cities across the Baltic Sea Region face growing pressure on multiple fronts, responding to climate change, rebuilding social cohesion, maintaining trust in public institutions, and delivering liveable, inclusive urban environments, often with limited resources. Many local authorities and civil society organisations want to work in more participatory and people-centred ways but lack the practical methods or political backing to do so. Future Cities Platform turns culture and civic co-creation into practical tools for building stronger, more resilient societies.
The platform will deliver four core outputs:
- Future Cities Playbook – a practical guide for creating a shared city vision and turning it into action;
- Portfolio of tested tools for cultural and participatory urban work;
- Peer-learning community for cities and NGOs;
- Policy brief on why culture and creativity are strategic investments for urban resilience and liveability.
For PA Spatial Planning, Future Cities Platform represents an important complement to ongoing platforms: it brings the perspective of civil society, culture and citizen participation into the spatial planning ecosystem, connecting planning processes to the communities they serve.
Small Project Kick-off: Building Connections for the Road Ahead
16-17 June 2026, Kiel, Germany
The Lead Partner Seminar for Small Projects, held in Kiel on June 16-17, brought together the lead partners of 28 Interreg Baltic Sea Region small projects selected for funding under the final call of the current programming period. The event provided an opportunity for project representatives to meet in person, reconnect with familiar colleagues, establish new contacts, and exchange experiences with others likely to face similar opportunities and challenges during project implementation. Alongside networking, the seminar offered practical guidance on the implementation journey, cooperation with programme officers, and project reporting.
There are 6 Small Projects contributing to PA Spatial Planning in total: SISU and Dune3 primarily contributing, and 4 projects additionally contributing: CommUNITY MOVE, Together4Heat, ReNew Common Heating, and ARCHER.
From Projects to Policy: Strengthening the EUSBSR Connection
Interreg Baltic Sea Region projects play an important role in translating the objectives of the EUSBSR into practical cooperation and tangible results. During the seminar, Tīna Šipkēvica, representing Policy Area Spatial Planning and Esa Kokkonen representing Policy Area Innovation introduced the work of their respective Policy Areas and discussed how engagement with Policy Area Coordinators can support projects throughout their implementation. Such cooperation can help projects connect with relevant networks and initiatives, identify synergies with other activities in the region, reach policy-level stakeholders, and increase the visibility and long-term uptake of their results.
They also highlighted several practical ways in which cooperation can take place, including participation in Policy Area and EUSBSR events, contributions to thematic discussions, exchange of knowledge with related projects, and joint communication or dissemination activities. One frequently missed opportunity is that projects approach Policy Areas only towards the end of their implementation, when many possibilities for meaningful cooperation have already passed. The main recommendation to the newly selected small projects was therefore simple: establish contact early, communicate regularly, and view the Policy Areas not only as a reporting obligation or channels for promoting results, but also as partners that can help strengthen the project’s relevance, connections, and impact across the Baltic Sea Region.
What This Means for PA Spatial Planning
Taken together, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project platform kick-off in Berlin and the Small Project Lead Partner Seminar in Kiel highlighted the value of connecting projects with the EUSBSR from the very beginning. The relationship works in both directions: projects and platforms gain policy context, access to expert networks, stronger links to relevant stakeholders, and opportunities to increase the visibility and uptake of their results. At the same time, PA Spatial Planning gains practical channels for implementing EUSBSR Action Plan, testing policy ambitions through concrete activities, and building a wider community of planners, cities, regions, researchers, and other actors across the Baltic Sea Region.
The EUSBSR Action Plan 2026, approved by the National Coordinators Group on 3 March 2026 and pending European Commission publication, sets the overarching goal for PA Spatial Planning: strengthening coherent land- and sea-use planning for sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region. The three platforms – Baltic PlaNet, SEABAS and BSR Urban Mobility, are now among the most concrete expressions of how that goal translates into action on the ground.
Future Cities adds another dimension: demonstrating that sustainable spatial development is not only an institutional responsibility, but a shared one – requiring the active participation of the communities that live, work and plan together in BSR cities.
