100 young people from the Republic of Moldova, but also from abroad are gathering today at the Urban Hackathon “Your city changes for You. Together with You”. For three days, young architects, urbanists, IT specialists will be working in 23 teams and will generate ideas for smart modernization of downtowns in Ungheni and Cahul municipalities. The best ideas will be awarded, some of them being later transposed into life.

The participating teams are grouped by regions in two dedicated events that will be conducted in parallel online for Cahul and Ungheni. On Sunday they will present their ideas in front of the jury. The initiative is organized by the EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme, financed and strategically guided by the European Union, implemented by UNDP and UNICEF Moldova.

“Modernization and revitalization of architecture of the urban centers from both regions is one of the complex activities of the EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme. It is organized in a participatory manner with people as ideas generators. The event launched today is a logical continuation of the ideas’ contest for modernizing the centers of Ungheni and Cahul municipalities, conducted this year, as well as debates at the municipal conferences and conclusions developed by the local groups in both regions. Over 400 ideas how to revitalize these two urban centers were presented at the contest”, states Alexandru Pelivan, Manager, EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme.

The Urban Hackathon for Cahul and Ungheni will identify the most appropriate solutions for modernizing the center of these two municipalities in such areas as: architecture, urbanism, ecology and sustainability, smart and entrepreneurship solutions.

“Cahul Municipality is considered as the southern capital of the Republic of Moldova. We seek to have a municipality with modern, smart, people and nature friendly infrastructure. I am pleased with the enthusiasm of young people to work on volunteer basis and to generate modern solutions for revitalizing the center of the city. I am looking forward to get to know the ideas of the participants,” says Nicolae Dandiş, Mayor of Cahul municipality.

The hackathon is reinforced by the previous exercises and ideas’ contest for Ungheni and Cahul regions, with the active involvement of local people and public authorities. As a result, major challenges and possible solutions were identified in every community, that would guide the teams during the project development process.

“People know best how a city in which one would like to live should look like. I am so glad that the teams enrolled for Ungheni have inhabitants from the municipality, but also people from other cities from the country and abroad. I wish success to the teams in generating smart solutions. Ungheni gets modernized so as to become an intelligent, creative, attractive and environmentally friendly city,” mentions Alexandru Ambros, Mayor of Ungheni municipality.

Those 23 established teams will have to solve one or more problems from the mentioned sectors, using the data provided by the EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme, as well as those supplied by Cahul and Ungheni mayoralties.  The young people will be guided by mentors – experts in the following areas: information technologies, smart solutions, urbanism, architecture, entrepreneurship.

The mentors will help the participants to analyze the obtained data and to develop innovative solutions for a smart city focused on the citizens’ needs. On 22 November the participating teams will present their projects and solutions to a jury. Three teams accumulating the biggest score per every region will benefit from award, namely smart gadgets, in value of:

• 1 Award: €2,000;
• 2 Award: €1,000;
• 3 Award: €600.

The Urban Hackathon “Your city changes for You. Together with You” is organized by EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme, in partnership with the mayoralties of Cahul and Ungheni Municipalities, Tekwill and IHub Chisinau.

“EU4Moldova: Focal Regions” Programme (2019-2024) supports smart, inclusive and sustainable social-economic development in Cahul and Ungheni regions to ensure better standards of living for citizens. The Programme has a total budget of €23 million, is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).