While still under development, the Neutrality Story Maps (NSMs) platform has been co-designed with pilot cities through a two-round process facilitated by VUB and CERTH. The first round, conducted between Months 16 and 18, involved gathering initial user requirements through surveys and interviews, organizing a feedback workshop on mock-ups in Rotterdam, and coding the first version of the platform. The second round, which started in Month 19 and is still ongoing, focuses on further development of the platform, training cities to upload content and create digital stories, and collecting feedback on the platform’s usability and functionality.

The platform offers three flexible storytelling models that cities can adopt based on their engagement strategies. The crowdsourcing model invites citizens to contribute personal climate stories. The city storytelling model allows municipalities to share updates and success stories. The co-created city pages provide a space to present dedicated project goals in an accessible and engaging way.

Planned uses of the platform initially included Belfast using personas and interviews to reflect citizen sentiment in net-zero neighborhoods, Budapest crowdsourcing feedback on Healthy Streets, Granollers showcasing green zones and mobility projects through video, Lisbon sharing pilot activities via citizen ambassadors, Milan visualizing ecosystem service data, Muenster promoting Klimatraining for behavioral change, Rotterdam highlighting lessons from BoTu, Thessaloniki issuing calls to action, Zagreb presenting student-led urban farming stories, and Istanbul, with use cases under development.

However, as the co-design process progressed, many of these planned uses have evolved. Cities have faced internal changes in their teams, decision-making processes, and overall approaches, which has led to adjustments in how they plan to use the platform. The NSMs remain a flexible tool, capable of adapting to the changing needs and engagement strategies of each city.