As part of the Green Diplomacy Week at Europe House in Belgrade, the digital platform and app ‘City and Me’ was launched. By using it citizens will be able to actively participate in the shaping of their city and generate a measurable environmental and social impact through their daily activities – walking, cycling, recycling or reporting problems in their community.
Instead of viewing city processes as distant and invisible, City and Me app provides the possibility of active communication between tenants, building managers and city institutions and encourages citizen activism through rewards for activities such as walking, recycling and cycling.
Therefore, citizens can participate in transparent decision-making at the level of buildings and local communities, and have the opportunity to collect and exchange tokens for certain products and services at the city or community level.
“When a citizen steps out of the car and begins to see himself not as a passive “tenant”, but as another important and active “heart of the city”, then technology ceases to be just a tool and becomes a driver of change,” said Branko Krsmanović, director and founder of the City and Me company.
Branko Krsmanović, director and founder of the City and Me company
City and Me is already being used by residents of Niš who, according to the company’s director Branko Krsmanović, have reported more than 200 problems through the application, of which more than 80 percent have been resolved or forwarded to the competent authorities. They contributed to planting new seedlings, recycling waste and reducing CO₂ emissions.
“Now is the time for Belgrade to be next, and our goal is to include at least 40,000 users by April 2026,” Krsmanović said.
The first big step in Belgrade is already underway: City and Me, in cooperation with the organization Discover Serbia and with the support of UNDP, will plant 1,300 seedlings on the territory of the municipality of Surčin, which citizens can receive through digital tokens generated based on their physical activity – walking or cycling.
Planting seedlings in Surčin
This model represents an innovative approach to connecting healthy habits, digital motivation and environmental contribution. The initiative is part of a larger project of afforestation of 10 hectares in Surčin, which Discover Serbia and the Faculty of Forestry of the University of Belgrade are implementing with the support of the EU through the “EU for Green Agenda in Serbia” program.
City and Me this way becomes an example of how digital technologies, academic expertise, the private sector and international programs can jointly shape new models of sustainability in urban environments — through measurable changes in space and community. And the first and decisive step is the personal initiative of the individual.
European Green Diplomacy Week is a global campaign of the European Union that encourages cooperation in the fight against climate change and inspires climate action.
The project EU for Green Agenda in Serbia, with the technical and financial support of the European Union and in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is implemented by UNDP in cooperation with Sweden and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with additional funding provided by the governments of Sweden, Switzerland and Serbia.
