Tesserae

What Tesserae does

Tesserae is a Berlin-based urban social research organization founded in 2011 and operated as a German civil-law partnership (Colini-Tripodi GbR). It is led by researchers Laura Colini and Lorenzo Tripodi and operates with a small core team, drawing on the methodological legacy of the ogino:knauss media collective. The company is, in essence, a participatory urban-research consultancy that develops and applies proprietary methodologies — Urban Reconnaissance, Collaborative Mapping (MapLab), Digital Storytelling (StoryLab), Frame4Change, and Urban Memo — packaged into open toolkits (URBEX, IN-HABIT, COMENSI, ItinerAnts, Treasure Island, IN-HABIT Glossary) and training programs for community engagement, co-design, and stakeholder activation.

Its primary 'customers' are European municipal governments and research consortiums engaged in EU-funded programs — Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, URBACT, Urban Innovative Actions (UIA), and Creative Europe — across more than a dozen pilot cities including Córdoba, Lucca, Nitra, Riga, Latina, Palermo, Berlin, Naples, and Poprad. Tesserae functions as consortium partner or lead coordinator in these projects, delivering stakeholder engagement, co-design workshops, training of Local Community Activators, and the publication of open methodological toolkits.

The business model is event- and grant-driven rather than commercial: revenue flows from project-based EU research funding for professional services (methodology design, training, stakeholder engagement, dissemination). No commercial pricing model applies. Distribution of intellectual property is via open-access toolkit publication, EU project consortiums, social media (Mastodon, Vimeo, X, LinkedIn), and a web-based 'Tesserae Dialogues' series. The organization has no disclosed venture or equity funding and no parent company; it operates as an independent partnership with project-based, grant-funded revenue mechanics.

Name

Tesserae

Legal name

Colini-Tripodi GbR

Website

https://tesserae.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tesserae is a Berlin-based urban social research partnership (Colini-Tripodi GbR) that designs participatory methodologies and toolkits for citizen engagement, co-design, and social inclusion, delivering them through EU-funded projects (Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, URBACT, UIA, Creative Europe) for European municipal governments and research consortiums.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Urban Social Research and Participatory Planning Consulting

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (81341)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs (Digital Planning, Civic Tech for Cities) (BPAIANAJ)

Keywords

• Urban social research
• Participatory urban planning
• Community engagement toolkits
• Stakeholder engagement consulting
• Urban regeneration methodologies

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. EU Research Project Funding: Tesserae operates as a social enterprise funded primarily through EU research and innovation programs including Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, URBACT, Urban Innovative Actions (UIA), and Creative Europe. They function as consortium partners or lead coordinators in these funded projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tesserae is a Berlin-based urban social research organisation that designs and delivers participatory methodologies, conceptual frameworks and stakeholder-engagement toolkits for European municipalities, research consortia and community organisations. Its work focuses on urban regeneration, social inclusion, and citizen engagement, delivered through EU-funded projects (Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, URBACT, UIA, Creative Europe) where Tesserae acts as consortium partner or lead coordinator, training local community activators and producing open-access toolkits such as IN-HABIT, COMENSI, URBEX and Frame4Change.

Product overview

Tesserae is an urban social research organization that offers a portfolio of methodological frameworks, toolkits, and training programs for participatory urban development and community engagement. Its core offerings include Frame4Change (a framework for stakeholder engagement), the IN-HABIT Toolkit, COMENSI Toolkit, and URBEX Toolkit, alongside standalone methodologies like Urban Reconnaissance, StoryLab, and Urban Memo. These products are designed to facilitate civic engagement, collaborative mapping, and participatory processes in urban regeneration, social inclusion, and cultural heritage projects across European cities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• IN-HABIT Toolkit Open-access toolkit of guidelines, methods and tools for stakeholder engagement with a Gender, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (GDEI) approach, used to build People-Public-Private Partnerships (PPPPs) within the Horizon 2020 IN-HABIT project across Córdoba, Lucca, Nitra and Riga.
• COMENSI Toolkit Collection of tools, methods and practices designed to improve engagement of urban communities, supporting adult-education providers, public administrators, community managers and professionals activating participatory processes.
• URBEX Toolkit Toolkit presenting methods and exercises to employ urban exploration as a way to engage youths in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, developed through two URBEX training weeks and five local laboratories testing the methodologies.
• Frame4Change Framework

Quantifiable outcome

• Training of 8 Local Community Activators per IN-HABIT project city (4 cities)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of CordobacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2020Lead coordinator of the IN-HABIT Horizon 2020 project. Tesserae leads WP5 dedicated to citizen and stakeholder engagement throughout the five-year project.
• University of ReadingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerScientific partner in IN-HABIT project, collaborating on stakeholder engagement methodology development and toolkit creation.
• Book on a TreecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunication partner in IN-HABIT project, supporting dissemination and communication activities.
• Bond of UnioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead partner of COMENSI Erasmus+ project based in Palermo. Tesserae presented the COMENSI toolkit and trained professionals from five European cities.
• KMA-Antenne (Kreuzberger Musikalische Aktion)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in URBEX project, collaborating on urban exploration labs with local youth in Berlin's Mehringplatz area.
• NomadwaysminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisual recording and documentation partner for URBEX training programs, providing artistic documentation of workshops.
• MetroZonesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBerlin-based collective whose activities and approaches have frequently crossed with Tesserae's work. Featured in Tesserae Dialogues #5.
• Zemos98coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloped the ItinerAnts modular adventure game for the URBEX EU Erasmus+ project, used for urban exploration with youth.
• City of LatinacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead city in UPPER Urban Innovative Actions project, with Tesserae responsible for digital communication and co-design workshops.
• Cities of Córdoba, Lucca, Nitra, RigacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFour IN-HABIT pilot cities where Tesserae leads stakeholder engagement and PPPP development for inclusive health and wellbeing solutions.
• Fondazione Campania WelfarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerManaging the Ex-Base NATO Bagnoli property in Naples. OASIS project conducted urban reconnaissance and participatory planning for cultural regeneration.
• StreetUniverCity and Schlesische27minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth organizations in Berlin partnering with Tesserae for URBEX workshops engaging youth aged 16-24 in urban exploration.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Zemos98: Seville-based cultural foundation working on participatory research, media education and social innovation, and a current partner of Tesserae on the URBEX Erasmus+ project. Highly comparable as a small civic-society organisation developing participatory methodologies within EU-funded projects.
• PPMI Group: Lithuanian research and policy consultancy that competes for and delivers EU-framework research projects (Horizon Europe, ESF+, cohesion evaluations). Comparable in operating as a specialist research outfit running multi-partner EU projects for the European Commission and municipalities.
• Fondazione Giacomo Feltrinelli: Italian foundation producing research and convening on urban inequality, housing and the right to the city. Comparable in producing applied urban research with a participatory, civic-engagement orientation for European audiences.
• SocialFare: Turin-based impact venture builder focused on social innovation, urban regeneration and inclusion, working at the intersection of civic society, academia and public administration across Europe. Comparable as a mission-driven outfit running EU-funded urban and social-inclusion projects.
• Eutropian: Milan/Berlin-based research and advisory practice focused on community-led urban regeneration, citizen participation and culture-led neighbourhood development in Europe. Directly comparable as a small consultancy delivering participatory methodology and policy work for EU-funded urban innovation projects.

Emerging players

• Open Source Politics: Paris-based firm developing civic-tech and participatory platforms (e.g. Consul, Decidim) used by European cities for citizen consultation and co-design. Emerging player with partial overlap — Tesserae competes in participatory methodology while Open Source Politics provides the underlying digital tooling.
• Avanzi: Milan-based think-and-do tank working on social innovation, urban regeneration and inclusive growth, often partnering with municipalities on EU projects. Comparable as a small civic-focused research outfit active in Italian and European urban-innovation funding streams.

Others

• Eurocities: Brussels-based network of major European cities that shapes EU urban policy and runs working groups and projects on inclusion, participation and sustainable urban development. Adjacent as the ecosystem and convener that Tesserae's municipal clients and consortium partners participate in.
• URBACT Secretariat: European programme and network supporting integrated and participatory urban development across member-state cities, running transnational networks and toolkits. Adjacent as the EU programme infrastructure through which Tesserae has run its URBinclusion and other networks.

Broad incumbents

• Ecorys: Large European research and consulting group that delivers evaluations, policy studies and stakeholder engagement for the European Commission and member states. Broader incumbent that competes for similar EU tender work but at much larger scale across multiple policy domains.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tesseraeUSR
• YouTubevimeo.com/tesserae
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tesserae

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tesserae