Orphan policies: assessing what happens when co-policies travel elsewhere

This paper examines what happens when assessing co-policies after they are transferred across cities. Co-policies are defined as municipal frameworks that combine co-production and co-governance. Drawing on the URBACT Com.Unity.Lab network, which adapted Lisbon’s BIP/ZIP (Neighbourhoods and Areas of Priority Intervention) programme in Ostrava and Lublin, the article presents the Power Distribution Assessment Framework (PDAF) as an assessment tool for analysing post-transfer power dynamics and for examining how policy orphanhood may emerge. By analysing how power is distributed, institutionalised, and sustained over time, the study identifies the relational and institutional conditions that enable or undermine long-term continuity.