setup with no need of complex licenses, it would be interesting

It doesn’t seem like you need any licensing, it’s like a walkie talkie.

it could prove as a useful city project for cheap, reliant, local communications

I’m not sure if that’s the right usecase. Meshtastic seems to be for short-range, line-of-sight-ish communication. Apparently, you can set up repeaters to expand the coverage area, but it seems like buildings, trees, etc will dramatically affect the signal strength. (I think?)