A delegation of three senior officials from the Hungarian city of Debrecen carried out a three-day study visit in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico, between February 15-17, 2023, in the framework of the International Programme for Urban and Regional Cooperation – IURC Latin America, financed by the European Commission.
In the last year, both cities have shared lessons learned on the design and implementation of nature-based solutions to improve water management, as well as the promotion of green infrastructure and the improvement of public spaces to reduce the impact of heat islands. The cities have also shared knowledge on circular economy, waste management, and participatory budgeting.
In this regard, during the three-day visit, the delegation of Debrecen had the opportunity to visit both new and traditional public spaces such as Carcamo Park and Ecoparque, as well as Parque Madero and Panteon Yañez, in which the city has applied nature-based solutions and promoted the use of native plants (Tree & Plant Catalogue), better adapted to its arid weather conditions and water scarcity. During the first day, the delegation of Debrecen had a productive meeting with Hermosillo’s mayor, Mr. Astiazarán Gutiérrez, who emphasized the city’s commitment to renewable energy and sustainability.
During the visit, the delegation also learnt about air quality monitoring, participatory budgeting and circular economy, and visited some of Hermosillo’s key projects, including Munisol Solar Plant. Finally, the Debrecen’s team visited Hermosillo’s Ford plant in order to learn about the opportunities and challenges of a new automotive industry for a mid-size city, in terms of employment, value chain promotion, mobility, urban growth, water use, migration, amongst other topics. These are key learnings as Debrecen prepares for the arrival of its new BMW plant.
The IURC programme constitutes the second phase of the International Urban Cooperation (IUC, 2016-2020) programme and aims to lead and develop a form of decentralised international urban and regional cooperation in the fields of sustainable urban development and regional innovation. The programme supports pairings between cities and regions in the European Union with their counterparts in six Latin American countries: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Chile. In total, the IURC Latin America network of cities and regions consists of 24 cities and 20 regions.
Follow IURC’s news on:
February 22nd, 2023