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How can cities and regions prepare for increasingly severe floods and heatwaves while creating greener, healthier and more liveable urban environments? This is the central question bringing together cities and climate experts from Kawasaki (Japan), Christchurch (New zealand), Sofia (Bulgaria), Pimpri-Chinchwad (India), Hamburg (Germany) and Kumanovo (North Macedonia) in Valencia (Spain) this week as part of the EU-funded International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme.
At the institutional opening, Ruth Merino, Regional Secretary for Representation before the European Union, the Autonomous Communities and External Action of the Generalitat Valenciana, highlighted the value of cooperation between regions, knowledge transfer and learning from solutions already being developed in other territories. She also referred to the Generalitat’s work with partner regions on a potential Horizon Europe proposal, illustrating how exchanges under IURC can evolve into concrete joint initiatives.
The cooperation has also been highlighted by the Generalitat Valenciana through its official communications channel, as the international gathering gets underway. The new coverage follows the Generalitat’s announcement in August of the upcoming IURC activities in Valencia and underscores the Region’s role in bringing European and Asia-Pacific cities and regions together around practical climate adaptation solutions. Silvia Martínez Rocher, Head of the European Affairs Coordination Unit at the Region of Valencia, introduced the agenda and explained the region’s activities in the CoP Climate Adaptation.
Pablo Gándara, Team Leader of IURC Asia & Australasia, referred to the EU’s climate adaptation goals and milestones, including the EU Adaptation Strategy, the EU Missions on Adaptation and the Climate Adapt Platform. Referring to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union address the previous week, he recalled that mitigation and adaptation must advance together and that Europe needs to “step up dramatically on preparedness”, with action reaching the regional and local level, where adaptation ultimately takes place. He underlined that this is precisely where IURC can contribute: helping cities and regions move from international exchange towards transferable solutions, pilot actions and implementation. He emphasised the leading role of the Region of Valencia in the IURC, which has been awarded as the first European region with the IURC Competitive Fund to implement a climate adaptation pilot action.
The opening session concluded with a round of introductions from representatives of the participating pilot cities and regions, who shared their priorities and expectations for the three-day advanced cooperation visit.
The session continued with the “Climate Resilience Playbook” workshop, facilitated by Living Urban Adaptation (LUA) through José Segarra Murria, Elena López-Gunn and Juan Medina Cobo. It was designed as a practical co-design session to help participating cities/regions move from knowledge exchange towards implementation by discussing indepth three best practices from Valencia, Kawasaki and Pimpri Chinwad. The workshop brought participants together to identify concrete adaptation challenges, compare solutions and experiences from different cities, and explore which measures could be transferred, adapted or developed further as joint pilot actions under IURC CoP 14. The objective was to feed these lessons into a practical Climate Resilience Playbook, capturing replicable approaches, implementation pathways and cooperation opportunities that cities can use to strengthen their resilience to climate risks.
The IURC Climate Adaptation Advanced Cooperation Visit
From 21–23 September, the IURC Climate Adaptation Community of Practice (CoP 14), coordinated by the Region of Valencia, is taking its cooperation from online exchange to the field. Representatives from Valencia, Kawasaki, Christchurch, Sofia, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Hamburg, together with IGES and invited representatives from Kumanovo, are examining concrete solutions for flood resilience, extreme heat, climate data and citizen-centred adaptation.
The activities build on months of cooperation within CoP 14 around four shared priorities: nature-based solutions for water-related risks; heat resilience and health; climate data platforms; and citizen engagement. The Community of Practice has now entered its implementation phase, with study visits and pilot actions intended to translate international peer learning into solutions that cities can test and replicate locally.
Learning from Valencia Region’s experience
Valencia Region provides a particularly relevant setting for this exchange. Following the devastating October 2024 DANA flash floods, the region is confronting the practical challenge of turning recovery into greater long-term resilience.
Previous exchanges led by Valencia Region within IURC have already highlighted the need to complement conventional grey infrastructure with green and nature-based systems capable of reducing flood risks while providing benefits for biodiversity, public space, urban cooling and wellbeing.
In the afternoon of the first day, the programme continued with a visit to Valencia’s Climate Change Observatory, highlighting how climate science, public policy and citizen engagement can be brought together at local level. Samira Khodayar Pardo, Head of the Meteorology and Climate Research Department at CEAM, presented the growing climate risks facing the Mediterranean region and the importance of translating climate intelligence into practical resilience strategies. Javier Marzo Muñoz of the Generalitat Valenciana illustrated how stakeholder participation is being integrated into adaptation policy through the forest-fire adaptation pathway in Xàbia and the Rosseta Living Lab in the Marjal dels Moros. The City of Valencia’s Emilio Servera Martínez and Andreu Escrivà i Garcia then presented the city’s network of Climate Spaces and the Climate Change Observatory itself as both a refuge during climate extremes and a platform for environmental education and civic engagement.
During the activities in Valencia, participants are examining practical approaches to climate adaptation and considering how solutions developed in one city or region could be adapted to very different local conditions.
The exchange also allows participating cities to compare experiences in extreme heat and public health, climate information and data platforms, and approaches that put citizens at the centre of adaptation planning.
From peer learning to implementation
The Valencia activities illustrate the next stage of IURC cooperation: moving from the exchange of international good practices towards the co-design, testing and replication of concrete climate adaptation solutions.
Through the Climate Resilience Playbook and the development of a joint CoP 14 pilot action, participating cities are seeking to turn lessons from Valencia, Kawasaki, Christchurch, Sofia, Hamburg, Pimpri-Chinchwad and other partners into practical approaches that can be adapted to very different urban contexts.
The renewed coverage by the Generalitat Valenciana—first highlighting the upcoming cooperation in August and now reporting as the activities take place in Valencia—also reflects the growing visibility of the IURC partnership and its role in connecting cities and regions across Europe and Asia-Pacific around shared climate challenges.