Category: News from Asia & Australasia

Seberang Perai-Maia: Circular Neighbourhoods – Circular Food Waste Community Hub Programme

Since November 2021, city coordinators from Seberang Perai in Malaysia and Maia in Portugal have conducted four bilateral meetings. These coordinators included Mr. Chew Eng Seng, Local Agenda 21 Officer from Seberang Perai City Council, Ms. Susana Pinho, Senior Technician of the Environment Division, Maia City Council, together with Mr. Carlos Mendes, Director-General from Maiambiente, The meetings were moderated by...

Bangkok to cooperate with Milan to make urban food systems more sustainable

Thailand is for the first time participating in a city-to-city cooperation programme funded by the European Union. On 22 February 2022, IURC organised a kick-off meeting between the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the Municipality of Milan to mark the beginning of their cooperation. In addition to the officials of both cities, the EU and Italian ambassadors to Thailand as...

Gangtok and Albacete identify key activities as part of their cooperation on solid waste management awareness

Gangtok in India and Albacete in Spain got together on 22 February 2022 for their second bilateral meeting to identify key activities as part of their cooperation on solid waste management. The City of Gangtok was represented by Mr. Hem Kumar Chettri, Municipal Commissioner, Gangtok, and Mr. Mahesh Sharma, Joint Secretary (Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban), Mission Director, State of...

Bratislava and Tokorozawa zooming in on zero carbon city 

The Slovakian capital Bratislava is deepening cooperation with Tokorozawa, located near Tokyo in Japan. The pair has built a close bond for the past four years. Currently, the partnership is focusing on how to introduce photovoltaic energy and thus make cities less dependent on fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Bratislava has developed a solar strategy showing the potential...

Gwalior and Leuven deliberate on cultural heritage and business cooperation

After a successful cooperation under the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, India, and Leuven in Belgium will be cooperating under the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme. The bilateral meeting held on 17 February 2022 was attended by Mr Geert Robberechts, Director of India House-Leuven, and Mr Shishir Shrivastava, Additional Commissioner of Gwalior Municipal Corporation,...

Sejong and Rotterdam exchange knowledge on smart mobility

On 7 February 2022, Sejong and Rotterdam met again to discuss further knowledge and continue their discussion from the previous meeting on 15 December 2021. This meeting was focused on C-ITS, Intelligent Traffic Lights, and autonomous vehicles, with relevant cases from both cities. Rotterdam kicked off the meeting by expanding on their intelligent traffic lights system, which had been a...

EU and Australian cities discuss green urban planning

In order to identify a potential topic for cooperation within the IURC programme, the cities of Barcelona, Florence, Hamburg, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne held a thematic meeting on 2 February 2022 to discuss their green urban planning strategies and projects. This marked the first of a series of theme-based discussions. The next one will be on innovation precincts. Hamburg’s presentation...

Four cities kick-off their collaboration for hydrogen and open innovation under IURC

On 1 February 2022, the cities of Koriyama (Japan), Toyota (Japan), Essen (Germany) and Grenoble-Alpes Metropole (France) officially kicked off their collaboration to develop a hydrogen society and promote open innovation. Hydrogen is an essential vector for freeing our societies from fossil fuels and effectively initiating the energy transition. Dialogue and actions that transcend national boundaries are required to remove...

Making cities walkable with Seoul and Dublin

On 27 January 2022, Seoul and Dublin followed up their meeting from two weeks prior with another meeting. In the previous meeting, Dublin presented on their walking and cycling plan, and during this meeting, Seoul presented on their plans for a walkable city. It is planned that cycling will be discussed in more detail in an upcoming meeting. The featured...