BACKGROUND

In the past 40 years, China´s urban population has grown from about 200 million or 20% in 1980 to nearly 800 million or 60% in 2020. That is about 1.5 times the total population of the EU. Urban development process in China is profoundly different from the urban development process in EU. For this reason, urbanization in China and associated transition tendency is a very relevant topic for EU-China urban and regional development cooperation.

The Zoom-in China is part of the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) in China, participated by representatives of national and local governments, and urban development experts, discussing about long-term social, economic and ecological change in China. The aim is to provide EU city and regional representatives the context of urban transition in China, therefore help city and regional cooperation to lead in a more effective way and achieve a more satisfactory result.

OBJECTIVES

Through deep discussion on China urbanization context, this online session aims to identify challenges faced and strategies implemented in Chinese cities. The training may help EU cites to deep understand Chinese context and transfer the knowledge to the IURC China cooperation process by:

1. Sharing knowledge on the social, economic and technical context of Chinese cities
2. Identifying potential pilot areas in the future cooperation with Chinese counterparts

Date: 4 Nov 2021, 9:00-11:00 CET/16:00-18:00 CST

Registration

Agenda

Read the highlights from the event

BACKGROUND

Since the fundamental reforms in 1980s, China has experience remarkable transition through a combined process of industrialization and urbanization. The urban population has grown from about 200 million or 20% in 1980 to nearly 800 million or 60% in 2020. That is about 1.5 times the total population of the EU. The growth was largely relying on labor, land, raw materials, and other cost-effective resources to participate in global supply chain. To transform to a sustainable pathway, Chinese government put a major policy focus on promoting innovation system in urban and regional development. It has profound impact on spatial development and economic growth in different regions in China.

The Zoom-in China is part of the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) in China, participated by representatives of national and local governments, and urban development experts, discussing about long-term social, economic, and ecological change in China. The aim is to provide EU city and regional representatives the context of urban transition in China, therefore help city and regional cooperation to lead in a more effective way and achieve a more satisfactory result.

OBJECTIVES

Through deep discussion on China regional development context, this online session aims to identify challenges faced and strategies implemented in Chinese regions. The training may help EU regions to deep understand Chinese context and transfer the knowledge to the IURC China cooperation process by:

1. Sharing knowledge about social, economic, and technical context of Chinese regions
2. Identifying potential pilot areas in the future cooperation with Chinese counterparts.

Date: 5 Nov 2021, 9:00-10:30 CET / 16:00-17:30 CST

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Agenda

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In this first session, we will bring together a cohort of IURC cities to share solutions and learn from one another on innovative, sustainable ecosystems & strategic sectors mostly as they relate to urban/neighborhood regeneration and social inclusion. The City Leader for the Cluster is the City of Baltimore (Baltimore Development Corporation).

The 1.5-hour session will include:

« A presentation from Colin Tarbert, President & CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), on Baltimore Together: A Platform for Inclusive Prosperity as a case study, strategic plan and living lab. This strategic plan identifies critically important goals to strengthen Baltimore’s economy and outlines strategies and tactics for reaching them. The presentation will focus on initiatives that could be developed and replicated by other cities facing similar challenges.

« This presentation will be followed by a facilitated discussion with participants on the initiatives presented as well as the chance to share your city’s challenges, best practices, pilots and/or policy initiatives related to the thematic areas of the cluster and suggest possible areas of collaboration with other cities.

During this part of the session, we will ask participants to share in one or two sentences what are the biggest challenges in your city related to Education, Jobs, and Skills and what would like to achieve through participating in the Thematic Cluster activities.

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Presentation

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Case Study Building an Equitable Economy in Baltimore

Video Case Study Building an Equitable Economy in Baltimore

Thursday, 11 November 2021
2:00 – 3:00 pm IST / 9:30 – 10:30 CET

As part of the IURC Asia and Australasia programme, we invite you to our interactive discussion series on Post COVID-19 and Inclusive Recovery. IURC recognises the need to deliberate on the implications of COVID, by carrying out a series of regular discussion events on different urban topics (1. Mobility; 2. Health; 3. Economy; 4. Education; 5. Environment; 6. Gender). The objective is to discuss urban challenges, showcase best practices by/for cities for inclusive recovery from COVID-19, encourage replication, and strengthen the regional/global approach of IURC. The series is open to public officials, policy makers, planners, researchers, academia, NGOs, students and other stakeholders. Recipients of this information should feel free to share it with other stakeholders.

Event 1 Background: Public transport has suffered significantly during the pandemic. A case in point is Delhi metro which reported that the average daily ridership for 2020-21 was only about 18% of the volume registered in 2019-20. Similar, decline has been observed in other public transport means across the world, while private vehicle use is increasing.

Event 1, which is co-organised with the UrbanWorks Institute, will focus on the ways to reinstate public systems and non-motorized means as better means of city transport. Experts from Germany and India will answer specific questions for the first half of the event, followed by Q&A with the audience. We look forward to your participation and valuable insights to enrich this event.

Read the highlights, watch the video and download the presentations here.

Smart City Expo World Congress comes back to Barcelona on 16th – 18th November 2021.

Smart City 2021 will be an enhanced hybrid cross-platform experience: a combined physical event of Smart City Expo World Congress and Tomorrow.Mobility World Congress, with the digital platform of Smart City Live offering endless opportunities.

Main Topics

• Enabling Technologies
• Energy & Environment
• Tomorrow.Mobility
• Governance & Economy
• Living & Inclusion
• Infrastructures & Buildings
• Safety & Security

Brokerage Event
Connect with industry leaders and public stakeholders at the 8th edition of the Smart City Brokerage Event on 16th – 18th November. In this edition brokerage event will be hybrid combining onsite and online b2b meetings. #SCEWC21 #SmartCityBrokerage

The Brokerage Event is organized by ACCIÓ, a department of the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Enterprise and Labour, with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network, the largest business support network worldwide.

Participants join pre-arranged, targeted on-site and virtual B2B meetings for discussing project set-ups and collaborations.

The event, about “Financing green infrastructure for sustainable cities and regions”, was the first of a series of 20 and brought together international experts from WRI, AECID, and GIZ, that introduced green finance instruments to cities and regions interested in sustainable development, while highlighting the need to shift towards better investment strategies in green infrastructure.

Space

The full agenda of the event is available here

Space

Download the presentations here

Space

Read the highlights from the event here

In the context of the IURC project, the city coordinators for the selected European and Indonesian pilot cities are invited to join a kick-off meeting on Tuesday, 23 November 2021, 08.30 – 09.30 CET / 14.30 – 15.30 GMT+7.

Agenda

• Welcoming and opening remarks by EUD Indonesia and FPI Asia
• Group photo
• Indonesian cooperation on sustainable urban development by Bappenas
• City-to-city cooperation towards sustainable development by MoHA
• Overview of IURC Asia & Australasia by Pablo Gándara
• City introduction
  • • Semarang City
    • Bandung City
    • Sofia
    • Rome
• Comments by APEKSI
• Discussions between cities
• Wrap up and follow-up action

Join us for the first International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) Annual Event, where over the course of two days you will have the chance to deep dive into the European priorities for cities and regions in the framework of the programme, hear about success stories from different stakeholders and learn about the doors that IURC can open for you.

Check the agenda here and click here to register.

Connect with participants from the Americas on the 23rd November and with the Asian and Australasian counterparts on 24th November:

• 23rd November 2021 – 14:10 – 18:15 CET (For participants in Europe, Latin America & North America – With simultaneous interpretation – English / Spanish / Portuguese)
• 24th November 2021 – 09:00 – 12:30 CET (For participants in Europe, Asia and Australasia – With simultaneous interpretation – English / Chinese / Japanese)

We’ll be welcomed by the European Commission Service for Foreign Policy Instruments and DG REGIO, get insights into the Green Deal, the New Leipzig Charter as well as other key European policies, hear about the latest from our Geographical Areas, find out from past participants about the best way to leverage your participation in IURC for deep and long-term benefits, and learn more about the IURC community.

By registering and participating in this event, you consent to your photo being taken and/or filmed, and authorise IURC to use this material for our website, social media and publications. The full Privacy Statement is available here.

Date & Time: 29^th November (Mon), 10:00 – 11:00 am (CET) / 18:00-19:00 (JST)

This webinar will be held as a “Thematic Track 5 (TT5) “ of ISAP2021 which is organised by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

Website of ISAP2021：https://isap.iges.or.jp/2021/jp/index.html

Registration：https://form.iges.or.jp/webapp/form/11205_zoq_402/index.do?_ga=2.97500191.1236293257.1635726388-1052567314.1597197804

English-Japanese interpretation will be available via Zoom.

For cities to meet the challenge of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, one policy pillar is to promote
a renovation wave in buildings, which the EU sees as a priority of its Green Deal. The EU is known for
its holistic approach to buildings and under the post covid-19 era, new policy instruments are being
introduced to help buildings decarbonise, integrate renewables, promote resource efficiency and
circularity. Meanwhile, Japan’s Premier has declared that Japan would realise carbon-neutrality by
2050, and a roadmap announced in June addresses building energy efficiency as a crucial
component. Widespread decarbonisation of buildings is still a challenge, but we see more
examples in both EU and Japan.

Read the highlights here and watch the video and download the presentations here.

In the context of the IURC project, the city coordinators for the selected European and Australian pilot cities are invited to join an online launch of the EU-Australian cities cooperation on Tuesday, 30 November 2021, at 08:00-09:30 CET / 18:00-19:30 Canberra time).

Agenda

Moderation: Prof. Bruce Wilson, EU Centre of Excellence, RMIT, Melbourne and IURC Australasia Helpdesk Coordinator

• Welcoming by EUD: H.E. Dr. Michael Pulch, EU Ambassador to Australia (5 min)

• Introduction to international city-to-city cooperation by Dr. Ronald Hall, Senior Advisor, DG REGIO, EU Commission (10 min)

• Presentation round of the pilot cities (35 min)

a. EU cities (Barcelona, Florence, Hamburg, Madrid) – 5 min each city
b. Australian cities (Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne) – 5 min each city

• Feedback from the IURC Project Team (10 min)

a. Australia coordinator on the cities’ presentations: Prof. Bruce Wilson
b. IURC Team Coordinator on pathways for cooperation: Pablo Gándara

• Open discussion on possible topics of cooperation (20 min)

• Next steps and closing: (10 min)