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Over three years, European cities and regions have had the opportunity to cooperate with colleagues across the world in order to develop their capacity in ecological transition and the Green Deal; urban & regional renewal and social cohesion; and innovative sustainable & carbon neutral ecosystems and strategic sectors. These are the takeaways of the programme’s final event 2023.
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IURC Annual Event 2021 visual takeaways
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IURC Cities Forum takeaways
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Takeaways from IURC’s EU Week of Regions and Cities 2023 event.
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A selection of thematic posters from the IURC 2022 annual event.
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The following Takeaways Factsheet highlights key aspects of the PRI operational framework, featuring strategic policy formulation, an open discovery process, and the mobilization of diverse policies and actions. Key supporting factors include the multi-level governance approach within the EU framework, the need for recalibrating operational methodologies, and the central role of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Cultural challenges are addressed, recognizing the contextual nature of human actions and decisions.
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The One Stop Liaison Officer (OSLO) methodology developed in Central Macedonia (Greece) has a significant role in boosting the region’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. Operating under the Department of Innovation Support of RCM, OSLO acts as a vital link between academia, research, and businesses, promoting collaboration and innovation. OSLO’s diverse services include operating a Regional Intelligence Information System, coordinating RIS3 Strategy updates, informing stakeholders through a digital platform, and supporting SMEs with accessible information on calls and funding tools.
Case Studies
Incentives should be created for children to learn and live waste prevention and recycling
through competitions and rewards. Incorporating playful activities, related to specific environmental-themed holidays for example, is also a way to capture children’s attention. Furthermore, it is important to measure the impact of initiatives to assess their effectiveness and make necessary
adjustments, ensuring that children develop ecological awareness from an early age and
become advocates for good environmental practices.
Case Studies
Puerto Montt and Piraeus have been working on a variety of topics such as Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and participatory planning. Their cooperation also explored the Blue Economy approach as a cross-cutting strategy for urban planning, local economic development, protection of maritime resources, cultural recognition of coastal cities, sea-related productive activities, amongst other. As a result, both cities co-created a Blue Economy Cluster to continue sharing best practices, technical knowledge, applied methodologies and innovative strategies beyond the IURC-LA programme.
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Genoa (Italy) and Mar del Plata (Argentina) are actively working on the digital transformation in the framework of IURC-LA. The topic became a opportunity to improve the efficiency of municipal services and data sharing. The two cities developed digital tools to facilitate the execution of municipal procedures, enhance the flow of information, and reduce in-person visits to municipal offices. Read the takeaway to learn about Genoa’s experience of the “Fascicolo del Cittadino” and Mar del Plata’s “Mesa Digital de Entrada”
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Dublin and Seoul have jointly released a policy publication on Digital Transition in Sustainable Mobility, marking a significant milestone in their pilot project aimed at advancing urban mobility and digital transition within the framework of IURC Asia and Australasia.
The policy publication on Digital Transition in Sustainable Mobility is a result of their collaborative efforts following their participation in a study visit in 26 – 30 August 2023, as part of their competitive awardread, read more https://www.iurc.eu/2023/09/08/dublin-delegation-visits-seoul-on-the-topic-of-urban-mobility-and-digital-transition/
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Case Studies
In the framework of IURC LA, Umeå (Sweden) and Punta Arenas (Chile) collaborates on Urban Renewal and Social Cohesion, involving efficient participatory processes with a focus on integration a gender perspective into planning.
Within the process of technical cooperation between both cities, Punta Arenas incorporated Umea’s Gender Landscape approach into the design of the city’s “Green Areas Master Plan”.
To learn about this experience, read the pairing’s case study.
Find the guidelines about “gender equality perspective in urban planning”
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Umeå, Sweden, is a city that actively strives for gender equality, aiming to create
conditions for women and men to have equal power to shape society as well as their own
lives. A crucial starting point is that planning approaches must integrate an understanding of
how gendered power structures and norms shape how we plan and interact with our
cities. It is therefore necessary to integrate a refined understanding of gender (in)equality
as a central aspect of planning strategies.
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PMRDA and Karlsruhe’s key area of cooperation is to develop a concept for the establishment of a “Center of Excellence for Urban Planning” and support for the creation of an Eco-Industrial Township (EIT) within the framework of IURC Asia & Australasia.
Case Studies
The regions of Coimbra (Portugal) and Valle del Cauca (Colombia) have exchanged knowledge and good practices to boost their economic reactivation in the framework of the IURC Latin America programme. Both regions signed an economic agreement in April 2023, to address Coimbra’s shortage of qualified labor with Valle del Cauca’s surplus of highly qualified professionals in the engineering and hospitality sectors. The goal was the Mutual Recognition of professional degrees to certify engineers from Colombia and Portugal.
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Merida and Parma are exchanging best practices to improve urban mobility by promoting non-motorized modes of transportation, public transportation and changing people’s behaviours and mobility choices.
As a result of the IURC-LA collaboration, the city of Merida aims to implement a Mobility Manager pilot with academic institutions, including collection of data through a standardized survey to better understand mobility habits and barriers for students.
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Silesia’s Central Mining Institute (GIG) developped a new technology to transform sludge into fertilizers. As the cost of fertilizers is rising in Parana, the SANEPAR is looking to test this new technology and theredore to reduce agricultural production costs. Both regions signed a Cooperation Agreement on April 17th, 2023, aimed at implementing joint projects in areas of regional specialisation and sustainable economic development.
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Dublin City Council is working with Seoul Metropolitan Government to build data analytics capacity in both cities to improve sustainable mobility including public transportation (PT), walking and cycling, and to support their respective targets for active travel.
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The City of Rotterdam is working with Busan Metropolitan City from the Republic of Korea to conduct a joint policy study on urban mobility. This pilot project is expected to help policy makers in both cities to create greener urban mobility ecosystems.
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As part of the IURC Kochi/India – Messina/Italy city pairing, a minimal viable use-case on flooding was developed in TOSCA by the Digital City Science team at HafenCity University in cooperation with Cochin University of Science and Technology and University of Messina.
Case Studies
Ostrobothnia (Finland) and Magallanes (Chile) are exchanging best practices for the implementation of a hydrogen green ecosystem (H2V) in the Chilean region. In the framework of IURC Latin America, Magallanes is currently working with the Finnish region of Ostrobothnia, which possess extensive experience in the development of green energy hubs, particularly in wind energy and biogas. Therefore, both regions are exchanging best practices that can contribute to accelerate the creation of the H2 Hub in Magallanes.
Case Studies
Genoa and Mar del Plata are exchanging knowledge and best practices on Tourism and Culture, to develop an action plan to promote sustainable, balanced, and diversified tourism, while meeting the needs of local communities. The pairing designed tourism diversification strategies to reach this objective, in the framework of the IURC Latin America programme. The pairing built a series of guidelines to share their learnings with other cities facing similar challenges. Find the tourism diversification guidelines here: https://www.iurc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/guidelines-Genoa-MDP-2.pdf
Case Studies
In the framework of IURC Latin America, Puerto Montt (Chile) and Piraeus (Greece) are collaborating on Nature-based Solutions (NBS) involving efficient participatory planning processes. Both cities are exchanging knowledge and good practices on the implementation of innovative strategies of social engagement. They are studying existing sociocultural capital that recognise and use traditional knowledge of citizens, as well as involve population groups that has been historically absent in urban planning decision-making, to co-created new green spaces.
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Rome (Anci Lazio region) and Barranquilla exchanged best practices on urban and peri-urban agriculture to improve food security and participatory management of brownfield sites, contributing to reverse the growing threats of poverty and vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Barranquilla and Rome developed a pilot project to test the idea of urban agriculture in Barranquilla, leading to the co-creation of a proposal approved by the European Commission in late 2021 with a 2,6-million-euro grant (“GenerACTOR” project).
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The city of Hermosillo (Mexico) elaborated a “Green Infrastructure Manual” as a result of a joint effort by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADB). The manual intends to connect Green Infrastructure with strategic planning, participatory management, and adaptation to local ecosystem conditions. It is not only aimed at the public government, but also seeks to transfer basic knowledge for Green Infrastructure implementation at the local and micro urban scale.
Case Studies
São Paulo and Milan are working on urban regeneration through the lens of sustainability and social inclusion. The cities are interested in uncovering common patterns, similarities, and important differences in their land-use organisation, city development plans, and policies. They have created a comparative study with the aim of shedding light on important urban regeneration policies, practices and projects that both cities are developing which includes a detailed analysis of different planning instruments and regeneration methodologies.
Case Studies
The Canalejas Mobility Hub is a driver of sustainable urban mobility in Madrid, and the city of San Diego is eager to replicate it. By transforming underutilized parking structures into mobility hubs, both are becoming sustainable, accessible, and healthier cities.
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The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona’s quest for civic innovation across 36 municipalities leads them to explore replicating Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Urban Mechanics, the City’s pioneering civic research & design team.
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The online Capacity Building on Regenerative Design by ACCIONA, organised by the IURC Central Coordination Services in coordination with the Geographical Areas in two sessions (morning for Asia & Australasia and China; afternoon for Latin America and North America) aimed to support worldwide pairings and clusters to path the way of their ongoing projects during the last year of the programme. The training was conducted on March 7th 2023 and welcomed more than 75 participants from all around the globe.
Case Studies
5 case studies:
Case study 1 – Climate & Food (Umeå)
Case study 2 – Over-tourism and sustainable promotion of territories (Metropolitan City of Venice)
Case study 3 – Citizen-led sustainable urban development (Kamakura)
Case study 4 – Station of Being (Umeå)
Case study 5 – Over-tourism (Kamakura)
For each of the case studies, there is an executive summary, special features, results and impact, key figures and lessons learned.
Factsheets
Puerto Montt and Piraeus are exchanging innovative social engagement techniques and
local experiences implementing Nature-based Solutions (NBS) initiatives, generating
knowledge related to the crucial role that citizens have in the sustainable development.
The cities have prepared a set of recommendations for efficient participatory planning
processes in NBS projects. In this context, Puerto Montt expects to apply these lessons of
co-creation and green solutions in the urban park “La Paloma”, which has wetlands and
abundant native forests.
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Genoa and Mar del Plata exchange best practices on Tourism and Culture, to develop an action plan to achieve balanced and sustainable tourism, while meeting the needs of local communities. Mar del Plata’s strategy is focused on attracting tourism during the whole year, not only the summer season, while Genoa seeks to diversify tourists’ profiles. As a result, the pairing built a series of guidelines to share their learnings with other cities facing similar challenges.
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The cities of Milan and São Paulo are exchanging knowledge and best practices on the
regeneration of industrial heritage areas as a catalyst for social and environmental
transformation, and the creation of more livable and green neighbourhoods. The cities have collaborated on the creation of guidelines to ensure that regeneration projects integrally revitalise areas, that can then be integrated into the city’s fabric. This comparative study has been created to provide context for the guidelines.
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São Paulo and Milan developed elaborated a comparative study of instruments and methodologies linked to the creation of more sustainable, inclusive, and lively neighbourhoods through the transformation of vacant or under-used spaces. A workshop allowed them to discuss common challenges and lessons learned, which led to the elaboration of a guideline for the realization of regeneration plans, which can be applied to other cities and also will be implemented in the regeneration of the Bras area in São Paulo.
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Barranquilla’s “Todos al Parque” programme consists of the renewal and creation
of public space that guarantees universal access to a public park system
for Barranquilla’s citizens. The strategy has focused on the recovery of
existing parks, their maintenance, and the coordination of social activities,
creating a system of parks of different intervention levels; local, district,
and metropolitan.
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One of the most interesting environmental and social challenges in Rome is the emergence of urban gardens. Currently there are more than 150 municipal urban gardens, providing citizens with the opportunity to grow their own food and create green spaces in the city. Despite their benefits, urban gardens face challenges such as limited space, lack of resources and funding, and difficulty in coordinating multiple stakeholders.
Read the takeaways.
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The Historic Center of Malaga suffered neglect due to the exclusive promotion of sun and beach tourism on the coast, which turned it into an aging neighborhood with social exclusion problems and abandoned buildings. To address this, urban and commercial development programs were carried out to make it more attractive to residents and visitors.
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Since 2022, the city of Hermosillo in Mexico has been implementing Participatory Budgeting through their Presupuesto Creces programme, as a way to promote greater transparency and citizen participation, and improve the decision making process for public works. You can learn the main lessons in this takeaway.
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Through Parma’s Mobility Managers programme, companies work with the support of the city, on home-to-work travel plans, identifying actions to promote the use of more sustainable modes of transportation by their workers.
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The webinar “Right to Green: Building parks through Community Engagement. Case Studies from Barranquilla, Essen, and Fortaleza” organized by the International Urban and Regional Cooperation Latin America (IURC-LAC) Programme sougth to open up a technical discussion on the provision of inclusive access to green areas in cities. Three international experiences on the creation of micro-parks and the implementation of greening strategies, with strong participatory methodologies and community engagement approaches, were discussed to highlight opportunities and challenges. These include:
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On February 2023, Miguel Ángel Ania’s presentation provided an overview of the evolution of Zaragoza’s public transport strategy to reduce emissions significantly. He spoke about the economic feasibility of the tram and the city’s move towards electric and hydrogen-fueled buses.The keynote presentation was followed by short interventions by representative from Madrid, Metropolis GZM, Ottawa, San Diego, Santa Monica, and Umea who talked about challenges, successes, and strategies related to public transport and low emission delivery zones.
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The fourth IURC-NA Thematic Networking event, Sustainable Urban Mobility & Transport (SUMT), took place in Zaragoza on the 10th – 11th of November 2022, in coordination with the host city of Zaragoza, Spain. Participating cities created professional connections and networks while sharing knowledge to advance public transport for zero emissions, shared & micro-mobility strategies, and reducing the use of single occupancy private vehicles. The following insights were shared by a cohort of 13 cities from Europe, Canada, and the US.
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Lessons Learned from Sao Paulo
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Webinars & Trainings
Takeaways of IURC China Urban Planning and Design Webinar
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Trans Semarang is a bus transit system in Semarang City and Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The service aims to break down congestion in Semarang and to accommodate commuters to the city center and tourist destinations in the city.
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This webinar focused on the ways to reinstate public systems and non-motorized means as better means of city transport in the context of the covid19-induced reduced ridership.
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Takeaways of the IURC China Technologies 4.0, Industry 5.0 & Innovation Webinar
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Discover the takeaways of the IURC Networking Event: “International Urban and Regional Cooperation to rethink sustainable urban and innovative models for a greener and better future” held at the World Urban Forum in Katowice in June 2022.
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Discover the takeaways of the IURC Side Event at the Eurocities Annual Conference 2022.
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IURC-China Programme promotes the inter-city and regional cooperation, learning and innovation between the EU and China, as well as supports cities and regions in implementing the United Nations´ Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Agreement, and the local development agenda, bringing together 44 cities and regions to collaborate in an inclusive and win-win approach towards sustainable urban development and regional innovation.
This booklet provides information of their general socio-economic profiles, good practices and preferred areas of cooperation.
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Manaus (Brazil) and Naples (Italy) share common challenges for improving their historic centres but focus on different approaches for citizens participation, financing, and implementation. Discover their recommendations!
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China’s Regional Development Strategies and Regional Policies (2021-11)
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Review and Prospect of Smart Cities in China (2021-11)
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Sustainable Urban Renewal in China (2021-11)
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Is Chinese Urbanisation Unique? (2021-11)
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Visual Takeaways of the Urban Renewal and Regional Competitiveness parallel session at the IURC Annual Event 2021 (24 November).
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Visual Takeaways of the Urban & Regional Renewal and Social Cohesion parallel session at the IURC Annual Event 2021 (23 November).
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