Recent months have been busy for the urban policy community: important meetings took place and several publications were published. Here is a round-up of some important main happenings so that, if you missed anything, you can catch up during the holidays. Enjoy!
In June, Anna Lisa Boni represented EUROCITIES at the meeting of ministers in charge of urban development in Bucharest. In her speech, she stressed the importance of involving cities in European urban governance and planning. This is a message the presidents of EUROCITIES, the Committee of the Regions and Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) had jointly signed to support the Romanian presidency in its work on the Bucharest Declaration.
In line with our request, the Declaration engages the Commission, member states and all other partners to join forces in order to move forward with the improvement and implementation of the Urban Agenda. It also underlines that future work in the domain of European urban development must continue to be based on multi-level governance and partnership, principles the Urban Agenda has shown bring about more efficient results. You can read more on EUROCITIES statement on the Urban Agenda here (EUROCITIES statement Urban Agenda Nov2018).
We are pleased that the cities involved with the Urban Agenda were also invited to Bucharest to participate in the meeting, where ministers endorsed the Bucharest Declaration, which takes stock of the state of play and proposes the way forward.
It is within this framework that the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) presented its new brochure on ‘The state of play of the Urban Agenda for the EU – Multi-level governance in action’.
This online brochure highlights the diversity and variety of actions and achievements of the Urban Agenda for the EU so far. It emphasises the role of the Urban Agenda for the EU in building innovative and good governance, working in a more integrated way, addressing cross-cutting issues and implementing the UN New Urban Agenda.
The brochure also includes a range of ‘action stories’ and examples of actions supporting better regulation, better funding and better knowledge. In addition, it presents multiple EU programmes and initiatives addressing sustainable urban development.
It is now also possible to monitor and track the implementation of the 114 actions of the first 12 Urban Agenda partnerships in the table developed by DG REGIO with the support of the Technical Secretariat and in cooperation with the coordinators and action leaders of the Urban Agenda.
Last but not least, the Joint Research Centre – the science and knowledge service of the European Commission supported by DG REGIO – published its report on the future of cities. Available as both a publication and an interactive online platform, the report highlights the drivers shaping the urban future, identifying the key challenges cities will have to address and the strengths they can capitalise on to proactively build their desired futures. The main aim of this initiative is to raise open questions and steer discussions on what the future of cities can, and should, be within both the scientific and the policymaker communities.
