What keeps city professionals engaged in the Eurocities network for years? For Imara Antonius in Utrecht, Laura Trujillo Parra in Barcelona, Jochem Cooiman in Rotterdam, and Rens Jonker in Utrecht, the answer lies in a combination of curiosity, commitment to public service, and a belief that cities can achieve more when they learn from one another.
Working in different fields, from disability inclusion to sustainable mobility, social affairs and integration, and digital transformation, they share a common conviction: many urban challenges are not unique, and solutions become stronger when cities exchange experiences openly. Through Eurocities, they have found peers facing similar questions, opportunities to test new ideas, and a platform to bring knowledge back to their own administrations.
Their commitment within Eurocities has not gone unnoticed. Imara, Laura, Rens and Jochem have been selected to be part of the People of Eurocities initiative, recognising members who have made a lasting contribution to the network.
Connecting disability policy across Europe
Laura works at Barcelona’s Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities, an organisation dedicated to mainstreaming disability issues throughout the city administration. Her role aims to ensure that disability inclusion is embedded across the entire municipality.
“I need to be able to liaise and to link with all the other departments of the city: culture, sports, gender, and environmental issues,” Laura explains, “so that they include accessibility and people with disabilities’ needs in their regular and day-to-day work.”
Laura also holds responsibility for international relations in the field of disability. Barcelona has long been active in European city cooperation, and when a Eurocities working group dedicated to accessibility and disability was proposed, joining was a natural step. Laura has been involved since its creation in 2010.
What has kept her engaged for so many years is both the professional value and the human dimension of the network, she says. “It is very interesting personally, but also professionally. It allows you to see if the work done in your city is aligned with other realities.”
Study visits, in particular, have left a lasting impression. “What is mostly interesting is study visits. They really make a difference because you can learn online or by exchanging orally, but when you visit the facilities, you understand better.”
That learning often translates into real changes back home. She recalls adapting an accessibility solution first seen in Lyon to improve signage for blind people in facilities in Barcelona. As she puts it: “You cannot copy exactly the same, but you can adapt what you learn.”
Finding common mobility challenges
In Utrecht, Rens’ work focuses on encouraging more sustainable mobility choices through cycling education, shared mobility campaigns, or initiatives supporting people on low incomes and helping employers improve sustainable commuting options.
Today, alongside his work on mobility management, Rens also helps coordinate international affairs for Utrecht’s mobility department, connecting colleagues with European partners and facilitating exchanges with other cities.
Shortly after joining the municipality of Utrecht, Rens was invited to attend the Eurocities Mobility Forum in Porto. What struck him most during his first Eurocities experience was the openness of the network. “It’s very horizontal,” he explains. “Everyone’s very open, very frank in sharing their experiences.”
Rens also sees this openness as one of the network’s defining strengths. “That’s a value of Eurocities that you can discuss what went wrong in your projects, what challenges you have.”
Indeed, the exchanges have also helped challenge assumptions. Rens recalls discovering that cities often face remarkably similar problems, even when they initially appear very different. “Sometimes you think you might be unique in your struggles, but it turns out there’s so many cities across Europe working on similar topics, finding similar problems,” he adds.
As many cities face similar challenges, several mobility solutions in Utrecht have been influenced by lessons from peers across Europe. Examples include the city’s approach to 30 km/h speed limits and new thinking around school streets inspired by experiences in other cities such as Brussels, Lyon, Paris, Gothenburg and Warsaw. The mobility department in Utrecht is currently developing an initiative to integrate public transport with event tickets, inspired by Tampere through Eurocities.
Beyond practical solutions, Rens values the relationships built through repeated exchanges. “It really feels like a family.” That sense of trust, he says, creates an environment where cities can help one another without immediately expecting something in return, making collaboration easier and ultimately strengthening local work. “Whatever you put in, you get back three times,” he summarises.
Turning social challenges into shared solutions
Imara combines two roles, working as an EU funding advisor while also serving as Utrecht’s EU representative on social affairs topics.
She has been involved in Eurocities since attending her first Social Affairs Forum in Newcastle in 2014. Looking back, Imara remembers not only the professional opportunities but also the welcoming atmosphere she found within the network. “I was really welcomed into a lovely Eurocities family,” she says.
More than a decade later, she continues to value the opportunity to connect with peers working on similar issues across Europe. For Imara, “by collaborating together within Eurocities, you broaden the scope about the social challenges that we are facing on the local level.”
She also points to the way Eurocities helps connect local experience with European policymaking, creating a space where cities, European institutions and practitioners can learn from one another and shape better responses to shared challenges.
When Utrecht hosted the Social Affairs Forum in 2018, local residents, newcomers, city representatives and European institutions’ representatives came together to discuss the Plan Einstein approach. “We were really able to bring Europe to the local level,” Imara recalls.
The Plan Einstein is one of the experiences that stand out most is Utrecht’s work on refugee reception and integration. Developed during a period of increased arrivals of people fleeing conflict, the initiative sought to create stronger connections between newcomers and local communities. Through discussions with peers and exchanges within Eurocities, Utrecht was able to refine the concept, gather feedback and build support for the project.
Reflecting on her years in the network, Imara also highlights the importance of the people who make collaboration possible, from active city members to forum leadership and Eurocities staff, and states that “regardless of our political colours in our cities Social Affairs Forum, members share a strong commitment to contribute to meaningful spaces for belonging and participation in our cities. This enables us to find pragmatic solutions which can break through structural faultlines in our societies.”
Building digital strategies with a European perspective
For Jochem, public service has been a vocation. Having worked for the municipality of Rotterdam for nearly two decades, he has spent much of his career connecting people, knowledge and ideas across different fields.
A strategist in Rotterdam’s CIO Office, he is currently involved in developing the city’s digital strategy. His professional motivation is rooted in a strong belief in public value. “It fits me much better working for something I actually believe in rather than something that’s handy when you do your groceries,” he shares.
Jochem first became involved with Eurocities in 2019 through meetings and activities linked to what was then the Knowledge Society Forum, later renamed the Digital Forum. Sooner than later, he was joining one of the working groups as co-chair.
His enthusiasm for Eurocities is closely linked to his passion for learning and collaboration. “I’m a curious guy,” he explains. “I like to learn things and if I see something new, I like to deep dive into those.”
For Rotterdam, participation in Eurocities has reinforced the understanding that local digital transformation cannot be separated from European developments. “The connexion that made all the sense in the world is that we don’t do things on our stamp. The stamp called Rotterdam is part of the envelope called the Netherlands. It’s part of the mailbox called Europe.” That perspective has influenced Rotterdam’s digital strategy, which now explicitly considers European developments and opportunities for collaboration.
Like Rens, he also returns to the idea of family when describing the network, seeing it as a space where cities can move beyond showcasing successes and instead work collectively on common challenges.
More than a network
Laura, Rens and Jochem entered Eurocities through a professional need or opportunity, but they stayed because the network helped them do their jobs better.
Their testimonies illustrate a simple idea: while cities may operate in different national contexts, the people working behind the scenes often confront many of the same questions. Bringing them together does more than create opportunities for exchange. It helps turn individual experiences into shared knowledge and local solutions into collective progress.
This article marks the start of the People of Eurocities series, spotlighting members whose dedication, expertise and active engagement enrich the network and support city-to-city learning across Europe. The first three city representatives to be recognised are part of the Eurocities Digital Forum, Social Affairs Forum and Mobility Forum. A second article will showcase those recognised through the Culture Forum, Environment Forum and Economic Development Forum.
