Vitality of Smaller Cities in Europe is a one-day conference highlighting the importance of sustaining smaller cities despite the attractiveness of large cities. The event will be a great opportunity to bring together smaller cities in Europe to share ideas on how to improve their vitality. The conference proposes one full day of inspiring talks, good practices presentations and panel discussions with carefully selected experts and cities.

The main 3 topics are:

• developing new local retail propositions
• engaging the community in placemaking
• enhancing the local agricultural production

The conference will be the opportunity to share the knowledge generated during the last three years by RetaiLink, Agri-Urban, and City Centre Doctor, three URBACT Action Planning Networks, with a wider number of urban practitioners and experts. These networks have been tackling the issue of how to make smaller cities more vital from different perspectives.

• RetaiLink created an impetus for retailers in the city center and other stakeholders to understand and respond to global retail trends, technology, and consumer preferences.
• Agri-Urban involved cities whose local economies have strong agricultural traditions and focused on how to improve agricultural outputs thanks to innovation in production and marketing related to wellness, organic farming, and quality of urban life.
• City Centre Doctor aims at creating a better understanding of factors that influence the vibrancy of city centres such as increased mobility and liveability as well as the design and use of public spaces and the diversity of services in the city center.

Experts and cities from these networks will present good practices and lessons learned, focused on the vitality of smaller cities. The design of the conference, based on the URBACT methodology, aims to maximize the exchange of knowledge and experiences between the participants. To learn more, download the program of the event and this article about the Context and Policy Challenges that the conference will address.

The event is free of charge and wishes to reach active citizens involved or interested in urban sustainable development, from an integrated and participative perspective. All participants shall reserve their tickets, as there are limited spaces available.

Contact person: Anna Suárez > comm.retailink@gmail.com