A word from Mikel Landabaso
date: 18/09/2020
Dear Members of the Community of Practice on Cities,
I hope that this message finds you well and safe. It is my pleasure to introduce this third newsletter of the Community of Practice on Cities, which is so important in these Covid times where Cities can play such an important role in helping preserve lives, livelihoods and project themselves into a greener, fairer and more humane future.
With the holiday season drawing to a close and schools reopening across Europe, it remains to be seen how the current COVID-19 pandemic will evolve over the next weeks. With the vast majority of COVID-19 cases still being reported in cities, due to population density and connectivity amongst others, the critical role of action at the local level at the front line of the fight against the pandemic is increasingly acknowledged. Last week, our President Ursula von der Leyen charted the course for the year ahead in her State of the Union address, highlighting avenues to achieve and consolidate recovery and resilience for our economies and societies. Cities have a vital role to play in taking up this agenda and ensuring a greener, more connected and more inclusive way of life for their citizens.
The Community of Practice on Cities, managed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, is an open network supporting knowledge exchange and peer learning on vital urban issues. This newsletter has started to help in keeping all members up-to-date on recent relevant events, webinars and on-going research projects, as well as forthcoming activities. I hope that you will appreciate this edition and we will be delighted to receive your concrete suggestions and inputs via the Community of Practice coordinator.
Finally, I wish you all a safe return to work as well as an open invitation to work together in the path to recovery for better Cities at the service of all their citizens .
Mikel Landabaso
Director for Growth and Innovation, Joint Research Centre