20 September 2023

Community of Practice on Cities

COP-CITIES Newsletter #19

Dear community members,

We hope you had a nice and relaxing summer break and welcome to the early fall edition of the CoP-CITIES newsletter!

In this release, we highlight the JRC's participation in the European Week of Regions and Cities, we present a new JRC publication entitled the BiodiverCities Atlas, and we have the honour to include a short interview with Xavier Timbeau, principal director of L’Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE) at SciencesPo.

Particularly, we are happy to confirm that our annual CoP-CITIES plenary meeting will take place as an official side event of the European Week of Regions and Cities. This year the meeting will be in presence and take place at our JRC headquarters in Brussels. You will find more details about the agenda and registration process in the dedicated section below, but we can already say we are very much looking forward to bringing our members together and seeing you in person!

For now, we wish you an inspiring and productive fall, and for those who will not attend the EWRC, we reconnect in November. As usual, do not hesitate to reach out to us to flag any initiatives and activities that can be of interest to our community.

The newsletter editorial board

Patrizia Sulis, Sjoerdje van Heerden, Silvia Iodice

Highlights

CoP Cities Annual Plenary 2023

We invite all of you to join our annual CoP-CITIES plenary meeting taking place Wednesday, October 11 12:00 – 15:00 hours. The event will take place at the JRC CDMA in Brussels, as an official side event of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2023.

Speakers will update you on relevant work on cities, while there will also be time for open discussions and questions from the audience. During the meeting, we will also inform you about some short JRC publications on urban topics that could be relevant for CoP-CITIES members.

Click below to learn more about the agenda, speakers, and how to register to attend the plenary.

Activities and Events

10/10/2023

EWRC 2023 - A fairer future for European cities: navigating urban inqualities and vulnerabilities

How can we foster cities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable? Join our session in which we will tackle urban inequalities and vulnerabilities, focusing on climate change adaptation and pressing issues such as housing and homelessness.

The session will discuss the recent Urban Agenda for the EU partnership on Cities of Equality and feature recent scientific research on several European cities. Our moderator is Orna Rosenfeld, and among our speakers, we have representatives of the City of Rotterdam (NL), the L’Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE) at SciencesPo, DG REGIO and JRC.

We are looking forward to discussing with you current trends and challenges to be addressed by urban administrators and policymakers, as well as possible policy interventions to promote cities that leave no one behind. You can register for the session using the link below (please do so before September 30th).

date

10/10/2023

venue

SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre, Hall 400

Registration

10/10/2023

EWRC 2023 - Learn more about Towns in the EU and the OECD!

Towns play an important role in regional development. They have become the focus of more policy attention in recent years, with several countries investigating how towns are doing and how they can be strengthened.

This session will describe how towns are doing in the EU and show how some play a central role regionally and provide the surrounding rural areas with access to specialised services. In addition, it will describe the challenges facing towns and offer policy recommendations.

date

10/10/2023

venue

SQUARE Brussels Meeting Centre, Room 211-212

Registration

Latest Publications

Check out the BiodiverCities Atlas!

The BiodiverCities Atlas presents case studies from ten European cities selected by the JRC to conduct a co-creation process, locally engaging citizens in support of urban biodiversity. It offers highlights, reflections on institutional and practical challenges, and lessons learnt from the local engagement processes, accompanied by several contributions from social and natural researchers.

You can download the Atlas here.

If interested in this process, you can reach out to the JRC colleagues of the Competence Centre on Participative and Deliberative Democracy.

Interview

Interview with Xavier Timbeau

Xavier Timbeau is the principal director of L’Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (OFCE) at SciencesPo.

The OFCE is an independent body that produces forecasts, research and evaluations of public policy. It covers most areas of economic analysis, from macroeconomics, growth, social protection systems, taxation and employment policy, to sustainable development, competition, innovation and regulation.

You can read the full interview through the link below.

This is the bi-monthly newsletter of the Community of Practice on Cities.

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