Dear community members,

Welcome to a new edition of the CoP-CITIES newsletter. Besides highlighting some of the key activities targeting urban areas that have been recently conducted within the European Commission, in this edition we have also given significant space to contributions from some of our key members.

Then, as we look ahead this year, we are delighted to share with you that we plan to host our CoP-CITIES plenary event as a side event to the European Week of Regions and Cities, taking place in Brussels in autumn this year. More details will follow in the upcoming newsletters, but we are already looking forward to bringing our members together and seeing many of you in person.

As you know, the CoP-Cities is a shared initiative of DG REGIO and the JRC. Together we form a large community of cities, city networks, academia, NGOs and other urban stakeholders, offering a place to discuss potential future challenges and opportunities for urban areas. That said, please feel free to reach out to us for any issues you wish to raise that you consider relevant to our community.

For now, we hope you enjoy the most recent edition of our newsletter!

The newsletter editorial board

Patrizia Sulis, Sjoerdje van Heerden, Silvia Iodice