The Security in Public Spaces Partnership of the Urban Agenda held its 7th Partnership Meeting online on 27-28 January 2021. The focus of the meeting was on the implementation of Actions, a process which has now started. The implementation phase follows the Partnership publication of its Action Plan.

Plenary Session

The meeting started with a short introduction from the Partnership co-coordinators (the European Forum for Urban Security, the city Nice and the city Madrid) who announced the agenda. One of the central questions on the table was how to develop synergies and collaborations for effective policies at the local level. 

This interrogation generated fruitful discussions on the collaboration of the Partnership with relevant initiatives and programmes, notably DG Home funded projects, the UrbSecurity network funded by URBACT but also UHN Habitat  safer cities programme. 

Action Sessions

Following the plenary, dedicated Action Sessions were held in which Action Leaders presented their progress so far, and the outputs under preparation. 

Attention was raised to a survey on AI technologies launched in December 2020 by the Partnership. It was also announced that there will be two upcoming surveys: one to measure security in the public space and the second on the approaches and challenges with security by design.

Notable intervention by external speakers included Andrea Volkmer, from DG HOME, who presented the EU’s new counter-terrorism agenda, initiatives to enhance protection of public spaces and, who highlighted the role of cities in Urban Security Policies. Paulius Kulikauskas from UN-Habitat presented ongoing and potential collaborations with the Partnership.