Item Overview

As part of the support to the Urban Agenda for the EU, the European Urban Initiative will use its communication channels to ensure that the UAEU is known and visible, to promote participation in its activities and to boost the dissemination of its outputs. One of the key channels is the EUI newsletter which will have a dedicated section on UAEU. Please note that the newsletter you are now reading is the final UAEU newsletter. It will be discontinued afterwards. If you want to continue receiving future news and updates on the Urban Agenda and its Thematic Partnerships, you should sign up for the EUI newsletter through the link below. You can also continue to engage via the LinkedIn and Twitter accounts of the Urban Agenda for the EU that remain active.

Dear readers,

Dear readers,

We are happy to announce that the main sessions of the 5th edition of the Cities Forum will be web streamed! Follow online the plenary sessions on our website on 16 and 17 March through the link provided below. A dedicated agenda for the webstreamed sessions is available. For the latest news and interviews from the event, do not hesitate to check the #CitiesForum on Twitter, the Facebook page and corresponding Event page.

The 5th edition of the Cities Forum will take place in Torino on 16-17 March 2023. We are pleased to announce that the official website for the event is online. This is the main information portal for interested participants. You can already find online the draft agenda of the event and a brief description of the workshops and thematic sessions. Registration to attend the event on site will open in January on the website. To remain updated on future news, participants are invited to follow our Facebook event #CitiesForum 2023.

This year’s – eleventh – session of the World Urban Forum will take place in Katowice, Poland. In order to present European perspective, within the WUF11 programme there will be a special group of events called the European Track. As part of a dedicated building block of the European Track, the series of 14 events organised or co-organised by the European Commission aims to highlight the EU approach towards integrated sustainable urban development through various dimensions. Please also take time to visit the European Commission Joint Research Center’s stand if you join the forum. More information can be found below.

The final report on the work of Digital Transition Partnership was finalized and includes links to all actions and deliverables produced by the Partnership members. Please consult the link below to access to report.

During the 11th session of the World Urban Forum, JRC successfully launched the European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews – 2022 edition. This new edition builds on the first one published in 2020 and it includes an updated analysis of the VLRs published globally and in Europe, their evolution over time and space in terms of use, main characteristics, and building blocks.

The Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU) represents the first of the EU’s three voluntary commitments to implement the United Nations universal New Urban Agenda (NUA). In this context, the European Commission launched a review of the UAEU contributions to the NUA by exploring the UAEU characteristics, the work of its partnership sand its implementation in the period between 2016 and mid-2021. You can find the report here.

This is a peer-learning programme for local and regional policy makers to exchange knowledge on cultural heritage. In June 2020 a call for participation will be launched, open to representatives of local and regional authorities and cultural heritage stakeholders. Stay tuned!

In preparation of the Driving Urban Transitions programme, JPI Europe would like to invite you to share your perspectives on urban challenges you are addressing in your work. All responses submitted before 15 April will be discussed in the AGORA Dialogue in Innsbruck.

What are your views on the ongoing digital transformation of our society and economy? What do you think Europe’s role should be? How can we best ensure that citizens, businesses and public sector reap the benefits of the latest digital technologies? Please respond to the on-line consultation by 25th of October to have your say on the questions above!

Dear readers,

Housing policy in Latvia is one of the most liberal kinds. Its agenda in Latvia is to finish the process of housing privatization, facilitation of energy efficiency, and most recent is to promote rental housing in the municipalities. Housing policy is to a large extent a duty of the State level Ministry of Economy officials; they decide the priorities and major sources of finance. There are more passive players on the state level as well, such as Ministry of Justice. The latter state player is responsible for Court System and all legal processes which are related to property claims and conflicts. Also, the funding which is currently available—EU structural funds for energy efficiency retrofits—are managed by state agency “Investment and development Agency”.

These two initiatives allow for the mobilization of vacant private housing units towards affordable rental housing. Borsa de Lloguer is a mediation program by which the City offers landlords a rental income insurance, a residential multi-risk insurance, as well as support to make renovations in their units in exchange for rent caps for a certain period of time. Hàbitat 3 is a non-profit organization that manages rental units whose use has been temporarily signed over to the City in exchange for certain upgrades. Beneficiaries should be registered as Applicants of Social Housing in Barcelona Municipality which involve criteria related with income limitations or viability and sustainability of households’ applicants among others.