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Every year, the European Commission awards those EU-funded projects, which demonstrate excellence and new approaches in regional development. With the goal of inspiring other regions and project managers across Europe, participating projects are in the spotlight of communication activities at European level.

On 12 February, 200 participants gathered at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels for the JPI Urban Europe policy conference and the launch of the updated Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, SRIA 2.0. The parallel sessions were co-chaired by the Coordinators of the UAEU Partnerships and discussions during the day touched upon JPI Urban Europe as a knowledge hub of relevance to cities.

The online Public Feedback of the Energy Transition Partnership kicks-off today and will last until 4 March 2019. This would be a unique opportunity for the public to contribute to the five draft actions from the Draft Action Plan.

The 5th and last call of the Urban Innovative Actions will be launched in Autumn. Preparation has just started with the selection of topics, which are: 1) Air Quality; 2) Circular Economy, 3) Culture and Cultural Heritage and 4) Demographic Change. The topic of “circular economy” will have a particular focus on reduction of single use plastic and on circular urban water management, whereas the topic of “demographic change” will focus on cities facing population decline, i.e. shrinking cities. Full description of the four topics will be published by April.

Cities in the member states of the European Union who wish to exchange with a city facing similar challenges in another global region are encouraged to apply for the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) city-to-city cooperation programme on sustainable urban development. To date, over 60 pairings have been established between local governments. The programme aims to foster links between EU cities and those in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. Through the programme, local leaders will be able to connect and gain new perspectives on pressing sustainable development issues.

URBACT is calling cities to apply for collaborative networks. It is a great occasion for cities to collaborate together in the frame of URBACT. Cities who joined the Urban Agenda for the EU partnerships are very much welcome to apply as much as other cities willing to engage in co-designing sustainable urban development plans, exchange knowledge, practices, and experiences transnationally.

The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees invited to a special event in December 2018 in Brussels. Together with the Committee of the Regions, the Partnership organised a conference to discuss the main achievements of around three years of joint work. More importantly, the event provided an opportunity to look ahead and discuss the implementation pathways for the Partnership’s proposed Actions.

After three years of work, the Housing Partnership in the frame of the Urban Agenda for the EU held its closing meeting in Vienna on December 3rd, 2018 and presented its final Action Plan. At the meeting, the partnership discussed the next steps to be taken on the different work strands.

The Housing Partnership in the frame of the Urban Agenda for the EU held its last meeting in Vienna on 3 December, 2018. The result of three years of work of housing experts from cities, Member States, European Commission, EIB, International Union of Tenants and Housing Europe is set of actions and recommendations to the EU legislator. The main aim is to de-block investment in affordable housing.

The digital transition is a long term process, which will require sustained support in the coming years to fully reap the potential benefits and ensure all cities across Europe are on track. Therefore, the Digital Transition Partnership, with the support of EUROCITIES, Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), calls for a financial framework supporting cities and regions in digital transition to be ensured as part of European policy and the post-2020 budget.

The European Migrant Advisory Board (EMAB) is a self-led group of advisors with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. In December 2018, the EMAB carried out a consultation "with migrants and refugees by migrants and refugees". The report summarised the outcomes of the consultation, as well as focus group results.

Two new partnerships have been endorsed by the Directors-General Meeting on Urban Matters (DGUM) last November. Their work will start in the coming days and weeks. They gather together:

It is official: after an open call launched in summer 2018 and a selection process supervised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, DG REGIO, the host city of the 2019 CITIES Forum will be Porto (PT).

The present Call for Applications is open for the recruitment of a Panel of External Experts. The panel will be composed of four Topic Coordinators (one for each topic) and around 20 assessors (5 for each topic, depending on the number of project proposals received for each topic) on the four main topics identified for the fourth Call for Proposals:

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The third day of the European Week of Cities and Regions put the Urban Agenda of the EU at the centre of the discussions. With a full agenda, the Square in Brussels saw thousands of urban specialists, practitioners, local and regional stakeholders.