Urban Agenda

The city of Nantes in north-west France is the European Capital of Innovation 2019, the Commission announced today at the European Research and Innovation Days. The title was awarded to Nantes in recognition for its outstanding ability to harness innovation to improve the lives of its citizens and its open and collaborative governance model. It comes with a €1 million cash prize funded by Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme. The other five runner-up cities – Antwerp (Belgium), Bristol (UK), Espoo (Finland), Glasgow (UK) and Rotterdam (Netherlands) – received €100,000 each to promote and scale up their innovation practice.

The UIA Initiative has launched its fifth Call for Proposals. It will remain open from 16 September 2019 until 12 December 2019 at 2pm CET. Focused on four topics - Air quality, Circular economy, Culture & cultural heritage, Demographic change -, it will be the last UIA Call in the current programming period and the total budget is approximately EUR 50 million ERDF. Apply now!

The prestigious title of European Green Leaf is awarded every year to smaller European cities and towns with 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants, to recognise and promote their efforts towards better environmental management and outcomes. The European Commission's competition to find the next winner of the European Green Leaf title is open, until 14 October 2019. Will your city or town follow in the footsteps of Limerick (Ireland) and Mechelen (Belgium)?

JPI Urban Europe organises this year’s AGORA Stakeholder Involvement Platform workshop on 20-21 Nov. in Riga.The workshop aims to elaborate critical issues regarding the development and maintenance of public spaces, including issues of inclusiveness, the right to the city or the consequences of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Contributions from Urban Agenda for the EU Partnerships will be much appreciated and help, among others, to prepare a future call for research and innovation projects.

UIA organises two Applicants Seminars – one in Prague (15 October) and one in Brussels (05 November). The Permanent Secretariat is ready to assist applicants with any technical questions they may have during the fifth Call for Proposal.

Living labs are a modern way of creating user-centred environments that enable innovation, co-creation and start-up development. JRC launches a call for expressions of interest to co-create living labs in two of our research sites Ispra, Italy and Petten, the Netherlands for smart city solutions. The pilot call is open to public and private organisations until 31 December 2020.

23 networks, gathering 26 countries and 203 partners, were approved by the programme's Monitoring Committee on 25 June 2019. Each one of these networks brings together up to 10 partners from different European countries. It is the first time in the life of the programme that such a high proportion has been achieved!

The conference will bring together the 'green' Partnerships of the Urban Agenda for the EU in a discussion on their implementation pathways, and how to bring sustainability policies closer to citizens.

In the context of the 4th UIA Call for Proposals, 20 new projects have been selected to find creative, innovative and durable solutions to address challenges linked to the digital transition, sustainable use of land and nature based solutions, urban poverty and urban security.

The EWRC is fast approaching, and registrations are open! Join the Urban Agenda for the EU and Partners at this annual 4-day event to explore the importance of local and regional initiatives for good European governance. We look forward to seeing you there!

UN-Habitat welcomes applications to organize training and side events at the tenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF 10), taking place 8 - 13 February 2020 in Abu Dhabi.

The objective of the call is to promote the development of powerful high-tech innovation ecosystems in European cities to fuel industrial transformation and smart, sustainable growth. The action will help European cities develop ambitious vision and create modern ecosystems with all stakeholders of the economy. This will catalyse SMEs access to advanced technologies and big data, help create talents, boost innovation and new business models and create the smart products and services of the future. Deadline: 2 September 2019

This workshop will be held on October 8th, from 09:15 - 10:45. It present findings of the study, which explores how the European Social Fund and the Youth Employment Initiative provide support for integration measures.

In the context of the assessment study, the European Commission invites stakeholders to provide feedback to assess the implementation and performance of the Urban Agenda for the European Union (EU) since its launch via the Pact of Amsterdam in 2016. For this assessment, the views of stakeholders are central and you are therefore strongly encouraged to reply to the Stakeholder Consultation.

This report highlights drivers shaping the urban future, identifying both the key challenges cities will have to address and the strengths they can capitalise on to proactively build their desired futures. The main aim of this report is to raise open questions and steer discussions on what the future of cities can, and should be, both within the scientific and policymaker communities.

The final version of the Bucharest Declaration is now online. It was endorsed at the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers Responsible for Urban Matters, hosted by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU on 13-14 June 2019 in Bucharest. It is meant to serve as the bridge between the Pact of Amsterdam, endorsed during the 2016 Dutch Presidency, and the Territorial Agenda of the European Union and Leipzig Charter to be revised during the 2020 German Presidency.