Urban Agenda for the EU

The series of webinars took place on 20 September, 27 September and 4 October 2021. A big thank you to all of you who participated! The material, including concept notes, recordings and reports can be found here.

The sixth article in our series of articles looks at two perspectives on urban poverty: the area-based approach, and the human-based approach. It also looks at some of the most affected and vulnerable groups, such as children, migrants, and refugees. Read the article here!

Our seventh article examines how procurement might used as a lever to enable facilitate more effective urban mobility within and between areas, as well as address security challenges. Follow the link below to read the article.

The Partnership on Culture and Cultural Heritage held a two-day interdisciplinary workshop in the framework of its Action 8 on "Guiding Principles for Resilience and Integrated Approaches in Risk and Heritage Management in European Cities." Follow the link to find out more about the meeting.

The Partnership has decided to continue its activities and the partners are currently working on developing new Actions and a new Action Plan which will guide the work of the Partnership in the coming period. Read about their new proposed Actions here.

This project seeks to develop urban cooperation and foment city-to-city partnerships between EU and non-EU local authorities in Canada, South Africa, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, by facilitating the sharing of information and transfer of good practices and lessons learned on integrated urban practices. If you are representing a city interested in participating in the project, please fill the online questionnaire and submit your candidature before 15 November.

On 1 December 2020, the Ministers responsible for spatial planning, territorial development and/or territorial cohesion have agreed on the Territorial Agenda 2030 of the EU. The Territorial Agenda 2030 provides an action-oriented framework to promote territorial cohesion in Europe, and can be used at national, regional and local levels, and in cooperation with other countries. A new atlas for the Territorial Agenda 2030 has been launched which you can access through the following link

On 22 November 2021, the European Commission will officially launch for the first time the European Capitals of Inclusion and Diversity Award. This award will recognise the work done by cities, towns, or regions in the EU to promote inclusion and help create discrimination-free societies. The applications will be open from 22 November 2021 until 15 February 2022 and the winners will be announced at an Award Ceremony on 28 April 2022.

From its inception the Territorial Agenda 2030 website has been temporarily hosted by Spatial Foresight on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) and the Federal Institute for Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). During the first half of 2021 the website was redesigned and further developed by the Portuguese EU Presidency and ESPON will organise support on a long-term basis. See new design and functions with news, articles and more here.

With its 591 partners, 30 stands, 1261 speakers and moderators, 142 video testimonials, this year programme highlighted how cohesion policy and funding has helped communities navigate the COVID-19 crisis in countless ways. More than 4000 messages fed the discussion around the four themes of this edition: cohesion, green, digital and Citizens’ engagement. It was valuable to have the UAEU community participating.

Two freshly released reports will be presented during the webinar on November 23rd. The first includes an evaluation of funding structures of European public libraries as result of a survey carried out by the Action Group. The other presentation is a pre-synthesis of the second European report on sustainable development and libraries, a survey carried out by EBLIDA in the course of summer 2021. Register here!

Register here to this Urban Development Network webinar, taking place on 25 November from 10.00 to 12.00. The event focuses on the Self-Assessment Tool for Sustainable Urban Development strategies (SAT4SUD), an online tool developed to assess your urban strategy, recognising strengths and identifying opportunities for improvement.

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.

The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Security in Public Spaces has been working on a self-assessment tool that evaluates and measures urban safety and security. It is meant to support urban policies and provide indications on how to implement relevant approaches and tools. Please see below a report showcasing the outcome of the pilot study, as well as the accompanying user manual.

The Partnership on Inclusion for Migrants and Refugees has been implementing a variety of Actions, one of which focuses on facilitating evidence-based integration policies in cities. As part of this Action, an external expert recently conducted an analysis that explored the effect of national immigration and integration policies on infra-national immigration.

As part of the implementation of Action 2, the Partnership on Security in Public Spaces published a guidebook introducing local and regional urban policy makers to a wide range of EU funding opportunities in the field of security in public spaces.

The Partnership on Culture & Cultural Heritage has been developing a toolkit that contains good practises and suggestions related to the reuse & management of vacant buildings and underused urban areas, focusing on co-design and collective management processes that engage with social actors (e.g., local communities, private and public bodies, cultural associations, etc.). You can find the toolkit here.

This Action sought to contribute to the development of a more secure, safe, and resilient local community. It provided local policymakers and security managers with a hands-on method for measuring the impact of local social cohesion actions on urban security and feelings of insecurity within the local community.

As there is limited knowledge and/or expertise on the SbD approach in various local and regional authorities, the Partnership on Security in Public Spaces has developed material with concrete recommendations to enhance authorities' working processes connected to urban planning and design for safer public spaces. The materials were to be hands-on and user-friendly in order to encourage their adoption.

The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Culture & Cultural Heritage has issued recommendations for an in-depth analysis of tourism flows as part of Action 7 from the Action Plan. See the outcome here.

Facial recognition technologies (FRT) can help authorities to combat with threats, such as terrorism. However, it may spark debate in the areas of data privacy and individual freedoms. Our next case study looks at the practical use of FRT during the Nice Carnival and how its effectiveness may create the basis for improved European legislative control on the usage of AI applications. Follow the link to find out more about this Action!