"Urban Agenda for the EU" Newsletter Issues

Editorial (12/06/2019)

Security in Public Spaces Partnership presents Orientation Paper (07/06/2019)

The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Security in Public Spaces presents its Orientation Paper, outlining the Partnership's thematic orientation and working approach.

The Table of Actions is now online on Futurium! (13/06/2019)

DG REGIO, with the support of the Technical Secretariat, has developed a table of actions whose main objective is to monitor and track the implementation of the Urban Agenda Partnerships’ Actions. The Table has been filled in cooperation with coordinators and action Leaders and it now contains information from all the 114 Actions of 12 Action Plans.

Contribute to the Urban Agenda for the EU Assessment Study (07/06/2019)

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.

EU Sustainable Energy Week - 17-21 June - Brussels (07/06/2019)

The EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) is the biggest event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe. It comprises of a 3-day Policy Conference, a Networking Village, an EU Sustainable Energy Awards competition with a public vote for the citizens' award, and Energy Days which are local events held across Europe throughout the months of May and June.

European Urban Resilience Forum - 25 June - Bonn (07/06/2019)

Since 2013 the Open European Day - now European Urban Resilience Forum - offers a unique exchange platform where city representatives and stakeholders from various local and regional institutions come together to discuss strategies and actions for adapting to climate change and building urban resilience.

European approaches to Urban Resource Centres (07/06/2019)

The working group on "Urban Resource Centres for waste prevention, re-use and recycling" of Partnership on Circular Economy have published a report based on 12 in-depth interviews.

Climate Adaptation final Action Plan (07/06/2019)

The Final Action Plan of the Partnership on Climate Adaptation is now available .

Urban Deprivation/Poverty Observatories in the EU (07/06/2019)

The GIAU+S (Research group on Architecture, Urbanism and Sustainability of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) has drafted a comprehensive report on urban deprivation/poverty observatories in the EU.

Smaller Cities' Access to External Finance (07/06/2019)

Despite low interest rates and viability of investments, external finance only holds a small percentage of cities’ overall investment finance across the EU. What hinders smaller municipalities to access commercial bank loans, funds and other types of external financing?

editorial (18/04/2019)

Contribute to the Urban Agenda for the EU Assessment Study! (12/06/2019)

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.

12th Meeting of the Partnership on Digital Transition (18/04/2019)

The 12th Digital Transition Partnership meeting took place in Eindhoven on the 27th, 28th and 29th March, back to back with the Knowledge Society Forum and the Open Data Conference, allowing the working sessions to be balanced out with inspirational discussions. The Partnership meeting was devoted to working sessions on a selected set of Actions, including Actions 2, 4, 8, 10 - 11, and 13.

Kick-off Meeting of the Partnership on Culture/Cultural Heritage (18/04/2019)

On 21-22 February 2019, the kick-off meeting of the Partnership for Culture/Cultural Heritage took place in Berlin. On the first day, the meeting was opened by the two Coordinators, Germany (Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community) and Italy (Italian Agency for the Territorial Cohesion, jointly with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism).

6 cities join for smart & better services to citizens in Finland (24/04/2019)

“United we stand, divided we fall”: the ‘6AIKA - Open and Smart Services’ project is indeed all about getting stronger together. The six largest cities in Finland, namely Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Oulu, Tampere and Turku, have decided to join forces to test pilot and innovative solutions to common urban challenges.

The ‘other’ summit - a wake up call for those who care about Europe (21/03/2019)

Today, while national and European leaders discuss the future of Europe, a few meters away so do over 60 mayors and local leaders, representing more than 130 million citizens through the EUROCITIES network.

Protection of Public Spaces, Vehicle and Blast mitigation - Hands-on Training and Exchange of Best Practices (12/06/2019)

The training will concentrate on introducing a holistic approach to physical security, including examples and best practices on applications in the urban layout.

PACTESUR project started - website online! (18/04/2019)

The project Protect Allied Cities against TErrorism in Securing Urban aReas - PACTESUR has been officially launched.

Facilitating evidence-based integration policies in cities - Options Report (18/04/2019)

The Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees has developed nine recommendations to ‘Facilitate evidence-based integration policies in cities’.

OECD Principles on Urban Policy (18/04/2019)

The OECD Principles on Urban Policy consolidate the lessons from the past 20+ years of work on cities to guide policymakers in building smart, sustainable and inclusive cities.

10 principles for good data (18/04/2019)

The EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum members elaborated 10 principles on citizen data to give guidance on how to use personal and non-personal data generated in the public digital sphere to improve urban life.

Fit for the future! 19 June (02/05/2019)

Pioneering in partnerships for urban challenges is what the Urban Agenda for the EU and the Dutch Urban Agenda celebrate this year. What lessons are learned? What triggers partners to participate and contribute? How do you celebrate success?

Helsinki Impact Conference 2019 9-10 October (09/10/2019)

Helsinki Impact Conference calls together European leaders, experts and academia on cohesive urban policy and urban planning, to share insights on how cities act as global change-makers. Are you in?

Save the date for the upcoming CITIES Forum! (07/02/2019)

The Partnership on Air Quality delivers tools to help cities and Member States overcome the challenge of air pollution (06/03/2019)

After almost three years of intense cooperation, the Urban Agenda Partnership on Air Quality has recently delivered a suite of integrate tools to help cities and Member States overcome the challenge of air pollution and reduce its negative impact on health.

This was the Security in Public Spaces Partnership kick-off meeting (06/03/2019)

On 25 January 2019, the kick-off meeting of the Partnership for Security in Public Spaces took place in Paris, France. Nicolaas Beets, Dutch Special Urban Envoy, opened the meeting. He presented the process leading to the Pact of Amsterdam and the design of the Urban Agenda for the EU.

6th meeting of the Partnership on Climate Adaptation in Brussels (06/03/2019)

On January 14 and 15, Brussels hosted the 6th Partnership Meeting of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Climate Adaptation. Three topics were on the programme of the two-day meeting: partnership implementation, monitoring and promotion. Participants worked and discussed together on each of them to draw the action line for the next future of the Partnership.

8th meeting of the Partnership on Public Procurement in Haarlem (06/03/2019)

On 21 and 22 January 2019, the 8th meeting of the Public Procurement Partnership took place in Haarlem, the Netherlands. This meeting had several important tasks: to make concrete agreements about the further implementation of the Action within the action team, and to formulate the deliverables per action and specify the expert days’ request for the period February-May 2019.

11th meeting of Partnership on Digital Transition in Luxembourg (06/03/2019)

The 11th meeting of the Digital Transition Partnership took place on 14-15 February in Luxembourg and was hosted by DG CNECT. The meeting included several cities and member states participating in a two-day roundtable discussion, which was joined by representatives from ESPON and the Commission Data Unit. The roundtable also included a representative from DG GROW, who presented the Digital Cities Challenge and the opportunities it could provide to cities.

13th meeting of the Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees in Paris (06/03/2019)

The 13th meeting of the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees Partnership took place at the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) in Paris on 14 February. Several stakeholders presented the integration policies of the city of Paris, a study on ‘When Mayors make Migration Policy’ by the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, the SHARE project by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC Europe). Partnership members discussed the deliverables and roadmap for 2019 and the meeting concluded with a discussion on the next steps and meetings.

Share your knowledge on three Public Procurement Partnership Actions in the online survey! (20/02/2019)

The Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement is launching a survey! The objective is to inquire about experiences and knowledge regarding Management Strategic Procurement, Financing of Innovative Procurement and Local Competences Centres.

Launch of the REGIOSTARS Awards 2019 (06/03/2019)

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.

Crash course in Crowdsourcing: lessons from Decide Madrid (06/03/2019)

Starting in 2015, the City of Madrid has hosted an online platform called Decide Madrid. This is designed to promote transparency and to widen public participation in the city’s decision-making and investment processes. Madrid has learned a huge amount through this experience – and it continues to do so. Much of this learning is relevant and applicable to cities of all sizes throughout Europe. As part of its commitment to build cities’ capacity for civic participation, URBACT will co-host an event with Madrid on 11th April 2019.

The 17th edition of the #EURegionsWeek will be held in Brussels 7 to 10 October 2019 (07/10/2019)

Partners will be invited to submit their proposals for sessions (workshops, Regio talks, participatory labs or presentations followed by Q&A) and/or exhibitions and possible tastings at the Agora Village. Applications can be made from 30/01 to 29/03/2019.

Call for the UIA Experts Call 3 projects now reopen (06/03/2019)

The call for the selection of the UIA Experts to support the Call 3 projects has now been reopen. The new deadline for applications is the 5th of April 2019.

ESPON invitation to submit proposals for Targeted Analyses (06/03/2019)

ESPON has announced the next cut-off date of 28th June for the submission of proposals for Targeted Analyses. Targeted Analyses are powerful means to transfer knowledge, share experience and facilitate the use of European territorial evidence rooted in real place-based policy development processes. ESPON brings together policy makers who share the same kinds of challenges and who are looking for new territorial evidence and a European perspective. ESPON Targeted Analyses deliver demand-driven and tailor-made analytical studies in support of territorial decision-making.

Final Action Plan of the Jobs and Skills in the Local Economy Partnership available! (06/03/2019)

The Partnership on Jobs and Skills in the Local Economy is pleased to present its final Action Plan. The ten Actions aim to improve legislation, funding instruments and knowledge sharing to contribute towards the Union’s long-term objectives of sustainable growth and social, economic and territorial cohesion.

Urban Mobility Partnership presents "Action Plan in Brief" and "Actions in a Nutshell" (06/03/2019)

The Urban Mobility Partnership has developed a summary of its final Action Plan - the Action Plan in Brief - that showcases the Partnership's milestones.

Taiex-Regio Peer 2 Peer: a new tool to share expertise on ERDF and Cohesion Fund (06/03/2019)

TAIEX-REGIO PEER 2 PEER is designed to share expertise between bodies that manage funding under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund. It helps public officials involved in the management of these funds to exchange knowledge, good practice and practical solutions to concrete problems thus improving their administrative capacity and ensuring better results for the EU investments.

JPI Urban Europe launches SRIA 2.0 and strengthens its relevance to urban policy agendas (06/03/2019)

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.

Happy New Year to all urban colleagues! (18/01/2019)

Much achieved, more ahead: this was the Inclusion Partnership’s Conference on 4 December 2018 in Brussels (15/01/2019)

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.

The European Committee of the Regions and OECD launch a survey on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)! (15/01/2019)

With feedback from local and regional authorities on their work on SDGs, the European Committee of the Regions wants to showcase how you have implemented, or currently are implementing, SDGs. This information will be used to influence a future EU strategy on SDGs, to better advocate for a territorial approach in the European and national policy-making process and to boost actions of implementation. Your views on what should the EU do on SDGs, on the priorities the EU should have to act on SDGs will also feed in its opinion on a Sustainable Europe by 2030 to be elaborated during the course of 2019.

2019 Forum "Cities and Regions for Development Cooperation: Local and regional partnerships for sustainable urban development" (04/02/2019)

The European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions are co-organising the Forum "Cities and Regions for Development Cooperation: Local and regional partnerships for sustainable urban development" (formerly called "Assises of Decentralised Cooperation") on 4 and 5 February 2019 in Brussels. The 2019 edition will focus on partnerships supporting sustainable urban development.

JPI Urban Europe 2019 Policy Conference: Urban Transitioning – A Joint Adventure (12/02/2019)

The 4th policy conference “Urban Transitioning: A joint adventure” will take place on the 12th of February in Brussels. At this event, JPI Urban Europe will launch its updated Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA 2.0). The conference welcomes all actors interested in sustainable urban transitions to engage in discussions and exchange on urban transitions.

You can now register your EU Green Week partner event! (16/01/2019)

The EU Green Week would like to announce that if you are planning an event between 13 April and 9 June 2019, you can now register as an EU Green Week 2019 partner event!

URBACT call for Action Planning networks is now online (18/01/2019)

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.

Urban Innovative Actions has started preparing the last call (18/01/2019)

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.

IUC programme invites EU cities to take part in international pairing (18/01/2019)

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.

Porto will host the CITIES Forum 2019! (20/11/2018)

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).

Directors-General Meeting on Urban Matters (DGUM) endorses two new Partnerships! (20/11/2018)

Partnerships on Culture & Cultural Heritage and on Security in Public Space to start working soon! (06/12/2018)

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:

Presentation of Action Plan and discussion of follow-up at the Final Meeting of the Housing Partnership in Vienna (07/12/2018)

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.

LAST DAY - Urban Innovative Actions: Call for applications panel of external experts (Call 4) (20/11/2018)

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:

What does the Partnership on Innovative Public Procurement? (06/12/2018)

Watch the video and discover what the partnership on Innovative Public Procurement is about!

Ask the People consultation report by the European Migrant Advisory Board (06/12/2018)

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.

"Cities need strong support for digital transition in the next long-term budget" (06/12/2018)

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.

Day 3 of the EWRC: The Urban Agenda on the spotlight (10/10/2018)

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.

The urban community meets and greets at the Urban Corner during the EWRC2018! (09/10/2018)

The Urban Agenda for the EU joined the kick-off ceremony of the European Week of Regions and Cities on 8 October 2018 in Brussels together with the colleagues from EUROCITIES, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) initiative, URBACT, and the European Investment Bank’s URBIS. Today, the Urban Corner contributed to the EWRC2018 programme with more than 10 presentations. The Virtual Reality experiences, urban game demonstrations, networking discussions, and spontaneous meetings completed Day 1 at the Urban Corner. Find out more about what happened today and prepare for what is coming up next tomorrow in the article via the link below.

The European Sustainability Award (14/09/2018)

In 2018 the European Commission launched for the first time ever a European Sustainability Award to reward the efforts and creativity of European people, businesses and organisations turning the global Sustainable Development Goals into concrete solutions and opportunities. For this year's edition, the theme of the award is “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. If you are interested, apply before 14 September 2018.

Visit the Urban Corner during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2018 (08/10/2018)

Urban Poverty Partnership actions at a glance (14/09/2018)

The Urban Poverty Partnership has presented its Action Plan earlier in 2018. Since then, the Partners and Action Leaders are working towards implementation of the proposed Actions, divided into five action clusters : integrated actions, actions to fight child poverty, for the regeneration of deprived urban areas and neighbourhoods, for ending homelessness, and actions addressing the vulnerability of Roma people.

Public consultation on the stocktaking of the Commission's "better regulation" approach (14/09/2018)

This consultation will assess how well the various better regulation tools used by the European Commission work in practice and contribute to achieving the objectives of its better regulation policy package of May 2015: evaluation, impact assessment, stakeholder consultation, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, the REFIT Platform and the REFIT Programme.

Housing for all: the final conference (17/09/2018)

Which legal and financial conditions are necessary in Europe to increase investment in affordable housing? Which benefits does affordable housing provide for European cities and the economy? Representatives of the EU institutions, politicians from different European cities, housing experts, housing providers, tenants’ representatives and scientists will discuss these questions comprehensively during the Conference. The findings of the EU Urban Agenda – Housing Partnership will be presented while the City of Vienna will offer study visits to present the Viennese model of social housing.

“Work with the cities, not for the cities”: the URBACT city festival celebrates its 3rd edition in Lisbon (20/09/2018)

Urban practitioners, projects, initiatives, programmes, authorities and policy makers gathered together in Lisbon on September 13-14 on the occasion of the URBACT city festival.

Interview with Hans Verdonk, Co-coordinator of the Partnership on Jobs and Skills in the Local Economy (24/07/2018)

Hans Verdonk is the Co-coordinator of the Partnership on Jobs and Skills in the Local Economy (together with the city of Jelgava and Romania) and the EU representative for the city of Rotterdam. Veerle Smit from Ecorys Spain interviewed him on behalf of the Technical Secretariat of the Urban Agenda for the EU during the Partnership meeting in Porto in May 2018.

The partnerships of Housing and Circular Economy launched today a Public Feedback on their Draft Action Plan (24/07/2018)

European Week of Regions and Cities 2018: registration is open (24/07/2018)

Solving problems on ground - Riga, Latvia (24/07/2018)

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”.

Mobilizing vacant private dwellings towards the affordable rental market “Borsa de Lloguer & Hàbitat 3” - Barcelona, Spain (24/07/2018)

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.

Call for interest: hosting and co-organising the 4th CITIES FORUM 2019 (24/07/2018)

LAST MONTH TO APPLY: The 4th edition of the CITIES Forum will take place at the end of 2019 and will welcome 500-600 participants during 1.5 days. Cities interested in hosting and co-organising the CITIES FORUM together with the European Commission are invited to express their interest before 27 August 2018.

Call for applications: Access City Award (26/07/2018)

The Access City Award recognises and celebrates a city's willingness, ability and efforts to become more accessible, in order to guarantee equal access to fundamental rights; improve the quality of life of its population and ensure that everybody – regardless of age, mobility or ability – has equal access to all the resources and pleasures cities have to offer. Deadline for applications is 16 September 2018.

Showcase your efforts in the Air Quality Code of Good Practices! (24/07/2018)

The Urban Partnership on Air Quality main objective is to improve air quality in cities and bring the ‘healthy city’ higher on the local, national and EU agendas as part of the Urban Agenda. ​As part of their work, the Partnership is developing a Code of Good Practices that aims to provide guidance and inspiration to cities drafting and implementing air quality plans.

Call for interest: hosting and co-organising the 4th CITIES FORUM 2019 (27/06/2018)

EU budget for the future (25/06/2018)

The European Commission has put forward ambitious yet realistic proposals for a modern EU budget. It is time for an EU budget that reflects rapid developments in innovation, the economy, the environment and geopolitics, amongst others. The Commission is putting forward modern, clearer and simpler EU financial rules that ensure the EU budget delivers on the issues that matter to Europeans.

Public Procurement: Public Feedback open since 11 June (25/06/2018)

The online Public Feedback of the Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement Partnership kicked-off on Monday 11 June 2018 and will last for 6 weeks, until 22 July. You can contribute to the draft actions from the Draft Action Plan. All the information and summaries in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian and Bulgarian are available online.

Climate Adaptation: Public Feedback launched on 22 June (25/06/2018)

The Public Feedback of the Partnership on Climate Adaptation was launched on 22 June 2018 and will last until 17 August 2018. This would be the unique opportunity for the public to contribute to the draft actions from the Draft Action Plan. You can read and contribute to the draft actions online.

Two new Partnerships are looking for members (29/05/2018)

The call for applications to become a member/coordinator of one of the two new Urban Agenda Partnerships, on Security in public spaces and on Culture and cultural heritage is open until the 15 July. All interested Member States, Partner States and Urban authorities, including regions, city consortiums and national city umbrella organisations can apply.

European Sustainability Award: Call for applications (25/06/2018)

In 2018 the European Commission launched the European Sustainability Award to reward inspiring cases of initiatives that are turning the global Sustainable Development Goals into concrete solutions and opportunities. For this year's edition, the theme of the award is “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. The competition is open to 4 stakeholder categories (Youth; Public bodies; Private bodies and Civil society). The deadline for applications is 14 September 2018.

European Week of Regions and Cities (04/07/2018)

This year, the 16th edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities will take place from 8 to 11 October 2018 in Brussels. Registration opens on the 4 July. During the week, representatives from the city and regional level will exchange good practices and know-how with experts and academics in the field of regional and urban development. Additionally, there is room for debates in relation to the development of EU Cohesion Policy, to underline the importance of regions and cities in urban policy making. Furthermore, there will be workshops and networking events.