International laws and conventions ignored After rescue procedures were arranged by the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center (MRCC) of Rome, the “Aquarius” boat (of SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders, with 629 people on board including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 other children and seven pregnant women) was prevented from disembarking in “a place of safety”. [...]
Welcoming Mayors Stand Up
Community mapping: when an app boosts urban regeneration
The city of Longford (IE) has developed an application - Longford Nua – which seeks to engage all citizens in the town in gathering and sharing memories and stories of the city, what citizens value about their town for the present days and ideas for the place in the future. Longford Nua is a community [...]
Intelligent air pollution meters and smart cameras
Take aways, inspirations and learning from URBACT by the city of Miskolc (HU) “Around 2010 an important paradigm-shift has taken place in the mind-set of city managers, policy makers and industry leaders. Cities realized that building sustainable systems needs to include industry and technology providers to a far greater extent than originally thought. At the [...]
Financing Cities – a view from the European Investment Bank
How can the European Investment Bank (EIB) support the financing of urban projects? What does a city need to do to access EIB finance? What is EFSI and what can it do to help a city fund both innovative actions and the development of infrastructure in its area? After twenty years working in cities and [...]
Democracy in America?
One of the first, and definitely most famous, observers of American democratic institutions saw in local government one of the key pillars to the newly established democratic system. Alexis de Tocqueville was impressed by New England townships’ degree of self-government. Today, almost two centuries after Tocqueville’s essay was published, it may be time to conclude [...]
Heritage of military sites in Szombathely (HU)
The URBACT MAPS (Military Assets as Public Spaces) project aims at enhancing former military heritage as key elements for sustainable urban strategies, combining both functional and social aspects. The goal of the project is reversing negative trends, highlighting the potentialities of this heritage, discussing, in broad circles, all potential uses. The Hungarian partner of the [...]
Pazin (HR) builds mutual trust by involving its citizens in passing the budget
Here is a story about a city which began involving its citizens in setting and passing the city budget, educated them about how the local government functions, and consequently built mutual trust between the citizens and their local government. It is a story about participatory budgeting, a process of democratic discussion and decision-making, which is [...]
People-powered services: myth or reality?
An article written in conversation with Eddy Adams. The challenge of citizen participation One of the things that city authorities continue to most struggle with is citizen participation. More than ten years after the Leipzig Charter, which set out the goal of participative integrated urban regeneration, the picture across Europe remains highly uneven. Happily though, [...]
World Urban Forum
The ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9) took place in Kuala Lumpur (MY) from Wednesday, 7 February, to Tuesday, 13 February 2018, on the theme “Cities 2030 – Cities For All: Implementing the New Urban Agenda.” The WUF takes place every two years as both a technical forum and an open and inclusive [...]
3 lessons on how to recycle water from Prato
A story of water from rainbow to recycled Imagine a rainbow river in your city. Every time you pass by its water can be green, deep crimson or dark blue. You might think it is an artistic performance or a militant statement. You might think it is an ingenious way for the Municipality to interact [...]
Authors
Alina Andreea Băileşteanu
Aidan Cerar
Alice Ferguson
Anna Leidreiter
Alison Partridge
Ania Rok
Aldo Vargas- ALL AUTHORS
