How can one gather eight cities in a kitchen and what would they cook?
This sounds as a bizarre question, but it is the starting point for the final product of the URBACT ESIMeC project, which focused on boosting sustainable economic growth in small and medium size cities.
ESIMeC gathers eight European cities: Albacete and Sabadell in Spain, Basingtoke and Deane in the UK, Besançon and Cherbourg in France, Bistrita in Romania, Debrecen in Hungary, and Gävle in Sweden.
Together, as Europeans often do, they decided to cook. They elaborated eight common recipes, which themselves and other cities can use as tools to boost economic development through various methods:
- Effective partnership working: 1st recipe;
- Stimulating workforce development: 2nd recipe (triple helix co-operation in workforce development);
- Developing green growth and jobs: 3rd recipe;
- Preparing young people for the world of work: 4th recipe;
- Position well medium-sized cities using marketing: 5th recipe;
- Create cultural and creative growth and jobs: 6th recipe;
- Develop integrated approaches to workforce and economic development: 7th recipe;
- Forecast skills at city level: 8th recipe.
If after reading this post and recipes you’re still hungry for more, you’re welcome to Come and Dine with ESIMeC during its Final Conference on the 7th of November in Brussels.
Ségolène Pruvot
