
This week is a celebration week since Croatia just joined the European Union. July 1st is of course was great date for Croatia to join. At the start of the summer the names of Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar are associated with a vision of sun, deep blue and shining sea.
But away from the idyllic representation of the coastline, and unfortunately, it is sure that some of them face the same type of issues than other European Cities. Croatian cities will therefore certainly welcome the opportunity offered by URBACT to share with others on issues such as jobs and growth, mobility, youth policy, social innovation for instance.
From URBACT they will also get some of the practical experience on new ways to make urban policy and to involve all stakeholders’ in urban policy making (with Local Support Groups for instance and during events such as the Summer University).
The next URBACT Programme is starting in 2014 and it will be open to Croatian cities. But there is already quite a lot out there from URBACT that can be shared in the meantime such as the recent thematic reports Cities of Tomorrow: Action Today dealing with the issues of Shrinking Cities, More Jobs, Supporting Urban Youth Through Social Innovation, Divided Cities, Mobility and Energy Efficiency. These reports include best practices examples and case studies from Milan (IT), Swindon (UK), Nantes (FR), Utrecht (NL) and also examples of policies led in Latvia, Ireland, South Moravia and many other places.
Welcome to Croatian cities!