2016: A year at URBACT « URBACT The blog

2016: A year at URBACT

By URBACT, on December 22nd, 2016

From many points of views 2016 has been a year full of surprises, deceptions and worries (see previous article by Eddy Adams), but at URBACT we like to look at what has been positive, strong, energising and happy too. And 2016 has been a long and fruitful year at URBACT!

In this short article, we propose to look back at a selection of activities that have been milestones for building up a more effective and stronger community of urban planners committed to delivering integrated urban development and in exclusivity… at its making off! Enjoy.

A Year in the URBACT Community:

January: Launch of the National URBACT Points
18 National URBACT Points are active in 20 countries of the programme. You can check out news and info in national languages on their pages on the URBACT website and find the contact person in each country.

May: Action Planning Networks go to Phase 2 of their work
20 Action Planning networks have gone to the next stage of common work after having completed their partnerships and their baseline studies (searchable in the URBACT Library). Moving on to the next steps! All networks have now their space on the website and regularly publish their interim results!

August: URBACT Summer University
The Summer University is a unique learning journey aiming at building the skills and capacities of urban professionals within the URBACT Programme. The experience helps URBACT cities to manage Local Groups and develop Integrated Action Plans. It also exposes the participants to leading policy and practice in their areas of interest.
Check out all material and results here

All photos of the USU are available on the URBACT Channel on FLICKR

October: Seven new Implementation networks were launched
All these projects had their Kick Off in early November in Paris. As their name suggests, they focus on The difficulties cities can face while implementing their strategies, you can find out more on the challenges of implementation here.

December: Launch of the Call for Good Practices
URBACT believes that your city has ‘hidden’ good practices which interest other European cities and they do not need to be any of the above. What is more, the opportunity to learn from peers and adapt and reuse tried and tested practices without reinventing the wheel is an attractive option when scarcity of resources is a daily discussion. Here you can read more on this Good Practice Call with a Difference !

A Year working in partnerships for URBACT: a few highlights!

Urban Agenda for the EU
On the 30th of May 2016 the Pact of Amsterdam was signed, then officially giving birth to the Urban Agenda for the EU and to the first 4 pilot partnerships on Air Quality on Housing, on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees and Urban Poverty. In 2017 four new partnerships will start :on Jobs and Skills in the Local Economy, on Circular Economy, on Digital Transition, and on Urban Mobility.
URBACT is participating to all partnerships, directly feeding them with its results and experience as well as suggesting cities in Europe that have developped interesting practices on these issues.

The Congress of European Municipalities and Regions is the largest gathering of local and regional governments in Europe. It is organised every four years and brings together hundreds of local and regional elected representatives, experts, European institution representatives and stakeholders to debate current topics, to exchange information and to discuss the best practices. URBACT was there is the nice April sun in Cyprus.

At the same time URBACT was present at the 8th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns under in the much colder weather of Bilbao.

But the highlight of the year was maybe the HABITAT III Conference in Quito, which takes place only 20 years! URBACT’s workshop on Making My City a Better Place to Live enthused some new collaborations between European and non European Cities, we’ll report on it soon!