OPENCities is now over half way through its 30 month duration.  Partners have attended three of the five planned workshops to investigate the themes and have been spreading the learning through various european networks. 

Cities are currently working on their Local Action Plans which will form the legacy of the project. 

City partners met in Poznan, Poland, on 15th - 16th June 2010 to discuss the third thematic paper.  Greg Clark, OPENCities thematic expert, presented key findings and international case studies. 

"Managing diversity, integration and inclusion in OPENCities" addresses issues which arise as a result of increasing openness. It focuses on how cities manage their diversity to avoid segregation and polarisation, encouraging integration & inclusion. 

The conference highlighted the fact that there are challenges in effectively managing diversity.  It also emphasised the business and economic imperative to develop and implement an effective agenda around diversity, integration and inclusion. At best, diversity is identified and communicated within and to the outside world as a real and tangible asset to the city.

Diversity can offer benefits in the labour pool, the creation of new markets, creativity and entrepreneurism, talent attraction and can attract international firms. There are common lessons for a city that wishes to be effective in managing diversity and promoting integration and inclusion.

The full paper, presentation and the conference report that accompanies the workshop are available on the dedicated opencities webpage www.urbact.eu/opencities.

Sofia will host OPENCities fourth thematic meeting in September 2010.

Sofia Municipality has produced its first draft of a local action plan which will shape how the city responds to migration in and out of the city. The Local Support Group has employed CERMES (the most prestigious academic centre on migration studies in the country) to lead the development of the local action plan. The first draft was presented in February 2010 with further development currently underway. A public consultation of the document will be held in early autumn 2010.

Nadia Nikolova who leads the team in Sofia took some time at the third meeting in Poznan to share her thoughts on the project so far and the benefits of being part of the network.

"We envisage that the OPENCities project will raise the cities capacity for dealing with diversity and integration. Such initiatives have until now been managed at a national level but the city of Sofia is now pioneering this work.  Partners such as Dublin, Dusseldorf and Belfast have been very useful in terms of the case studies that they have provided. Our vistis to Vienna have provided useful learning and been of great benefit in taking forward ideas for the local action plan."

"Being part of URBACT enables the city to learn from and share information across Europe. The OPENCities project has also informed us about international examples of best practice which compliment the European aspect. Being involved in such a network really allows us to feel European."

To find out more about the work of the Sofia Municipality visit their website: www.sofia.bg 
 

The Council of Europe is an organisation which seeks to develop common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals throughout Europe. Their Roma and Travellers Division are encouraging Europe’s member states to take a comprehensive approach to Roma issues by protecting minorities, combating racism, anti-gypsyism and intolerance and preventing social exclusion.

There are ten to twelve million Roma and Travellers in Europe making this issue important for many member states. For more information, visit the Council of Europe’s website and download the leaflet of the Roma and Travellers Division: http://www.coe.int

OPENCities has submitted a good practice case study to the Autumn issue of Inforegio Panorama, the Commission's quartely magazine on EU regional development. Titled ‘Towards Greater Social Inclusion: Regional Policy's Contribution’ the case study submitted comes from our partner city Vienna. "Start: Wien Integration Programme" is one of the key integration initiatives which has been in place since October 2008. The case study covers welcome policies, such as welcome and information packages as well as mother–tongue orientation meetings focused on the labour market. Vienna’s integration policy follows a clear concept based on transparent rules for immigration and integration. It focuses on a set of tailor-made integration measures for newly arrived immigrants and specific target groups such as women and youngsters.  For further information see http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/panora_en.htm

Whilst in Poznan in June, the host Wojciech Bauer was interviewed by local TV and radio stations about OPENCities and hosting the event.

UNESCO recently approached the British Council to write an article for their up and coming magazine on the OPENCities project.  Carolina Jimenez, Science and Society Team Manager for the British Council Madrid, wrote the piece for the UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency for human settlements which promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.  For

SEUPB, the organisation who manage structual funds in Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and parts of Western Scotland, will be featuring an update on the OPENCities project as part of their quartly newsletter, "Your EU - Summer 2010".  OPENCities has also been featured in Belfast City Councils "EU Review", a quarterly magazine for councillors, MEP's, Eurocities members and other european networks on projects and policies effecting Northern Ireland.

URBACT and the British Council have website pages dedicated to OPENCities.
On these sites you will find additional information and background to the project, events calendars, research documents and information about each of the partners.

www.urbact.eu/opencities
www.opencities.eu

Each partner also has an OPENCities page on their own city council website.