About the URBACT Programme

 

URBACT aims to foster integrated urban development in Europe by supporting networks of cities and towns to exchange good practices and ideas. This webpage aims to share information, news and articles about URBACT, especially to its Irish audience.

Following the URBACT call for Good Practices in quarter 2, 2024, three Irish local authorities were awarded the Good Practice Label: Cork City Council, Dublin City Council and Limerick City and County Council. Each of these will participate in the upcoming URBACT City Festival in Wroclaw, Poland between the 8th and 10th of April 2025. See the banner to the right! You can read more about what a City Festival entails. Here is a link to the registration page too. 

The first URBACT IV call for Action Planning Networks (APNs) closed on the 31st of March 2023 with 30 new APNs confirmed by the Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) at the end of May. Irish local authorities were announced as being party to seven of these 30, officially beginning their URBACT Action Planning journey on June 1st 2023. On the 28th of June, the PMC announced 10 new Innovation Transfer Networks. Irish partners are party to two of these, meaning nine active URBACT projects are in operation in Ireland. The partners include Clare County Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, Limerick City and County Council, Longford County Council, Meath County Council, Sligo County Council, Sandyford Business Improvement District, and Sligo Business Improvement District.

There are other calls envisaged during 2025 and 2026, including one on URBACT Transfer Networks in 2025, and a further URBACT APN call is envisaged in 2026. See the Operational Programme for information on the URBACT IV programming period!

The URBACT website more generally offers a plethora of interesting supports to help you explore the potential for integrated and participatory actions in your town or city, none more so than the URBACT Toolbox. Lots of valuable gadgets and tricks are also available there to assist you in tackling urban challenges in your locality, including guidance, tools, templates, prompts, explainers and much much more! 

 

City Festival
  • News
    City Festival

    The URBACT City Festival 2025-a showcase of 116 Good Practices from around Europe!

    Between the 8th and 10th of April 2025, the URBACT Secretariat will host an exciting City Festival in the beautiful city of Wroclaw in Poland. The

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    Karl Murphy

  • News
    Campus preview

    The URBACT National Campus comes to Balbriggan!

    Recently our seven URBACT Action Planning Network (APN) partners in Ireland visited Balbriggan (November 5 and 6) to participate in the URBACT

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    Karl Murphy

  • News
    EU City Lab on Energy Transition in Viladecans

    Upcoming EU City Lab on Energy Transition!

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    Karl Murphy

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  • EU City Lab #3 on food-your chance to register!

     

    Knowledge capitalization is an important objective of the URBACT Programme. EU City Labs are key to this, seeing the sharing of knowledge on an URBACT/European Urban Initiative (EUI) Good Practice and how these learnings have been transferred to and adapted by other localities around Europe. Below is an overview of one such Lab coming up next month

     

    You can join the URBACT Secretariat in the city of Milan between 23rd and 24th October to learn about how cities leverage for more sustainable local food systems by discovering different strategies around using land. This is Lab #3 (and the last) in the series on Local Food Systems and will provide a great opportunity to discuss, share knowledge and engage in group activities and thematic sessions. Representatives from Ireland have participated in previous Labs in the series. The trip will allow participants to visit cities in Milan and learn from locals about land use and food sustainability across the city, citizen engagement actions and learning communities. All the above as well as the opportunity to mix with urban policy experts alongside city practitioners in this Food sphere means you can bring home to Ireland inspiring lessons and the necessary tools to meaningfully help impact your town or city.

     

    Register here!

     

    You can learn more below about earlier Labs in this series:

     

    - The EU City Lab #1 on Changing Habits for a Healthy and Sustainable Food System  occurred in Mouans-Sartoux, France, between 21st and 22nd of March 2024.

     

     - The EU City Lab #2 on Public Procurement for More Local, Seasonal and Sustainable Food  occurred in Liège, Belgium, between 29th and 30th May 2024.

     

    Karl Murphy

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  • Tras el comité de seguimiento de URBACT IV del 31 de mayo, se aprobaron las nuevas redes APN.

    Ireland's 6 new Action Planning Networks 2023

     
    30 new Action Planning Networks announced with Irish local authorities as partners in six!

    Karl Murphy

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  • URBACT banner "Drive Change for Better Cities"

    The URBACT Summer University-lots of learning and new insights!

    Karl Murphy

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Good Practices and Networks

  • In4Green

    In4Green is a collaborative network of industrial cities from across Europe with a shared commitment: to lead transformative change within European industry and

  • ECONNECTING

    ECONNECTING focuses on sustainable urban-rural mobility solutions within the 30-minute territory. Our mission is to advocate inclusive, digital, and ecological

  • U.R. Impact

    U.R. Impact focuses on addressing a key policy challenge: to develop effective strategies for empowering local communities during processes of urban