Based on the URBACT University, this article shows how the URBACT method and tools can help cities define problems and visualise ambitions to start any action-planning process.
Interested by the tools your city can use for integrated and participative action-planning? Go to the URBACT Toolbox - Planning Actions.
Curious about how the other days of the URBACT University were like? Read all about the first and second days of the event.
Puzzled as to how your city can take a more integrated approach? Check out URBACT’s Knowledge Hub on the renewal of the Leipzig Charter and integration.
A vital aspect to any action-planning journey is the development of coherent and well described actions that are framed by the policy challenge facing the city. As a matter of fact, it’s the most time-consuming part of the process for any municipality that is willing to pilot actions and operationalise them in the long run. This is no exception for URBACT cities. As the Integrated Action Plans study, which was conducted in 2022, points out municipalities can only benefit from a document that sets out coherently why, when, how and by whom a policy challenge associated with urban development can be addressed.
The recording of actions is the straightforward bit
Particularly for the new round of Action Planning Networks, whose cities’ core focus is to co-develop Integrated Action Plans with their respective URBACT Local Groups, the stage of developing actions is the one that stakeholders will spend most time upon, will have the most fun with, will engage with most people on, and will face the greatest scrutiny upon from their transnational and local peers. But, what do good actions look like, how are they developed, and how can they be recorded?
Leveraging on the URBACT tools
As a part of the Toolbox, the programme seized the occasion of the URBACT University 2023, which took place in Malmö (SE) from 28-30 August, to launch a new tool. The Action Planning Canvas enables any city to record progress of their action planning-journey, while highlighting details and key information. Composed by four inter-linked sections, the Action Planning Network's cities experimented this tool to gather content for their Integrated Action Plans on the last day of the event.
The first section sets out the local context, needs and shared vision, all things that have been explored by the participants of the University during the first day of the event. The second section sets out the overarching logic framework, as well its link to an integrated approach. The las two remaining sections, aim at setting out further detail of specific activities and an implementation framework for any integrated action plan.
What do good actions look like?
Whilst the Action Planning Canvas is a key tool in recording the findings of the action-planning cycle, it can also be used as a mechanism to inform the creation of actions. There are five key factors that cities should consider when creating actions and to make them logical, coherent and good.
For starters, the actions should be framed by a clear and concise presentation of the problem and context. This could be a presentation in the Canvas, using the Problem Tree tool as a reference or it could be another visual representation of the context and focus of the project, such as this example from Razlog (BG) from the IoTXchange network. In the example below, it clearly details how the key considerations or problems facing Razlog around technological change have informed the focus areas for the city's Integrated Action Plan.
Second, the actions should be framed by a clear and coherent intervention logic. Below, the problems identified previously should flow into a clear overarching vision and a set of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound) strategic objectives. These set out clearly what the city is looking to achieve. Again, using the example of Razlog, there is a clear link between vision, focus areas and strategic objectives:
Then, the actions should be reflective of URBACT’s integrated approach. Cities should be asking themselves (amongst other things) whether the actions will address economic, social and environmental challenges; whether they are reflective of URBACT’s three cross-cutting themes of gender, digital, and green; and whether they apply at all spatial levels of neighbourhood, municipality, region. Fundão (PT) from the SIBdev network have a really interesting way of demonstrating visually their integrated approach and link their overarching objectives to stakeholders to key sectors, and then to their actions:
Following these steps, the actions themselves should be presented in a clear, succinct and structured way. From previous experience, URBACT cities will generally detail three types of actions: there will be practical and project-actions, such as the hosting of events or the installation of new street signs; there will be process-actions, such as developing the capacity of social enterprises to bid for procurement opportunities or developing new technological systems; and there will be cultural change-led actions, as the development of Citizen Panels.
La Rochelle (FR) from the Genderedlandscape network provides a good example of an Integrated Action Plan, which presents each action on one page, using the principles of the Canvas as the basis. The action of hosting a Workplace Gender Balance Webinar is well described and is accompanied by information about the format of the webinar, who the webinar will be provided by, and the key stakeholders that the webinar will be targeted at. It also includes wider information around the action owner, the finances needed to deliver the action and risks to implementation, as the image to the left illustrates.
Similarly, the city of Fundão presents a clear description of an action focused upon developing a transport on demand system that seeks to link the elderly population to wider services in the city. This is accompanied by expected results, potential resources and responsible organisations and wider stakeholders.
At last, each action should be accompanied by an indicator that enables a city to measure progress in the future. Indicators can either be quantitative – a number or percentage, or qualitative and change in perception or process. At the URBACT University, the GenProcure network used the Action Planning Canvas to create a specific action around supporting female-owned enterprises to access training to access procurement opportunities, with an accompanying indicator of % increase in female-owned enterprise delivering procurement contracts.
Developing actions
There are a number of tools that a city can use to develop their local actions in an integrated way, these can include:
OPERA is a technique used for brainstorming within a multi-stakeholder group, like the URBACT Local Group, where members think of their own ideas, then discuss in pairs, then explain their ideas to the wider group, before ranking the most important, and finally arranging in order of potential delivery.
Exploration and inspiring walks is a technique used to create new and inspirational ideas – most often undertaken on physical projects, it can be an informal way of recognising something that has not been thought of before.
Lego and Playmobil can be used as a way of modelling out what neighbourhoods could look like in the future and a way of including stakeholders of all ages in action planning.
Forecasting is a technique used to look into the future and think in a both quantitative and qualitative way of what the problem may look like in 10 or 20 years time, for example.
Implementation Labs are often used once objectives and actions have been created and a way of exploring who should be involved in delivering them, funding them, and monitoring them.
Final thoughts
The Action Planning Canvas is a really helpful and straightforward to use tool, for the Action Planning Network's cities but also beyond. It will can help cities and networks to start to think logically about local Integrated Action Plans, to present succinctly the outcomes of exercises undertaken to identify problems and stakeholders, and to link together the different stages of the action-planning cycle. As cities start to develop their actions, it will also be helpful in identifying and prioritising specific actions for testing, and in then developing implementation plans.
Every year on 8 March, International Women’s Day reminds us the progress yet to be made for gender equality at international, national, local and individual levels.
To support this fight, URBACT has funded several city networks working on gender equality for which tools, guidance and inspirational examples are captured in the Gender Equal Cities URBACT Knowledge Hub. The current open call for Action Planning Networks is a unique opportunity for cities to join forces when it comes to this matter, no matter which urban topic they choose to tackle. From mobility to digital transition and even green jobs, any local policy will be more successful and sustainable if the gender dimension is taken into account.
Get a taste of 10 stories when it comes to a just transition. Whether you are applying to join an URBACT Network or not, read on – and take a trip down memory lane – to get some inspiration of what can be done for more gender equal cities.
Umeå (SE) A gendered landscape
Umeå is definitely a city that holds gender equality close to its heart. Besides having a municipal Gender Equality Officer working across different departments, the city has long been involved with URBACT when it comes to this subject. Back in 2011, the municipality joined the WEED Action Planning Network (2008 - 2011) as a Project Partner and, later on, became the Lead Partner of the Genderedlandscape Action Planning Network (2019 - 2022) with the objective to further work on this issue with other EU cities. The city has greatly contributed to both versions of the Gender Equal Cities report (2019 and 2022), both developed under URBACT Knowledge Hub activities. For now, let’s take a closer look at another accomplishment from this city: back in 2017, Umeå received the URBACT Good Practice label for providing guided bus tours to show “the local gendered landscape”.
This is an innovative way of showing how working with gender equality takes form in a city. It exemplifies successful changes and work in the city, as well as illuminating remaining issues. In line with Umeå’s high ambitions on sustainability and gender equality, the gendered landscape method is the first of its kind in Europe. It’s not about traditional neighbourhood safety or security surveys, it’s about taking the city itself as the starting point, highlighting gendered power structures and how they can be understood and transformed, while educating and raising awareness of locals. There are several examples of how the initiatives of the bus tour have made an impact in the planning and development of the city. For example, the Umeå’s Street and Parks department permanently changed their methods for dialogues with citizens and gender-mainstreamed the content of steering documents. Another example is the monitoring done by the culture sector, which has observed a positive trend towards gender equality. For instance, in 2015 there were 45% women (out of 2 000 events) were main performers in the cultural stages in Umeå, a big increase in comparison to previous years.
Celje (SI) A pioneering city for women's employment
Under the tagline “Women, Enterprise and Employment in Local Development”, the WEED Action Planning Network (2008 - 2011) was URBACT's first gender-led funded project ever. Ahead of its time, it aimed at mapping and developing integrated local actions to improve women’s labour opportunities in 11 EU cities. Led by the municipality of Celje, its Local Integrated Action Plan was focused in the identification of service gaps – alongside the focus on women’s employment – proved to be an effective way to attract significant fund opportunities. Based on an initial analysis of the local households, unemployed women were the ones who lacked the most training and access to jobs and skills’ resources. That’s how the idea for a Centre for Information, Consultancy and Education came up. The proposal consisted of creating an educational programme that could support women and enable them to even work in the centre later, if they wished to. By the time the WEED Network was coming to an end, 300 000 EUR from the European Social Fund had been secured for the centre. Most recently, the city has taken part in the Genderedlandscape Network as Project Partner.
Vienna (AT) A gender equal city
Street lights in Vienna (URBACT, 2022)
The city of Vienna is an example that is showcased in both editions of the Gender Equal Cities report (2019 and 2022) and in the Gender-responsive Public Procurement module (2022). The city also hosted twice URBACT Knowledge Hub workshops, notably the one in 2018. In this occasion, the first policy report was conceptualised. Moreover, the city represented URBACT during an interactive workshop in the 11th World Urban Forum 2022, in Katowice (PL). It also took part in the sub>urban Action Planning Network (2015 - 2018) to rethink the fringes of its urban area. The city is a pioneer when it comes to gender mainstreaming in urban planning. It has one of the longest legacies of gender-sensitive planning with the Women’s Office opening in 1992 and the gender mainstreaming – which means the implementation of gender as a cross sectional issue – starting in 2005.
Today there are gender experts and multipliers all over the city. Gender is integrated into the city’s strategies and all public space, that is designed and built by the municipality, is done so with gender in mind. The outcome is an urban landscape that benefits everyone: parks are lit effectively to provide safety and access, social housing is architecturally designed with flexibility for different family situations, pavements are wider for parents and the elderly, street crossings are longer and pedestrians are prioritised, among other interventions. In addition, the municipality counts with Gender Budgeting Unit, which works with the finance team to oversee the annual budget across all departments using citywide data. As a frontrunner, the city is keen to share its experience with other cities across the world. It has published guides providing practical advice, offering explicit tools and tips, including gender-sensitive language, data collection and advice on how to avoid gender-mainstreaming becoming a catch-all buzzword.
Trikala (EL) Piloting childcare support
The municipality of Trikala has been involved in a series of URBACT Networks, but in 2019 it joined its first gender-led project, the Genderedlandscape Action Planning Network (2019 - 2022). Led by the city of Umeå, this was the perfect occasion for the municipality of Trikala to strengthen and support the delivery of Greece’s National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2021 - 2025 (NAPGE). Prior to this experience, the city had already signed the CEMR European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life. In May 2020, a municipal gender committee was established to advise public departments. Trikala was able to experiment with different activities, which were developed under the Genderedlandscape small scale actions. A successful experience was the creation of areas within municipal cultural centre and other facilities dedicated to childcare. Henceforth, women and men have a safe space in the heart of the city for breastfeeding or feeding their babies and children, changing diapers, playing and even resting. This story has been showcased in the latest version of the Gender Equal Cities report.
Val-de-Marne (FR) Welcoming and integrating female migrants
In September 2015, European cities witnessed the largest migration flow since the World War II. Around the same time, the ARRIVAL CITIES Action Planning Network(2015 - 2018) had just been approved. The cities involved in this network came together to stand against a backcloth of rising discrimination and prejudice against immigrants, with the objective to ensure social cohesion and the migrants’ integration. Val-de-Marne (FR) was one of the cities that joined this fight for immigrants’ rights. But contrary to the majority of its peers and other French cities, Val-de-Marne saw a particular rise on the number of women’s migrants. Despite the fact that women immigrants counted for more than 51% of the total immigrants in Val de Marne, they were considered as a minority. It’s worth mentioning that 20% of the people permanently living in the county of Val-de-Marne were born outside of French territory, a rate 18% higher when in comparison to the average in the Parisian region.
The issue of social, territorial and gender inequalities have long been at the heart of political and civic commitments in Val-de-Marne. The ARRIVAL CITIES Network was the perfect occasion to further support the emancipation and empowerment of the migrant population. The main challenge when it came to integration and gender equality was the significant professional deskilling. The participation of this city in this URBACT Network has strengthened partnerships with different associations, including the support to the Internship and Training Programme for Women, meaning women could start the process of job integration from the moment they set foot in France. In addition, the Local Integrated Action Plan set out a series of activities for civil society capacity-building and participation, including a Kurdish Women’s Festival that was held in 2017 in partnership of a series of NGOs.
Gdańsk (PL) Women in blue entrepreneurship
The municipality of Gdańsk has taken part in countless URBACT Networks. Unsurprisingly, the city is also one of the key case studies that are showcased in the latest version of the Gender Equal Cities report. The municipality has developed an app to feature the changing role of women’s employment in its famous Shipyard, simulating experiences from 1945 to 1996 with photos, biographies and audio material. It also used archives and other records, including extracts from a documentary that was shot in 1968. The objective was to give a voice to women’s from the past, telling their everyday working experiences, while encouraging girls and women to reflect on their career development. It’s worth mentioning that the city is a Project Partner in the BluAct Second Wave Transfer Network (2021 - 2023) draws lessons from its previous edition, the BluAct Transfer Network(2018 - 2021). This time around, a big emphasis was put on how blue economy entrepreneurship could help achieving gender equality.
Pordenone (IT) The city of the future?
Following the success of the Playful Paradigm Transfer Network(2018 – 2021), a spin off network was approved: the Playful Paradigm Second Wave(2021 - 2023). While the first experience focused on gamification, public spaces and using “play” as a tool to re-think cities, the second time around allowed involved cities to look deeper at placemaking and building gender-sensitive places. During one of its meetings, this network decided to focus on the topic of “play for sustainable urban regeneration”, which resulted in a Gender Toolkit. Among the case studies, the city of Pordenone (IT) was showcased. This is a forward-thinking municipality that is always on the lookout of innovation – hence its involvement with the SibDev Action Planning Network(2019 - 2022). The story of how they used immersive techniques to explore gender and urban planning is also told in the most recent version of the Gender Equal Cities report. In Italy, women make up more than half of the national population, still they continue to live, move and work in urban contexts that were historically designed and coded by men. The gender gaps in participation and planning highlight persistent structural inequalities.
The city of Pordenone sought to develop a participative format that could be applied in medium-sized cities to encourage the collective conceptualisation of how the future of the city might be. Their core question was: can we envision a better future from a gendered perspective? Their main goal in this process was to raise awareness among the population of the city and embed gender mainstreaming in planning and policy in the city. The city chose strategic areas to focus – work, intergenerationality, time and spaces – and designed a treasure hunt through the city based on Live Action Role Play (LARP). A path was established, which included stops at schools, supermarkets, public buildings, the cinema etc. Female participants were instructed to answer questions at each stop and find an object from the past and the future. The next point in the path resulted from their answers and choices. The goal was to facilitate a new vision among the participants by disrupting usual scenarios and offering a new perspective on familiar spaces.
Cesis (LV) Girls' school coding clubs
La Rochelle hackaton (URBACT, 2022)
Up until today, the lack of girls and young women specialised in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in school and universities is undeniable. Taking part in the TechTown Action Planning Network(2015 - 2018) to build more digital cities, the city of Cesis has quickly noticed this structural issue. The school curriculum is normally fully dedicated to other priority topics and cities, themselves, have little or no ability to influence children’s preferences. However, there are often possibilities to “hack” the programme. For instance, the municipality can suggest schools to add extra-curricular activities: coding clubs or “lunch and learns” – which target girls and provide strong female role models in STEM jobs.
The Cesis branch of the Riga Technical University has created additional activities for students aged 12 - 19 and lego robotics classes the in Cesis Children and Youth centre. Even short interventions can make a big difference. Throughout its action-planning journey, inspiration was drawn from the LearnIT.lv in Latvia. This experiment showed that after only a two-hour workshop on STEM subjects, girls’ interest in studying coding switched from 2% to 13%. It’s also worth mentioning, that this is still a very current challenge. More recently, in the framework of the Genderedlandscape Action Planning Network (2019 - 2022), the city of La Rochelle (FR) – which is known for its heavy nautical and industrial sectors, with a vast majority of male workers – has developed a series of hackathons for school children and, more specifically, girls.
Basque Country (ES) Gender and regional law
Although not an URBACT beneficiary per se, the Basque Country is not a “new face” to the URBACT community. Besides being showcased in both versions of the Gender Equal Cities report – brining to light matters from guidance to women who are elected officials to education to end gender-based-violence – a speaker from Emakunde (the Basque Institute for Women) was invited to take the floor during a plenary session “How gender equality creates sustainable cities”, during the URBACT City Festival in Pantin – Greater Paris. More recently, the city was showcased alongside Vienna as a key example for Gender-responsive Public Procurement. This new module of URBACT’s Online Course on Strategic Public Procurement was done in partnership with the Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).
In 1999, gender equality was first incorporated into regional law in the Basque Country. Since then Emakunde has worked alongside the Association of Basque Municipalities (EUDEL) to incorporate gender considerations into public policies and procedures, including into procurement. This collaborative approach has created enabling conditions, built capacity and supported local level actions. As a result, according to the latest available data, in 2020, 87% of public procurement included at least one gender equality clause. That is up from 67% in 2015, 42% in 2010 and 11% in 2005. A concrete example is from Artziniega, a small Basque town, where the municipality contracted daycare services for elderly people in 2021 including specific criteria in the tender related to equal opportunities for women and men. To find out more about this experience, check out the URBACT Gender-responsive Public Procurement modules.
Future Action Planning Networks' cities What URBACT IV holds for beneficiaries
URBACT is committed to improving gender mainstreaming in all programme activities: in EU responses to urban challenges and in the planning processes of all URBACT cities. Unsurprisingly, gender is among the three crosscutting priorities for this programming period (2021 - 2027) – alongside the green and the digital themes. This doesn’t mean that, from now on, all URBACT Networks will exclusively work around these topics. On the contrary, the programme welcomes a bottom up approach where eligible cities can choose to tackle different urban challenges that are common to projects partners and which are fit to the local needs. Henceforth, gender should be considered as an underlying matter, from which solutions can be drawn to hindering issues. As the Cooperation Programme states:
“Although URBACT operates a ‘bottom up’ principle to allow cities to identify their own challenges, the horizontal principles (EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, gender equality, non- discrimination, sustainable development, accessibility) outlined in Article 9 Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 will be addressed by all networks as part of the assessment criteria for selecting projects. The ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the networks will aim to highlight good practice in these areas. Specific training on gender equality, digital transition and climate action will be compulsory for all networks. (…) URBACT IV will increase the capacity building offer linked to digital, green and gender as cross-cutting elements for all networks and activities of the programme. (…) As part of the URBACT Knowledge Hub, thematic activities will allow cities to meet and exchange on topics cutting across URBACT networks, including green, digital and gender-inclusive’’.
With the current open call for networks, you can already see some hints in the Partner Search Tool as to how cities plan to incorporate the equality spectrum to their proposals. At last, following the example from WEED and Genderedlandscape, some cities might see the potential of focusing their efforts directly in the core of this subject. This is the case of at least four project ideas and, maybe, many more that are not published online. The open call for Action Planning Networks remains open until the end of March and the URBACT team looks forward to seeing what comes next.
After reading these 10 examples, we trust that you will be as inspired and galvanised as much as we are to continue fighting for true and concrete gender-led action across European cities, ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion to all.
To find out more about Gender Equal Cities, be sure to check the URBACT Knowledge Hub!
Devoted to discovering Tailored and Innovative Logistic Solutions (TAILS) for the successful management of freight, this Action Planning network aimed on rethinking how freight can shape almost every aspect of our urban lives. The air we breathe, the noise we hear, the traffic we experience, the productiveness of our cities’ businesses, the quality of our surroundings and the liveability of our neighbourhoods. Everything can relate to a single question: how can we make freight transport more effective in cities?
Tailored approaches for innovative logistic solutions
Gender equality is a fundamental goal of EU policy. Unfortunately, many urban policies, services, and physical developments still do not take gender into account, despite the fact that men and women use the city and its structures differently. Genderedlandscape is the Action Planning network that sought to create an understanding of the city as a place where gendered power structures are always present and develop locally contextualised tools and approaches to work towards gender equality in urban policies, planning, and services.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all". But implementing the SDGs is a major challenge, requiring new ways of working for governments at all levels.
Cities and municipalities are key actors in this context – not as “mere implementers” of a global agenda set elsewhere, but providing a unique scale at which to tackle global challenges from the bottom up. Their task is to ‘localise’ the SDGs – taking these global objectives and turning them into a local reality.
But how do you localise the SDGs in practice? This is the key question for Global Goals for Cities – a new pilot network launched by URBACT in collaboration with the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR); with Tallinn (EE) as the Lead Partner.
“As cities, we have it within our reach to make our future more resilient and sustainable, and better I believe. It is vital to protect our nature and fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.”
Mihhail Kõlvart, Mayor of Tallinn (EE)
In this article, I set out why localisation of the SDGs is so important, why an URBACT network of cities is well-adapted to addressing the challenges this poses for cities, and what we hope to achieve over the next year and a half of working together. I encourage you to follow us on our journey!
Localising the SDGs – a complex but potentially rewarding challenge for cities
In 2015, cities were officially placed at the heart of the 2030 Agenda through SDG11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. But beyond this, organisations like the OECD and UCLG commonly point out that around 65% of the SDGs’ 169 targets will not be reached without the active involvement and contribution by local and regional governments. There is thus lots to think about in terms of what local governments need to know about the SDGs.
The important role of cities and local governments in achieving the SDGs was also recently highlighted by Ricardo Rio,European Committee of the Regions (CoR) rapporteurand Mayor of the Global Goals for Cities network partner Braga (PT) – stressing the need to put the SDGs back at the heart of the EU narrative for sustainable recovery and climate action.
Lead Partner city Tallinn (EE) aims to be a green and global city. The city has put strong emphasis on building policy coherence into their main strategy Tallinn 2035. Photo credit: Tiina Erik
Localising the SDGs is a demanding task which implies new ways of working for national governments and local authorities alike.
Notably, achieving them is going to require:
a shared understanding of key challenges and trade-offs between goals and targets when setting the local SDGs agenda;
significant ambition on the part of both national and local governments, aiming at transformative actions;
cross-departmental collaboration and alignment across government levels to achieve policy coherence;
meaningful engagement of multiple stakeholders in the co-creation of a shared vision and local integrated action plans;
well-informed citizens andan active civil society to hold their local governments accountable and be able to contribute to achieving long-term goals.
In other words, localising the SDGs will mean breaking away from the status quo, making the 2030 Agenda a shared and transformative mission cutting across the political spectrum and sectors of society.
Why an URBACT network on localising the SDGs?
Given the above considerations, addressing the challenges of localising the SDGs fits well with the URBACT Method, which emphasises integrated approaches to sustainable urban development based on local stakeholder engagement and participation. The steps of the action planning process proposed in the URBACT Toolbox can provide a valuable guide here, as well as the (Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities) RFSC online toolproposed by CEMR, which provide step-by-step guidance for analysing the current situation and defining actions to address the SDGs at the local level.
Building capacity for SDG localisation –from working across departments to engaging local stakeholders and experimenting with local actions – was the driving idea behind the creation of the URBACT ‘Global Goals for Cities’ network, where 19 cities from 19 European countries will work on translating the global 2030 Agenda and SDGs into their local realities in the run-up to 2030. Launched in March 2021, the network will run until the end of 2022, and is likely to bring lots of new insights to the field of SDG localisation from a highly diverse range of urban partners.
Tim Kurzbach, Lord Mayor of Solingen (DE), talking to a group of protesters from the Fridays for the Future movement.
Photo credit: Daniela Tobias
When asked about what they would be most interested to learn about with regards to SDGs localisation, the three top themes were: i. stakeholder engagement and awareness-raising; ii. new governance models, and iii. local indicators to monitor progress towards the SDGs. This is not surprising, considering the whole-of-society approach needed to address the 2030 Agenda, while making sure we are on the right track. In the remainder of this article, I briefly touch upon each of those priority areas, to give a teaser for what is coming up over the next months.
New ways to engage with local stakeholders
Stakeholder engagement and awareness raising will be central to mobilising wide support for the SDGs in the partner cities. “We want our citizens to talk about the SDGs like they talk about the weather,” said Cllr. David Gilroy, Chairperson of the Meath County Council (IE) when we met virtually during our network 'Roadshow' in May. “That’s how we’ll know we’ve been successful in our efforts to raise awareness and create lasting change in our community.”
City officials in Trim (IE) raising awareness on the SDGs during the pandemic.
Photo credit: Alan Owens
Yet, the pandemic has made this work even more challenging. City officials have had to quickly pivot and learn how to engage with stakeholders online. Examples of both on- and offline initiatives among network partners include online campaigns like “Christmas SDGs” in Trim (IE), the organisation of a youth “SDGs Hackathon” in Klaipeda (LT) and plans to organise a “Transition Night” in Mouscron (BE). In the next network meeting on 28-29 September 2021, these three cities will join forces to lead the network’s peer learning around awareness raising and citizen engagement.
"One of the key challenges is to explain how the SDGs are relevant to people’s everyday lives. Being part of the network will help us learn from other cities on how they approach stakeholder engagement and awareness raising."
Kamen Dimitrov, local coordinator, Veliki Preslav (BG)
Localising the SDGs as an ‘indivisible whole’ – time to experiment!
One of the core principles of the 2030 Agenda is the interconnectedness and indivisibility of the SDGs. In other words, the goals are not for ‘cherry-picking’ but make up a holistic framework for transformative action.
In their ‘Zero Carbon Territory’ project, there are many considerations to be done to balance the development of the Urban Community of Rochelle (FR) in a sustainable manner. The SDGs help to bring a holistic vision for the territory.
Photo credit: Frédéric Le Lan
This is also one of the real virtues of using the SDGs framework, as highlighted in the 2020 Sustainable Development report by La Rochelle, the main municipality of the network partner La Rochelle Urban Community, (FR): “It is precisely one of the virtues of the SDGs: to show these salient points and interconnections between all the goals. They also help to realise the closeness between some of them, and the common direction of our efforts”. That is why, when implementing its ambitious ‘Zero Carbon Territory’ project, La Rochelle Urban Community wishes to use the SDGs to bring the holistic perspective.
In Solingen (DE), another network partner, localising the SDGs has meant a new way of working for the municipality. Since the adoption of its Sustainability Strategy in 2018, all City Council decisions must now “pass the test” on whether and how they contribute to the city’s strategic goals, which are contextually linked to the SDGs.
Investing in a systemic approach to the SDGs can indeed provide competitive advantage for cities, as pointed out by Anna Lisa Boni, Secretary General of EUROCITIES, during the 4th OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs. Madrid is an example of a city that has already started working with the SDGs in a systemic and participatory way, which now helps the city to push for its Covid-19 recovery priorities in alignment with the national government’s recovery plan, as well as with EU agendas and programming.
How will we know if we are on the right track?
Stakeholder engagement and governance models aside, perhaps the most important aspect of SDG localisation is to “walk the talk”.
As Keli Yen, the URBACT Local Group coordinator from Gävle (SE) recently put it: “If we want to confidently claim that we are making good progress on the SDGs, then we need to know both: 1) that we are moving in the right direction; and 2) how much distance remains to reach the goal.” So how can we do this in practice?
This is a complex issue that has exercised minds in some of the leading knowledge organisations concerned, such as the UN SDSN, the EC Joint Research Centre, the OECD, and UN Habitat. Challenges include how to set relevant and realistic targets for cities – matching the global aspirations of the SDGs – and to find indicators that are measurable at local level. With the support of external ad hoc expertise, the network partners will explore these issues head on as part of the planning process.
When it comes to target setting, this is a both political and scientific matter – and not without some controversy. Key principles to follow include the need to be locally relevant, ambitious enough and – as famously espoused by Greta Thunberg – to “listen to the science”. For example, research from the Stockholm Resilience Centre set out the need (in 2018) to halve emissions every decade starting from 2020 – a target which is far being from on track in 2021.
To showcase commitment and progress, a growing number of cities actively working on the SDGs are carrying out so-called Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), which reports on actions taken to reach the SDGs. In the kick-off survey for the network, 17 out of the 19 cities ranked VLRs amongst their four highest choices for what they want to learn about during the life of the network.
Whether or not we will see any VLRs materialise during the life of the network, the future targets and actions defined by the partners of the Global Goals for Cities network offer a chance to push for an ambitious agenda across government levels… and with less than nine years until 2030, we have no time to waste!
Senioral policy in Dzierżoniów and the goals of sustainable development
The Sustainable Development Goals have been defined by the United Nations (UN) in the document Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This document lists 17 Sustainable Development Goals and related activities that are planned to be achieved by UN member states. The goals are achieved not only at the government level - the sectors of science, business, non-governmental organizations and ordinary citizens also have a great influence.
From Vision to Transformative Actions for the SDGs: co-creation of integrated actions in Manresa
Around one hour and a half from Barcelona by train, in a hilly area of the Bages county, is Manresa - a small-sized city with around 78 000 inhabitants - one of several partners of similar size in the Global Goals for Cities network. On 21 April, I had the chance to stop by and attend one of Manresa’s URBACT Local Group (ULG) meetings organised by the local coordination team. Here, I share a few highlights of how the ULG and the participatory process is helping to shape the priorities of the Manresa 2030 Agenda and the integrated action plan that is currently in the making.
A very nice and colorful short movie showcasing our three full workdays in Gävle.
#TransnationalMeeting7 Authors: partners from Mouscron, Christophe Deneve.
The city of Reggio Emilia (Italy) was the co-host of the 7th Transnational Meeting, which was held between 23-25 May 2022 in Sweden, along with the cities of Gävle (Sweden) and Dzierżoniów (Poland).
A short video of our first physical meeting in Solingen, Germany.
The meeting was dedicated to the next phase of action planning and implementation on governance, partnerships, and policy coherence levels.
Together with the cities of Tallinn and Heraklion the TM#6 was hosted by Solingen and was held from April, 6 to April, 8 in the Theater and Concert Hall in Solingen. After one year of work in the GG4C project participants from 14 different countries took the chance to meet in person.
The city of Heraklion was the co-host of the 6th Transnational Meeting which was held between 5-8 April 2022 in Solingen, Germany along with Solingen and Tallinn.
Gävle and the other 18 cities (from 19 countries) of the EU URBACT pilot network ”Global Goals in Cities” (GG4C) are already one year into the 20 months project on localising the SDGs.
Just halfway towards our goals following the marked route, the AGRI-URBAN Network (URBACT III Programme) held a transnational meeting in the Swedish city of Södertälje from 21 to 24 May 2017. A turning point in the agenda of this project, the meeting focused on the AGRI-URBAN topics linked to the experience of this city and also put the emphasis on shaping the Integrated Action Plans of all partners of the project with the participation of their respective URBACT Local Groups.
Watching this video, produced after the visit, you can discover how inspirational was this Swedish city in the project design and later, fostering innovative actions in other partner cities involved in the development of local food systems.
Reggio Emilia is renowned in educational circles, with the philosophy known as the “Reggio Emilia Approach”; for pre-school and primary school children developed in the city shortly after World War II. At the same time, contemporary art, ancient monuments, and exhibitions such as Fotografia Europea have made the city rich in culture and social change —supported by the business community, services and the university. The city is connected by high-speed train to Milan, Bologna and Florence, and is within 45 minutes’ reach to all those cities. Reggio is the city of relations with Africa, the city of cycle paths and of Parmigiano Reggiano.
The third newspaper of tomorrow is here and it's from Veliki Presav, Bulgaria.
Very inspirational article of how the city looks like beyond 2030, and as they declare - Veliki Preslav will be the most sustainable small city in their land.
In the visioning phase of our network, partners worked hard to co-create their visions for localizing the SDGs in their cities. The stories tell their vision for how to localise the SDGs in their cities. Here you can get a glimpse of Klaipėda - vibrant, smart, inclusive.
In the Visioning phase of our URBACT Global Goals for Cities network in the second half of 2021, partners worked hard to co-create their visions for localizing the sustainable development goals in their cities. We’re happy to launch our ,campaign showing the diversity and creativity of the 19 stories. First up: Newspaper of future Heraklion -smart, resilient and livable city.
The RFSC a relevant tool for the city partners of the GG4C network
In the course of the life of the Global Goals for Cities (GG4C) network, the 19 city partners used an existing self-assessment tool: the RFSC, or Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities. Based on European principles for sustainable and integrated urban development, the tool available online was used during the diagnosis and visioning phase of the network (as an analytical tool), and partners will use it again in the planning phase (as a planning tool). What is the RFSC? And what did it bring to the network?
The Citizen Committee of the La Rochelle Territory Zero Carbon project: How to build trust?
On January 25, La Rochelle Urban Community presented to the Global Goals for Cities partners its ‘La Rochelle Territory Zero Carbon’ (LRTZC) project towards 2040, highlighting the following main characteristics and innovations : a shared and multilevel governance, an evaluation and financing tool 'the Carbon Cooperative', and a citizen co-construction approach through the establishment of a Citizen Committee.
The future of the city of Schiedam is a recurring topic in the city council and the executive board and, of course, also in the city. These views and discussions have been reflected in the city vision for some time now.
Jihlava's successful collaboration with developers
Every new construction in the city burdens the surrounding area with growing demands on transportation, social and health infrastructure, and other needs for a functioning urban society. Such externalities can be relatively reliably quantified, predicted or simulated. However, cities often must develop and maintain the infrastructure themselves. Is there a method to share costs with private developers and collaborate to build more sustainably with the needs of the citizens in mind?
Manresa 2030 Agenda: localising the SDGs through meaningful participation
Since the end of 2018, Manresa is working on its local 2030 Agenda: an integrated sustainability strategy to respond to the environmental, social, and economic challenges of the current decade. A strategy whose design, implementation and monitoring must be shared with all the local stakeholders and citizens.
Awareness-raising around the SDGs – a practical example from La Rochelle Urban Community
On 25 November, Stina Heikkilä had the opportunity to participate in an exciting event organised by our Global Goals for Cities partner La Rochelle Urban Community: the bi-annual Participatory Forum for Actors for Transition (Forum Participatif des Acteurs de la Transition). For this Forum, the team from La Rochelle Urban Community had planned an “SDG edition” with the aim of raising awareness about the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs among local stakeholders.
The city of Ozalj was the co-host of the 4th Transnational Meeting which was held virtually between 24-26 November 2021 along with Manresa and Glasgow. Our main theme was Meaningful participation and co-creation and each co-host city shared best practices and introduced other cities to local customs.
The courthouse in Trim stands in the centre of the town, with the castle in the background, it is a reminder of the history and heritage of Trim. Both grey stone buildings have been here longer than us and could tell a story or two.
In Swedish: Gävle is developing urban sustainability
Nätverket Global Goals for Cities arbetar med Agenda 2030 och de globala målen. Gävle kommun ska tillsammans med 18 andra städer i nätverket under kommande två år skapa och dela kunskap för att utveckla den urbana hållbarheten.
Klaipeda Case Study: Virtual hackathon “Unlock SDGs”
To achieve Agenda 2030 and make sure that we leave no one behind, everyone needs to get involved in the work towards a more sustainable world. Youth continuously are an important factor in this work. The Klaipeda city has Forum of Youth Ambassadors, which is a new body put in place with the hope of creating lasting and strong youth engagement. The forum is designed to generate ideas for the Youth Affairs Council of Klaipėda, which consists of 7 youth representatives and 7 municipal representatives. This process is in progress according to national law.
On September 28th, the transnational meeting with the co-host cities of Trim, Mouscron and Klaipeda was held by videoconference (thanks to covid…). Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for us to practice our English. Through this activity, we were able to learn more and discover local traditions. We were therefore able to introduce other cities to our customs and to share with them our culture.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call of action to protect our planet, end poverty and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030. "Global Goals for Cities” is a pilot network and strategic partnership aimed at accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in 19 cities of the EU, through peer learning and integrated action planning. The partnership is funded through the European Regional Development Fund's URBACT III European Territorial Cooperation programme.
Strategic partnership for peer learning and planning to localise SDGs
Cities are urged to set ambitious ecological goals for climate and biodiversity while managing social and economic sustainability. No European city has yet achieved the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), although they are a great fit for cities to develop their governance. There is an “action
Women and men experience and use the city and its resources and services differently; however gender equality is often not part an explicit part of the consideration behind urban policy and planning, despite the fact that it is a significant factor in the equitable design and delivery of public spaces and services. Moreover, many of the methods for working with gender equality are “one size fits all.” However, the barriers to implementing gender sensitive policies vary widely across contexts as a result of different local policy frameworks, administrative structures, and degrees of openness to the topic of gender. In the URBACT GenderedLandscape Action Planning Network, the seven partners’ common work will therefore focus on two topics: increasing the visibility of the gendered perspective in integrated urban development and the local contextualization and interpretation of tools and approaches for reducing gender inequality in urban policy and development.
To do this, the network will employ the URBACT method, taking an integrated and participative approach to urban challenges with a focus on transnational exchange and learning. Co-learning and peer exchange on the network level will be translated into integrated action plans on the local level and contribute to capacity building among city administrators.
Gender + Equal + Cities
Despite the fact that gender equality has been a fundamental tenet of EU policy since the 1990s and has been explicitly included in United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, policy implementation on the local and regional levels lags behind. Cities as public organizations have an extremely important role to play in creating conditions for gender equality. In order to do this, however, there needs to be a holistic understanding of how gender inequality is created by the combination of specific local conditions, including social norms, political and administrative structures, and the built space itself.
The starting point for creating public services that are user-sensitive and promote inclusion instead of exclusion is being aware of and taking into consideration the experiences of different groups as well as an understanding of how gendered power structures affect the way women and men feel about, use, and access the city. For example, how fear of violence can unequally restrict urban mobility, the gender segregated labour market and its implications for infrastructure and public transportation, and stereotypical expectations and prescriptive norms regarding responsibility for unpaid care work, just to mention a few examples. The physical structures of the city and public service design can work towards ensuring equal rights and opportunities for both genders, with a focus on ameliorating the negative effects of gender norms, but only when these are a visible, conscious element of planning.
Photo 3: Gender-responsive policies and spaces are only possible if gender is considered during decision-making.
Global, Local, Glocal?
The seven partners will explore both the global and local expressions of gendered power structures and use knowledge gained at the local level to inform and improve policy instruments on the global level. The first step in this process was to analyse the gap between policy and delivery for each city. At the kick-off meeting in Umea on 10 & 11 October 2019, the partners used a gender mainstreaming self-assessment canvas designed for the event to start thinking, among other things, about the political commitment, existing implementation plans, data, and dedicated resources related to their local challenge. These aspects will be examined in more detail during the partner visits over the coming three months.
Photo 4: At the kick-off meeting, partners performed a self-analysis using a canvas designed for the exercise.
We are excited to begin this journey together! You can keep up with our network’s and URBACT’s work on gender equality by following the hashtags #genderequalcities and #genderedlandscape or by subscribing to URBACT’s newsletter.
Particularly for the new round of Action Planning Networks, whose cities’ core focus is to co-develop Integrated Action Plans with their respective URBACT Local Groups, the stage of developing actions is the one that stakeholders will spend most time upon, will have the most fun with, will engage with most people on, and will face the greatest scrutiny upon from their transnational and local peers. But, what do good actions look like, how are they developed, and how can they be recorded?
As a part of the Toolbox, the programme seized the occasion of the URBACT University 2023, which took place in Malmö (SE) from 28-30 August, to launch a new tool. The Action Planning Canvas enables any city to record progress of their action planning-journey, while highlighting details and key information. Composed by four inter-linked sections, the Action Planning Network's cities experimented this tool to gather content for their Integrated Action Plans on the last day of the event.
La Rochelle (FR) from the Genderedlandscape network provides a good example of an Integrated Action Plan, which presents each action on one page, using the principles of the Canvas as the basis. The action of hosting a Workplace Gender Balance Webinar is well described and is accompanied by information about the format of the webinar, who the webinar will be provided by, and the key stakeholders that the webinar will be targeted at. It also includes wider information around the action owner, the finances needed to deliver the action and risks to implementation, as the image to the left illustrates. 
