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  • UrbSecurity

    Summary

    LEAD PARTNER : Leiria - Portugal
    • Mechelen - Belgium
    • Pella - Greece
    • Madrid - Spain
    • Szabolcs - Hungary
    • Longford - Ireland
    • Parma - Italy
    • Union of Bassa Romagna Municipalities - Italy
    • Michalovce - Slovakia

    Leiria City Council CONTACT US

    Timeline

    • September 10-11 : Phase 1 Kick-off Meeting in Paris (FR)
    • October 16-17 : Phase 1 Kick-off Meeting in Leiria (PT)
    • November 05 : Phase 2 Approval

     

     

     

     

    • February 04-05 : Phase 1 Transnational Meeting in Faenza, Unione della Romagna Faentina (IT), Italy
    • June 30 : Phase 2 Activation Meeting
    • September 18 : Phase 2 Symbolic Launch of Phase 2
    • November 19-20 : Transnational Meeting nº1 (online), Leiria (PT), Portugal

     

     

     

    • February : Partnership Meeting with Urban Agenda for UE "Security in Public Spaces" and Transnational Meeting nº2 (online), Mechelen (BE)
    • April 21-22 : Transnational Meeting nº3 (online), Madrid (ES)
    • May : Partnership Meeting with Urban Agenda for the UE (online) and Transnational Meeting nº4 (online), Longford (IE)
    • July 07-08 : Transnational Meeting nº5 (online), Szabolcs 05 Regional Development Association of Municipalities (SZRDA) - Mátészalka (HU)
    • October : Webinar - Urban Agenda for the EU "Just City Dimension" (online), Partnership Meeting with IMPETUS project, Intelligent Management of Processes, Ethics and Technology for Urban Safety (Horizon 2020) and Transnational Meeting nº6 + Mid-Term Review (online), Michalovce (SK)
    • January 20-21 : Transnational Meeeting nº7 (online), Pella (EL)
    • February 1-3 : URBACT e-University 2022 (online)
    • March 21 : Partnership Meeting with TONITE project - Urban Inovation Action (online)
    • April 20 : URBACT III National Meeting in Coimbra (PT)
    • May : Masterclass in CPTED - Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design in Leiria (PT) and Transnational Meeting nº8 in Parma (IT)
    • June : UrbSecurity Final Conference in Parma (IT) and Showcase the results of IAP and closing event in Leiria (PT)
    • August 18 : Partnership Meeting with IMPETUS project & Community of Safe and Secure Cities(COSSEC) in Oslo, Normay
       

    Outputs

    Integrated Action Plans

    Leiria Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Leiria - Portugal
    Romagna Faentina Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Romagna Faentina - Italy
    Longford Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Longford - Ireland
    Parma Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Szabolcs Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Szabolcs - Hungary
    Design for security: Creating safer cities

    Read more here!

    Madrid - Spain
    Mechelen Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Mechelen - Belgium
    Michalovce Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Michalovce - Slovakia
    Municipality of Pella Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here!

    Pella - Greece

    This Action Planning Network analyses strategies and projective concepts of cities’ design that could contribute to prevent segregation and anti-social behavior, and consecutively to improve citizen’s quality of life and their perception of urban security and safety. The main objective is to implement an integrated and participatory approach to urban security by involving all relevant stakeholders in the process.

    Planning safer cities
    Ref nid
    13437
  • Tourism Friendly Cities

    Summary

    Lead Partner : Genoa - Italy
    • Braga - Portugal
    • Cáceres - Spain
    • Druskininkai - Lithuania
    • Dubrovnik - Croatia
    • Dún Laoghaire Rathdown - Ireland
    • Krakow - Poland
    • Rovaniemi - Finland
    • Venice - Italy

    Municipality of Genoa - International Affairs Department

    CONTACT US

    Watch all the Tourism Friendly videos here.

    Timeline

    • Kick-Off Meeting - Genoa - Phase I
    • TNS Meeting - Braga - Phase I
    • Online Kick-Off Meeting - Phase II
    • e-Dubrovnik meeting - Phase II
    • Online Meeting - Phase II
    • e-Druskininkai meeting - Phase II
    • TNS Meeting - Dun Laoghaire - Phase II
    • TNS Metting - Rovaniemi - Phase II
    • TNS Meeting - Krakow - Phase II
    • Final Meeting - Venice - Phase II

    Integrated Action Plans

    Dun Laoghaire Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Dun Laoghaire - Ireland
    Druskininkai Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here

    Druskininkai - Lithuania
    Integrated Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism – Cáceres

    Read more here

    Cáceres - Spain
    Braga Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Braga - Portugal
    Krakow Integrated Action Plan

    Read more here !

    Krakow - Poland
    Integrated Action Plan for Dubrovnik as a Sustainable Tourism Destination

    Read more here !

    Dubrovnik - Croatia
    Enhancing sustainable tourism in Venice

    Read more here !

    Venice - Italy
    LOCAL COMMUNITY AND TOURISTS TOGETHER FOR URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

    Read more here !

    Rovaniemi - Finland
    Integrated Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism

    Read more here !

    Genoa - Italy

    TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES is an Action Planning Network aimed at exploring how tourism can be made sustainable in medium-sized cities, reducing the negative impact on neighbourhoods and areas interested by different types of tourism and its related aspects through integrated and inclusive strategies keeping a balance between the needs of the local community, in terms of quality of life and of services available, and the promotion of sustainable urban development at environmental, social and economic level.

    Local community & tourists together for urban sustainability
    Ref nid
    13465
  • Ireland

    The URBACT Programme 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.

    The first URBACT IV call for Action Planning Networks is open until 31 March 2023 at 15:00 CEST!

    The call is addressed primarily to city administrations that are willing to work with other European cities to develop and implement Integrated Action Plans to respond to their local challenges. 

    Cities and other public bodies from the Member States and Partner States (Norway and Switzerland) of the European Union, as well as countries benefitting from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) are eligible to receiving funding for their participation in Action Planning Networks.

    Discover all you need to know about the URBACT IV 1st Action Planning Networks call in a nutshell here.

    GET INVOLVED

    Join [u]s logo for URBACT APN campaign

    The URBACT Join [u]s logo for the Action Planning Network call 2023.

    • New URBACT IV logo of Ireland

      Information Day-the launch of URBACT IV and the first call for Action Planning Networks!

      Karl Murphy

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    • Adam Roigart inspiring the event participants

      Ireland’s Playful Towns-Final Event of URBACT NPTI network.

      On the 15th November, participating towns in URBACT’s Playful Paradigm National Transfer Practice Initiative (NPTI): Donegal, Portlaoise, Rush, Rathdrum and Sligo, and led by Cork City, descended on Sligo town centre to show over sixty-five invitees from all over Ireland how they can put the ‘play’ into ‘place-making’ and animate Ireland’s towns.

       

      Following Cork City’s participation and success in the transnational network Playful Paradigm, led by Udine in Italy, this NPTI project was one of five European intra-country transfer pilots seeking to bring both the best practice and learning of its lead city and the value of URBACT to towns yet to experience the programme and to hopefully engender future capacity and interest in being part of an URBACT transnational network.

       

      The event comprised 3 key-note speakers who are at the cutting edge of place-making in their cities, namely Päivi Raivio of Helsinki, Adam Roigart of Copenhagen and Denise Cahill of Cork. The morning’s discussion was followed by a fun-filled afternoon on the streets of Sligo demonstrating ideas for bringing play onto the streets. Cork and the five playful towns participating in the transfer showcased what they have achieved over the last year and demonstrated how any town can do the same, quickly and cheaply, to animate their towns.

       

      Councillor Mayor Tom Mac Sharry opened the conference and welcomed participants to Sligo: ‘I was delighted, on behalf of Sligo County Council to welcome so many people from all over the country to sunny Sligo to learn about one way of rejuvenating our town centres’.

       

      Dorothy Clarke, Director of Services, Sligo County Council, in her welcoming address to participants said: There is no one solution to making our towns more attractive places for people to live in, spend time in and enjoy. But if local authorities can incorporate playfulness into the planning and design of public realm schemes, we will really enhance the effectiveness of such projects and ensure that they are transformational and successful in rejuvenating our town centres’.

       

      Following the morning’s welcomes, keynotes and panel discussion, in the afternoon participants were sent around Sligo town on an urban orienteering trail of the town organized by the Sligo Sports and Recreation Partnership. Each destination point of the trail showcased an activity or game that has been used by the playful towns in the last year – giant jenga, tug of war, giant snakes and ladders, target practice using bean bags and buckets. A snow/sock ball fight took place on JFK parade to the shock and delight of participants. Local artists from Pulled (a community focused Printmaking and Artist studio based in Sligo town) decorated the town’s footpaths in chalk games inviting members of the public and participants to take a moment out and be playful.

       

      NPTI partner in Sligo and Executive Planner, Leonora McConville noted how Ireland is witnessing the greatest injection of public funds into its towns that the state has ever seen and this is underpinned by the new Town Centre First policy which places towns at the heart of decision making. There is no one solution to creating vibrant town centres but that small actions are achievable, with high impact and at little expense. In using play and playfulness to animate our towns, this sees communities engaged and encourages a sense of ownership over public spaces’.

       

      Working closely with the National URBACT Point, Karl Murphy and his colleagues at the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA), Leonora McConville and her colleagues at Sligo County Council were instrumental in planning the final event of this URBACT NPTI network. The strong URBACT local group (ULG) was on display with members drawn from across the County Council (Planning, Parks, Roads and Architects sections), along with Sligo Sports and Recreation Partnership, County Childcare Committee, Sligo Business Improvement District, Sligo Tidy Towns, Healthy Sligo, the Age Friendly Program, Sligo Public Participation Network as well as the County Library and the Cranmore Regeneration Project.

       

      For further information on URBACT activities more widely, go to: https://urbact.eu/ or contact Karl Murphy, National URBACT Point for Ireland at urbactireland@emra.ie

      Karl Murphy

      See more
    • Tourism-Friendly Cities Manifesto launched

      TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES is an Action Planning Network aimed at exploring how tourism can be made sustainable in medium-sized cities

    Social media

    Twitter

  • Tourism-Friendly Cities Manifesto launched

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    20/11/2022

    TOURISM-FRIENDLY CITIES is an Action Planning Network aimed at exploring how tourism can be made sustainable in medium-sized cities

    Dún Laoghaire Rathdown is one of 9 European Cities chosen as part of the network, the network is led by the City of Genoa, Italy.



    THE TOURISM-FRIENDLY MANIFESTO 10 principles for making the impact of tourism more sustainable on cities has been released and is available here

     

     

    Dún Laoghaire Rathdown examined Principle number 6: Improving public spaces and civic infrastructures for residents and tourists. Enhancing the level of connectivity between the coastal villages and the neighbouring Dublin was one of the main challenges in terms of sustainable impact of tourism for Dun Laoghaire, which tested the development of the coastal mobility cycle route and the enhancement of Blackrock Village. Residents and business owners were involved in a participatory scheme which led to the creation of new civic infrastructures and to the consolidation of new services and spaces for residents and tourists.

     

    A final output of the network us the development of an Intergrated Sustainable Tourism Action Plan available here

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  • 2022 Excellence in Placemaking Awards

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    20/11/2022

    Submissions for the 2022 ULI Ireland Excellence In Placemaking Awards supported by CBRE are now being received.

    We are calling on local authorities, developers and community groups throughout Ireland to submit entries as there is only ONE MONTH LEFT TO ENTER.

     

    Placemaking is the intangible quality which makes better places to live, work and play. It enhances the public realm and creates places that improve people's health, happiness and well-being. With the importance of compact growth and improved urban living, placemaking has a vital role to play and adds to the long-term value of assets.

     

    Now in their fourth year, the ULI Ireland Excellence In Placemaking Awards, recognise great placemaking projects across the island of Ireland with awards given in two separate categories, Commercial / Large scale projects and Community / Voluntary projects. Private and public sector projects are welcome.

     

    Winning projects receive specially commissioned Awards and the Overall National Award winner receives €5,000 to further enhance their project. Award winners also have the opportunity to promote their project through PR and advertising.

     

    Submitting a project is simple. An application form and criteria are available HERE(link is external). Submissions are now being received and the deadline for submissions is Sunday 4th September.

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  • Call for Partners: Urban Agenda for the EU Partnerships on Greening Cities and Sustainable Tourism

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    Urban Agenda for the EU
    20/11/2022

    Call for Cities, Member States, Partner States, Regions, city consortiums, national city umbrella organisations, and other stakeholders to form two new Thematic Partnerships under the Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU): Sustainable Tourism and Greening Cities

    About the Urban Agenda for the EU

     

    The Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU) addresses urban challenges by setting up Partnerships between cities, the European Commission, other EU institutions and bodies, national governments and other stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations.

     

    Together they develop action plans to:

     

    • Improve existing regulation with regarding to urban areas and urban challenges
    • Support and improve innovative and user-friendly sources of funding for urban areas
    • Share and develop knowledge (data, studies, good practices).

     

    The Urban Agenda has previously delivered 14 Thematic Partnerships, on urban themes, which were set forth in the Pact of Amsterdam. 

     

    The renewal of the Urban Agenda for the EU according to parameters adopted through the Ljubljana Agreement in November 2021 proposes the launch of two new Thematic Partnerships in 2022, one on Sustainable Tourism and one on Greening Cities.

     

     

    About the call for partners

     

    This call is accompanied by a Info Note on call for partners:

     

    Sustainable Tourism
    The info note with eligibility criteria and selection process is available here(link is external)
    Express your interest using the EU survey here(link is external)
     

    Greening Cities
    The info note with eligibility criteria and selection process is available here(link is external)
    Express your interest using the EU survey here(link is external)

     

     

    How to apply

     

    Cities, Member States, Partner States, Regions, city consortiums, national city umbrella organisations, and other stakeholders can submit an application by 16 September 2022 at 18:00 (CET).

     

     

    Application forms:

    Application for Thematic Partnership on Greening Cities here(link is external)

    Application for Thematic Partnership on Sustainable Tourism here

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  • URBACT's support for Ukraine

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    20/11/2022

    The United for Ukraine initiative was present at the URBACT City Festival 2022! 

    The United for Ukraine initiative aims to stimulate partnerships between municipalities in Ukraine and in other European countries for short and long term revitalization of institutional, societal, entrepreneurial and physical structures.

     

    The United for Ukraine campaign initiated by SKL International in partnership with Lviv City Institute and Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities is meant to support the recovery of the Ukrainian communities through peer-to-peer community partnership.

     

    The initiative stimulates partnerships between municipalities in Ukraine and in other European countries for short and long term revitalization of institutional, societal, entrepreneurial and physical structures.

     

    Partnerships are supported through creating and upholding networks, spreading good examples, methods and knowledge. The campaign focuses on those Ukrainian communities who are the most affected by Russian aggression.

     

    European communities are invited to join if they:

    - are devoted to developing long term partnership with Ukrainian communities;

    - strive to engage not only the municipal organization but the whole local community; civil society, companies, faith-based organization into partnership;

    - are ready to work actively to get access to funds and programmes that could be useful for the revitalization and reconstruction.

     

     

    Visit UnitedforUkraine platform to get a Ukrainian partner https://unitedforua.org/(link is external)

    or contact the back office of the initiative for support - info@unitedforua.org

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  • Taking a look how success could look like helps finding your path to it!

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    15/11/2022

    In May 2022, Space4People met to discuss how to promote our Integrated Action Plans (IAPs) to key stakeholders to strengthen ownership amongst stakeholders, assure adoption by political players and foster a smooth transition to its implementation phase. Questions focused on what measure are fitting for which stakeholder group, who are potential troublemakers and how to convince them to back the actions and ideas of our IAPs?

    Articles

    Our meeting centred around the “implementability” of our IAPs. This means getting governance structures ready for the kick-start of implementation. And preparing a wide acceptance of the final product of planning to ease implementation and secure acceptance of the IAP and its measures among stakeholders.

    Implementation challenges were subject to the work of the entire first day starting with identifying the top challenges we see at local level: a lack of political support, opposition by stakeholders to the IAP’s actions and resourcing for the delivery of the actions. Amongst many ideas to address these challenges, 3 were present as options for each of them: to use data as evidence to convince stakeholders and political players, to continue applying pilots to showcase the benefits of the actions and to integrate decision makers and stakeholders in the implementation process for a better understanding and a direct influence on the measures’ realisation.

    Certainly, all three challenges and main ideas are connected to a good communication strategy starting with the promotion of our 2-year work’s result: the final IAPs. What better to start with than to see what communication and participation measure fits to which stakeholder group for this? Backed by an adapted stakeholder analysis matrix using the dimensions of importance for approval and implementation as well as level of interactivity for promotional measures, 3 main “stakeholder group – promotion activity” couples got identified:

    • To address political decision makers with more static measures like official presentations, visualisations, executive brochures, and adoption ceremonies
    • To address retailers, gastronomy, businesses with interactive and integrative measures like community councils, pilot activities and participatory projects
    • To address citizens and residents as well with interactive and integrative measures like street stalls, citizen projects and exhibitions

    But how can these activities look in detail to get to the objective of ownership, acceptance, and adoption of the IAPs? We decided to take a look into the future and employed our own version of the “Newspaper of tomorrow” tool for this. Split up in smaller groups, each agreed on a stakeholder group to address, think on the challenges we might meet with this one, ideate promotional activities to use for counteracting these and finally create an article on how all of this worked out successfully.

    Two of our groups focused on retailers and gastronomy as a potential driver to oppose restrictive measures to access by car in their shop’s streets. The main elements how they got convinced to back the measure were

    • a visualisation event to showcase possible change scenarios,
    • influence on the design changes to the street,
    • the use of pilots to allow retail and gastronomy to make their own experiences,
    • a well working coordination with administration safeguarding a quick and cooperative implementation without much impact on their business.

    A third group selected the target group of pupils and parents as key actors in working for a modal shift from car-based to sustainable school trips. The main elements how to get specifically parents backing the plan used an approach addressing them through their children by e. g.

    • school yard design activities with pupils following a tactical urbanism approach
    • festivals and games directed to test walking, cycling or PT use to school
    • guidance and argumentation on the benefits of a safe and healthy school trip

    The results of the work exercise are now used to elaborate promotional activities for the set objectives and planned measures in our efforts to finalise our IAPs!

    Network
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    Ref nid
    17606
  • The Final IAP meeting in Heerlen

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    15/11/2022
    The INT-HERIT Implementation Network is one of the approved projects and gathers 9 EU cities/communities who are implementing a strategic development plan based on cultural heritage. The network is composed by Baena in Spain as lead partner, Alba Julia in Romania, Sigulda in Latvia, Mantova in Italy, Espinho in Portugal, Dodoni in Greece and the Intercommunale Leiedal in Belgium – and will engaged in several knowledge exchange activities to devise innovative approaches to cultural management in order to improve and extend the impact of the foreseen investments and action plans.
    Articles

    Neighbourhood was not only at the core of the SSA of Heerlen but has also become a main topic of the meeting: on Wednesday the Heerlen team has presented two different approaches of neighbourhood policy during a bus tour in Heerlen-North and Maastricht. These two cities in the South of the Netherlands had a similar mining industry, after which closure they faced the same challenge of upscaling their cities. Maastricht chose to invest in education and healthcare, thus it became a vibrant university city – this is what Heerlen team wanted to show us. At the same time, Heerlen didn’t invest in society so wisely and unfortunately became a city without rebonding potential. This is what Heerlen is tackling to change since the early 2010s, focusing on the social system.

    After the bus tour participants could enjoy a BBQ dinner by ULG-member Evert Hartman at Luciushof, a location offering approachable food for the elderly that has also become an important meeting point and at the same time a pleasant place for tackling loneliness.

    The discussions on elderly and the issue of loneliness continued on Thursday, when the Small Scale Action of Heerlen was presented by Mark Weyts general practitioner and representatives of care provider Meander Group: Jack Jansen chairman of the board and neighbourhood connectors, Andrea Heijenrath and Wendy Halbach. In the framework of the SSA GPs connected their elderly patients with non-medical type of problems with neighbourhood connectors who contacted and organised community programs for them which has lead to a decreased number of GP visits. (More information and video of the Small Scale Action coming soon.)

    The thematic sessions ended with the presentation of Pernille Randrup-Thomsen about a Danish SIB on labour market inclusion. Their programme “Staircase to staircase” tackles people with a long history of unemployment, approaching it with a complex team. The secret of the successful programme is to put the people in the centre of problemsolving, finding the best employment with a flexible and multidisciplinary team.

    After the presentations the SIBdev team was joined by Roel Wever, mayor of Heerlen who gave a welcome speech for the closing lunch.

    Besides the IAP peer reviews and thematic sessions, the meeting had a further goal: to summarize the most important highlights of the SIB journey so far in short interviews with all cities’ representatives. The result will be showcased soon, during the Urbact City Festival in Paris.

    Network
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    Ref nid
    17603
  • RU:RBAN Second Wave

    Timeline

    Kick off meeting
    Algeciras Transnational Meeting
    Alexandroupolis Transnational Meeting
    Carlow Transnational Meeting
    Split Transnational Meeting
    RU:RBAN 2nd Wave Final Event in Rome

    RU:RBAN's Good Practice is the Management model of Urban gardens in Rome to be transferred to newcomer cities that are geographically, historically and socio-culturally distant from each other, to ensure sharing of experiences to enhance the capacities of local governance. Transfer efforts will be ensured on the 3 well known and successful components the GP is divided into: 1. Capacity building, 2. Inspiring and training people to manage urban gardens (Gardenisers), 3. Governance & Regulations

    Urban agriculture for resilient cities
    Ref nid
    16331