Networks and cities' news

ROOF Winter School Report

From the 3rd till the 5th of March 2021 the URBACT ROOF team brought together guests from across Europe to participate in our first ever Winter School hosted by the city of Braga, Portugal and co-hosted by Thessaloniki in Greece and Toulouse Métropole in France. The three-day event, hosted online due to the on-going pandemic, featured speakers from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Scotland. The Winter School offered a unique opportunity to gain insight in and converse with the ROOF partners and beyond on topics such as:
•Road towards Housing First
•Support models
•Working together with organisations and stakeholders
•Data collection
•Storytelling

This report will break down the Winter School, the key messages and takeaways from each of the classes.

Playful Paradigm II: A New Project benefitting from the successful experience of the first edition of Playful Paradigm

Don’t try to direct PLAY, just make the space playful!

The experience of Playful Paradigm, developed from April 2018 to June 2021, has clearly showed that people don’t need explanation about where and how playing. They need colourful, green, safe and comfortable public spaces car free and open for play for children, adolescents, girls, boys and adults. This lesson learnt and the COVID-19 consequences have driven a new wave of Playful Paradigm.

The New project edition focuses the playful lens, looking particularly at gender issues, intergenerational approaches, older people or people with chronic diseases and adolescents to re-think urban spaces and address specific health challenges, such as the prevention of loneliness and isolation.

Candelaria continues to advance in the European project "FIND YOUR GREATNESS"

The Candelaria Technology Centre (CTcan) hosted on Thursday, October 21st, the second meeting of the Extended Local Working Group of Candelaria of the European project "Find your greatness".
 

Mouscron: Story of Transnational Meeting

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. 

Jelgava City Municipality Operative Information Center (MOIC)

Jelgava City in Latvia is widely recognised in Baltic region as one of the North European leaders in the practical implementation of Smart City concepts. The Jelgava Smart City programs began with mobile citizen e-cards for transportation and social services for pensioners and school students, smart traffic flow management, lightning sensors, security cameras, energy efficiency, use of renewable energy resources and green transport, energy planning and data management.

One of the key city achievements included the establishment of Municipality Operative Information Centre (MOIC) in 2016 to monitor the city public area and critical infrastructure with the latest technology solutions (27/7 citizens contact centre, video surveillance system, GIS, energy monitoring, flood maps, road traffics accident map, drone images database, etc.)

After extensive experimentation with Smart City Monitor digital transformation technology platform during 2018-2019, the municipality decided to obtain the license for its implementation to support the ambitious city incentives in AI and Big Data - driven digital
transformation. In 2017, the investment research department of the Financial Times, ranked Jelgava 6th among Europeans micro cities in the category “connectivity”.

BioArchitecture & Sustainability Week 2021

The Agency for Energy and Sustainable Development (AESS) is a non-profit association for the sustainable energy development and was founded in 1999, with the support of the European Commission's SAVE II program, on the initiative of the Municipality and Province of Modena, together with three other founding members (Modena Chamber of Commerce, the then local multiutility META and the then public company for local transport ATCM). AESS is part of the European network of energy agencies ManagEnergy and the Italian network of energy agencies RENAEL.

Zero Carbon Cities partners have been invited to the AESS' first English speaking webinar as part of their BioArchitecture & Sustainability Week 2021. Please register for these interesting and valuable sessions.