Networks and cities' news

RiConnect in 100 words

A brief overview on the RiConnect project: its vision, goals and partners - including a collection of content for broader information on each topic

Barnsley's Fierce Love Holds You Forever in it's Heart

These are the words, lit up in neon that welcome you when you walk into Barnsley’s new public space in the town centre. 

Meet the partners: interview with Harry Hofman

[[{"fid":"46841","view_mode":"default","fields":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1","format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_author[und][0][value]":"GBN Groep"},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1","format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Harry Hofman","field_author[und][0][value]":"GBN Groep"}},"attributes":{"alt":"Harry Hofman","title":"Harry Hofman","height":100,"width":100,"style":"height: 100px; width: 100px; margin: 10px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]The City of Utrecht is one of the partners of the Action Planning Network URGE, in which it develops a new action plan to promote circularity in the building sector. Utrecht is the hometown of many frontrunners on the theme of circular construction, some of them have been active for over ten years. One of these frontrunners is GBN, a construction company that works on reuse of building materials and elements. We spoke to Harry Hofman - director for circular materials at GBN, about the past, present and future for circular construction in Utrecht.

How to succeed by daring to fail - URBACT ROOF cities testing context specific actions to end homelessness

Download the amazing article here.

This article is also available in:
- Romanian
- Polish

Focus on Timisoara (RO) - How knowledge can contribute to fighting homelessness

Timisoara decided to join the ROOF network because, like in many other European cities, homelessness is more and more present and we wanted to learn new ways towards ending it. Housing First approach to end homelessness is seen as the most effective especially when working with people with complex social needs. During the transnational meetings we could see good examples of how this approach is used in more than half of the cities from the ROOF network to successfully improve the life of people and take them out of homelessness. Still Romania and Timisoara were not familiar with the Housing First approach and most of the URBACT Local Group members never heard of it. So, we decided that in order to draw an accurate and achievable Integrated Action Plan we need to use the Small-Scale Actions to gain more knowledge on Housing First approach.

Lifestyle, Sports, and Healthy Cities with Mélanie Duparc

The Healthy Cities Network aims to deepen the relationship between health and the urban environment, following a holistic approach by focusing on three overarching topics: greening and landscaping, mobility and connectivity, and lifestyle and sports.