Networks and cities' news

The role of cities in Smart Specialisation. URBACT IN FOCUS FINAL CONFERENCE

The URBACT IN FOCUS Final Conference took take place on April 19, 2018 in Bilbao. This event was the perfect framework for celebrating the results of the IN FOCUS project, in which 10 European cities have worked as a network over 30 months for the promotion of local economic development from smart specialisation and city-region articulation in RIS3.

Alba Iulia - Integrated Action Plan

A better life for the locals in Alba Iulia and a friendly town for the tourists who are visiting us this is how we can resume the scope of all our IAP. Through this integrated strategy Alba Iulia Municipality wants to create the right environment to accelerate the digital transformation of businesses, organisations and public administrations, and improve the life of our citizens by becoming a „launch pad" for developing and implementing smart solutions meant to attract tourists and to become a more livable town. We support all the smart initiatives and local policy makers to understand the application of advanced technologies and the opportunities they provide, so that they can design flexible, future proof policies, because a digital city is a place in which the life quality of inhabitants comes first.

This is not the end!

On 11-13 April the Interactive Cities final conference was held in Genoa to showcase the potential and challenges of social media and digital tools experimented at local level. Cities involved in the network also decided to continue the work together in the coming years through a Eurocities Task Force on Digital Citizenship. The conference comprised workshops to present the Integrated Action Plans (IAPs), developed at local level, presentations by guests specialised in various aspects, site visits and public debates.

How 'Resilient Europe' Brought Urban As Well As Personal Change

Local Action Plan by Malaga

(Non) conference of socially innovative cities

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Boosting Social Innovation - an URBACT  project has been summarized in Gdansk.
In Paris - the Olympic Citizens' Budget, in Milan - the fourth industrial revolution, in Wroclaw - the shaping of commercial streets in the city together with residents.

The goal of all these initiatives is the same: to stimulate social innovation. 10 cities in Europe are summarized by the BoostINNO project, whose Gdansk is the leader.
The BoostINNO project is about to end, in which, for 2.5 years, representatives of ten European cities worked on developing the subject of social innovation. Social innovation is a philosophy of changing the way a city is managed, in which the role of power is no longer planning and managing the implementation of plans but co-designing the future and introducing innovative changes with the participation of residents.

It is them who, as people who know their nearest surroundings, have to change the city for the better - from the inside. The city's authorities and administration are to help them, encourage them and support them. In short, the local government is to be a broker of social innovation. The event summarizing the project is not accidental in Gdansk (on April 11 - 13), because it is the city, and precisely the Department of Social Development of the Gdansk municipality is the leader of BoostINNO.

Katowice’s resilience potential – “The Pear Festival Experiment”

Katowice at the heart of the upper Silesian agglomeration, a city of over 2 million people, is an important economic, academic and cultural center in southern Poland. A vibrant city that faces all kinds of social, economic, infrastructural and environmental problems. The city has a long history of mining and metallurgic manufacturing and it must take on the challenge of industrial transition and innovative development. It is countering with a decrease in population and the migration of young educated people from the city.