Networks and cities' news

A city fighting climate change: How Nantes got its citizens to talk energy transition

Tackling climate change was never going to be easy. But in the afterglow of the Paris COP21 Agreement, at least it seemed that we were moving in the right direction. By late 2016, the biggest polluters were signed up, and there appeared to be consensus on the scale and urgency of the problem, as well as on what needed to be done. What a difference a year can make. From where we are now, feels like we have another mountain – or two – to climb.

Can nature make your city climate-resilient?

Among the headlines of summer 2017: disastrous floods in the South of England, Istanbul and Berlin, extreme water scarcity in Rome, wild fires damaging homes on the Croatian coast, the Côte d'Azur and elsewhere… The magnitude and frequency of these and other events indicate that climate change is already a reality, and the impacts will be even bigger in the future. Yes, we need to reduce greenhouse gases to limit climate change, but equally urgent: we need to adapt to the remaining impacts. All cities, depending on their geographical position, are likely to experience prolonged and more intensive heatwaves or droughts, more frequent wild fires, coastal flooding, or an increase in the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall with the associated threat of urban flooding, river flooding or landslides. How can cities cope with these huge predicted impacts of climate change in the future, even when they are faced with tight budgets? Can nature be a solution?

Malmö enjoys its green infrastructure solutions

Would a strategic approach towards Local Economic Development make small cities more resilient?

Small cities are often at a higher risk for the negative impacts of global trends that lead to economic downturns. At the same time, they are the places where a significant percentage of the population of the European Union live and work. So how can we address development problems and opportunities at the local level through contextualization of global consequences and locally available resources? How can we develop resilient local governments in an age when the world is faced with a global pandemic and some cities are facing economic crisis? According to the principles of Local Economic Development (LED), local development should be approached strategically and inclusively, and challenging decisions should be guided by sustainability goals. 

This article is a follow-up to a Masterclass in Local economic development organised by the iPlace Project, a network of 10 small cities who examine opportunities for new local development and aim to find niches which will create potential for future economic growth.

Creating temporary space for experimentation about future activities

The case study on Hamburg (Germany) is one of the concrete results of the URBACT workstream ‘Sustainable regeneration in urban areas’, after collection of data, a study visit, and interviews with local stakeholders. It explores environmental measures for regenerating urban areas the city put in place, achievements and challenges, success factors, and conditions for transfer to other cities. The first part of the case study summarises the key points of the practice, while the second part (analytical template) provides more details for those interested in transferring the practice to their local context.

Spend Analysis as a tool for better use of resources in times of crisis.

At the start of 2020, the finances of many Polish local councils were in a difficult condition due to the need to incur large investment expenditures, because of an underestimation of the costs of the delivery of public services commissioned, such as education, or losses in the revenues of municipalities resulting from central government tax reforms. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these problems because the method adopted to combat the virus, which consists in the economic lockdown, led to a serious recession.

The times of crisis force us to look more closely at our spend and internal resources, and to seek ways of increasing their benefits to the economy and society. One such tool is the public spend analysis according to the methodology of the City of Preston, implemented after the global financial crisis. An effective implementation of this good practice requires cooperation between all the parties involved in the process, both procurers and entrepreneurs.

The Strategic and Responsible Public Procurement Policy of Pamplona Recognized as Good Practice by the European Commission

The Executive Agency of the European Commission for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) has recently published the guide Making Socially Responsible Public Procurement Work: 71 Good Practices Cases, which includes the case study called Strategy for Socially Responsible Public Procurement at Pamplona City Council. In this way, Pamplona's responsible public procurement policy is recognized at European level as a good practice to be replicated.