Networks and cities' news

URBACT Local Groups? Struggles ahead!

ULG, which stands for URBACT Local Group (ULG), is a key ingredient of the URBACT methodology that can be found in all networks and programmes. But what's an ULG? An URBACT Local Group is a group of local stakeholders who co-produce the city strategies and action plans together with the city administration. To put it in a provocative way, the principle is quite simple: "the idea is to avoid doing policymaking as usual, meaning by the city administration on its own, without any stakeholder consultation". So basically, to "constrain" cities to enter into a minimum level of participatory process. Why? Simply because evidence has shown that policies built in participatory ways are more relevant, more efficient and better designed than those done without any co-creation, participation or at least any consultation. If setting up an ULG is not an insurmountable task, maintaining it active, lively, engaged, dynamic and enthousiastic throughout the life of the network is not an easy task. Especially when you have to compose with a worldwide pandemic...

How Arad engages its citizens in creating spaces for people

Arad is home to 176,000 inhabitants and its locations very close to Hungary as well as close to the Serbian border. This setting gives Arad a key position for international road and rail connections including a TEN-T core network corridor directly crossing the city. Arad is currently in the process of implementing its first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) and simultaneously updates its SUMP for coming years. Recent achievements in urban mobility created Romania’s largest urban cycling network of more than 150 km and ample public transport networks reaching out to the city’s peri-urban areas. Works for a sustainable urban transport service continue and will see further upgrades to its public transport network with new vehicles, new lines, better stops and traffic management as well as an extension of the cycling network and the creation of pedestrian areas.

One of today’s the main objectives is to revitalize its city centre. The idea is to reconsider and redistribute public space from a car-oriented design to a space for people approach. Arad applies an extension of pedestrian spaces, the creation of a pedestrian network and parking management as the main tools to vitalise its city centre.

Children in Breda become nature explorers

First contours of the new Seeligpark in Breda visible: 'We want to give people a sneak preview'

Urban Local Group The Hague: the next step towards their resource center

On the 28^th of October the ULG-members (Urban Local Group) of The Hague organized a session to put their vision on the URBACT Resourceful Cities trajectory into writing. The ULG exists of local entrepreneurs, teachers, students, and the municipality of The Hague.

City video URGE: Prato

The seventh of a series of city videos of URGE - the URBACT Action Planning Network on the theme of Circular building cities.

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.