Networks and cities' news

Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area

Our partner Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area (OMG-G-S) fosters the cooperation between the tri-city and its surrounding municipalities. Home to the main port in Poland and a vibrant economy, it is the fastest growing area of the country, posing new challenges for mobility and urban development.

BEING PART OF THE ULG: A REAL EXPERIENCE OF PARTICIPATION

The "Active Citizens -citizens participation in small and medium EU cities" project in which the Municipality of Cento is taking part, aims at giving voice to citizens and possibility for intervention in decision-making processes concerning their own city, through the use of new methodologies and new digital tools. Never before in this URBACT project has it been important to set up the Urbact Local Group (ULG), a group of stakeholders that, from the very beginning supports the Municipal Administration in the project’s operative steps, offering their own contribution and point of view in a continuous exchange with the representatives of the Municipality.

Through meetings and workshop activities, sometimes with a somewhat "alternative" approach, the members of the group tackle together the issues at the center of the project, each bringing the added value of their own background. If there is no doubt that in a path lasting over two years it is a hard challenge to keep the attention and motivation of the group members alive, it is equally true that being part of the group is a demanding choice requiring time, effort and ability to get involved. Nevertheless, actively participating in the ULG, however demanding it may be, can also represent an enriching opportunity at a civic and above all personal level.

This is what Michele Novi, one of the "historical" members of the ULG, tells us in this interview. He has enthusiastically joined since the beginning of the project and here he reports his personal experience.

ROOF Bootcamp in Braga (PT)

The Municipality of Braga held on 7 and 8 February, the Bootcamp Roof - Integrated Action Plan Design Experience, at the Hotel Axis Ponte de Lima. This meeting led by the Urbact Local Group (ULG) of the European Network #urbactroof - Ending Homeleness, allowed the co-construction of the Integrated Action Plan for the House of Skills Project, an innovative transitional housing solution for homeless people, through a program to improve personal, social and professional skills, in collaboration with the various social organizations in the city of Braga, which operate in this field.

Public Policies & Governance for Territorial Food Systems

The transition towards territorial food systems requires new public policies that consider innovative and effective formulas for participatory governance, among other facilitating elements. Food democracy impacts citizen empowerment when it comes to bringing together actors for this necessary action for change. The local perspective and the consolidation of participatory structures can be nurtured through networks such as those promoted by the URBACT Programme through Local Action Groups.

SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS - Relocalising production to empower actors and make territories resilient

Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) renew the traditional format of direct sales in order to position themselves as an alternative to the long chains that characterise the global food system, a model that has been clearly identified as unsustainable. The EU's own "Farm to Fork" strategy underlines the value of this necessary reconnection between producers and consumers, between rural and urban areas. All of this in a context where forms of irresponsible consumerism coexist - suffice it to mention the high percentage of losses and waste or the problems of famine and disease associated with it - alongside prosumerism initiatives aimed at breaking down these distances and generating alternative, sustainable, locally-based models. While recognising positive impacts in social terms, there are still aspects to be explored in the economic and environmental spheres, derived from the expansion of the Short Food Supply model. Something similar occurs from the perspective of improving the health and nutrition of the entire population, as well as democratisation and justice related to food governance. It is in this context that regional and local authorities, together with producers and consumers, can enhance strategic initiatives that definitely support a sustainable food system, as promoted by the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, recently signed by the FOOD CORRIDORS network.

“Did you say cucumbers?”

“Yeah, they’re cucumbers alright.”

“You just told me they are unidentifiable.”

“The worksheet didn’t work, but I can tell a cucumber when I see one, Ildi.”

When a cucumber is not a cucumber: An EU tale of customs and classification

(Journeys, how travelling fruit, ideas and buildings rearrange our environment. Actar, 2010)

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Feeding a Cooperative Food Network in a Time of Pandemic

This article presents brief comments on three ideas that describe the state of mind of the FOOD CORRIDORS network just before giving way to the final period of a project that has seen the light and grown parallel to the life cycle of a pandemic. It has been a strange circumstance that we would nevertheless like to consider as the engine that has pushed a desire for rebirth or rejuvenation for our network. We understand this rebirth as the means to cultivate new ways of working, new spaces of relationship, environments of curiosity that generate transformative action to the proposed problems. The FOOD CORRIDORS partners, together with the network's experts and the URBACT Programme, have evaluated what we have experienced, what we have learned, and what we would like to propose to continue with the challenge of cooperation between European cities in the face of their significant challenges.

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