Input utili dal network URBACT URGE: un report tematico

Spunti dal network URGE e esperienze dal progetto pilota “Bayernkaserne”: bisogni regolatori e di standardizzazione come guida verso la maturazione di un'economia circolare nel settore edilizio

Scritto da Dr. Eleni Feleki, Lead Expert del URGE Action Planning Network

Families take the floor at the second sessions of Transnational Meeting 5 in Poznan

Families as members of the local Educational Innovation Network. Why they are important and what they can do. Benefits of parental involvement in children’s learning process and school life seem to be widely proved. Parents who monitor their children homework, discuss learning difficulties with the teacher, take part in school projects and praise the child school achievements, positively impact on the results and educational success.

2020. How will it be remembered by URBACT?

Knowledge Hub Editor Ed Thorpe wraps up the URBACT programme’s main takeaways from 2020 – it was quite a year. 

Usposabljanja za ogljično pismenost – navdihujoč pristop za mesta

Kako graditi razumevanje kot podlago za lokalne ukrepe proti podnebnim spremembam

Second City2City: Scaling up urban circular economies, an article by Miguel Rivas

Piloting is usually affordable, but how to scale up?

A recent OECD study on circular economy reports that 10% of surveyed cities and regions defined themselves as “advanced” performers in this field, while 39% as “in progress”, 57% as “newcomers” and 4% described their transition towards the circular economy as “not in place”. Nonetheless, 84% informed they were using pilots and experimentation to foster the circular economy (OECD, 2020).

Piloting and experimenting is usually affordable, but upscaling needs substantial funding and strong political commitment. Hence, upscaling is increasingly seen as a key component of the implementation framework and should therefore be considered in the action planning process, from the beginning. In a study on smart city projects, Willem van Winden and Daniel van den Buuse (2017), from Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, found out that even the pilot stage should be carefully designed with an eye on later upscaling – e.g. getting 360⁰ stakeholder involvement in the pilot experiences sets the basis to successful scale up.

So, what type of enablers or accelerating pipelines to move circular economy from activism and piloting to mainstreaming? In this regard, working at two levels would be advisable. First, at programme level, promoting initiatives with an expanding effect. Second, and maybe most importantly, at the policy level, trying to place circular economy properly into a number of robust and well-funded agendas with a transformation purpose. In particular, the smart specialisation strategies, as the place-based innovation policies par excellence in the European Union, and the upcoming recovery and resilience plans that member states will promote to face the pandemic´s impact, financed by the ad-hoc NextGenerationEU facility.

Young voices gathered at the Transnational Meeting 5 in Poznan

After several months of preparation and dealing with a global situation that has changed many of the plans, the ON BOARDers have gathered. The fifth Transnational Meeting of the ON BOARD project arrives to Poznan. A host city that, this time, has opened its doors virtually.