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Digital Uber Alles

Hands up those of you who have used Uber. Or Airbnb? I thought so. Increasingly, if you ask that question to a group of people, a forest of hands shoots up. When I asked it at a German Marshall Fund event in Bilbao last month, people with their hands down were a small minority.

The challenges of implementation

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something.” All European cities can certainly endorse this quote by President Obama and testify that taking action – or implementing – presents a whole set of challenges that can sometimes be daunting. How can delays in implementing a strategy be anticipated? How can expectations or potential conflicts be managed around the implementation of a strategy? How to remain within the initial budget planned for the strategy during its implementation? These are some of the issues that the newly launched URBACT Implementation Networks are now set to work on. 

Creating urban environments that inspire young people into ‘creative-tech’ careers

Across the whole of Europe, the growing shortage of technical talent is starting to impact on urban economies. In this article, Jim Sims, the Lead Expert on the Urbact GEN-Y City Network, looks at educational and skills policy across Europe and makes the case for cities to be orchestrators of urban environments that can inspire young people into ‘tech’ careers. 

Circular economy: another buzzword or your city’s future?

In times of decreasing resources and growing responsibilities, many cities and regions are understandably skeptical towards what seems to be yet another buzzword. However, a transition to a circular economy is both a necessity and an opportunity, with the potential to offer long-lasting economic, environmental and social benefits. 

Open for business? Europe’s cities and the skills challenge of the Next Economy

Eight years after the advent of the Global Financial Crisis, much of Europe's economy continues to be sluggish, with uneven rates of jobs and business growth across the EU. There are, of course, bright spots on the map, but overall the picture remains disappointing.

As ever, the coming battle focuses on cities, where most businesses and jobs are concentrated. In those economies that remain weak, it is our cities which display the highest rates of joblessness. Equally, it is in our dynamic urban areas where hopes for business and jobs growth are highest.

The EU has consistently identified the key role cities occupy in relation to the skills and jobs agenda. A long history of macro policy statements and policy directives confirms this. The most recent of these is the launch of the Jobs and Skills Partnership within the Urban Agenda for the European Union. Another is the New Skills Agenda for Europe, which proposes a 10 point plan to boost EU citizens’ skills, particularly at the basic level.

But what does this mean in practice? This article will explore the challenges and opportunities facing cities in relation to the jobs and skills agenda. It will pay particular attention to assumptions about future growth – itself increasingly challenged as a beneficial concept. In doing so the article will touch upon the concept of the Next Economy, and what Jeremy Rifkin has described as the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). Under this scenario, we will need a radical rethink of the way we prepare citizens for what is ahead.

We will explore what the Jobs and Skills Partnership can do to support cities' adjustment to this anticipated step change in the economy. Finally, the article will reflect on the leading work of cities in this area, as well as considering the contribution that the URBACT Programme can make.

Ready for the future? Urban resilience in practice

Urban resilience is the capacity of urban systems, communities, individuals, organisations and businesses to recover, maintain their function and thrive in the aftermath of a shock or a stress, regardless of its impact, frequency or magnitude.

When a human or ecological system loses its resilience, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to disturbances that previously could be absorbed. For example, the same amount of rain will have different impact on neighboring cities, if one of them decided to build over green spaces, with no regard for water retention and absorption capacities.