International Urban Cooperation programme invites European cities to join second round of pairings
Edited on
24 June 2019The call for applications for the second round of the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme’s city-to-city pairing initiative was officially launched 8 February 2018 at the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur (MY).
European cities will be matched with international counterparts facing similar sustainability challenges from China, Chile, India, Japan, Peru and the United States of America.
"With this announcement, no fewer than 25 new city-to-city partnerships for sustainable urban development will be created. In this way, the European Union is making a decisive contribution to the roll-out of the United Nations' New Urban Agenda across the world, keeping the promise we made at the Habitat 3 meeting just over 15 months ago," said Ronald Hall, Principal Adviser on International Relations at the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission.
The International Urban Cooperation Programme is facilitating cooperation and exchange between cities and regions in European Union Member States and counterparts across Asia, North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with the aim to foster sustainable urban development.
Cities will be matched based on shared topical interest: for example, cities may wish to reduce urban poverty, raise gender equality, tackle the challenges of migration, or have a desire to switch to renewable forms of energy. Each local government will learn from one another’s approaches, and will develop Local Action Plans which set out measures to be pursued during their 18 month cooperation period.
The Local Action Plans will follow a common methodology, inspired by the EU-funded URBACT programme experience. Its development will involve a wide-range of departments within each city, as well as academia, businesses, other levels of government and the local community.
The first call for city pairings, which took place in November 2017, saw over 30 pairings agreed, including Frankfurt (Germany) and Yokahama (Japan); Bologna (Italy) and Austin, Texas (USA); Manchester (United Kingdom) and Montreal (Canada); and Almada (Portugal) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).
A full list of the city and regional pairings achieved to-date is available to view on the IUC website's City pairings page.
European local governments can apply online to join the second round of pairings until 9 March 2018.
For more information, visit the IUC website.
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