Emmanuel MOULIN, Head of the URBACT Secretariat, comes back on the URBACT Annual Conference 2012
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23 February 2015More than 400 people (urban practitioners, policymakers and experts) actively took part in the URBACT Annual Conference 2012 “Cities of Tomorrow: Actions Today” in Copenhagen. They came from all across Europe and beyond, with 37 countries represented! For all of us, it was a wonderful opportunity to explore new solutions to critical challenges facing European cities.
At this time of intense debates on the objectives and budget of the European 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy, the presence of Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Regional and Urban Policy, served as clear and welcome proof the Commission’s strong commitment in favour of cities. Johannes Hahn advocated a greater role for cities in the cohesion policy. He also highlighted the central role of URBACT in promoting integrated and sustainable urban development in the coming years.
During the plenary sessions, we had the opportunity to review the state of current discussions on the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy, together with representatives of the European Commission, European Parliament, Member States and cities. Also discussed were the new tools the European Commission provides cities to help them further integrated urban development and promote participatory processes, such as Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) and Community-Led Local Development (CLLD).
One of the highlights of the conference was certainly the discussions about urban development on other continents presented by international urban experts, including Susan Fainstein, author of The Just City (July 2011). They provided perspective on the challenges faced by European cities by describing those encountered by cities in other parts of the world. A broad spectrum of cases was presented, as well as issues such as social polarisation, governance of urban areas and environmental threats. Today, cities are on the frontlines in dealing with the impacts of the economic crisis. They are increasingly facing difficult social situations with dwindling funding. The crisis is being seen increasingly as a game-changer. There is a strong need to build creative public policy responses for a future that may, in the long term, be characterised by restricted access to financial resources.
The six workshops gave participants the chance to dialogue on very practical issues and to examine concrete solutions for cities, addressing the topics of “Shrinking Cities”, “More Jobs: Better Cities”, “Supporting Young People Through Social Innovation”, “Against Divided Cities in Europe”, ”Motivating Mobility Mindsets” and the challenge of “Building Energy Efficiency in European Cities.”
The URBACT Café, during which participants spontaneously and informally conversed in their own languages, was the opportunity for each of us to provide input on how URBACT can support cities in the future through transnational exchange, training or capacity building.
Following on the Annual Conference, URBACT is looking towards the future, in view of the next programming period of the European Union: 2014 -2020.
Our next big event will be the URBACT Summer University in Vilnius in the summer 2013. Looking forward to meeting you there!
Emmanuel Moulin
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