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URBACT NDP Hungary - Settlements co-operate to become more climate-friendly

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21 June 2019
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Climate change is more and more recognised as a priority challenge for urban areas. Several URBACT projects are directly or indirectly dealing with this issue. The response of cities to the climate question will be of prime importance in seeking to achieve sustainable and environmentally responsible urban futures. The Hungarian URBACT National Dissemination Point outlines the activities of the Hungarian Association of climate-friendly cities which is working on local level towards raising awareness on climate change.

Under the Hungarian EU Presidency in 2011 one of the priorities will be focusing on the urban challenges of climate change. How to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change in cities is a topic getting more and more relevant each day in each European city. To tackle this challenge common actions and appropriate policy packages are needed on global, European and national level, but also good local initiatives are inevitable on the way towards sustainable cities.

The Association of climate-friendly cities in Hungary is such a local initiative. The Hungarian city Tatabánya (partner in URBACT project URBAMECO) was among the seven municipalities who have formed the association in 2007 with the support of the Research Group for Climate Change of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since this time six other settlements and one city-district have already joined this group, while several other cities have announced their joining intentions. The association is working on local level towards raising awareness on climate change and the possibilities of mitigation and adaptation. Besides publishing bi-monthly newsletters, a book on climate-friendly settlements, a leaflet on "climate change and action possibilities on local level", several events were held and are planned to achieve this aim.

The event "Open Space" Week ("Nyílt Tér" Hét) was organized in the 8 member settlements in autumn 2009 under the motto: "Let's find out together what we can do!" The aim was to create a forum, platform for urban decision- and policy-makers and inhabitants to meet and discuss local challenges of climate change and find out together possible answers and actions. Several other local events were and are being organized: movie evenings with awareness raising films on climate change, fair of climate-friendly products, excursions, and even common planting of native trees.


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