Networks and cities' news

Portrait Serie #9 - Reuniting after heartache: The Mykhno family's journey, the true cost of Economic Migration

Introduction 

Migration is often portrayed as a journey to opportunity and prosperity, but for many families, it is fraught with challenges, sacrifices, and emotional turmoil. The Mykhno family, from Ukraine, embodies the resilience and determination of countless migrants seeking a better life. This article delves into their story, highlighting the heart-breaking separation from their young son, the struggles they faced upon relocating to Poland, and the ongoing challenges that test their unity and perseverance. Through their experiences, we gain insight into the harsh realities of economic migration, revealing the profound impact it has on families striving to secure a brighter future. 

The importance of women entrepreneurs for societal development

Building Irresistible Cities: Small and Medium Towns on a Mission to Combat Brain-drain

Mid-point article by Béla Kézy, Lead Expert of C4TALENT.

Change of mindset – crucial in all levels when working with citizen action!

The URBACT Action Planning Network COPE with the tagline “Unlocking the green potentials of citizen action” works place-based with engaging the local citizens in defining their local challenges and solutions when focusing on the climate change and biodiversity crisis.

Mostar’s MetaCity: Pioneering a digital and sustainable future

Situated in the scenic south of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mostar is celebrated for its rich cultural heritage and iconic historic landmarks. While the timeless beauty of its Old Bridge and surrounding landscapes continues to captivate, the city is now redefining its future through digital innovation. Through the MetaCity project, Mostar is joining a dynamic network of European cities to leverage cutting-edge technology, strengthen collaboration, and build a more sustainable and inclusive future. 

The MetaCity project goes beyond simply implementing digital solutions—it envisions building a smarter, more connected, and forward-thinking Mostar, where technology meets the needs of citizens, businesses, and urban planners alike. The initiative aims to address challenges unique to small and medium-sized cities, enabling Mostar to compete on a global stage while staying true to its local character and goals.

Looking back to look forward

As we start off into 2025, we are doing the final wrap-up for our mid-term reflection, a process we carried out during late autumn 2024. This was an open process with all project partners, looking at our experience so far, what is working well and anything that we want to change or add to the network.

Happily, this process showed a network that is functioning very well, with positive reports from PPs about improved knowledge on the digital divide, good support from the Lead Partner and Lead Expert team, and positive views about the opportunities for this coming year. The process highlighted that that we achieved a lot already in 2024 and have laid strong foundations for some really exciting developments in the next 12 months. It sounds like empty rhetoric that any LE would say about their network – but for me, it is really notable how well this network functions as a partnership and the level of opportunities there are for local progress and network level insight into digital inclusion in cities.

Our highlights for 2024 included three in-person transnational meetings hosted by three different project partners – Torres-Vedras (PT), Jelgava Local Municipality (LV) and Iasi, (RO). These were crucial times to make best use of the opportunity of being together in one place for intensive days of work and exchange. 

The positive views from partners on the effectiveness of these meetings saw us revise our plan for 2025 to include an additional transnational meeting this coming April. This will hosted by our partner Lepida, in the city of Bologna, and will focus exclusively on good practices and exchange on thematic topics, enabling a real deep dive into the latest ideas and projects at a crucial time in the project, with the distraction of budgets, frameworks and project management matters. We will also continue to use online meetings smartly, scheduling these at suitable points around our in-person meetings, to cover the things that work in online format, leaving space in our in-person agenda for the things where it really makes a difference being in-person.