LOOKING OVER THE FENCE

Architectural heritage comes in all shapes and sizes! Ancient Greek theatres, roman sites, medieval castles, modernist streetscapes and 19th century industrial sites: the INT-HERIT network represents a good cross-section of what architectural heritage has to offer. Regardless of the variety of architectural heritage they have to manage, all network partners do face the same challenges: how can small and medium sized cities use their heritage sites as a lever for socio-economic development?

A new urban freight plan

When Umeå — northern Sweden’s largest urban community — joined the URBACT Freight TAILS network, its city centre faced increasing traffic problems, partly from vehicles delivering to shops and services. With a fast-growing population and e-commerce boom, Umeå needed to build a sustainable freight transport strategy to stay attractive.

Armagh County Club

Background

Armagh County Club was established in 1869 and has occupied the same premises for the last 149 years. The Club is a private members' club situated in the centre of the historic city of Armagh, located in the heart of the city’s conservation area. Much of the building is lying vacant or under used and the Club have very exciting new uses for this outstanding property. For instance, the underused snooker room will become a seminar/exhibition space with a new build staircase and kitchen on the blank East gable. The lower ground floor will accommodate two apartments and a new lift will operate from here to the top floor. The Club will celebrate their 150th anniversary in 2019 and it is fitting that the membership has agreed an ambitious programme of improvement works to their property for this important milestone in their history.

The making-of of Bon Pastor case example video

By Massimiliano Rumignani and Sebastià Riutort

[[{"fid":"23548","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_author[und][0][value]":"Massimiliano Rumignani"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"4":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_author[und][0][value]":"Massimiliano Rumignani"}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":3024,"width":4032,"style":"float: right; height: 150px; width: 200px;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"4"}}]]During December 2018, Albert Folk (a filmmaker specialised in documentary) and his assistant Adrián Boluda shot the video presenting the Barcelona case example of the “Accompanying program for the rehousing of residents from “Cases barates” of the El Bon Pastor neighbourhood”. Oriol Bosch and Sebastià Riutort (Social Rights Area, Barcelona City Council) and Massimiliano Rumignani (URBinclusion communication officer) assisted and accompanied them during the shooting.

New URBACT book: ‘Cities in Action - Stories of Change’

The Creative SpIN Local Action Plan in Rotterdam

A Partner Search Tool to help match cities

In the frame of the open call for Action Planning networks (7 January-17 April 2019), URBACT has developed an online database to assist cities in their search for partners.

Reducing congestion for a healthier, wealthier city

Picture 5. Poor people at the centre of the Helmholtz square. Source: Ivan Tosics

Are you working on fringe?

Maarten van Tuijl takes a look at the “sub>urban, re-inventing the fringe" network, across 9 cities, re-thinking city fringes over the past 2,5 years and working on the implementation of local action plans on pilot sites. So, he asks: what did we learn and what are our recommendations for working on the fringe?

URBACT, an opportunity for action and change

Since 2002, around 1 000 EU cities involved in URBACT have experienced the added value of transnational cooperation, the transfer of good practices beyond national borders, and the participatory approach to policy-making. URBACT continues to bring cities together with the call for Action Planning networks early 2019. This is how it helps cities drive local change.

This article features in the URBACT 'Cities in Action - Stories of Change' publication (December 2018).

Social and technological innovation at the service of educational success

Mireia Sanabria, URBACT III On Board Network expert says traditional education systems need to keep up with the current trends while keeping cities’ youths interested by evolving education into an open and progressive environment within the community.

School has never had the monopoly over education nor exclusivity in the transfer of learning, but in recent years this has never been more apparent. Even though education centres continue to play an essential role as instruments for accessing and managing information and knowledge, learning today has to be seen in a broader social and technological context. Because information flows are more voluminous and faster than ever before, our school centres need to be fully aware of this and have the resources to keep pace with current trends to offer modern, relevant and quality education for today and tomorrow’s citizens. City governments, on their side, being the nearest administration to the locals and aware of the city developments and needs, are best positioned to facilitate an education environment in the city that is relevant, suitable and attractive to youths.

Viladecans: the dawn of a new Educational Innovation Network