Urbact Interactive Cities Transnational Meeting Murcia – Part One

The Murcia Team had the immense pleasure of hosting the previous to last partner meeting of the Urbact Interactive Cities Network in our city from the 24^th until the 26^th of January 2018, a vibrant mixture of working sessions, expert interventions, site-visits and workshops throughout the three-day-programme.

Murcia with ≈450K inhabitants is the 7th largest city of Spain, capital of the Murcia Region and located in the southeast of the Iberia peninsula. The City has all modern facilities one can expect from a regional capital, and the economy is primarily based on services, (residential) tourism being important, and agriculture (exporting all over Europe, examples include fruit, vegetables and wine).

How Glasgow is using URBinclusion to drive its Thriving Place, Govanhill

By Marie McLelland - Glasgow Project Co-ordinator                

URBinclusion is challenging Glasgow in a new way. It is giving us the space to explore how we implement existing plans and strategies and how we overcome the challenges we face. While this is something we may have done for some time, we now need to articulate, measure and monitor how we do it.

Spaces for smart specialisation: spaces and places where smart specialisation takes shape

The urban economy is changing, and so are the locational needs for companies and workers. How can cities cope with this? URBACT IN FOCUS partners reflected on the development of new workspaces and places, in the context of smart specialisation strategies of cities and regions during the Transnational Workshop held in Bordeaux from 22-24 November 2017.

Cities’ Challenges in Cultural Heritage Management

Article by the network Lead Expert Pedro Soutinho.

 

“A Historic Urban Landscape or HUL is an urban area understood  as  the  result  of  a  historic  layering  of  cultural  and  natural  values  and  attributes,  extending  beyond  the  notion  of  “historic  centre”  or  “ensemble”  to  include  the  broader  urban   context  and  its  geographical  setting’. It  builds  upon  the  assumption  that,  when  an  urban settlement is properly managed, initiatives, opportunities, and development can contribute to both quality of life and conservation of cultural heritage, while ensuring a social diversity and justness.» (in UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape).

What do you know on children and seniors? A mobility survey from Agii Anargyri & Kamatero

Genius-open project - a Ning User guide to setting up an online open innovation platform.

Gdańsk mobility in balance - how to achieve this?

The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is slowly becoming "must have" for European metropolises that want their residents to feel good in their own city. Gdańsk will also have this document.

Cluster development and smart specialisation at city level

The cluster approach is acknowledged as the most influential one in modern industrial policy worldwide, and the arrival of smart specialisation has emphasized its influence. But, why? How might local authorities take advantage of this momentum to enhance their role as facilitators of cluster initiatives? What new drivers are now working in the field of cluster development? This article gives us the opportunity to introduce some concepts associated to smart specialisation illustrated by examples from the In Focus network cities.

Clusters and priority domains

Migrants Perspectives 3

In each edition of its newsletter the Arrival Cities Network will present some of the LSG members through their migration stories, this is the third that has been presented so far.

How to plan for healthy and active communities: learning through ’Deep Dive’

Healthy and active communities are integral parts of a smart city – and they must be planned for. Urban planning has a crucial role in facilitating networks and providing spaces which encourage citizens to engage in physical activity. Well-designed public spaces are not only attractive additions to the streetscape, they are also incentives for people to spend time outdoors, mingle and connect.

The VITALCITIES Action Planning Network explored the possibility of tackling social exclusion through the redesign of public spaces in deprived residential areas. The project seeks to find innovative tools and low threshold infrastructure solutions for creating activity-friendly environments.

As part of the knowledge sharing & capacity building, participating cities have undergone a so called  ’Deep Dive’ process, a three-tiered approach to transnational learning and sharing best practice. Every participating city was given partners to help them understand their current strength and weaknesses in providing Physical Activity (PA), as well as to explore options for future improvement.

3 Steps of the Deep-dive approach: from self analysis to peer reviews

A JAIL IN SEARCH OF ITS DESTINY

While the city of Armagh promotes itself as "the religious capital of Northern Ireland" committed to attract visitors, the old prison, another asset in the city part of the extensive legacy of the archbishop Robinson period, is involved in a particular challenge: