TEchTown, interview with Tracey Johnson lead Partner

Before I answer these questions, let's back track a bit as the local context is important. Barnsley is a medium sized city - at least by UK standards in the north of England. Historically it was a mining community so with the closure of mines in the 1970s and 19430s, it suffered massive industrial decline coupled with high Levels of unemployment and deprivation.

So, the city has had to completely re-imagine its future and think creatively about its assets so as to grow new jobs. I think this scenario will resonate with people from other medium sized cities. One initiative, which has been particularly successful, is the 'Enterprising Barnsley' business support programme (part funded through ERDF) which has helped local companies to create over 1400 jobs since 2010. Let's not forget that this is in a period when the rest of the UK economy was at best stagnant. Barnsley grew the biggest number of jobs in the whole country - 9.4% growth - we're pretty proud of that.

Procure – creating a good local economy

Interview with Tamar Reay from Preston City Council and Councillor Matthew Brown, the Lead Member for Social Inclusion and Policy at Preston City Council interviewed by Matthew Jackson, lead expert for the Procure (creating a good local economy) Network.

The purpose of Procure is to explore through the exchange of experience and information and learning across cities how procurement can be used more progressively (i.e. using procurement to bring economic, social and environmental benefits to a city) to create a good local economy. I spoke to the Lead Partner for Procure (Tamar Reay from Preston City Council) and Councillor Matthew Brown, the Lead Member for Social Inclusion and Policy at Preston City Council to find out why they were involved.

Smart specialisation: why is it the time for cities to act now? Experiences from Bilbao and Basque country

The Basque Country is celebrating now the 25^th anniversary of the Basque cluster policy. According to Michael Porter, it was the first region in the world in applying massively the cluster concept to its industrial policy. Interestingly, this year is also the 25^th anniversary of Porter´s Competitive Advantage of Nations, one of the most influential essays on the linkage between places and competitiveness.

Freight TAILS – delivering Tailored Approaches for Innovative Logistics Solutions

Interview with from Charlotte Knell (Lead Partner Westminster), Councillor Heather Acton, Dan Dura and Deputy Mayor Lucian Harşovschi from Suceava (project Partner City) interviewed by Matthew Jackson, lead expert of Freight Tails project

TOWARDS A PAN EUROPEAN MODEL OF SOCIAL INNOVATION

Interview with the Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz and Magdalena Skiba – coordinator Boosting Social Innovation, interviewed by Peter Wolkowinsky, lead expert of Boostino network

Boostinno is a new URBACT network coordinated by the city of Gdansk, which has taken on the challenge to try to identify a Pan European Model of social innovation[1]. This model will be based on the experience of the initial partner cities  Paris (FR), Milan (IT), Turin (IT) and Braga (PT) working together with all the partners of the network which are in addition Strasbourg (Fr), Skane county (S), Baia Mare (RO), Barcelona Activa (S) and Wroclaw (Pl). It will attempt to foster the social innovation momentum in European local authorities; more specifically by working on the way in which citizens become a central actor in local policies. The network will also work on innovative ways of finance social innovation.

The Arrival Cities project

The Arrival Cities Action Planning Network is tackling one of Europe’s most urgent issues by looking at how cities can manage the challenges of old and new migration flows. Arrival Cities was initiated by Carla Tavares, the Mayor of the Municipality of Amadora, and Amadora is lead partner for the network. As Arrival Cities embarks on the six month phase of partnership development and network planning, Liz Mackie, the lead expert for the network, talked to the Deputy Mayor of Amadora, Cristina Farinha, about Amadora’s reasons for starting the Arrival Cities network, how the network will be developed and what she hopes they will gain from this experience. Ms Farinha became Deputy Mayor in October 2013, her portfolio includes education and training, social development, sport and youth, health, and management of co-financed processes.

Challenges and Ambitions for Baena, the Lead Partner of URBACT AGRI-URBAN project.

AGRI-URBAN is about Rethinking Agri-Food Production in Small and Medium sized Cities.

Interview with Jesús Rojano Aguilera, Mayor of the city of Baena, and with the project coordination team, António Zafra and Raquel Moreno.

Interviewed by Miguel Sousa, Lead Expert of the URBACT AGRI-URBAN project.

In Italy, a struggling town looks to refugees for revival

"In Italy, the job of settling and integrating asylum seekers belongs to local governments. Mayors across the impoverished southern region of Calabria, and especially here in Satriano, are embracing this responsibility in a big way.Local officials in Satriano are enthusiastically situating refugees in temporary housing, lining them up with jobs and assisting them with their applications for asylum."