Networks and cities' news

InteractiveCities: Social media for relational urban governance by the Interactive Cities Partnership

With today's European cities hosting most of the continent’s population and urban areas being the stage for many of contemporary conflicts such as social inequality, environmental threats or economic crisis, collective action must be taken immediately.

Opening the jewellery box in Sopron

Interview with:  Edit Bognar, City Development Office of Sopron Municipality, Dr. Tamas Fodor, Mayor of Sopron and Emoke  Zacs, Grants Europe Kft in Budapest interviewed by Wessel Badenhorst Lead Expert of the City Centre Doctor project

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