Networks and cities' news

Agents of change - Agueda's transfer story

CREATIVE SPIRITS is a network of nine European cities, funded by the European Union in the frame of the URBACT III Programme. The nine CREATIVE SPIRITS partner cities have a common need to improve the implementation of their existing integrated urban strategies/action plans by including novel approaches linked to creative and cultural industries (CCI) – creative places, people and businesses. The joint policy challenge for the network is to better facilitate the above “creative ecosystem” to be able to attract (more) creative entrepreneurs and boost creative entrepreneurship in dedicated urban areas.

A CORUÑA TRANSFER STORY

Our starting points and ambitions

The most relevant starting-points for the Ru:rban implementation in Coruña were:

• The existence of a public initiative of the policy of urban gardens (top-down).
• The emerging interest of 4 different departments responsible for the city governance towards the strategic added value of Urban gardens (Environment, Culture and Education, Markets and Employment)
• Creation (in 2018) of 3 new public urban gardens in 3 different neighbourhoods and locations (112 plots in Agora, 75 in Eirís and 30 in Novo Mesoiro) and 3 plots for social integration projects in Carlos Casares Park.
• Existence of a public call for the selection of people who manage urban gardens and their conditions of use and a second call for the assignation of the three plots for social integration projects in Carlos Casares.
• Start-up of the urban garden monitors course (in 2018 and 2019).

KRAKOW TRANSFER STORY

That day the phones kept ringing. The e-mail inbox repeatedly informed me about new e-mails, of which there were more than 50 ... Invitations from the radio and TV to share more about the project that aroused such interest among the residents, that just three years ago would have been something unimaginable. All this was due to an article that appeared on our website which informed people about the start of a new project. The "Gardeniser +" project with Erasmus Plus which we invited residents to join. Without the RU:RBAN project all this would not have happened.

So much more than the IKEA quarter… Transfer story of Targówek, Warsaw

Few people are well acquainted with Targówek. In the minds of Warsaw residents, this district is rather described as: "a peripheral part of the city", "somewhere far beyond Praga", "I heard that the underground is supposed to be coming there - it's incredible!” or „Yeah, I know, I know. Sometimes, I go to IKEA there”. However, the district is inhabited by active residents, coming from diverse backgrounds, building unique neighbourhood communities, so often disappearing in other parts of the city. 

Resourceful Cities: Urban Resource centers explained!

Our new video is launched!

The Action Planning network Resourceful Cities seeks to develop the next generation of urban resource centers, so they can serve as catalysts of the local circular economy by adopting a participative and integrated approach. 'Urban resource centers' are more often seen as one of the solutions in a circular economy.
What are 'uban resource centers' and what is their main purpose? How can local 'urban resource centres’ bring people together and boost local circular economies? Watch this short video to get an insight into this solution and get to know the partnership!

THESSALONIKI TRANSFER STORY

Municipality of Thessaloniki, even though it refers to a city of only 2.5m2 per resident, during the last years supports and hosts in public spaces a vineyard, an orchard, an urban community garden project (Kipos3) and a schoolyard (Triandria school garden). The existence of those productive and “edible” landscapes, within the city center, motivated the Common Benefit Enterprise of the City of Thessaloniki (KEDITH), to participate in the European network Ru:rban of URBACT III. 

Through this experience, the City gained valuable input to structure an institutional tool and a manual in order to multiply its urban gardening initiatives along with the active citizens’ engagement. The rural-urban (“rurban”) blending these initiatives may bring, aims to more cohesive neighborhoods and communities, to more attractive public spaces – especially for the remnant, non accessible and inactive of those -, to a more inclusive, resilient and alive city in the end . Ioanna Kosmopoulou, President of Common Benefit Enterprise City of Thessaloniki "KEDITH"