In the run-up to #URBACTfest, sit back and enjoy this musical tour of urban Europe, from Daniele Terzariol, URBACT ad-hoc expert and Deputy Mayor of San Donà di Piave (IT). The cities URBACT supports are complex realities and a source of design inspiration. They’re also often the starting point or the landing place for […]
Large Housing Estates in post-socialist cities: challenges and perspectives
Cities across Europe are looking for solutions to develop fairer housing models. In 2020, URBACT and Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) developed a common ‘Right2Housing’ platform to exchange ‘housing as a right’ practices among cities. Although the debate on affordable housing in Europe has recently sent out important messages for policy-makers, the housing context of the […]
Recovery and Resilience Facility implementation: what’s in it for cities?
Within the framework of its Recovery and Resilience Facility to mitigate the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union is making EUR 723.8 billion available to support reforms and investments undertaken by Member States – EUR 385.8 billion in loans and EUR 338 billion in grants. In my previous blog from November […]
Urban lessons from the pandemic
What did we learn from the responses of urban areas to the Covid-19 pandemic? At the end of 2020, I wanted to take stock… Immediate ‘tactical interventions’ in the use of public space The pandemic turned the world upside down. Local municipalities suddenly found themselves in a peculiar and difficult situation: facing unprecedented levels and […]
An Interesting Battlefield : Planning for the Recovery
Since March, we have almost forgotten what personal meetings mean – almost everything went online. It was only between June and August that the pandemic seemed to soften, thus even larger meetings could be organised. So it happened that the leaders of the 27 EU Member States could meet in Brussels. To be more precise: […]
Active Travel to School as a Trigger for Healthy City Planning
Do you remember how you travelled to school? In the past, most children walked to school and modern neighbourhoods were designed around schools. A short and safe walk to school was understood as an indicator of the quality of life, social equality and cohesion. Cities throughout Europe are fully engaged in promoting active mobility. The […]
Moving from Lockdown to Hybrid Working
Out of the frying pan; into the fire… In the recent months, much has changed and quickly. For many of us, the move to wholly remote and digital working methods has been rapid and all-encompassing. “A baptism of fire” would be a reasonable description for the experience of being thrown suddenly into lockdown and a […]
Technology in the time of Covid
How will digital innovation help cities navigate these uncharted waters? Digital Innovation in cities has been an area of focus for years. Over time, how we understand the term has also gradually evolved, with the pace of change accelerating notably as we sped towards the 2020s. Where previously the cutting edge was about online forms […]
Re-imagining physical meetings in the post Covid-19 era
These last few months the Covid-19 crisis has implied remote working and social distancing measures, putting most of the ‘’frequent flyers’’ – European citizens and professionals in the position to thinks back at the time, when planning and implementing a physical meeting in the frame of a transnational project could be a two-months’ process. From […]
The rise and fall of creative revitalisation of the old Tobacco factory in Ljubljana, Slovenia
In its fruitful 130 years of operation, the Tobacco factory in Ljubljana (Tobačna) was like a city within a city. It offered employment to many workers, especially women, as well as good conditions and above-average services. Its cast-iron construction was exemplary for many industrial buildings in this part of Europe. Even though the factory was […]
Authors
Aidan Cerar
Aldo Vargas
Alice Ferguson
Alina Andreea Băileşteanu
Alison Partridge
Amy Labarrière
Ana Resende
Anais de Muret- ALL AUTHORS
