IUC program for Latin America and the Caribbean participates in European Week of Regions and Cities
The International Urban Cooperation Programme (IUC), funded by the European Union, will be present at the European Week of Regions and Cities (12-15
October) to be held in Brussels for the 18th consecutive year.
During the session on October 13, starting at 4:30, the cities of Turin (Italy), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Barranquilla (Colombia) will talk about the results they have obtained through their participation in the program. The IUC regional program in North America, represented by the cities of Edmonton, San Diego and Bologna (as a working partner), will also participate in the space.
The event, organized by DG Regio, will be divided into two parts, where two different themes will be developed, both aligned with the European Green Pact. The first: mobility and digital transition, will have the participation of the cities of Buenos Aires, San Diego (United States) and Turin.
The city of Buenos Aires will present the results of the working group that it formed with Madrid during the IUC program. Among one of its biggest logos is
the remodelling of one of its main roads: Avenida Corrientes, which was modelled after the Gran Vía de Madrid. From this collaboration between the two
cities emerged a manual of good practices on the renovation of central axes through sustainable integrated urban approaches.
The presentation by Argentina will be carried out by the Undersecretary of Urban Landscape of the Ministry of Public Space, Juan Vacas. According to Vacas, the participation of Buenos Aires in the program has allowed them to “contrast in real time the evolution of two urban renewal operations: from the political decision level, through the technical phase of the project, to the material execution and the citizen’s response to the final result ”.
Another of the IUC-LAC cities, Turin, will be the protagonist in these conferences. Its experience in the integrated transport project in Grande ABC, a consortium of 6 Brazilian municipalities, will be discussed. Giuseppe Estivo, in charge of Transport and Mobility of Turin, will present during the event the good practices of cooperation between the two cities. Thanks to the support of the Italian city, Grande ABC will become the first public consortium in Brazil, will centralise the mobility management of a group of municipalities, and will soon integrate the payment platforms in the network that its cooperation partner already uses.
The second part of the event, dedicated to circular economy and energy transition, will have as participants the cities of Edmonton (Canada), Barranquilla (Colombia) and Bolonia (Italy).
Barranquilla, another city that is part of the IUC-LAC project, will talk about its work during the program with the Italian cities of Velletri and Rome, with which it is implementing a pilot project for urban gardens. During their joint work, both cities highlighted the importance of urban agriculture as a tool for social integration, optimization of public space, expansion of green spaces, citizen participation and public-private cooperation.
Manuel Trujillo, Head of International Relations of the Mayor's Office of Barranquilla, comments: “Thanks to the leadership of environmental institutions
and the IUC program, Barranquilla is ready to launch a first pilot of urban gardens in the city based on the model shared by Roma and Velletri ”.
The IUC-LAC session during the European Week of Cities and Regions will feature the welcoming remarks of the main advisor of DG Regio, Rudolf Niessler, and Nelson Jorge, representative of the Foreign Policy Instrument. It will be moderated by the Coordinator of the Methodological Taskforce of the IUC program and the City-City Cooperation of IUC-LAC, Sandra Marín.
To register: https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/register_en
More information: https://europa.eu/regions-and-cities/programme/sessions/1635_en
About IUC
The International Urban Cooperation Programme (IUC), funded by the European Union through the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) and supported by DG Regio, help cities in different regions of the world to connect and share solutions for common problems in sustainable urban development in the framework of the New Urban Agenda and the fight against Climate Change. More at www.iuc-la.eu
