Networks and cities' news

Sipping coffee in Sligo: How a commitment to community and attention to detail turned things around for downtown—one cup at a time

The year is 2013 and few residents of Sligo, Ireland have heard of a BID, or Business Improvement District. Stakeholders in the local commerce sector operated independently and seldomly in cooperation with the County Council. Fast forward to December 6, 2023 when a group of 26 individuals from ten different countries all over Europe touched down in Sligo to glean best practices for city centre management. Sligo’s remarkable success story provided a fitting backdrop for the first transnational meeting of the Cities@Heart URBACT Action Planning Network.

Empowering communities through URBACT Local Groups

URBACT Local Groups (ULGs) are a cornerstone of our projects. ULGs are vital in fostering a participatory approach at the local level, ensuring that communities actively contribute to urban development. As we embark on the Activation Stage of our projects, a vast number of ULGs have been created among the Beyond the Urban partner territories, and First ULG meetings have taken place, starting to empower their communities:

Who are the Agents of Co-Existence?

The Agents of Co-Existence network, made up of nine partners situated across Europe, has embarked on an exciting collaborative journey. The lead partner, Genk (BE), is joined by project partners from Aarhus (DK), Breda (NL), Quart de Poblet (ES), Gdańsk (PL), Banská Bystrica (SK), Budaörs (HU), Ķekava (LV), and the intercommunity Development Association of the Iași Metropolitan Area (RO). Together, they aim to promote transparent, innovative and citizen-centred governance.

COPE: Coherent Place-based Climate Action URBACT

EMBARKING ON THE GREEN TRANSITION

Over the next two years, the ten cities forming the URBACT In4Green network will collaborate to devise local solutions addressing the challenges of industrial transition

Small cities, the potential best place to live in Europe?

For most of human history, most people across the world lived in small communities. Over the past 500 years, this reality has shifted dramatically, and in 2015, 73.5% of Europeans were already living in urban areas. People's concentration leads to some challenges related to quality of life, such as lack of safety, housing problems, pollution concentration, and poverty.

According to the Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities, a 2023 European Commission study, smaller cities are perceived as being better places to live. The study shows that the happiness and well-being of people increase in cities smaller than 250.000 inhabitants.