Leveraging Synergies to Boost the Impact of Urban Agenda Partnerships
Cross-cutting issues, common challenges and needs
The meeting brought together eight partnerships from different generations, ranging from long-established ones like the partnership on Public Procurement and Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, to more recent ones approved in 2021, including Greening Cities, Sustainable Tourism, Food, and Cities of Equality, as well as the two latest partnerships, Water Sensitive City and Building Decarbonisation, approved in 2023. A comprehensive overview of all thematic partnerships and related members, launched within the framework of the Urban Agenda, is available on this map.
Although partnerships are at different stages of development, they share common challenges, such as bridging gaps between sectors, disseminating partnership outputs, expanding stakeholder engagement, and ensuring high-quality deliverables.
Furthermore, there are several thematic connections between the different partnerships that require joint efforts in specific areas. For example, there are direct links between Food and Public Procurement, as well as between the Cities of Equality and Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees. Strong connections also exist between the Greening Cities, Water Sensitive City and Building Decarbonisation partnerships. Other significant thematic connections, which serve as a foundation for collaborative work, were highlighted during the meeting.
The role of cities and Urban Agenda in the next programming period
The meeting was opened with keynote speeches from Anton Schrag, European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), Nathalie Cos, project lead for the European Urban Initiative at Région Hauts-de-France, and Tim Caulfield, Director of the European Urban Initiative Permanent Secretariat.
A central theme emphasised in their speeches was the importance of highlighting the tangible results achieved by Urban Agenda partnerships through their work. This issue is particularly significant given the current phase of negotiations for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the ambitious new policy agenda for cities, as announced by the new EU Commission.
Marcos Ros Sempere, a Member of the European Parliament, also addressed the same topic during his intervention in the second part of the CALM meeting. He introduced the European Urban Forum (EUF), a platform launched two weeks ago to bring together stakeholders focused on urban issues. The European Urban Forum serves as a discussion platform where civic organisations and all relevant stakeholders can engage directly with lawmakers. It is crucial to assess how the Urban Agenda can contribute to these discussions and strengthen the connection between the European Urban Initiative (EUI) and EUF.
Given that the Parliament is involved in decisions on both the current and future MFF budgets, it is vital for cities to have a voice in these matters. The legislation on urban-related issues must be implemented, and the European Urban Forum will provide a space for debates on various topics, including a session dedicated to housing in collaboration with UN Habitat.
Concrete proposals for joint initiatives
Following the presentation of the status, needs, and challenges faced by each partnership, participants took part in several interactive workshops aimed at fostering the generation of ideas and proposals to enhance collaboration and initiate joint actions.
Concrete suggestions were put forward, including regular bilateral meetings between partnerships, the creation of a shared platform for communication and exchange, joint deliverables and awareness-raising sessions, peer reviews between different action leaders and coordinators to improve the quality of outputs, leveraging each other's networks ecosystems and organising joint national events to boost communication and dissemination to other cities.
Another major focus was how members of the Urban Agenda partnerships can best support the implementation of the EU's priorities under the new European Commission. In this regard, representatives from various DGs presented key upcoming legislative and funding initiatives that are relevant to the work of the partnerships. Among the notable initiatives discussed were the Water Resilience Strategy, which aims to develop a comprehensive multi-annual cross-sectoral plan, the new Bioeconomy Strategy, set to be adopted by the end of 2025, the Competitiveness Compass, the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, and the previously mentioned policy agenda for cities.
The partnerships can collaborate to strengthen their voices, collectively respond to public consultations, and adopt a unified position to represent their perspective on key urban challenges.
What are the next steps
To ensure continuity in collaboration, the EUI Secretariat highlighted the importance of participating in meetings of other thematic partnerships, creating joint outputs and advocacy initiatives on cross-cutting issues. Another recommendation is to take advantage of the different opportunities offered by the European Urban Initiative, such as capacity-building activities (Peer Reviews and City-to-City Exchanges) to promote collaboration and mutual learning.
Additionally, the results for the third EUI Call for Innovative Actions have been published, and a fourth call is expected to be launched soon.
The next key event and appointment for the Urban Agenda partnerships is the Cities Forum, which will be held in Kraków from 17-19 June. The 2025 edition will focus on gathering ideas for the development of the EU policy agenda for cities, offering an invaluable opportunity to bring the perspective of the partnerships into the debate.