ICLEI Europe and its member cities will be part of this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek), the biggest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to cities and regions, to discuss different aspects of achieving a rapid transition to carbon neutrality and sustainability in a series of workshops and participatory labs.

Agenda for ICLEI cities & regions on 12 October

‘Young people’s voice at the centre of policy-making’ 11:30-13:00 CEST

ICLEI Europe, together with Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI), will host a participatory lab to discuss policies that attempt to mitigate the effects of urban inequality, which often disregard affected citizens’ experiences, and thus fail to realise maximum impact. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about one of four inspiring local projects regarding young people's engagement in policy co-creation processes, in addition to interacting with the project leaders, engaged young people and local policy-makers.

‘Public procurement specialists meet the market – market engagement strategies and the example of AI’ 14:30 to 16:00 CEST

ICLEI Europe, the Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics (BME) and Forum Virium Helsinki will lead a workshop on public procurement meeting the market. A key aspect of the successful public procurement of innovation is to encourage innovative (small and medium-sized) companies to bid for tenders. The projects AI4CITIES, URBAN AGENDA and PROCURE2INNOVATE have gathered practical experience in engaging the market and want to share these resources.

‘New European Bauhaus: Achieving aesthetics, sustainability and inclusiveness at local level' 16:30 to 18:00 CEST

ICLEI Europe and the Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) will bring together local decision-makers, architects and representatives from arts schools to discuss how this ambition and these principles can be translated into tangible initiatives, projects, and processes at the local level. The session also aims to raise cities’ and regions’ awareness of the challenges inherent to the New European Bauhaus initiative, offer inspiration and highlight good practices.

‘Clean and resilient cities and a social economy for a green and just transition’ 16:30 to 18:00 CEST

ICLEI Europe, the City of Gdynia, CEMR, EUROCITIES and ENSIE are hosting a workshop to discuss the role of cities and regions in a green and just transition, illustrated by the example of Gdynia (Poland) and Lille (France). The session will also explore how initiatives such as the Green City Accord, the Resilient Cities Network and the European Network of Social Integration Enterprises can strengthen the political will and the capacity of key actors to protect and enhance the urban environment in collaboration with citizens and other stakeholders.

Agenda for ICLEI cities & regions on 13 October

'Empowering citizens in the energy transition - Local collective-action initiatives in Europe' 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM CEST

This session will convene representatives of European projects, all of which aim to foster citizen empowerement. The speakers and the audience will work together to find consensus on how to best overcome challenges to both scaling-up energy communities, and to maximising the adoption of sustainable energy practices. In sum, the session will explore general challenges to scaling-up energy communities, what gets scaled-up and why, the role of energy communities and local governments in accelerating the energy transition, and community energy behaviour. The SONNET project, in which ICLEI Europe is a partner, will be represented with contributions from ICLEI Members Bristol (United Kingdom) and Antwerp (Belgium).

‘Carbon-neutral, sustainable, inclusive! Unlocking cities' full potential through Local Green Deals’ 11:30 to 13:00 CEST

ICLEI Europe, the City of Mannheim (Germany), and the European Committee of the Regions - ENVE Commission will host a workshop to explore the concept of Local Green Deals. In two discussion rounds, the session will present and discuss Local Green Deals as an integrated, bottom-up approach for cities and local communities to take action, in line with the European Green Deal, towards a green recovery. Focusing on transferable ideas, collaboration opportunities, practical experiences and approaches, the session aims to inspire local communities and governments across Europe to build their own Local Green Deals for a rapid and just transition towards a sustainable future.

How can green cities lead the way to European recovery? 14:30-16:00 CEST

This workshop organised by ICLEI member cities Lahti (Finland), Lappeenranta (Finland) and Växjö (Sweden) together with the city of Grenoble (France) will show how cities can enhance the speed of the transition towards carbon neutrality by utilising the latest innovations through cooperation with business and European-wide networking possibilities. At the workshop, the European Green Capital city 2021 and 2022, Lahti and Grenoble, as well as European Green Leaf city 2021 and 2018, Lappeenranta and Växjö will present their own specific case examples.

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and demonstrate the importance of the local and regional levels for good European governance.

For more information and to register, click here.