Every year since 2003, the European Commission alongside the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) have hosted the European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC), a four-day event for cities and regions to showcase their work and the crucial role they play in European governance. The event hosts workshops, debates, and networking activities all as opportunities to exchange and learn from best practices across topics important to Europe, such as sustainable development, cross-border cooperation, and public-private partnerships.

ICLEI Europe will feature prominently in this year’s EWRC, to take place in ICLEI Member Brussels (Belgium) from 7-10 October.

On 8 October, join three projects funded under the Horizon2020 Smart City Lighthouse Programme – including GrowSmarter, for which ICLEI Europe is a partner – to learn from the experiences of leading European Smart Cities. The session will feature experiences from cities such as ICLEI Members Stavanger (Norway), Barcelona (Spain), and Stockholm (Sweden), among others. For more information, click here.

In the morning of 9 October, the CLIC project, for which ICLEI is a partner, will run a session on how adaptive re-use of our built environment, including heritage places, can help forge a greener Europe. Read more and register here.

The 30th edition of ICLEI Europe’s flagship Breakfast @ Sustainability’s event series is an EWRC session, and will take place on 9 October. The session will focus on sustainable food procurement, through examination of how investing in sustainable school meals can drive local and regional change.

Later on 9 October, ICLEI experts will join partners from the Committee of the Regions’ Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy, and the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy for an interactive session on implementing the Paris Agreement, with a focus on EU cities and regions in energy transition. The session has been organised by the C-Track 50 project, for which ICLEI is a partner. More information on the session can be found by clicking here. (To read about this and other events in the 3rd newsletter of the C-Track 50 project, click here.)

The ROCK project, for which ICLEI is a partner, will lead a session on smart specialisation strategies as they relate to cultural heritage. The session will draw on the example of ICLEI Member Bologna (Italy). Click here to learn more and register.

ICLEI Europe's sustainable procurement team will be represented among the speakers at a session on "Implementing Smart Specialisation in Energy through Innovation Procurement" on 9 October. Read more about the session and how procurement can play a role in the energy sector by clicking here.

On 9 October, Holger Robrecht, ICLEI Europe Deputy Director, will moderate an interactive session on cities' and regions' contributions to the formulation and implementation of global and European biodiversity policy frameworks. For more information and to register, please click here.

Finally, ICLEI Europe will be in Brussels on 9 October with the ENABLE project’s conference on “Equitable and resilient access to the benefits of green and blue infrastructure.” The event will feature speakers from ICLEI Members Oslo (Norway), Lodz (Poland), Stockholm (Sweden), and Barcelona (Spain) among other city representatives and expert researchers. For more information and to register, please click here.

The deadline to register for all EWRC sessions is 27 September. Complete your registration by clicking here.