Building Bridges, Overcoming Barriers: SMC's Cities and Regions leveraging the benefits of strategic cooperation
25-27 September - Vic, Catalonia
The first-ever joint meeting of the Small and Medium-Sized Cities Platform and Regions Working Group will take place in Vic (Spain), on 25, 26 and 27 September.
In recent years, the importance of integrated sustainable urban and regional development has become increasingly apparent. As cities and regions grapple with the challenges of rapid urbanisation, environmental issues, and economic disparities, cooperation across local and regional governance levels has emerged as an imperative for addressing these complex issues. This will only gain further importance within the context of the revised TEN-T regulation, which increased the number of urban nodes along the network to over 400 and looks at so-called ‘functional urban areas’. Such need for enhanced cooperation also becomes particularly evident when examining the usual differences in resources and capacities between Small and Medium-Sized Cities (SMCs), and their Regional counterparts. Thus, creating continuous interaction and structural collaboration streams between both levels of government can go a long way in achieving common policy goals.
This meeting will delve deeper into matters relevant to both SMCs and Regions, namely:
- Assessing the potential and shortcomings of multilevel governance models,
- Designing and implementing SUMPs under the new TEN-T Regulation,
- Urban-rural interfaces: combating car dependency and ensuring region-wide connections to avoid an urban–rural divide.
In addition to in-classroom moments, the agenda will be complemented by site visits and opportunities to socialise and network.
Join us for this event, co-hosted by the City of Vic and the Generalitat de Catalunya, to explore governance models and mechanisms fostering cooperation between SMCs and regions to promote sustainable mobility solutions and innovation ecosystems.
You can register here. You can find the first version of the agenda here.
How to get there
To get to Vic from Sants station or from Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona, you must take the R3 trains in the direction of Vic, Ripoll, Puigcerdà or La Tour de Carol (all stop in Vic).
Train timetables can be found online or by phone: 902 240 202
The AVE stops at Sants Station, which is the central station of the city of Barcelona. Currently, all commuter, medium-distance, long-distance and high-speed trains stop there. Tracks 7 and 8 are served by trains on line R3 that stop in Vic.
For questions, please contact Cláudia Ribeiro, CRibeiro@polisnetwork.eu, Marina Martin Vilches, MMartin@polisnetwork.eu, Alonso Davila Graf ADavilagraf@polisnetwork.eu & Antonios Tsiligiannis ATsiligiannis@polisnetwork.eu
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Event Zoom Notes
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Event Limited to Members
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Event - Working Groups
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