Urban Forum “CiTIEs: Cities of Tomorrow: Investing in Europe”
On February 17-18th, the European Commission organised a series of events under the title of “CiTIEs: Cities of Tomorrow: Investing in Europe”. URBAN Intergroup’s president, Jan Olbrycht and member Cristina Gutierrez-Cortines took active part in a two-day long conference in Brussels.
On the path to establish an integrated Urban Agenda for the EU, European Commission hosted a forum gathering key players in the urban policy to discuss the subject. Under the Commission’s proposal, the Agenda should focus on the role of cities in building more cohesion throughout an integrated policy.
Nowadays, more than two thirds of EU citizens live in urban areas. The EC is not having a solid urban policy, however. Cities of Tomorrow: Investing in Europe corresponds also to a title of the EC report published in late 2013 and presenting the state of play of European urban approach.
On Monday 17th February, Jan Olbrycht, took part in the plenary session dedicated to the presentation of the Issues Paper on the EU Urban Agenda. In his closing statement he underlined the symbolic change of name of the Directorate-General for Regional Policy (DG REGIO) and welcomed the addition of “Urban Policy”. “It shows that the European Commission changed the way of thinking about EU cities and in consequence EC will tackle not only regional but also urban policy”- he said.
Cristina Gutierrez-Cortines, member of the URBAN Intergroup, was a panellist in workshop on the Urban Dimension of Smart Growth, on Tuesday 18th.
More information about the Forum
