International Urban Cooperation

The European Union is launching a three-year program to promote international urban cooperation for European cities that wish to connect, create, and share knowledge and solutions with other cities and regions.

In this first phase of a long-term strategy for promoting urban diplomacy – through the EU’s external relations – the IUC initiative strengthens sectoral, horizontal, and international urban cooperation and exchange with key urban partners (public and private) in Asia and the Americas. The program’s budget exceeds 20 million euros, and the activities of the IUC program support the objectives of Habitat III, as well as the COP 21 Paris Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Specifically, the European IUC program concerns:
• City-to-city cooperation for sustainable urban development
• Sub-national action within the framework of the Global Covenant of Mayors initiative
• Interregional cooperation for innovation in local and regional development

Target countries include China, India, Japan, Canada, Mexico, the USA, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. For the Conventions initiative, South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are included.

The program aims at city-to-city cooperation for sustainable urban development and will leverage the established approach of the EU-funded URBACT network. Specifically, city pairings will be developed and supported in their efforts to design, implement, and manage sustainable urban practices in an integrated and participatory manner. Local action plans will be developed through a participatory stakeholder process and will include specific activities and financially viable pilot projects to be implemented in the short term, in order to ensure results and open up market opportunities. These plans will contribute to promoting thematic clustering of knowledge, exchanges, and best practices among cities facing similar challenges.

Larissa was selected to participate in the themes of “sustainable energy,” “green areas and biodiversity,” “urban mobility,” and to cooperate with the city of Miraflores in Peru.