Climate
Alliance (Ghent): helping formulate Ghent’s transition to a greener future,
citizens participate in working groups to formulate ideas, use online tools to
calculate their energy use and confirm their commitment by signing a charter.
Ghent: wins Eurocities award for Cooperation 2012
Internship Maurice Prijs, Edinburgh, August 2012
City events in Edinburgh and Utrecht
Utrecht has got a large tradition of events in its city. Every year the city is nominated and several years awarded for its contribution of creating a great atmosphere among eventorganisers, crowd and inhabitants. All of them need to feel comfortable with events. The city is in the race to become Europe's Cultural Capital in 2018. Nevertheless there will always be problems and conflict to create that atmosphere were people with different backgrounds and ideas will feel comfortable. Organisers wants to attract for example as much people as possible to make a profit, the crowd is coming from all over the Netherlands
Utrecht has got a large tradition of events in its city. Every year the city is nominated and several years awarded for its contribution of creating a great atmosphere among eventorganisers, crowd and inhabitants. All of them need to feel comfortable with events. The city is in the race to become Europe's Cultural Capital in 2018. Nevertheless there will always be problems and conflict to create that atmosphere were people with different backgrounds and ideas will feel comfortable. Organisers wants to attract for example as much people as possible to make a profit, the crowd is coming from all over the 
As I said before, events are as important for the city as the welfare of inhabitants is. That can be a paradox and that paradox needs to be managed by the city of Utrecht. In case there are two paradoxes, the first one is control and chaos and the second one demand and ability.
With those two paradoxes in my mind I went to Edinburgh from the 30th of August – 04th of September. The welcome in Edinburgh was very good and everything was perfectly organised so that I could do some good research about my paradoxes. In my opionion both cities have more in common than I first thought. Working together with collegues from another city creates a great atmosphere because there is a lot that both parties have in common. Speaking about the work you are involved with creates a good base for further development. In my opionion it helps if you speak the foreign languages very well.
We are able to speak a lot about the content of the work and the way everthing is managed in both cities. In general a lot is based on institutional behavour. We do our work in a certain way, because they taught us to do it like this. Having your our experiences, theories, listening to foreign collegues and espcially looking around in the field gives you a great overview about the topic.
Aarhus European Capital of Culture 2017
With a celebration letter the city management of Utrecht congratulated Aarhus with the achievement to be European Capital of Culture for Denmark in 2017. It is a beautiful result after years of hard work. It's good to see what 'the largest small city in the world' – one of the slogans used for Aarhus – is capable of. The ambition to become European capital of Culture gave the possibility to 're-invent' the city. The leading theme in the Aarhus bidbook is RE-THINK. In 2017 Aarhus will share the title with a city in Cyprus, Pharos or Nicosia.
As Utrecht is candidate for European Capital of Culture 2018, we know what a nerve wrecking thing it is for every one involved. As the two cities have a tradition of cooperation within the frameworks of Eurocities and the Similar Cities Network they are in close contact. Colleagues from the Departments of Culture and International Affairs find each other in sharing experiences and good ideas for cooperation in culture. In that way the City of Utrecht supported the ambition of Aarhus with pleasure. In the future the cities will continue working on exchanges in this particular field.
More information on www.aarhus2017.dk
Utrecht and Aarhus partners in EU-project CITYLOGO
Aarhus is one of the new participants to CITYLOGO, a new project inside de EU URBACT programme. In this project European cities participate in a transnational learning experience on innovative place-brandmananagment. Utrecht is lead-partner of CITYLOGO. Utrecht, Genova, Zaragoza and Coimbra belong to initial partnership of the CITYLOGO project, that has been started in May 2012. During the summer Oslo, Dundee, Alba Julia and Aarhus joined also. Aarhus is recently selected as the European Capital of Culture in 2017 and is with Utrecht partner in the Similar Cities Network.
Read more on http://urbact.eu/en/projects/metropolitan-governance/citylogo/homepage/
from left to right : Annoir Benelayyachi ( Financial officer) , Haye Folkertsma ( Project Coordinator) and Gerard Derksen (Communication Officer)
International conference Cities for Mobility, Stuttgart July 2012
Like every year the City of Stuttgart organises the international conference for their network Cities for Mobility. This year was the 6th time and it took place 1 - 4 July. The theme the participants focussed on was safe and secure social spaces. Again the City of Stuttgart succeeded in offering an exciting program. The World Congress is an ideal space for networking and sharing of experiences, in a enjoyable environment.
On behalf of the City of Utrecht Ruud Ditewig and Ronald Tamse attended the conference and contributed actively to the exchange of knowledge.
Annual Meeting Gent, 27-29 June 2012
27-29 June representatives from the Similar Cities Network discussed the network and the cooperation. They do this once every year, apart from bilateral exchanges between some of the cities. According to the meeting's theme Urban development and culture they exchanged project presentations about examples in their city. This happened inside the meeting room as well as outside. A bicycle tour led along examples in Gent, for example the former Winter Circus building that's now being transformed into a new cultural function
The (temporarily) re-use of industrial heritage is a theme the cities share. Of special interest are grass root initiatives and the changing role of the city government in these kinds of city development. This will be the theme of a project proposal that Utrecht will start developing. In Autumn specialists from the cities are being invited to come to Utrecht to discuss the proposal. But of course also to visit interesting sites and the people and organisations involved. This project gives the network the possibility to focus on this certain theme in which specialists can exchange knowledge and experience. Not only the best cases, but also the bad ones. Within this network we want to learn from each others successes and failures, that is one of the assets of this network. 
Malmo wins city star award
Malmo was presented with the prize by Johannes Hahn, European commissioner for regional policy and Luc van den Brande, former president of the Committee of the Regions. The award recognised the city’s ‘South East Malmo’ project which was set up in 2008 to bring together public, private and non-profit actors to work towards sustainable growth in a number of depressed city districts. The city worked with a range of partners to identify projects and secure funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
You can find out more about Malmo’s project by clicking here
For more information on the Regio Stars award, visit the European Commission DG REGIO website, here
Source: www.eurocities.eu
Preparation annual meeting Ghent, May
On a sunny day a small delegation from Utrecht visited their colleagues in Ghent. The subject was the programme of the annual meeting that will take place Wednesday 27 - Friday 29 June. The theme of the meeting is Culture and Urban Development. Several cities will give a presentation with an example of the redevelopment of industrial heritage. Utrecht will also introduce themes for a European project in this field. It's the objective by looking at the several presentations to define, together with the other cities in the network, a project proposal for exchange of knowledge and experience.
For information on the programme of the annaul meeting please contact Virginie Verstraete in Ghent.
Internship Carla van de Witte, Bologna, April 2012
Working as senior communication advisor at the Social Services Department Carla van de Witte, spent some days in Bologna. She wanted to investigate the role of communication in the field of social inclusion. She met colleagues who work in the fields of employment, housing and health. During her internship Carla found answers to her questions about "the best way to motivate citizens and (voluntary) social organizations to take their own responsibility in the area of health, labor and housing?” and "the role for a communication advisor in this matter".
SCN present at Eurocities Culture Forum, April, Utrecht
Utrecht hosted the Eurocities Culture Forum. For three days 80 European advisors on cultural affairs attended an intensive programme on the theme 'Connectivity: the art of creating partnerschips'. Lectures, workshops and site visits gave the participants enough possibilities to exchange best practices and smart ideas for working at culture in their cities. Utrecht received several compliments for the quality of its cultural organisations, initiatives and its relaxed atmosphere.
Also representatives from the Similar Cities Network were present: Bologna with a delegation of three people, Aarhus, Gent and of course Utrecht.
Utrecht signs for sustainale events and festivals in Utrecht, April 2012
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| Foto by: Saarshot Fotografie |
Similar Cities at MIPIM, Cannes, March 2012
As every year the City of Utrecht was present at MIPIM, the yearly international real estate business show in Cannes. It was the first time though that Gilbert Isabella, the new alderman for housing, attended. He met mayors from SCN-cities Edinburgh, Ghent, Malmö and Aarhus. One of the activities was the seminar 'Challenges facing medium size European cities'. Utrecht was one of the organising partners of this activity. Next year Mipim I scheduled 12 – 15 March, 2013.
Meeting on EU funding, Brussels, March 2012
On March 13 and 14, 2012, Muriel Pels (EU funding advisor) and Christa Stoop (Utrecht representative in Brussel) visited the representatives in Brussel of Malmö, Regione Emilia Romagna, Verband Region Stuttgart and Central Denmark region. Purpose of the visit was to find out the hottest themes on which the SCN-cities could cooperate to capitalize the SCN-network. Besides a valuable exchange of challenges and good practices of international cooperation in our organisations in the context of the economic downturn, the meetings offered an inspiring overview of overlapping priorities. The Utrecht list of policy priorities for the next years - Cultural affairs (including it's candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2018), Inner city reconstruction and social inclusion, Accessibility and air quality, and Sustainable energy production and consumption - turned out to be a useful base for the explorations.
With Malmö there was overlapping interest in for example regeneration areas and social inclusion, renewable energy production, school drop-outs, and reducing health inequalities. With Central Denmark we identified common priorities e.g. in methods to involve and commit local stakeholders to international cooperation and EU funding, city branding, and clean-/green-tech unlocking the potential of creative SME's. With Region Stuttgart Utrecht we talked about the European Creative Industries Alliance and about the transformation towards renewable energy production in combination with promotion of sustainable mobility and transport. And with Region Emilia Romagna we shared issues of accessibility and air quality, e.g. electric mobility, integration of ticketing systems, and Intelligent Transportation System.
All in all a very fruitfull 24 hours. Now: how to capitalize the findings? One suggestion was to draft a proposal for funding of the capitalization process itself, e.g. through Europe for Citizens. This could make the efforts of the SCN to frame and programme cooperation for 2014-2020 more coherent and effective. It could also modernize twin-city arrangements into an innovative network arrangement, by involving local stakeholders to travel and meet. An interesting topic for the SCN Annual Meeting in Gent, 27-29 June?
Internship Ulrike Centmayer, Stuttgart, February 2012
End of february 2012 Ulrike Centmayer from City Development (Urbun Planning and Monuments) went on an internship to The internship left the following impression on her:
The main interest of the visit was how the quality of green and public space is maintained in the process of urban densification. I visited in the first place the Stadtplanungsamt of Stuttgart with urban city development, city planning en greenplanning departments.
It was a week full of lectures and presentations about Stuttgart , the organisation, the problems and solutions , projects and planning in theory as well as short glimpses of the actual work of the civil servants in Stuttgart
Asked what I learned from this internship, regarding my first interest and topic I have chosen to examine, I can draw two main conclusions.
1. The importance of green and public space is very prominent in big scale plans and concepts. Urban development is mainly seen in context with green and public space. One reason for the importance of this approach is the necessity of having 'green' for climatologically reasons (local heat effect and as a result of it pollution, air quality etc.) not just because of aesthetic or modern reasons.
2. On a smaller scale (project scale) Stuttgart handles some instruments to maintain the quality of green and public space within each building project. One is SIM with a catalogues of qualities that each project has to fulfill (like density, green standards, green roofs, energy labels etc.). Another is the Eingriffsregelung (a calculation principle to find out the impact of a project on nature and the necessary compensation) and the Ökokonto (areas whose ecological value has been upgraded and can be used for compensation.
In general I saw a lot of inspiring projects during my stay. In the scale of urban and landscape planning as well as built in quarters, parks and public space. I can recommend a visit to Stuttgart to everyone. Especially in the field of urban and landscape planning. If I had the choice I would rather go in summer to enjoy the heat and the amount of green spaces in and outside the city.Internship Anne-Marie Gout, Malmö, November 2011
Anne-Marie Gout visited Malmö for 4 days in November 2011, to learn more about creating healthy living environments (in Utrecht the Public Health Department has an advisory role in urban planning) and developing a local food strategy.
She was inspired on many subjects other than the subjects she visited Malmö for.
Here you can read what she learned and expercieced about two subjects:
Here you can read what she learned and expercieced about two subjects:
- The development strategy of the city is very strong.
Malmö wants to be a sustainable city. Sustainable in a ecological way (the development of Western Harbour
This is very different from the Utrecht strategy City
For my own work on developing a local Food Strategy , this context helped me. In a lot of cityfarming activities people are motivated by making the world more ecological sustainable with locally produced food, organic food, etc. From the Public Health Department we have social goals to reach (healthier people, more participation in society, a better life for the socio-economic weaker people). To see social sustainability as part of sustainability as a hole, brings me close to my collegues in other departments like the Environmental Dept or Urban Design, which means that by working on urban farming, we all work on the same goals (a better, healthier, more equal, sustainable and more beautiful city). It also means that the Public Health Department has to revise its policy on healthy food and adopt sustainable food as a policy too.
2. Diminishing social-economic health inequilities is high priority
In Malmö the goal of diminishing social-economic health inequilities is very high on the agenda and widely acknowlegded to be important. To diminish social-economic health inequalities is seen as creating a social sustainable city! There are large differences between strong and weak neighbourhoods in de city, also in life expectancy, and the immigration of 5.000 refugees per year enlarges the necessasity to do something.
To combat the inequilities, area based programmes have been started in the most vulnarable neighbourhoods. What struck me (in a positive way) was that there was little extra money for the programmes; changes have to come from directing regular money to what the neighbourhood really needs. This makes the area based programmes less vulnarable, because they don't depend on extra funds that will end one day. I was also stunned by the results that were visible after such a short periode (14 months).
Anne-Marie Gout, May 2012
Do you want to read the full report of all the subjects Anne-Marie was inspired by in Malmö? Contact us and we will send it to you.
Fresh Tracks Kick-Off, Utrecht, November 2011
The City of Utecht hosted an international seminar on youth dance in Utrecht Cityhall. Frits Lintmeijer, alderman for Culture and International Affairs, welcomed 65 national and international participants, among them dancers and choreographers from the similar cities Malmö, Ghent, Edinburgh and Utrecht. They discussed the theme 'A WAY TO GO - Conceptual thinking in youth dance'. Fresh Tracks is an European network of dance production houses with special attention to the development of youth dance. Het Lab, a famous dance organisation housed in Utrecht, took the initiative to organise the first 10 days programme about the relation between dance and visual art. The network is subsidised by European funds.
Wind Festival Connecting Arts starts, Utrecht, October 2011
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| Foto by: Ivar Pel |
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| Foto by : Ivar Pel |
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| Foto by: Ivar Pel |
Work Visit Festivals, Edinburgh, August 2011
‘There is no place on earth like
Through cooperation with festivals, government and businesses, Edinburgh succeeded in positioning itself as the festival capital of Europe . This not only results in more than 4 million visitors each year, but also in proud inhabitants.
To find inspiration in this 'Similar City' of Utrecht, representatives of Festivals in Utrecht, the Peace of Utrecht, the City of Utrecht and the Province of Utrecht, visited Edinburgh during the 18th to the 20th of August. Deputy Mayor Frits Lintmeijer interrupted his holiday inScotland to participate in some parts of the program and Jan van Weijen, head of press and cultural affairs at the Dutch Embassy in London
The purpose of the visit was to learn from the cooperation between the festivals inEdinburgh and to get inspired to strengthen the partnerships with the different Festivals in Utrecht Utrecht aims to become cultural capital of Europe . This journey established international contacts and lots of new insights for the delegation to bring back to Utrecht
To find inspiration in this 'Similar City' of Utrecht, representatives of Festivals in Utrecht, the Peace of Utrecht, the City of Utrecht and the Province of Utrecht, visited Edinburgh during the 18th to the 20th of August. Deputy Mayor Frits Lintmeijer interrupted his holiday in
The purpose of the visit was to learn from the cooperation between the festivals in
Bram Buijze (Peace of Utrecht):' I come back with the sense of urgency to strengthen the cooperation between Festivals in Utrecht and to give them a formal status, comparable to the status of Festivals in Edinburgh
The festival tour was an initiative of Francy Derks in cooperation with the city of Utrecht , Department of International Affairs and was financially supported by the Municipality of Utrecht , Utrecht Province
Eurocities Culture Forum, Aarhus, June 2011
As most of the cities of the Similar Cities Network are member of Eurocities representatives meet each other every now and then at Eurocities meetings. This certainly goes for the Culture Forum. Representatives from the cultural departments and colleagues from departments International Affairs who stayed longer after the Annual Meeting, met again at the culture forum in Aarhus. Being candidate for the European Capital of Culture 2017 Aarhus paid attention to their process in involving inhabitants of the city. Project leader Trevor Davis explained how cultural mapping led to strategic plans and the development of the content for their 2017 bid. Also other discussions on Re-thinking cultural governance and Access to culture were inspiring and gave food for thoughts about the cultural policy of the cities attending. Again sharing these thoughts with colleague specialists turned out to be the benefit of attending meetings like these. Site visits, presentations about local initiatives and the cultural offer of Aarhus gave possibilities to learn top know Aarhus. For example several participants visited the biennale project Sculpture by the Sea. 
Annual meeting, Aarhus, June 2011
'City branding and City sustainability'
Every year around June representatives from the departments International Affairs and specialists in certain policy fields meet in one of the cities for the annual meeting. In 2010 Aarhus hosted this event. Like every year it was an intensive programme with presentations and site visits. Seeing each other at least once a year strengthens the idea of the network and friendship. The main themes were City branding and City sustainability, and how the two themes relate. Every city gave a presentation as 'My city invites'.
Utrecht gave presentations about the ambition to become European Capital of Culture 2018 and about cycling in the city. That presentation was 'answered' by a presentation by Aarhus. The two cities like to profile themselves as 'cycling cites'. But with all bicycles in the city stalling them becomes a problem that's very familiar. The participants experienced cycling themselves on special Aarhus bikes. Edinburgh gave a presentation in the theme of Events and sustainability/city branding on "Greening Edinburgh Festivals and Cultural Venues". This was a good introduction for the working visit by festivals from Utrecht
In Pakhus 27, a redeveloped warehouse at the Aarhus Docklands with an impressive model of Aarhus large waterfront project, Gent gave a presentation on 'Ghent – Towards a sustainable city'. The participants were introduced to the strategic approach how to grow towards a sustainable/climate neutral city, starting from the assets the city has at its disposal.
Again the annual meeting gave good opportunities to learn more about the hosting city, the partner cities and their knowledge and ambitions.
European Internship Kirstin Groote (Utrecht), Malmö, June 2011
Kirstin Groote from City Development , department Environment and Sustainability, went on a four day internship to Malmö in June 2011. Her research topic was the theory and practice of soil remediation in
Her Internship left the following impression on her:
Mälmo is a blooming city where a meeting of minds between citizens and administrators is commonplace and where future development of the city is planned and executed in good conscience. Malmö looks at the bigger picture, subsequently resulting in unexpected fusion of ambitions. For instance the key to success for run-down district such as Rosengård is to integrate the district to the people and not the more common approach of integrating the people to the district. How they do it? With just the ingredients they have in abundance: space, culture and a little support from the local government. Rosengård is a district where most of its inhabitants are immigrants from Iraq
The most striking difference between the way Utrecht Netherlands we have a number of separate environmental protection codes including one on soil protection, whereas in Sweden
On the one hand this prevents a nation-wide policy on soil protection rules which provides clarity and equality before the law. On the other hand, this method is less bureaucratic and provides the opportunity of a case by case approach where both authority and proponent of the remediation come to an agreement on the basis of equality rather than the authority imposing a decision on the proponent. However, the result of both the Dutch and Swedish processes is the same, they ultimately lead to a cleaner and healthier soil.
Kirstin Groote
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