UNIC (European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition)’s Post

The first full day of the UCCN conference sees the annual tradition of as many Cities trying to talk about how good they are. Every City wants to reflect their success, highlighting their best practice and elevating their status to the world. At best it is uplifting and inspiring. At worst it is " long time caller, first time listener" It's a competitive and noisy space as Cities jockey for opportunity. Those on stage don't keep to time and those without a formal platform give out brochures and gifts. Melbourne has never presented. Rather we have worked people to people and platformed our international work via the UCCN website. Despite never seeking an opportunity Melbourne has been mentioned in every meeting I've attended. This year in the opening presentation by the UCCN directorate the Greenhouse was highlighted. About the day. The 2024 UCCN Annual Conference hosted by Braga aims to spotlight how creativity in cities empowers lively and sustainable urban life, influences future cities for next generations, and fosters the expression of cultural diversity. This XVI edition will strive to enable substantive dialogue concerning the diverse factors that shape cultural governance, bolster investment initiatives, and cultivate diversecross-sectoral collaborations and innovation. Additionally, it will draw attention to the importance of creative solutions and culture-based practices in propelling sustainable development, emphasizing culture’s global recognition as a public good.

Last month, Centre for BOLD Cities visiting researcher Saleh Roshani visited the AMS Institute Conference "Reinventing the City: Blueprint for Messy Cities". He wrote a report on his experiences of the conference, that has now been published on our website: "The term "messiness" can be viewed in two ways: negatively, referring to the chaos, diseases, and unrest occurring in cities, or positively, referring to the spontaneous and complex order of cities. The current trend in innovation is to focus on technology-driven solutions. but there is also a growing emphasis on how different stakeholders can interact toward a more inclusive and socially responsible future." Read the full report on our website ⬇

WONDERS OF THE "URBAN CONNECTOME." Cities are like brains—immense networks of connective tissue between people, places and events. Understanding this underlying connective structure can help us to formulate better urban policies and practices. A discussion post for the upcoming International Making Cities Livable (IMCL) conference in Cortona, Italy, October 29-November 1, 2024.

In challenging times where sustainable development at global level has become of outmost importance, the European Union is looking for solutions that can ensure innovation and co-creation in all different fields. In such scenario, the Living Lab approach perfectly fits this need, as it can help societies in tackling various challenges linked to the latest development of crucial sectors, such as urban planning, transport, healthcare, and education. 🔍 Let’s discover Living Labs role as innovation catalysts within the framework of European Partnership through the session “Exploring the Role and Potentialities of Living Labs in European Partnerships.” We will discuss about European Partnerships and how they promote collaboration through Living Labs, with the aim to foster the creation and implementation of innovative solutions.🤝 Register now to the second and final exciting session of the event “Living Labs in EU Missions and Partnerships”: https://bit.ly/3Waa79d 👈 #ENoLL #LivingLab #EuropeanUnion #EuropeanPartnerships #Innovation #Collaborations #UrbanPlanning #Transport #Healthcare #Education 

Thoughts collected on what make’s successful translation and transfer of ‘bench research’ into built place application which these Fellows have it in abundance !! All of whom work in the sphere and application of new materials and sciences into future built technology that reduce carbon and mitigate climate impacts. #ATSEFellows. Zongli Xie

One year ago, we published our episode: #29 The Happiness Research Institute:"A Human-Centered Approach" to Smart Cities 🎂 🎧 https://lnkd.in/epbJ4D6w In this episode, we learned how the happiness of citizens can be measured and quantified to inform decision-making in urban planning with two guests from The Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark: Catarina Lachmund, Senior Analyst, and Camilla Michalski, Data Analyst. Understanding what brings true happiness to residents is the key to creating vibrant and sustainable urban communities. In this episode, we discovered how happiness data can shape the future of urban planning and gained valuable perspectives on how cities can be designed to prioritise the well-being and contentment of their citizens. If you missed this episode, now's the perfect time to catch up! 🔔 Travel back to old episodes, and don't forget to subscribe and turn your notifications on your favourite listening platform to make sure you don't miss any future ones! #podcast #smartinthecity #happiness #citizen #urbanlife #qualityoflife #wellbeing #urbanplanning #cities #technology #innovation #data #smartcity #smartcities

Hi everyone, I would like to share with you an article that was published in Energies MDPI magazine @MDPIOpenAccess which I wrote together with my friend 👩🏫 doctor Aleksandra Gulc. The main purpose of this article is to identify and classify smart and sustainable urban mobility solutions in the context of three narratives for sustainable mobility: electromobility, collective transport 2.0 and low-mobility societies. I would like to invite you and encourage everyone to enjoy reading it 🤗 Link to article: https://lnkd.in/dgYjcD9b

🌞 We’re officially one month out from the start of summer — but the heat is on already in parts of Southern Europe🥵.     Those of us living in cities know that the #UrbanHeatIsland effect can exaggerate hot temperatures by more than 5°C (9°F).    Find out how to cool things down with UMX’s free course on The Urban Heat Island Effect: How to Tackle Excess Heat in Cities, from Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados. Explore the impact on health, its relation to #mobility and #ClimateChange — and learn about effective cooling solutions and how nature can be our biggest ally. Enrol for free here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ddtT9c3X EIT Urban Mobility EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) Carolyn Daher

After our succesful webinar with BABLE Smart Cities we’re ramping up for a series of real life events in October and November as side event or integrated in larger European conferences.  In all these events we will dig deeper into the barriers that prevent succesful collaboration between scale ups and cities, to make deployment of on demand, shared, connected, new mobility services go faster and more smooth. So pay attention when you are a scale up with ambitions and experience in doing business with cities all over Europe.  And if you are a city that wants to make use of the full innovative potential of scale ups in boosting your transformation to a smart, sustainable, safe and inclusive urban mobility system. We no less than aim for solutions and solve the barriers.    Registrationlinks for our NMS side events follow any time soon this summer. For the wider conferences in Parma and Barcelona you need to register seperately.    Save the dates: - NMS side event during the CIVITAS Initiative Forum in Parma after the closing plenary: Thursday October 3 afternoon and Friday October 4th morning. - https://lnkd.in/dg6FMKtT - NMS side event during the European Week of Regions and Cities #EURegionsWeek in Brussels, Tuesday October 8th in the Comic Art Museum - Brussels 10.00 – 16.00h - NMS contributing to CIVITAS Agora and network event during the Smart Cities Expo World Congress in Barcelona November 5 or 6th  - https://lnkd.in/dnM9Efg - NMS session during Annual POLIS Network Conference in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg Thursday November 28th -  https://lnkd.in/ePU76YvQ   Our next webinar will be Thursday September 12th 14.30 – 15.30 co-produced with PAVE Europe and NMS partner and managing director Guido Di Pasquale.  PAVE Europe https://lnkd.in/dgxcPA2k is a broad coalition with one goal: To bring the conversation about automated vehicles (AVs) to the public so everyone can play a role in shaping our future. Therefore the focus of our next webinar will be on the role of automated vehicles in large scale deployment of new mobility services in an urban context. Again the improvement of collaboration between scale ups and cities will be the main topic of our presentation and conversation.   Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss or have a role in one of our events.  Moreover give your input in our survey that is still open: https://lnkd.in/eZVxeFRQ On behalf of the NMS core team which at the moment entails: Edwin Mermans - Provincie Noord-Brabant Dr. Nina Nesterova - Breda University of Applied Sciences Tamara Djukic, PhD - ERTICO - ITS Europe Ivo Cré - POLIS Network Daniel Alberto Herrera Meek - POLIS Network Peter Staelens - Eurocities Evelien Marlier - imec Theo Thuis - European Parking Association Welmoed Neijmeijer - MO Advisory Janneke Brouwer - SmartwayZ.NL / Tekkoo Tamlyn Shimizu - BABLE Smart Cities.

WEBINAR TOMORROW Thursday 25th of April at 9am CET Widening the Tent: Getting business & enterprise involved in urban greening Further details below