Porto is an example of good co-operation practices among European cities

The co-operation among cities facing the same type of challenges is on focus at the Almeida Garrett Municipal Library, venue for the URBACT 2017 infoday.

This initiative is devoted to the dissemination of good practices performed within the scope of URBACT, the European Learning Programme and experience sharing towards promoting a sustainable urban development.

At the opening of business, Councillor Ricardo Valente spotlighted the importance of such a programme, "which focuses on the creation of networks of cities for the creation of common improvement solutions around contemporary social challenges", and the way it has been implemented by Portugal and mostly by the North Region and Porto.

Thanks to the Dynamics of the National URBACT, "the country maintains a solid representation in the programme", stated Ricardo Valente.

The councillor further declared that "the country is on the forefront jointly with other six member-States, in implementing partnerships".

In the national setting, the North "has been substantially involved", and the recognised proactivity of Porto" should be noted, namely with the active involvement in well succeeded URBACT projects such as CSI Europe, ENTER.HUB, JESSICA 4 Cities and PARTNERS 4 Action.

Ricardo Valente recalled as well Porto's participation in the following networks "CSCD: smart city technologies" and "URBAN3S", particularly the IN Focus Project - "Smart Specialization at Local Level".

"By means of a consistent and comprehensive approach, jointly with other European cities, the city of Porto will develop an action plan aiming at smart specialisation, based on the development of themes and key trends, especially cluster segmentation, entrepreneurship, talent management, marketing and territorial branding and new working spaces in an urban context", councilman Valente further added.

In conclusion, Porto's experience in URBACT "has been clearly positive", mostly due to the involvement in transnational networks that "make access to European projects easier with a great impact on urban development".