The Urban Agenda at the local level: key to financing

Gema Rodríguez

Facilitator

November 6, 2024 | 13:00 - 14:30

Multipurpose room 22

FEMP

Spain

Spanish

Reference:

NE 22-04

WUF12

Networking Events

Summary

Since the Government of Spain approved the Spanish Urban Agenda in 2019, many cities have implemented their own Urban Agenda in their territories, setting the strategy and actions to be carried out until 2030 to make our towns and cities friendly, welcoming, healthy and aware areas of coexistence, with the aim of fulfilling the commitments acquired by Spain in various international agreements (the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations New Urban Agenda and the European Urban Agenda) and in particular, to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all those goals that have a territorial and urban component, especially SDG 11 on sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient cities.
We are immersed in a slow and constant process of transformation at a global level, in which the population is mostly concentrated in cities, leaving other territories depopulated. In addition, we have suffered different crises that have forced us to rethink cities and adapt them to the new needs of citizens.
With all this, municipal leaders must act in their territories and adapt them to the new demands and needs of citizens, as well as to the new obligations derived from international commitments.
Municipal leaders will only be able to carry out this necessary transformation of cities if they have sufficient funding to do so. The Urban Agenda and the Local Action Plan have proven to be very useful instruments not only for defining municipal policies and determining lines of action but have also been of great help in attracting European funds that contribute to their implementation.
The NextGeneration EU Funds have been a great boost for the urban transformation of our country, where different calls for aid have considered the existence of an Urban Agenda. Likewise, the calls for funds for sustainable urban development during the 2021-2027 programming period will highly value the existence of an Urban Agenda or the implementation plans of the city's urban development strategy.
During the Networking event, representatives of different Local Governments that have a Local Action Plan to implement the Urban Agenda will explain how it has allowed them to access European funding that has contributed to the implementation of the Agenda itself.

Objectives

In the process of drawing up Local Action Plans, cities have selected different instruments and lines of action for their implementation.
This event will make it possible to share different models of implementation of the Urban Agenda and to highlight it as an instrument to attract European, national or regional funds that in turn allow progress in the implementation of the Action Plan.
At this event, city representatives will be able to:
1. Share the approach used in your city to implement the Urban Agenda, thus contributing to achieving the SDGs and analysing the situation of the city and the reasons why it has opted for such an approach.
2. To know the main difficulties in drawing up the Action Plans, as well as to identify their main weaknesses and strengths to obtain funding at European, national, or regional level for their implementation.
3. Transfer knowledge and experience to the municipal leaders of cities that are going to draw up their Action Plans, establishing a network of municipal contacts.