URBACT’s mission is to enable cities to work together and develop integrated solutions to common urban challenges, by networking, learning from one another’s experiences, drawing lessons and identifying good practices to improve urban policies.
The programme supports the European Urban Initiative through:
- Innovative actions – transfer mechanism for tested innovative solutions
- Capacity Building - through transnational URBACT networks, programme and national level capacity-building activities, URBACT aims to increase the capacity in integrated and participatory approaches of urban practitioners and local stakeholders that are part of the URBACT networks. Cities that benefit from sustainable urban development can also participate in these networks.
- Knowledge, policy & communication - URBACT will provide input to the Knowledge Sharing Platform with knowledge and methods on sustainable urban development that are gained through URBACT networks and URBACT knowledge activities, including to the benefit of the Urban Agenda for the EU. At national level, National Points (irrespective of their institutional set up) will work closely together in fields of information and outreach activities, capacity-building at national level and facilitating national dialogue on sustainable integrated urban development.
To reach the objective of building the institutional capacity of cities needed to implement territorial strategies, URBACT IV has three aims:
- Use transnational networks to improve the capacity of European cities to:
- co-design and implement Integrated Action Plans linked to common sustainable urban development challenges
- transfer established urban good practices
- design investment plans for replicating elements of Urban Innovative Actions
- Improve the capacity of urban stakeholders to design and implement sustainable urban development45 policies, practices and innovations in an integrated, participative and place-based way
- Ensure that URBACT knowledge and practice is made accessible to urban practitioners and policymakers to feed into local, regional, national and European urban policies, in particular through the European Urban Initiative; and contributing to the Urban Agenda for the EU.
National URBACT Points are in charge of communicating on URBACT activities and disseminating URBACT results at national level in local language.
Examples of projects financed by URBACT[EM1] [AR2]
Urban Energy Pact - Clermont Auvergne Métropole
REviving high-rise Blocks- Budapest