Skip to main content
Covenant of Mayors - Europe
News article23 January 2023

Takeaway from Twinning Visit between León-Leiria-Bucharest

Take a look back on one of last year's peer exchange visits, when colleagues from the 2nd and 6th District of Bucharest (Romania) welcomed their peers from Leiria (Portugal) and León (Spain) to discuss a diverse range of topics of common interest.

Bucharest Leon Leiria

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings was a key concern for all parties and the 6th District shared their good practices on improving the energy efficiency of public buildings as part of a contract with the European Investment Bank (ELENA grant). Participants learned from experience in promoting near-zero energy consumption buildings. Next to the technical steps and challenges, they shared lessons from the awareness campaign in schools on energy efficiency, their mascot (N-Zebi) and multiple workshops in which over 700 teachers and children were involved.

The visit also featured inspiring examples on how to facilitate access to the labor market for people from vulnerable backgrounds in order to build their self-confidence, professional and personal independence. One of the examples featured was the initiative Ateliere Fără Frontiere which is a circular economy platform which facilitates refurbishment and reuse in order to i.a. cover the needs for school computers especially for students from vulnerable communities. 

Furthermore, attention was paid to sharing experience regarding urban regeneration projects. This includes the Liniei project and the regeneration project in the Morii Lake area. In both cases the ambition is to transform former neglected areas into more inclusive and sustainable spaces. The delegation visited the Morii Lake and was able to take a walk on the new promenade, with a length of 2155 meters, which is now heavily used by the city's inhabitants.  

Discussions between Leiria and the 2nd District of Bucharest considered commonalities and challenges of climate neutrality planning as well as in-depth considerations around waste management in both cities.

Details

Publication date
23 January 2023