Brussels time
The URBACT programme allows EU cities to work together and develop integrated solutions to common urban challenges.
This call aims to identify cities that have implemented local practices that are impactful, participatory, integrated, relevant for the European Union and transferable to other European cities.
The Call for Good Practices aims to identify Good Practices implemented by European cities. Good Practices in the sense that they have positive impact at local level, they are participatory and integrated, relevant at EU level, and transferable to other EU cities.Cities that will be awarded the “URBACT Good Practice” label will: gain in visibility at EU and national levels will have the possibility to act as Lead Partners of URBACT Transfer Network to transfer their good practice to other European cities and further improve their practice from 2025 onwards. The principle underpinning the Transfer Networks – drawn from the URBACT III experience – will be “Understand, Adapt, Reuse.” This principle is important. It makes it clear that URBACT’s end goal is not only the gathering of good practices, but their effective transfer across Europe’s cities. In other words, why risk wasting precious resources reinventing the wheel, when another city might already have taken steps to solve the problem.
Successful cities will have their good practices promoted by URBACT and other EU institutions, and they will have the opportunity to share and even improve their practice within the framework of URBACT Transfer Networks. This call invites cities to come forward with their good practices in the field of sustainable integrated urban development to:
- Be part of the pioneering group of URBACT Good Practices to be widely promoted at EU and national levels,
- Be able to take part as Lead Partners in the upcoming Call for Transfer Networks (from April to June 2025)
URBACT City Festival, 8-10 April 2025, Wroclaw, Poland - All the cities with selected good practices will have to present their Good Practices at the URBACT City Festival that will take place in Wroclaw, Poland, on 8-10 April 2025. Costs of one person representing the selected Good Practice will be covered by the URBACT programme.
Eligible cities for the Call for Good Practices are “cities” from EU Member States, EU Partner States (Norway, Switzerland), Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, and Moldova. Under URBACT IV programme, “cities” are defined as the public local authority representing:
• Cities, municipalities, towns;
• Infra-municipal tiers of government such as city districts and boroughs in cases where they are represented by a politico-administrative institution having competences for policy-making and implementation;
• Local agencies defined as public or semi-public organisations set up by a city, partially or fully owned by the city authority, responsible for the design and implementation of specific policies (economic development, energy supply, health services, transport, etc.).
• Metropolitan authorities and organised agglomerations in cases where they are represented by a politico-administrative institution having delegated competences for policy-making and implementation.
There is no size limit in terms of population in order to apply to this Call for Good Practices.
Following the assessment of applications, selected cities will be awarded the label URBACT Good Practice.
They will then be promoted through the following activities:
• An URBACT City Festival, 8-10 April 2025 in Wroclaw, Poland, under the auspices of the Polishpresidency of the Council of the European Union. All the selected cities with good practices will take part and have the opportunity to network with European and city policy-makers. The event will promote the good practices and allow partner match-making for the call for Transfer Networks. One delegate representing the selected Good Practice will be refunded by URBACT to take part in the event and play an active role.
• A series of promotional activities highlighting the selected good practices, notably:
- An infographic of the URBACT Good Practices
- Press releases about the URBACT Good Practices
- Individual webpages for all URBACT Good Practices to be showcased on the URBACT database of good practices
- Presentation of selected good practices in national contexts through events organised by National URBACT Points
- Videos and other visual communication tools
• Dissemination through European Commission’s channels, mainly through:
- DG Regional and Urban Policy social medial accounts
- DG Regional and Urban Policy external communication channels: Panorama, Inforegio and RegioFlash
- Portico Urban Practices website
• Public European and international events where the representatives of the good practices will act as advocates of sustainable integrated urban development (for example European Week for Regions and Cities) AND,
• URBACT Transfer Networks, where the city with an awarded URBACT Good Practice will have the opportunity to act as a Lead Partner with the objectives to:
- Transfer their knowledge and know-how about the good practice to other European cities
Brussels time
