Delegation of the European Union
to the United States
The Delegation of the European Union to the United States is pleased to announce that 5 cities from the United States have been selected to participate in a competitive European Union initiative, pairing cities in the United States with cities in the EU to facilitate cooperation on sustainable urban development.
The EU's International Urban Cooperation (IUC) program has identified the following pairings based on the sizes, challenges, and interests of the cities:
| New York, New York | + |
Barcelona, Spain |
|
Boston, Massachusetts |
+ |
Lyon, France |
|
Baltimore, Maryland |
+ |
Turin, Italy |
|
Santa Monica, California |
+ |
Varna, Bulgaria |
|
Fort Collins, Colorado |
+ |
Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal |
These partnerships will support an exchange of best practices, discussion and collaboration as the cities tackle similar problems. They join an existing pairing between Austin, Texas and Bologna, Italy which launched in December 2017.
The EU's IUC program facilitates cooperation between six European and six American cities that face similar challenges on their path to achieving sustainable urban development. As cities across the globe face rising challenges of migration, social inclusion, quality of life, climate change, and globalization, the program supports the city pairs to build cooperation, share experiences, and exchange knowledge as they cooperate over a period of 18 months. At the same time, they are also part of a larger international community of peers and stakeholders engaging on sustainable urban development. The IUC contributes to the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai framework, and the Paris Agreement, enhancing quality of life in urban areas.
"Cities today are the laboratories where many innovative solutions are emerging to address the biggest economic, social and environmental challenges facing our societies today," said David O'Sullivan, the European Union's Ambassador to the United States. "The European Union is proud to support the IUC program so that cities from the EU and U.S. can work together on sustainable urban development initiatives that will benefit citizens on both sides of the Atlantic."
See also @EUintheUS, #USEUcities, and visit http://www.iuc.eu/na/city-pairings/ for more information on the program and exchanges.