The World Cities project has ran working meetings in the EU, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam. The programme has also launched a collaborative online platform to facilitate the exchange of information and good practices between EU and non-EU cities. Project cities will cooperate based on similarities between their thematic areas, experiences, and goals; communication with all cities in the exchange provides additional opportunities for collaboration and potential for new ideas.
The key events of the World Cities project include:
- Selecting EU and non-EU cities for implementing twinning schemes during 2017 – 2018 (Accomplished in Jan-Feb 2017).
- Implementing one-week working meetings in the non-EU countries for five delegates from each participating EU city. These working meetings include field visits in which European cities visit their pairing cities for a more in-depth discussion of their shared topics. Scheduled date: March-June 2017 (see section “Activities” for details).
- After a period of decentralized cooperation among the cities, follow-up working meetings will be held in pairing cities in the European Union. The working meetings will be designed for four delegates from each Non-EU pairing city. These working meetings will be followed by field visits in which Non-EU cities visit their European partners. Date: October/November 2017.
- After 3-4 months, closing meetings will be held in the non-EU cities. Date: First quarter 2018.
Actions are designed to increase so-called ‘triple-helix cooperation’ between governments, research and business. World Cities ultimate goal is to strengthen market opportunities and job creation while pursuing the sustainable economic development of the cities involved, thus fostering win-win cooperation.
Overview of participating cities: