Eurocities conference opened an Era of New Beginnings

Three days saw more than 400 visitors from 28 countries and 100 cities. The annual Eurocities network(external link, opens in a new window) conference for large and medium-sized European cities drew a great number of European city influencers, EU decision-makers and officials to Otaniemi and other areas of Espoo.

“Over the next few days, we will highlight the role of cities as leaders for the transition towards clean energy, new digital solutions, climate-neutral societies and sustainable economic growth,” said Jukka Mäkelä, the Mayor of Espoo, as he officially kicked off the Eurocities annual conference.

The headline of the Espoo annual conference was ‘An Era of New Beginnings, Dream–Act–Lead–Together’. For many, the Espoo gathering was a long-awaited chance to get together again and join forces to transform the urban future. The climate challenge requires us to join forces and lead together for better, faster and more effective solutions. The world has changed dramatically also because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The war has forced new challenges upon cities, but during the conference the participants showed their support towards Ukraine.

For Espoo, the annual conference was a chance to highlight Finland and the competence in Espoo.

‘During the conference, we provided our guests with information about our competence and the way we promote matters through networks in Espoo. The conference would not have been possible without our partners(external link, opens in a new window) and solid cooperation. More than a hundred people from the City of Espoo participated in the organisation, and a great deal of the thanks for a successful event goes to them,’ says Milla Ovaska, Head of International Affairs at the City of Espoo.

We had the honour of having young Future Mentors from 22 different cities participating in the conference. During the spring, they had been mentoring their local city leaders about a sustainable future for their cities. At the conference we learned and discussed about the hopes and dreams they had brought into the discussion during the mentoring. These are six key recommendations written by the Future Mentors on how to involve youth at the local level:

• Compulsory and non-tokenistic youth engagement in decisions which affect them and their futures
• Create a Eurocities youth department; young people should always be part of the Eurocities network
• An ongoing line of communication between city leaders and youth representatives. This should take place regularly, at least two times a year.
• Any engagement with young people must be accessible and inclusive. We should put extra care to involve those from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Enough resources – money and staff – to support youth-centred organisations
• After any engagement, feedback should be gathered: constant evaluation of youth participation processes.

Espoo wants to continue the collaboration on developing a futureproof Europe where youth participation and dialogue between youth and city leaders become an integral part in cities, between cities and on Europe level. The recommendations above need to be considered carefully on different decision making levels. 

The traditional award ceremony was organised as part of the conference. The Eurocities awards recognise outstanding achievement by members in the delivery of local activities or practices that improve the quality of life of their citizens.

This year’s awards were selected in three categories.

• Dream together – Future generations transforming the cities: Donostia-San Sebastian won the category with its Innovation challenge which put personal skills at the heart of a fun talent development programme for young people.
• Act together – Skills and competences for the future: The winner of this category was Munich, with its Readiness and Digital Integration school that opens the city’s business network and gives refugees, women and children a chance to transform their lives.
• Lead together – Scalable solutions for positive climate impact: Grenoble Alpes Metropole won the category with its Batitec second-hand store which seeks to bring elements of the circular economy into the construction industry.

The participants praised the warm atmosphere of the conference, which you can revisit here:

• Admire photos from the conference(external link, opens in a new window)
• Watch the @espooesbo Instagram stories(external link, opens in a new window)
• Watch videos(external link, opens in a new window).

We also recommend reading the thoughts from the main speakers:

• Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Cities are at the heart of our fight against the climate and biodiversity crises(external link, opens in a new window)
• Dario Nardella, Eurocities president, Mayor of Florence: Dreaming is about creating hope for a future of peace and opportunity for all(external link, opens in a new window)

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth: Cities are places to demonstrate, test, deploy and adopt new solutions(external link, opens in a new window)

You may also be interested in these articles:

• Cities preparing the ground for Ukraine reconstruction(external link, opens in a new window)
• Top city prizes at Eurocities Awards 2022(external link, opens in a new window)
• Awards signal a fresh start for European cities(external link, opens in a new window)
• Valuing young people as city advisors(external link, opens in a new window)