Category: News from Asia & Australasia

Smart Utilities establish a new connection between Sejong and Sofia

In March, Sejong and Sofia met again to discuss Smart Utilities. In this meeting, Sofia presented about Smart Utilities and Green Energy while Sejong presented about Renewable Energy. Both cities focused on the topic of Smart Utilities, with diverse project examples and upcoming renewable energy plans. Through this meeting, cities also showed great interest and indicated to continue discussion on...

Journey to make both Dublin and Seoul future cycling and walking cities

On the first week of March, Seoul and Dublin met again to share and continue the conversation on walkable and cyclable cities. In this meeting, Patricia Reidy and Christopher K. Manzira from Dublin presented the city’s plans for walking and cycling. The meeting started with the presentation, Covid Pandemic Response – Changing the streetscape, by Patricia Reidy. In this presentation, we...

Chiang Mai joins IURC to cooperate with Granada

Chiang Mai has become the second Thai city to join the IURC programme and will cooperate with Granada, a top city in the IUC phase that led cooperation on the topic of blockchain. Apart from city officials and the IURC team, joining the kick-off meeting between the two cities on 23 March 2022 were HE David Daly, EU Ambassador to...

Jamshedpur and Alto Minho to cooperate on waste segregation

Jamshedpur, a uniquely governed industrial city in the Indian state of Jharkhand, and the Alto Minho Functional Area, an association of 10 municipalities in Portugal, will be cooperating under the IURC programme on best practices for waste segregation. City representative along with the IURC team met on 11th March 2022. On the Jamshedpur side, it was attended by Mr Rajiv...

Bandung and Rome introduce urban food projects

On 18 March 2022, city officials from Bandung City of Indonesia and Rome City of Italy met online for the first time to introduce their existing initiatives related to urban food. Both cities also brought their partners to the meeting. The Sapienza University of Rome, also involved in the previous cooperation under the IUC framework, participated in the meeting. Meanwhile,...

6th Thematic Webinar: Innovation Precincts

This thematic cluster webinar is a part of International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) Asia & Australasia, which aims to further urban and regional cooperation in the fields of sustainable urban development and innovation between EU and non-EU cities. The activity is in addition to the ongoing bilateral discussions amongst cities. Within the IURC thematic network n°2 “Urban and Regional...

Biomass for energy, carbon offset in forests, a carbon positive future and electric cars were discussed in webinar by Turku and Nagano

The cities of Nagano in Japan and Turku in Finland held a webinar to compare climate policies and to discuss possible areas for cooperation. Both cities are in the process of reviewing and updating their climate plans. Kazuhiro Yoshihara, Senior Staff, Environmental Protection and Climate Change Policy Section, presented the Zero Carbon 2050 Strategy of Nagano City. Nagano experienced in...

IURC meets with Kanpur

As part of the IURC programme in India, the city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh will focus on Air Quality Management and will have the opportunity to cooperate with Indian and EU cities, create global networks and exchange best practices. On Tuesday, 15 March 2022, Mr Rahul Awasthi, Urban Infrastructure Specialist from Kanpur Municipal Corporation, and the India team of...

Malaysian SDG Cities: Opening Ceremony for SDG – The Nordic Way!

IURC Asia & Australasia experts were invited by the Nordic Embassies of Sweden, Finland and Norway to Malaysia and Datuk Seri Mahadi Che Ngah, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, to attend a hybrid Opening Ceremony together with key national stakeholders collaborating in both the IURC Malaysia component and Global Covenant of Mayors (GCOM). Kuala Lumpur has been selected to participate in...

2nd Meeting between Sofia and Semarang

Representatives from Sofia City in Bulgaria and Semarang City in Indonesia met online on 10 March 2022 to continue their discussions on urban mobility, focusing on ways to limit the use of private vehicles and make public transport more attractive. Both sides proposed a possible pilot area, the expected output and potential stakeholders. They expressed the same interest in developing...