Category: News from Asia & Australasia

Study Visit of Tokorozawa City, Japan to Bratislava, Slovakia

Via the EU's IURC (International Urban and Regional Cooperation) Programme, the delegation of Tokorozawa City is visiting Bratislava between 13-17 March 2023, Day 1 The Tokorozawa delegates began the study visit by learning about Bratislava’s method for participatory urban planning, and sustainable mobility policies, as well as a historical overview of the city, They also visited Bratislava’s suburbs to see...

EU-Australia: Madrid to Melbourne & Florence to Canberra

Four delegates from Madrid have just visited Melbourne to deepen pilot project cooperation in the fields of mobility and urban greening. The delegation included following experts: Nicolas Gharbi, Principal Advisor for City Diplomacy and International Affairs, Madrid City Pedro Fernandez Lopez, Head of Department, Planning and Infrastructure, Madrid City Lidia León Talavera, Vice-Director of Operation Centres, EMT Madrid (Madrid Public...

Asia & Australasia: Webinar on Tactical Urbanism

The IURC Asia and Australasia (AA) team organised a webinar within the IURC thematic network n°2 “Urban and Regional Renewal”. The event focused on Tactical Urbanism in Public Spaces, an area that has gained strong relevance in cities around the globe. Pedestrian plazas, pop-up bike lanes, pop-up parks and innovative playgrounds are just some of the examples developed by city...

Eco-Schools & Circular Economy – Students from Portugal and Malaysia exchange experiences online

Youth Action Matters - under this motto, the pilot cities of Vila Nova de Famalicao and Seberang Perai organised an online exchange involving selected pupils from three schools: SMK Convent Butterworth (Seberang-Perai), Camilo Castelo Branco (Vila Nova de Famalicao), and Colegio Nova da Maia (Maia). Each school presented current initiatives in areas including energy saving, waste segregation, as well as...

Seoul and Dublin partnership advanced through reciprocal visit in Ireland

Seoul and Dublin conducted the second study visit in Dublin on 6-10 February this year through the IURC programme (International Urban and Regional Cooperation) sponsored by European Union. Since it was a reciprocal visit, Seoul and Dublin delegates were able to refine the ideas for the future activity plans that were initially drafted during the last visit in Seoul. The...

Bangkok and Milan report progress on food policy activities

On 2 February, Bangkok and Milan had their 3rd technical meeting, where both cities provided updates on the activities they had implemented. On the Bangkok side, which has now formed a working group to deal with its food policy and ecosystem, four main topics were presented: urban agriculture, the school lunch programme, food bank and food waste. In addition, the...

Granada meets with technology park in Chiang Mai to advance B2B cooperation

On 1 February, Francisco Luis Benitez, Senior Advisor to Granada City, Spain, and Innovation & Prospective Director of Fidesol, resumed conversation with the team at the Science and Technology Park (STeP) of Chiang Mai University, led by Asst. Prof. Dr. Kasemsak Uthaichana, Deputy Director of STeP, to discuss potential cooperation between startups and incubators in Chiang Mai and Granada. Before...

Study Visit of Two Croatian Cities, Zagreb and Rijeka, to Kawasaki City, Japan

The study tour of Zagreb and Rijeka, Croatia began on January 30, 2023 with the delegation visiting Kawasaki City, Japan. The delegation visited the sites related to climate mitigation, waste management and green infrastructure, including urban parks. Kawasaki City has a population of 1.5 million, but 100 years ago it was a small town with a population of less than...

Back to normal: Christchurch and Vitoria-Gasteiz experts meet online to define smart city cooperation

As a follow-up to the bilateral study visits conducted in Europe and New Zealand in November and December 2022 respectively, experts from Vitoria-Gasteiz and Christchurch city councils discussed online the next steps for the collaboration in the smart city area. The action identified is the adaption of Christchurch's smart city interface "SmartView" to Vitoria-Gasteiz's open data portal. The portal was...

Osaka Delegation visit to Greater Manchester (15-19 January 2023)

Within the EU-funded IURC Asia and Australasia programme, a delegation from Osaka City is currently visiting Greater Manchester as a follow-up of a study visit undertaken by Manchester authorities from 2-8 October 2022. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is the only UK local authority participating in the IURC project (GMCA had participated in the IUC Project). The pair Osaka-Manchester...