Eurocities Working Group Meeting in Brno: Inspiration and Cooperation at European Level

On 5 and 6 June we hosted the Working Group Metropolitan Areas of the European network Eurocities in Brno. The aim of the working group is to share good practice in metropolitan planning and cooperation and to discuss trends and the future of European policy and legislation. The event was attended by experts from European cities, representatives of research institutions and universities.

During these two days we:

• Presented the model of metropolitan cooperation in the Brno Metropolitan Area, including the implementation of the instrument of Integrated Territorial Investments.
• Discussed metropolitan trends and the future of metropolitan cooperation in individual metropolitan areas. For example, representatives from Dublin, Oslo, Vienna, Warsaw, Brussels and Gothenburg presented their findings..
• Discussed a possible project for a focused analysis within the ESPON international research programme.
• Discussed the future of metropolitan areas – representatives of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area presented the results of an analysis aimed at identifying 20 key trends that will affect the activities of their local government by 2050.
• Visited the URBIS Smart Cities Meetup fair at the Brno Exhibition Centre.
• Toured projects in the Brno Metropolitan Area supported by the ITI. We visited, among others, the Rosa Coeli Monastery in Dolní Kounice, which is one of the strategic projects of the European Union. The participants got acquainted with the project under preparation and plans for the future. The excursion provided not only inspiration, but also concrete examples of successful implementation of projects funded by the Integrated Territorial Investment tool, which lead to the development of the entire Brno Metropolitan Area.

The working group also included representatives of the World Bank, who presented the Functional Areas in the EU project, which aimed to strengthen the capacity of functional areas to plan and finance investments and services that go beyond the boundaries of their cadastre. The project officially ended in May 2024 and included Brno. The project’s conclusions include recommendations to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy on the future of cohesion policy.

Most of today’s problems cut across administrative boundaries and cooperation at metropolitan level is crucial. The City of Brno is actively involved in the Eurocities Working Group Metropolitan Areas and is co-chairing it with Oslo from 2023. The working meeting in June was the first such meeting hosted by the city.