Title
Session description
Are you curious about how cities can contribute to the development of policies that impact them? In this engaging session, cities and experts came together to explore practical tools and strategies for making local voices heard in the EU and national policymaking processes. This session showcased how cities can contribute to EU and national policy-making through EU tools.
This session explored how cities can engage in EU and national policymaking through existing EU mechanisms, aiming to raise awareness and promote city participation in the EU legislative process. Structured as a panel discussion, each segment focused on a specific tool, combining interventions form city, national and European stakeholders. Speakers included representatives from the Committee of the Regions and Barcelona Provincial Council (RegHub), ESPON and the Netherlands (Territorial Impact Assessments), and the Housing Thematic Partnership and EUI Permanent Secretariat (Urban Agenda for the EU).
Key insights
The first panel explored the RegHub Network and how cities can provide feedback on EU regulations. Speakers highlighted the value of urban input in shaping policy, discussed its impact, and considered ways to make participation more accessible and appealing to local authorities. The second panel examined Territorial Impact Assessments, focusing on how cities can analyse the spatial impact of EU and national policies—either through the ESPON TIA Quick Check tool or the pilot approach developed by the Netherlands. Panellists shared hands-on examples, identified key barriers, and proposed ideas to support wider uptake. The final panel centred on the Urban Agenda for the EU, illustrating how thematic partnerships enable cities to contribute to policy development at the EU-level. The Housing Partnership was presented as a concrete example of how this approach can produce concrete outcomes.
Conclusion
Upcoming opportunities highlighted by the discussions were the call for the new Urban Agenda Thematic Partnership on Compact Cities, open from 27 August 2025 to 1 October 2025.
Inputs related to the EU agenda for cities
Inputs related to the EU agenda for cities were limited, as the dedicated Slido questions came at the end of the session, which primarily focused on a discussion between the speakers and the audience. The audience preferred to contribute to a live and interactive question and answer session.
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