Cities Forum 2025 - Unlocking urban potential through European cooperation: the Urban Agenda for the EU

Each Thematic Partnership shared their motivations, approaches, and challenges. The Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees Partnership stressed the need for localised, place-based integration strategies and better navigation of EU funding. Greening Cities highlighted the relevance of the Nature Restoration Regulation and the need to support cities in implementation. The Cities of Equality Partnership focused on inclusive data and engagement with vulnerable groups. The Food Partnership underlined the power of public procurement in reshaping food systems, while Public Procurement showed how risk-averse public authorities can use procurement strategically for the energy transition. The Sustainable Tourism Partnership emphasised solutions related to climate challenges, in particular though the engagement of SMEs, and behavioural incentives for tourists. Discussions stressed the UAEU’s role in building networks, exchanging practices, and developing solutions collaboratively, across city scales and policy levels.

The UAEU’s main strength lies in its multi-level governance approach, enabling shared problem-solving across EU, national, and local levels. In particular, representatives of the TPs highlighted the fact that cities are not tackling challenges alone, but learning from each other. Timing and alignment with EU legislation, like the Nature Restoration Regulation, play a key part and can increase policy impact. Availability of data on vulnerable groups is necessary for addressing inequality and co-creating solutions. Public procurement emerged as an enabler across themes, as it can have  a major influence on the market and promote sustainable products and services. Another key lesson was the need to break out of the “UAEU bubble” and ensure that knowledge generated through Partnerships informs broader audiences and institutions.

Looking ahead, participants expressed readiness to share knowledge and support broader engagement in future Partnerships. A new call for the Compact Cities – Sustainable Urban Planning and Sprawl Mitigation Thematic Partnership will launch on  August 27. The main conclusion was that the UAEU has established a successful framework for multi-level governance, and should reinforce its objective of involving cities in EU policymaking. Alexandru Matei summed up the conclusions around six key concepts („the 6C”): communication, creativity, co-design, co-implementation, consistency, and continuity.

The speakers called for the integration of UAEU outcomes into the new Agenda for Cities. Contributions emphasised maintaining the three pillars (Better Knowledge, Better Regulation, Better Funding), building on what works, and adding what is needed. Among others, cities need simplified access to funding and targeted support in policy implementation. The experience and insights gathered through the Thematic Partnerships should serve as a foundation for the EU Agenda for Cities, ensuring continuity, scaling good practices, and promoting collaborative policymaking across the EU.