International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC)

Programme/Initiative
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Contact information
Brussels, Belgium
Contact us
Social media
https://twitter.com/IURC_Programme
https://www.linkedin.com/company/iurc/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeFA4V3M7s7zkHonoWvg9g
Funded By
European Commission under partnership instrument
About

IURC aims to lead and develop a form of decentralised international urban and regional cooperation in the fields of sustainable urban development and innovation, in key partner countries and regions in line with the external dimension of "Europe 2020."

Type of service
Networking and knowledge sharing
Urban themes covered

Operational topics
Strategy
Global agendas and policy frameworks
Scaling up and transfer
Capitalisation
Transfer/Replication
Territorial focus
Urban design
Target audience

Cities and Regions and their stakehodlers (quadruple helix approach) from Europe and their counterparts in:

  • Asia: China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Thailand, Vietnam;
  • Pacific: Australia & New Zealand;
  • North America: United States & Canada,
  • Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. 
Learn more about the partner

IURC focuses on fostering decentralised international cooperation as part of a long-term strategy to foster urban diplomacy as an important vehicle of the EU's external relations. The programme facilitates knowledge-exchange through a combination of online tools and face-to-face support such as study visits, participation in thematic and networking events or capacity building. The cooperation is developed as:

  • One-to-one pairings: Selected EU Cities/regions matched with Non-EU cities/regions from the designated Geographical Areas
  • Clusters: a group of pairings sharing similar challenges and topics of cooperation, usually within the same Geographical Area.
  • Three thematic networks  guide the cooperation: Ecological Transition and Green Deal, Urban and Regional Renewal and Social Cohesion, and Innovative Sustainable Ecosystems together with three cross-cutting challenges: Digital Transition, Energy Transition-Climate Change  and Post-Covid-19 Recovery.

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