International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC)

Programme/Initiative

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Contact information

Brussels, Belgium

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

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Productive, smart and connected

Research and Innovation, Digital transition, Local production, Mobility....

Digital transition

Mobility

Sustainable tourism

Job creation and entrepreneurship

Circular Economy

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Green

Sustainable soil and land use, Food sytems, Climate adaptation, Energy transition...

Sustainable soil and land use

Resilient environments

Climate adaptation

Nature protection and biodiversity

Energy transition

Food systems

Climate change mitigation

Water management

Waste management

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Just and Inclusive

Affordable housing, Education and employment, Health and well-being...

Social inclusion

Education and employment

Urban regeneration

Health and well-being

Culture and cultural heritage

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.

Key activities and platforms

IURC Knowledge Library

The knowledge exchanged by EU cities and regions with international counterparts is captured through case studies, takeaways, webinars and reports. This knowledge library will be accessible until 30/10/2023.

knowledge base

Explore IURC knowledge library!

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.