Sustainable European cities: governance, democracy and connectivity
Sustainable European cities: governance, democracy and connectivity
Sustainable European cities: governance, democracy and connectivity
International workshop organized by the Incubator project sponsored by the Social Sciences Division at the University of Oxford* and co-sponsored by ESC, St Antony’s College, Oxford.
10 May, 2017, European Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
70 Woodstock Road, OX2 2JF Oxford
More than two thirds of Europeans live in Cities today, expected to grow to 80% in the next three decades. Unsurprisingly therefore Cities are hotspots of both opportunities and problems for the way in which we live, consume and work. In Europe, Mayors are mostly elected and therefore Cities offer a good example of proximity democracy. At the same time, Cities are part of nation states and therefore committed to national regulation, as well as, in the case of the EU, to European legislation. The interaction of the different layers of governance, from obstacle to opportunity, are gaining increased attention of citizens seeking to participate more directly in the shaping of their respective direct neighbourhoods. The Workshop would seek to bring together practitioners and academics to draw lessons from the experience of a number of European Cities from different regions, different cultural and economic realities in dealing with Sustainability challenges: social inclusion, environmental damage, economic performance, and cultural diversity, immigration and security. The objective is to grasp cities’ potential in enhancing Europe’s problem solving capacity and to map their network of cooperation in various functional fields.
First Session: 14-16 h
Introduction: Karl Falkenberg (St Antony’s College & European Commission) & Jan Zielonka (University of Oxford)
Bristol: a European green capital (George Ferguson, former Mayor of Bristol)
Essen: Environment and infrastructure in a metropolitan area (Simone Raskob, Mayor of Essen)
Amsterdam: Circular economics and digital connectivity (Zef Hemel, Professor at the University of Amsterdam)
Second Session: 16.30-19.00
Venice: Resilient city on water (Professor Stefano Soriani, Professor at the University of Venice, Ca Foscari)
Warsaw: Development of market society and the invisible hand of planning (Michał Borowski, former deputy Mayor and chief architect of Warsaw)
EU Commission: Indicators for sustainable cities (Ben Caspar, Directorate General - Environment at the European Commission
Conclusions: Michael Keith, (Future of Cities Programme, University of Oxford)