Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

A new project started in January to foster and disseminate strategic urban planning initiatives in Tunisia. This program is developed in collaboration with the United Nations Program for Development  (UNDP), the Fédération Nationale des Villes Tunisiennes (FNVT), the Centre of Training and Decentralization Support of the government of Tunisia (CFAD),  the German cooperation (GIZ), the Dutch cooperation (CILG-VNG) and MedCities.

The project aims at developing strategies for participatory urban planning in eight Tunisian cities, and includes training sessions for the pilot city technical staff. This will create a network of experts in strategic urban planning to support the planning process at local level.

This part of the project includes a total of 15 training days over four sessions. The first two sessions were carried out in January, and the remaining two are scheduled for mid and late February.

The first session, held on January 14-16 in Sousse (Tunisia), has developed the framework and key points to organize strategic urban planning projects based on a participatory approach in territorial planning through practical study cases, as well as cross-sectorial topics in strategic urban development.

The MedCities Secretariat General, held by the AMB, organized the second session from 23 to 26 January in Sousse. This session focused on methodological aspects of urban planning, based on experiences of other Mediterranean cities. A participatory and interactive approach was used to execute practical exercises to prepare the launch, diagnosis and strategic framework of projects, as well as cross-sectorial topics in local economic development.

Cities Alliance is the global partnership for poverty reduction and the promotion of cities in sustainable development. This project is part of its Programme in Tunisia, which focuses on education and training to develop sustainable urban policies in the country.