Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The AMB, one of the founding members of MedCities, has approved the new agreement with MedCities to continue with all the projects that will start or continue during this year 2020.

In a changing period due to the COVID-19 situation (which has forced some institutions to redirect to new targets) the AMB has granted MedCities € 290,000 in funding for 2020 (increasing from € 265,000 in 2019).

The main objectives are based on the promotion and cooperation between both entities to carry out different projects as technical assistances, the promotion of training and transferring sessions within the cities of the network. Also, the agreement will stimulate and drive other projects and activities of interest to the AMB as well as the organisation of the MedCities General Assembly, among others. Some of the main actions are the following:

• To promote pilot cooperation projects and technical assistance in the cities of the MedCities network in areas such as strategic urban planning, waste management, local economic development, mobility, etc. It will also be strengthen the collaboration with the AMB Area for International Relations and Cooperation Area and the metropolitan councils for the identification and implementation of projects, including the new ASIMA TUNIS project that strengthens the territorial planning of the metropolitan are of Tunis, and training projects in waste management plans in Jordan.
• To promote training and exchange activities between the member cities of the network, in particular promoting the platform on urban and metropolitan management in the Mediterranean (www.medurbantools.com) as a training tool for learning, which responds to the needs of the technicians and political representatives of the member cities. During 2020, there will be a public presentation of Medurbantools at the AMB.
• To Organize the General Assembly of MedCities 2020 together with an international seminar on Mediterranean cities and metropolises in the last quarter of 2020.
• To promote other projects and activities of interest to the AMB, which include representation expenses, logistics, external services, preparation of new projects, etc. Some examples are IUCN Congress 2020 in Marseille, 9th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns (ICLEI) in Mannheim, the UfM Ministerial Conference on Blue Economy or participation in the Structured Dialogue of the European Commission, and other international bodies, etc. This section also includes the elaboration of the MedCities Strategic Plan for the period 2021-2023 with a 2030 vision.