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RELOCAL Policy Conference

“Empowering the Local for Enhancing Cohesion and Spatial Justice in Europe”

Date: 15th March 2021

Time: 10:00 – 15:45 (CET)

Place: online

REGISTRATION HERE 

Is it possible to hold a conference on cohesion and territorial development policy without considering localities and local experiences targeted by such policy? As researchers involved in the Horizon 2020 RELOCAL project, we are convinced that local voices matter and should be heard.

Our aim with this conference is to share and discuss the results of four years of research, in particular, 33 in-depth case studies in Europe. To do so, we invite you, citizens, NGO activists, civil servants, elected representatives acting at local, national and European levels, to express and share your experiences, questions and challenges on making European policies for cohesion more equitable. Our main question for this day is: how can we produce a Europe that is both spatially and socially just?

To do so, we strive during the conference to create a horizontal space of dialogue between those who analyse, those who conceive and those who implement local development policies in different contexts, regardless of whether they depend directly on EU funds or not. This conference is conducted in a digital and participative setting. Comments from the audience and discussions will support the elaboration of recommendations for a fairer Cohesion Policy.

DONWLOAD THE AGENDA


Agenda

10:00 – 10:15 INTRODUCTION AND WELCOME || Petri Kahila & James Scott, University of Eastern Finland

10:00 – 10:15 THE VOICES OF THE EU-LEVEL AND NATIONAL POLICY-MAKERS: THE MAIN CHALLENGES OF EU COHESION POLICY TODAY/POST-2020 || Karl-Heinz Lambertz (Parliament of the German-speaking Community, Belgium) & Peter Takacs (DG Regio, Territorial and urban development policy)

11:00 – 12:30 VOICES FROM THE RELOCAL RESEARCHERS 

11:00-11:15 // “A drop in the sea or catalyst for change: diverse effects of the place-based approach in Europe” Judit Keller & Tünde Virág (Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungary)
11:15-11:30 // “The role of knowledge in place-based development: towards networks of deep learning” Thomas Borén & Peter Schmitt (Stockholm University)
11:30-11:45 // Questions and comments from the audience
11:45-12:00 // “An innovative scenario tool to assess spatial justice interventions” Simone Piras & Margaret Currie (The James Hutton Institute, Scotland)
12:00-12:15 // “Do ‘fair’ processes lead to ‘good’ outcomes? Assessing 22 local development actions across Europe” Sabine Weck (ILS – Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development, Germany) & Peter Schmitt (Stockholm University)
12:15-12:30 // Questions and comments from the audience

12:30-13:30 LUNCH BREAK 

13:30-14:20 VOICES OF THE LOCALITIES 

13:30 – 14:00 // Videos from two RELOCAL case studies:
Strengthening Communities on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, UK
Local Youth as Urban Development Actors, Germany

14:00 – 14:20 // Questions and discussion with local stakeholders

14:20-14:40 RELOCAL POLICY CONSIDERATIONS || Sarolta Németh (RELOCAL, University of Eastern Finland)

14:40-15:10 INTERACTIVE BLOC – Q&A, COMMENTS FROM AUDIENCE 

15:10-15:40 A POLYPHONIC CONCLUSION: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT? POLICY CONSIDERATIONS || Ali Madanipour (University of Newcastle), Eleftherios Stavropoulos (DG Regio, Territorial and Urban Development Policy) & Gilles Huchette (Euralens, France)

15:40-15:45 CLOSING OF THE CONFERENCE  

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