Creating Connected Urban Spaces

The Intercultural Cities Programme (ICC) is a city network and programme which supports city authorities in reviewing their existing policies, and creating new policies that support the diversity and multiculturality of their cities. The programme enables city authorities to positively manage diversity through a number of analytical and practical tools, and helps authorities to see the many advantages that diversity can bring to cities and regions. The programme is based on the three pillars: 'Achieving real equality'; 'Building on the diversity advantage to create a "we" based culture of shared values'; and 'Fostering interaction within and between [communities]'. Cities that commit to the programme commit to becoming inclusive across five key areas: inclusive urban planning; inclusive facilities and infrastructures; inclusive culture; inclusive governance; and inclusive public services. The ICC programme offers city profiling, a good-practices database as well as guides, manuals, handbooks and policy briefs that can be used by authorities to help with designing inclusive, multicultural cities. The programme is also encouraging cross-city learning along its network of participatory cities, through knowledge exchange and site visits.

Presented by: Ivana D'Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural cities, Council of Europe, Italy

Intercultural Cities Programme

Intercultural Cities Programme

Gentrification can become a problem where it is poorly managed. Gentrification can lead to economic inequalities and rent gaps emerging between residents, pushing the poorer and more vulnerable sectors of a city out of their community, and thus resulting in the exclusion and segregation of low-income populations. The ICC advocates for active management of gentrification through their 'Managing Gentrification' Policy Brief. This document, and the broad work of the ICC programme, advocates for active management of gentrification such that city policies look to protect vulnerable populations, and maintain affordable housing and inclusive city spaces for everyone. Positive measures that cities are encouraged to take fall across a number of categories. Measures for managing rent-gaps include increasing affordable housing supplies; recognising housing as a fundamental human right; creating affordable transport links; and regulating the private sector to reduce speculation. Secondly, measures can also be taken to prevent displacement and protect the rights of tenants through the creation of urban renewal zones with managed development; management of touristification and its effects, and through protection of local SME businesses. Thirdly, measures can be used to strengthen participatory processes and resident-led governance in order to achieve inclusive public spaces. These measures include managing privatization of public spaces with care; enacting good governance practices in areas which are experiencing urban changes; and managing conflicts occuring in public spaces. Effectively managing sustainable tourism practices is a final strategy that city authorities can take, engaging with residents in a participatory manner to ensure that tourism appreciates the diverse heritage of cities and does not cause damage to local residents. This set of strategies are examples of solutions that can be taken by city authorities to create more inclusive, diverse and egalitarian spaces for residents of all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

Presented by: Ivana D'Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural cities, Council of Europe, Italy

Managing Gentrification

To further manage gentrification and create inclusive spaces, cities must view diversity as an advantage and include this worldview in their urban planning. This requires engendering strong public discourse in favour of diversity and designing city regeneration programmes in such a way that they promote a sense of belonging. Equality forms a central part of such a strategy, meaning that citizen participation should be used by city authorities in their design of public spaces to ensure that citizens of all backgrounds have a say over how their public spaces are designed. Furthermore, the design of public spaces should foster mixing of cultures within them, promoting a healthy interaction between citizens.

Presented by: Ivana D'Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural cities, Council of Europe, Italy

Intercultural Cities

Microbility is the use of light vehicles such as pushbikes, e-bikes, e-scooters and light electric vehicles, all of which have the power to displace cars in city centres, and become a more sustainable mode of transport for moving people and goods around cities. The advantage of the escooter technology that Voi provides is that it can be easily implemented without the need for large scale planning, infrastructure or building works to take place. The ease of installation of the Voi scooters in cities means that this solution can be deployed quickly and at scale as a means of transport across cities. Microbility can also act as a connecting thread between existing modes of public transport. This also means that the Voi technology is a particularly applicable solution to areas which are 'public transport deserts', such as peripheral areas that are poorly connected to other transport links. As many car journeys from such areas and within cities are very short, the use of microbility as an alternative to these would not only cut down on unnecessary carbon emissions, but also on noise and air pollution, as well as congestion in and around city centres. Part of the Voi vision is to drive a modal shift in transport, based on a pyramid of hierarchy where walking is the most-used form of transport in a city, followed by microbility, public transport, taxis and shared cars, and finally the private car. This would require work with city authorities to integrate the e-mobility solutions into their existing public transport networks. Use of the Voi e-scooter as a complement to public transport would allow this technology to be integrated into existing city transport networks and encourage a more sustainable mode of transport than car use.

Presented by:  Matthew Pencharz, Head of Policy for UK, Ireland & Benelux, Voi Scooters, UK

Voi Scooters

Voi have increased the lifespan of their e-scooters from an original 12 months when the company launched in 2018, to 59 months in 2022. This has been achieved through improved design of the microbility technology, and changes such as the use of modular parts to build the e-scooters which can be easily swapped out when these are damaged and wear out. Other changes have included the use of batteries for the scooters which can be swapped-in remotely, removing the need to transport scooters back to a warehouse for charging, and thus reducing the associated emissions and energy-use from this practice. The use of swappable batteries has resulted in a 95% decrease in operational emissions, with the use of cargo bikes and e-vans to transport batteries contributing to this emissions decrease. These changes have allowed the organisation to practice aspects of circular economy in their business model and scooter design, reducing the environmental impact of this transport solution.

Presented by: Matthew Pencharz, Head of Policy for UK, Ireland & Benelux, Voi Scooters, UK

Voi Sustainability

In order to combat disconnect in the urban planning of cities in the Global East, strengthening of local knowledge and expertise on public transport planning and urban planning is needed, ensuring that local voices are heard by the organisations (such as development banks) providing input and aid, such that solutions are designed in a targeted, sustainable way for the local context.

Presented by: Dr Lela Rekhviashvili, Researcher, Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Germany

Public space in post-Soviet cities

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many public transport networks in the post-Soviet countries were weakened, and spending decreased on public transport infrastructure. This led to bottom-up built public transport networks emerging in the form of 'Marshrutkas' - mini-buses driven by private individuals across city routes as a new means of public transport. However, as drivers of these vehicles work for themselves, they rely on the fares paid by passengers for their income. This can lead to negative outcomes not only for the livelihood of the driver and their family during periods of fewer passengers, but also to instances of dangerous driving where drivers compete for passengers. In Tbilisi, Georgia, where reforms across the public transport sector were made, providing a salary for drivers has made a significant difference to the issues that the public transport sector was facing. This move has not only stabilised the income of those working in public transport, but has also improved road safety.

Presented by: Dr Lela Rekhviashvili, Researcher, Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Germany

Information on Marshrutkas

In the UK in the 1980s when buses were privatised, in London bus routes were franchised out to private operators by Transport for London via a tendering process, whereas in other cities the process of change was much more deregulated with bus companies competing heavily for popular bus routes, and some less popular bus routes having to be subsidised or reduced. This caused problems of social cohesion, where the areas that were more difficult to access were often marginalised by these changes. Whereas the bus franchising in London is an example of how regulation of the private sector can allow for effective partnerships and management of public transport, the lack of regulations elsewhere indicates the problems that private sector competition can cause to public service. This can lead to disconnected systems, differing and expensive ticket prices and a lack of coordination across the transport network. In Manchester, plans are being implemented to cap adult and child bus fares and create a London-style bus system throughout the area of greater Manchester. This will allow for a more integrated public transport network with consistent pricing and standards. The use of a franchised model allows for the dynamism of the private sector associated with driving down costs to be combined with regulation by transport authorities to ensure a service of good standards and affordability. Such a franchised model could be used within the microbility sector to ensure that tenders for microbility schemes in cities are competitive and that providers are pushed to offer the best service to users. Microbility should also be regulated by city authorities to ensure that there is a sufficient number of operators offering a service, without there being too many providers, a clutter of e-vehicles and a race to the bottom in price and quality.

Presented by: Matthew Pencharz, Head of Policy for UK, Ireland & Benelux, Voi Scooters, UK

Greater Manchester’s bus franchising

Report on bus franchising

Public Private Partnerships are an example of a collaborative solution that can be used to build an inclusive city dynamic. Erlangen in Germany contains a large campus of technology giant Siemens. When the city was confronted with hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees in 2015/16, the city municipality collaborated with Siemens, creating an internship programme targeted at refugees and asylum seekers. The programme looked to source highly skilled individuals with the capacity to work in the fields of engineering, healthcare, medicine, biology and chemistry, which are the main foci of the company. The internships included training programmes allowing for capacity building and the opportunity for candidates to build a long-term career within the company. This example highlights how the use of a win-win approach (in which migrants, municipality and private sector all see the benefits of a Public-Private Partnership) is a strategy which can enhance societal development towards diverse and inclusive societies.

Presented by:  Ivana D'Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural cities, Council of Europe, Italy

Siemens Traineeships

Siemens Traineeships

The ICC acts as a network of cities, offering the opportunity to learn from good practice elsewhere and provide support to cities facing difficulty, or looking to implement diversity policies. The strength of such a network became particularly apparent as the Ukraine invasion unfolded: member cities offered help and support to Ukrainian cities, and also to Polish cities that were facing an influx of migrants. Cities which had experience in welcoming migrants and refugees were able to offer support, advice and guidance to the Polish cities which were accepting Ukrainian refugees and displaced people. Similarly, during the COVID-19 response, some cities translated COVID guidelines into the languages commonly spoken by migrants in their countires, and these resources were shared across the network where applicable. These example demonstrate how the use of city networks can allow for horizontal learning and city-to-city support on issues of diversity and migration.

Presented by: Ivana D'Alessandro, Head of Unit, Intercultural cities, Council of Europe, Italy

Council of Europe Website