We set the stage for some serious out-of-the-box thinking during a two-day event on
urban policy practices.

URBACT City Festival

13-14 September 2018 — Lisbon, Portugal

Challenge

How to continue to innovate a conference showcasing urban good practices and celebrating its 15th year?


Hosted and designed by URBACT, the European Territorial Cooperation programme aiming to foster sustainable integrated urban development in cities across Europe, and organised by Cecoforma, the URBACT City Festival 2018 was not your traditional conference.


More than 500 urban practitioners, policymakers and elected representatives discovered a wealth of ideas and initiatives during 50 interactive sessions. Participants representative of 200 cities from 30 countries gathered to celebrate the rising influence of cities as actors of change... and the 15 years of URBACT!


Through structured sessions and casual mixers, participants had the chance to exchange with the urban professionals directly responsible for these initiatives.


The event with many moving parts was engineered to feel like one fluid and cohesive experience.

As usual, we could not have done this festival without you.

You knew how to translate our (often crazy) ideas into something concrete, while keeping in touch with reality.


Thank you!


​Simina Lazar

Communication and Capitalisation Officer, URBACT

We organised plenary and breakout thematic sessions, small and large labs and training sessions, walkshops through the city of Lisbon, a marketplace, welcome cocktail and a closing party.

Unique to this edition was the walkshops in which participants hit the streets during specific guided workshops. Walkshops proved to be an excellent opportunity to discover the city from inside out.

The marketplace exhibited stands of URBACT Action Planning Networks and partners and offered participants yet another format of interacting and learning from one another.

Lisbon as the backdrop and such a unique and dynamic city, provided urban practitioners with real examples of innovative and vibrant practices.

In celebration of the 15 years of URBACT, the most interesting and powerful stories from people that witnessed the transformation of their cities during the last 15 years were told.

Participants went home inspired by the innovative atmosphere and armed with ingenious new ideas for implementing best practices and putting their city on a course for better policy delivery.