MITMA/EUKN: “Coping with and learning from COVID-19: European and Spanish urban strategies for a resilient future”

On 14 January 2021, MITMA in collaboration with the European Urban Knowledge Network -EUKN- organised the Policy Lab “Facing and learning from COVID-19 in virtual format: Urban strategies in Europe and Spain for a resilient future”. The webinar was part of the “Thinking Beyond the Crisis” series, an initiative of the EUKN Secretariat to generate and exchange knowledge about the urban impacts of the coronavirus in its member countries and the strategic responses implemented to deal with them. The webinar provided an interactive space for exchange and reflection and provided information on the way in which cities across Europe are rethinking their approaches to urban space in the face of the pandemic, considering health as a more holistic and transversal concept that encompasses different dimensions of everyday life.

During the first part of the event, after a general review of the actions taken by the cities and the political responses presented by EUROCITIES, experts from the Barcelona Provincial Council (ES) and the municipalities of Torrent (ES), Paris (FR) and Milan (IT) presented the strategies that their administrations had applied. In the second part, the debate was approached from different thematic perspectives, allowing participants to focus on urban challenges and opportunities related to: (1) sustainable mobility and transport; (2) urban planning; (3) inequality; and (4) national urban policies.