The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will finance 20 urban projects with €82 million (~$93 million US). These projects were received under the fourth call for proposals of the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA). The winning urban authorities will have the opportunity to seek creative, innovative, and durable solutions to address the challenges inherent in digital transition, sustainable use of land and nature based solutions, urban poverty, and urban security.
The winning projects fall under four categories:
- Urban security: ensuring that people live in an area of freedom, security, and justice without internal frontiers;
- Digital transition: opening up digital opportunities for people and businesses and enhance Europe’s position as the world leader in the digital economy;
- Sustainable use of land and nature-based solutions: improving urban planning to include more opportunities to get in contact with nature in order to improve health and well-being; and,
- Urban poverty: reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 20 million relative to 2010.
“No one is better placed than cities themselves to design the solutions that will transform life in urban areas. This is why the Commission has been directly awarding EU funding to cities so they can test ideas that will make them great places to live in, work and innovate,” commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations Johannes Hahn said.
In the coming months, each selected project will have a dedicated webpage within the UIA website with information on the implementation phase as well as the main learning points captured by UIA Experts. The 5th and last call for proposals under the Urban Innovative Actions will be launched in September 2019. The winning cities will be announced in the second quarter of 2020.
