The City of Turin has been chosen as the venue for the next Cities Forum, the largest biennial event, organised by the European Commission, involving the main European players in urban development, now in its fifth edition.

Nineteen European cities were nominated, Turin entered the short list together with Ljubljana (Slovenia), Tallinn (Finland), Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) and the outcome of the final vote saw Turin prevail with 8 votes, 3 for Ljubljana and 1 for Victoria-Gasteiz. The Piedmontese capital will host the event in February 2023, when 700 participants are expected to arrive in the city over two days.

It was the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, who announced the event, showing great satisfaction for the final victory: “This is the biggest event of the European Commission that brings together the main urban actors at European, national, regional and local level.

The City of Turin”, continued the first citizen, “presented its candidacy with a programme that turned out to be the best and with a great experience in the field of cohesion policies”. This is a biennial event that has reached its fifth edition, the previous one having been in Porto in 2020. The Fondazione CRT has offered the OGR spaces as the main venue for the meetings.

The Forum is an opportunity to address issues and compare reflections on the role of the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy, the Urban Agenda for the EU, the role of cities in the implementation of the European Green Deal (climate targets to be achieved by 2050), the EU response to the urban dimension of the 2030 Agenda, the New Urban Agenda (programmes and policies for sustainable development in urban centres).

The New Leipzig Charter, the document approved in November 2020 that brings together a series of principles aimed at guiding European cities towards a greater degree of sustainability, resilience and inclusiveness, will also provide food for thought.

Issues such as digital transition, climate change and social inequalities are at the heart of the debate today, and the challenges facing cities require concrete strategies and actions to improve governance of these phenomena, for which collaboration with residents is often necessary, as is a useful and productive comparison with other national and European urban realities.