METREX Spring Conference

In alignment with the METREX Manifesto for Metropolitan Partnerships, we recognize that metropolitan regions and areas are uniquely positioned to address the multifaceted challenges we face today. By understanding the bigger picture and translating it to a metropolitan scale, we can collaboratively find solutions with local partners.

Post-Manifesto Actions

Following the launch of our Manifesto for Metropolitan Partnerships in November 2023 and the METREX conferences in Brussels and Bucharest in 2024, we are now working on our own Metropolitan Agenda to feed into the current process of the a New Agenda for Cities, for both national and EU institutions to recognise:

1. Developing Approaches to Urgent Planning Issues; Enhancing our fundamental professional capabilities to tackle pressing spatial planning challenges.
2. Organisational Adaptation; Becoming more agile, efficient, and accessible in our organisational structures, also by learning from each other’s solutions in that field.
3. Forging a Metropolitan Future for Europe; Encouraging active participation in shaping a future-oriented metropolitan vision for Europe.

Spring Conference in Brussels, May 2024

At our Spring Conference in Brussels, we focused on:

– New Challenges in Spatial Planning; Deliberating on current pressing issues and evaluating our readiness for the future both organizationally and in our planning approaches.

– Equipping ourselves for the future; Providing comprehensive support to staff, ensuring they have the skills, tools, and resources necessary to effectively tackle complex metropolitan challenges.

The report of the conference is available on our website: Brussels 2024

Bucharest Autumn Conference, October 2024

The Bucharest autumn conference focused on integrating several key components to support our members in building a robust organisational framework capable of addressing new spatial planning challenges:

1. The Romanian context: Understanding regional specifics and contextual challenges.
2. Thematic and Parallel Workshop Sessions: Financing Metropolitan Development, Transport, No Net Land Take, Economic Development.
3. Strategic Integration: Combining these elements to ensure we are not only prepared for the future, but also proactive in shaping new policy statements towards EU and national institutions.
4. Searching for a political steer in formulating a European Metropolitan Agenda.

The report of the conference is available on our website: Bucharest 2024

Parallel to these conferences, an Interreg Central Europe project is ongoing on Metropolitan Cooperation and Governance (MECOG-CE) , led by the Metropolitan Region of Brno and joined by Warsaw, Ostrava, Berlin-Brandenburg, Torino, Stuttgart and two universities. The project is halfway, at a point where strategies for forming metropolitan regions are being developed.

Finally, starting in Bucharest, METREX members are organising a series of in-depth Foresighting programme that will help us in how to think about the future.   

This all forms an excellent basis to come to a European Metropolitan Agenda to be set to Members of the European Parliament and the EU Commission, as well as national governments.

Main Topics of the METREX Spring Conference in Gdańsk:

• Forging a European Metropolitan Agenda
  Against the background of the upcoming, renewed EU Urban Agenda
• Economic Development for Metropolitan Regions and Areas
• Towards an Integrated Spatial Planning approach in a continuously changing context

Sunday 1 June | Pre-Conference Program

14:00 METREX MC Meeting
Venue: tbc

16:00 Guided Tour around Sopot
Meeting point: Sopot City Hall, Kościuszki 25/27 str.
(https://g.co/kgs/x7E5FEo)

18:30 Reception & drinks, Sopot Beach
Venue: Mamuszki 15 str. M15
(https://g.co/kgs/rhk3DSy)

Monday 2 June | Full day

Venue: Gdańsk Technical University, conference room (floor 1),
Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-222 Gdańsk
(https://maps.app.goo.gl/yNBZ5qnyUyJ56Fh88)

08:30 Registration
09:00 Opening and Welcome

– Krzysztof Wilde, Rector of Gdańsk University of Technology
– Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk, and member of High-Level Policy Group on the Future of Cohesion Policy, representing also the Union of the Polish metropolises
– Jakub Mazur, President of the METREX

Introduction to the conference scope and thematic framework
By Henk Bouwman, Secretary General of METREX

Setting a Metropolitan Agenda for Europe: the ongoing Metropolisation process and the New Agenda for Cities
Moderator: Łukasz Medeksza, Deputy Director of the Strategy and City Development Department Municipality of Wrocław, PL

09:15 Spotlights on the EU level: the new Agenda for Cities and the ongoing metropolisation process
Keynote on the new EU Regional and Urban Policy setting the stage for discussions on Europe’s evolving metropolitan landscape (tbc)

09:30 A dive into the local context
The process of forming a metropolitan region: Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot

Contributions from:
– Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister for Regional Development of Poland,
– Michal Glaser, President of the Board of MAGGS
– Association of Polish Municipalities, providing insights into the region’s journey toward formal metropolitan cooperation

10:15 Break 

10:45 Strengthening the metropolitan Governance
The phenomenon of ‘metropolisation’ is increasingly contributing to shape the way territories can better address contemporary challenges. Insights and learnings from the Interreg MECOG-CE project prove to be a significant contribution in understanding and formulate adequate responses.

Moderator: František Kubeš, City of Brno, CZ

Keynote by Ivan Tosics, Managing Director at Metropolitan Research Institute based on the learnings of the MECOG project

with typical examples of Metropolitan entities

– Gdańsk – Sopot – Gdynia, examining its formalization process
– Metropolitan Regions that are partners in MECOG
– Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia – GZM, PL (tbc)
– Representative from MBarcelona, ES (tbc)
– Rafael Amorim, CIM Cávado, PT, showcasing urban-rural cooperation
– Lviv Metropolitan Association, presenting its newly established framework, UA

Panel discussion featuring:

– Ioana Ivanov, METREX Fellow Researcher
– Iván Tosics, MRI
– Peter Austin, Eurocities, Presenting the Position Statement on the Urban Agenda/Cohesion policies being developed by Eurocities
– Representatives from the cases explored

Observers:
Łukasz Medeksza, Sébastien Rolland, Foresighting Team
Alpo Tani, Metropolitan Climate Challenge Expert Group

12:30 Lunch 

14:00 Economic Development for Metropolitan Areas
Best practices for creating an eco-system of innovation, growth and inclusion 

With reference to the Draghi Report & Economic Development for Metropolitan Areas, this session will explore strategies for fostering economic development in metropolitan regions, focusing on best practices for creating dynamic ecosystems of innovation, sustainable growth, and social inclusion.
Cases will highlight innovative approaches to economic policy, investment in research and development, and strategies for fostering collaboration between public and private stakeholders.   

Introduction and thematic scope by Johan van Zoest (online)
The example of the REOS Program, The Netherlands, will provide insights for the discussion

Examples on the ground:

– Jakob Richter, Director Hamburg Metropolitan Region (tbc)
– Thierry Petit, Institut Paris Region
– Frank van Swol, Eindhoven region
– Representative from Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia Metropolitan Area

Observers:
Łukasz Medeksza, Sébastien Rolland, Foresighting Team
Alpo Tani, Metropolitan Climate Challenge Expert Group

15:00 Break

15:30 Panel discussion with:

– Peter Pol, EconoMETREX Expert Group
– Representative of OECD (tbc)
– Marcel Ionescu Heroiu, World Bank

The debate session aims to provide metropolitan policymakers and practitioners with practical insights and inspiration to strengthen economic resilience and drive forward innovation-led growth in their regions.

16:50 Close of the day

16:50 Site visit
Programme will follow

20:00 Light dinner 
Venue (tbc)

Tuesday 3 June | Full day  

Venue:Gdańsk Technical University, The Fahrenheit Courtyard
Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-222 Gdańsk
(https://maps.app.goo.gl/yNBZ5qnyUyJ56Fh88)

08:30 Registration
09:00 Opening and Welcome  

09:15 Improving the Integrated Spatial Planning approach in a continuously changing context 

This session will explore how metropolitan regions can navigate evolving trends that shape spatial development, offering insights into different planning strategies based on collaborative, multi-level and cross-sectoral approaches.
Moderator: tbc

Exemplar cases:

– Dagmar Keim, City of Amsterdam lead partner of ASSET project focusing on Circular Economy in the Built Environment, which impacts the planning principles (and voices from the project’s partners)
– Heidi Koponen, The new regional plan for Helsinki-Uusimaa Region, FI
– Representative from Città Metropolitana di Milano, IT

Observers:
Łukasz Medeksza, Sébastien Rolland, Foresighting Team
Alpo Tani, Metropolitan Climate Challenge Expert Group

10:45 Break

11:00 Workshop session
How do we adapt to the new challenges in our planning work
(participants will discuss in small groups)

Moderators and lead discussants (tbc)

The discussion will provide a forward-looking perspective on how metropolitan areas can adapt to these changes and foster integrated, sustainable, and inclusive development.

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Outputs from the Workshop discussion in dialogue with the observers

14:15 Draft Final version of the METREX European Metropolitan Agenda in collaboration with Eurocities and EMA

15:00 Introduction to the URBACT programme and projects
with Aldo Vargas Tetmajer (tbc)

15:15 Break 

15:30 General Assembly  

17:00 Visit to the Solidarnosc Museum

20:00 Conference Dinner at Montownia
Venue: Lisia Grobla Street 7, 80-860 Gdańsk

Wednesday 4 June | Morning Program

Optional Expert Group Meetings and METREX Subnetwork meetings

09:00-11:00 EconoMETREX
Venue: MAGGS Gdańsk Metro Area Association, Ul. Długi Targ, 39/40

09:00-11:00 Metropolitan Climate Challenge Expert Group (tbc)
Venue: MAGGS Gdańsk Metro Area Association, Ul. Długi Targ, 39/40

09:00-13:00 Nordic Baltic Network
Venue: Gdańsk Technical University, Creative space (ground floor), Gabriela Narutowicza 11/12, 80-222 Gdańsk (https://maps.app.goo.gl/yNBZ5qnyUyJ56Fh88)

Wednesday 4 June | Off Program

Optional Gdańsk Local Events | Europe with a View to the Future

11th International Forum – Gdańsk
European Solidarity Centre
National Centre for Culture

Gdańsk invites you to engage in a dialogue about democracy, solidarity, Europe, and our responsibility for global peace. We will meet in a symbolic place – on the historic grounds of the Gdańsk Shipyard named after Lenin, where 45 years ago the independent civic movement of Solidarity was born. The fate of Gdańsk reflects both the dark and bright sides of world history. World War II began in Gdańsk, destroying the city completely. In the 1980s, Solidarity initiated a peaceful human rights revolution that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain. In Gdańsk, one can read the bloody consequences of totalitarianism. The history of Gdańsk obliges us, Polish Europeans, to think responsibly about the future of our continent and to act courageously.

June 4 is one of those symbolic dates that are especially important for our fate. On this day in 1989, two crucial processes began. In Poland, partially free elections resulted in a Solidarity victory, and the communists lost their legitimacy. It was a political earthquake within the Soviet bloc. A wave of democratization began, leading to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet Union. In China, however, on June 4, 1989, the Communist Party brutally crushed a peaceful civic protest. The communists not only reinforced their authoritarian political system but also expanded its foundations with a capitalist system. A new global empire emerged – political, economic, and technological.

The civic revolutions of 1989–1991 did not bring democracy and peace to all of Europe. The imperial tradition of Russia proved to be strong. Together with authoritarian allies, including China, Moscow seeks to destroy democracy. Using resources and military power, it defends autocrats’ rule and imposes its principles on international politics. Sadly, even countries with centuries-old democratic traditions fall under the dangerous charm of absolute, autocratic power.

The year 1989 also marked the beginning of the communication revolution – the World Wide Web. Technological transformation changed every aspect of our lives. The digital revolution has a Janus face: it can strengthen democracy through participation, but it has also become a tool for its enemies.

Once again, we Europeans must choose the direction of our civic civilization. Will we barricade ourselves in nationalist egotism from global challenges? Or will we defend the practice of solidarity among nations and the observance of human rights?

In recent years, democracies have lost their glow and authority for many citizens. Dictatorships, meanwhile, have shown how brutally they can defend their existence—by killing and waging wars. They have also become effective at building international alliances. The authoritarian world exploits new technologies and communication methods to weaken democratic solidarity and expand its influence. War once again becomes a method of achieving political goals, as we see in Ukraine or the Middle East.

Democracies today fail to consistently fulfill promises of social justice and human rights protection. At the same time, globalization, climate change, and wars have intensified pressure for transformation in every area of public life. This creates a political atmosphere of fear—fear of revolutionary change, fear of losing what is familiar. This fear reinforces fear of the ‘other.’ The idea of universal human rights is on the defensive, as evidenced by the migration policies of many democratic countries.

We want to use the time of Poland’s EU presidency to launch a civic discussion with free-thinking people, people of culture and science, to talk about the state of Europe. Are we still loyal to the fundamental idea of our democracies—solidarity based on human rights? What choices must we make to ensure our values are credible and actually realized?

We invite you to a dialogue at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk—a cultural institution faithful to the idea of universal solidarity, a solidarity not limited by religion, culture, skin colour, gender, or nationality.

‘There is no freedom without solidarity!’—this slogan of the Polish Solidarity revolution of 1980 remains relevant today. It gives us civic strength.

Basil Kerski and the European Solidarity Centre team

Thursday 5 June | Off Program

Enact15m project: https://enact15mc.org/gdansk/

Meetings and workshops on the 15-minute city concept and the use of AI technologies.