REGISTRATION OPEN

The City of Brno, lead partner in the MECOG-CE Interreg programme, kindly invites all METREX members to the upcoming conference “Solutions for strong metropolitan cooperation and governance: Metropolitan areas for European cohesion and growth” which will be held on 19 March 2026 at the Museum of Applied Arts in Brnoin Brno, Czechia.

Metropolitan areas are at the forefront of Europe’s most pressing challenges — from climate adaptation and social cohesion to competitiveness, innovation and sustainable development. With their concentration of people, resources, and know-how, they are not only the places where these challenges are most acute, but also where solutions are being shaped.

What the event is about

This event will explore how metropolitan cooperation and governance can unlock the full potential of these areas to drive cohesive, balanced, and resilient development across Europe. It will present metropolitan solutions to European challenges and highlight the need to better recognize and strengthen their role in both national and European policymaking — particularly within the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework.

Join us to discuss why metropolitan areas matter, how cooperation across these territories can make a real difference, and what needs to change to empower them as engines of strategic transformation. The conference also serves as a final event of the MECOG-CE project, led by Brno for over three years, and important project outputs delivered during its implementation will be presented.

Programme in a nutshell

The preliminary programme of the conference will include:

• Keynote on importance of strengthening the role of metropolitan areas,
• Presentation of Metropolitan Vision and Strategy for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and other outcomes and inspirational examples of tools developed within the MECOG-CE project,
• Panel discussion on the future of metropolitan areas from Czech and European perspective,
• Thematic workshops on mobility, governance, participative processes, and food cooperation.
• Guided study visits to key integrated projects across Brno (these will be held the day before, on 18 March, from approx. 15:30 to 17:30).

The programme allows not only to learn and hear about perspectives of metropolitan areas, national and European level, but it will also require your active participation during the workshops that will enable all of us to share our experiences, prioritize possible common activities and propose steps, e.g. joint projects.

PROGRAMME IN PDF AVAILABLE HERE

Registrations

Please register via this link
Registration is open until 19 February 2026. If you register and then cannot attend, please, let us know at mecog@brno.cz. All the latest information will be available on the website.