Attending the URBACT City Festival in Wrocław this April? METREX has something extra for you!
The METREX Foresight2049 team is hosting a foresight workshop in Wrocław, and you’re warmly invited to join! The workshop will take place on April 10–11 and will focus on the future of Europe. Participants will be engaged in exploring forward-looking ideas and develop a set of future scenarios. These will help shape and strengthen our…
From Roads to Boulevards published on the Urban Design Journal – Issue 173
The latest Urban Design journal issue 173 – Winter 2025, edited by Jane Manning, publishes the extensive work produced by METREX Expert Group From Roads to Streets since its inception. Guest topic editor Paul Lecroart introduces the work underway across Europe to turn highways into green streets. The articles illustrate the story of eight metropolitan cities…
METREX Symposium on Circular Construction: Final Report
This past November, the Municipality of The Hague and METREX hosted a 2-day Symposium on Rules & Spaces to Speed up Circular Construction in coordination with CircuLaw. Day 1 focused on the relevant current and future laws and regulations on circular construction and the spatial strategies helping regions and companies. Throughout the day, presentations and…
Strengthening Metropolitan Governance through Participatory Strategic Planning.
Comparing Tools and Creating Synergies between Projects 19 February 2025 This morning, the Metropolitan City of Turin hosted the online event “Strengthening Metropolitan Governance through Participatory Strategic Planning. Comparing Tools and Creating Synergies between Projects”, organized in the context of the Interreg Central Europe MECOG-CE project, “Strengthening Metropolitan Cooperation and Governance in Central Europe”,…
Merry Christmas 2024
2024 has been extremely rich in its exciting and promising activities. Together with you, we will continue to work on further developments and implementions next year. Looking forward to meeting you all again in 2025. WE ARE METREX!
METREX Autumn Conference 2024 in Bucharest | The final report is out!
Unlocking the metropolitan potential The benefits of territorial partnerships.Towards a metropolitan agenda Thanks to the collective efforts of moderators, rapporteurs, and panelists, the outcomes of what was a very intense exchange have been gathered in a working document. Hosted by the Bucharest Metropolitan Association – ADIZMB, this year’s Autumn Conference offered a variety…
Invitation to Members to join the Conference: Brownfield Revitalisation
Brownfield Revitalisation – Opportunities for Regions in Europe is a conference organised by the Ruhrgebiet in partnership with Upper Silesia region and the Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia. The event will be held in Brussels on the 30th of January 2025, 9:00 to 11:30 am CET time. Venue: Representation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to the EU,…
Exchanges among members: Delegation from Lviv agglomeration visited the Brno Metropolitan Area
Last November, Brno Metropolitan Area (BMA) welcomed a delegation from the Lviv agglomeration with the aim to exchange experiences in metropolitan strategic planning. The main topic of the visit of the Ukrainian delegation was the development of metropolitan planning and metropolitan governance at the level of the Brno Metropolitan Area (BMA), which is a typical example of a…
Advancing Public Mobility in European Metropolitan Areas – International event hosted by Città metropolitana di Milano
On December 2 and 3, METREX, the Network for European Metropolitan Regions and Areas (with over 56 members), convened an event in Milan, Italy, focused on sustainable mobility in metropolitan areas. The meeting, themed “Public Mobility and Transport in European Metropolitan Cities,” was organised by the Metropolitan City of Milan and hosted by Deputy Mayor…
Insightful reading: The Dutch plan benefit levy
In response to the growing international interest in land policy, this article written by Theo Stauttener, partner at Stadkwadraat, is an excellent reading and topical for the METREX Expert Group on sustainable and Affordable Housing (SAH). “This is a time for fundamental questions. The economy and functioning of the land market leads to the growth…
EMA Declaration 2024 signed in Zaanstad, The Netherlands
The Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam – MRA, hosted by its member municipality of Zaanstad, played a significant role in co-organising the European Metropolitan Authorities (EMA) Forum, which took place on November 20 and 21, 2024. This international gathering of European mayors and representatives from metropolitan regions focused this year on the theme of Broad Prosperity….
ESPON DIGIREG – Territorial perspectives of digital transition in European regions
“Territorial perspectives of digital transition in European regions (DIGIREG)” is a new research-led project funded by ESPON to further build up its stock of research and provide new evidence on the territorial dimension of digital transition in Europe, in line with the framework of the Thematic Action Plan “Smart Connectivity”. Partners of the multidisciplinary Consortium,…
Report from the METREX Spring Conference in Brussels 2024: Forging a Metropolitan Europe
The Report from the METREX Spring 2024 Conference in Brussels is now out! Download the report here (PDF). METREX issued its Manifesto for a Metropolitan Partnerships (Unleashing the potential in metropolitan regions and areas) in November 2023, emphasizing that metropolitan regions and areas are best in place to address the poly-crisis we face. Following the…
MECOG-CE Interreg Central Europe program visits the Canavese Food District
Earlier this month, Città Metropolitana di Torino welcomed partners of the MECOG-CE Interreg Central Europe program to Canavese, a territory that spans one-third of the metropolitan area. In this area, a Food District agreement between public and private entities was signed (including municipalities, water management consortium and agri-cooperatives, professional agricultural organisations, agro-industrial enterprises, Chamber of…
Common Metropolitan Vision highlights the power of metropolitan areas
The outcome of the Interreg Central Europe project MECOG-CE, titled “We are the Metropolitan Areas – Our Common Metropolitan Vision”, stands as a strategic document that underscores the pivotal role of metropolitan areas in shaping European and national policies. Download the report This comprehensive framework represents a long-term and shared commitment of metropolitan leaders, stakeholders,…
METREX joins Interreg North-West Europe project to accelerate the transition to a circular built environment
METREX joins an 18-month Interreg North-West Europe project, ASSET, to help accelerate the transition to a circular built environment for the Eurodelta. A cross-sector consortium of 11 partners and over 30 associated partners has come together to explore the spatial implications of a circular built environment (CBE) in the Eurodelta – a historically strong economically-related…
Bernd Steinacher Fellowship 2024-25: Ioana Ivanov
The Bernd Steinacher Fellowship was established in 2010 to sustain the values and interests brought to METREX by the late Bernd Steinacher, who was Director of Verband Region Stuttgart and President of METREX from 2004 until 2008. Funded by METREX and Verband Region Stuttgart, the Fellowship seeks to promote the metropolitan dimensions and is awarded…
No net land take policies, a recurring metropolitan affair?
Secretary General Henk Bouwman writes in the February edition of ESPON’s TerritoriAll magazine on the issue of development sprawl. This article was first published in the February 2024 edition of TerritoriAll. Read the full edition Europe is on the way to elections in June. The new parliament wil need to form a view on the…