The European Dialogue for Sustainable Cities is a series of panel discussions held once a month on environmental solutions, innovation and cooperation models available for European cities. The panel will include urban experts, researchers, businesses, NGOs and students. Each discussion will introduce one of the previous European Green Capitals for 2010–2020.
“The global ecological crisis does not respect the borders of nation states; instead, the challenge of resolving the crisis is shared by the whole of Europe and the world. The majority of Europeans live in cities, which underlines their role in implementing and developing environmental solutions. It is critically important to open direct talks between cities,” says Programme Director Saara Vauramo from the Lahti – European Green Capital 2021 project.
The first panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, 3 February 2021. The theme of the opening session is sustainable mobility in cities.
The guest at the first event is Miguel Feliciano Gaspar, Deputy Mayor of Lisbon, the European Green Capital 2020, who will discuss the city’s transport solutions. The event will also include a presentation on the personal emissions trading scheme for urban areas, which was piloted in Lahti. The presentation will be given by Project Manager Anna Huttunen and Assistant Professor Ville Uusitalo from LUT University. A representative of the European Parliament has also been invited to explain how to invest in sustainable development in an economically challenging situation. As a quest will be Lior Steinberg, an urban planner who wants to accelerate the transition towards more humane and kind cities.
“In this discussion series, we wish to highlight different solutions and views that may be of help to other cities in their activities. Our goal is to find scalable solutions to apply from one city to another. However, we also wish to hear critical opinions, as they make dialogue interesting and can challenge our thinking,” shares Saara Vauramo.
The first panel discussion is streamed on Wednesday, February 3, 2021, at 14:00 (CET) on our website greenlahti.fi/en/europeandialogue