The Partnership City Initiative (PCI / PIM) by the Ministry of Investment and Development of Poland is a programme aimed at the exchange and promotion of knowledge between cities and other entities involved in shaping and implementing urban policies in Poland.

Following some of the topics set by the Urban Agenda for the EU and based on the working experience of the URBACT programme, the project recruited the first Partner Cities and Leader Cities to participate in three pilot thematic networks on Urban Mobility, Urban Regeneration and Air Quality in 2017. Over 105 cities applied, indicating a high demand for this type of project, of which 34 cities / associations of local government were selected to participate in the PCI's first edition.

All cities have developed an integrated action plan called City Action Initiatives (CAI / MID), which contain concrete solutions to previously identified local challenges and problems. In addition, Improvement Plans for each network were completed, aimed at formulating a set of recommendations for national policies related to the thematic area of a given network (one per network). In addition, a summary report of the projects results has been elaborated and work is going on on its continuation.

The project is a response to the needs of local governments for knowledge of solutions to improve management efficiency in areas relevant to their development.

The main goal of the initiative is to improve development conditions and to support the integrated and sustainable development of Polish cities.

The specific objectives are:

• strengthening and encouraging partnership cooperation and exchange of knowledge
• capacity building among city officers and decision makers
• knowledge capitalisation and developing bottom-up system solutions
• dissemination of the principles of social participation in city management
• involving cities in the implementation of national and European urban development goals
  
   

The Partnership City Initiative, often called the Polish URBACT, proved in some cases to be an accelerator for municipalities, to associate and establish cooperation in specific dimensions of urban policies. In others, it initiated cross-sectoral cooperation around urban policies. In addition, the PCI project enabled the collaboration between participating cities and the national level - to streamline a new communication channel that allows better, more effective adjustment of urban policies created in the national ministries to the needs of local self-government communities.

 

The formula of the PIM project was also an opportunity to test a new way of developing better, more interesting and inspiring ideas for the development of cities that have social support, in the form of partnership cooperation involving representatives of the public, social and private sectors. 

Are you interested in how this project works and how it supports the development of Polish cities? Take part in the Q&A session during the European Week of Regions and Cities and register here. 

 

Presentations by: Magdalena Skwarska, Roman Szełemej, Roman Walaszkowski, Rafał Włodarski

Moderator: Piotr Wołkowiński

The Polish Ministry co-coordinates the Partnership on Sustainable Use of Land and Nature-Based Solutions, which is present at the EU Regions Week as well. Check all sessions here.