Over the last few days, the cities of Coimbra and Lisbon have hosted the Cities are Us meeting, at which researchers and political representatives from all over the world discussed the policies and mechanisms for inclusion in our applied in cities today. The idea that the urban government policies are not necessarily promoted by state institutions but instead often emerge from grass roots processes was at the heart of the two meetings, and led to many exchanges of experiences and the generation of new ideas.
The first event, organized under the theme of "Rethinking Urban Inclusion: spaces, mobilizations and interventions," was an International Conference. Between 28 and 30 June, Coimbra hosted speeches by several social researchers on urban inclusion. At the conference, at which the Committee participated from the opening session, the diverse topics enriching collective knowledge that were presented and discussed included social inclusion through urban spaces, participatory budgets as a meeting point between local politics and citizenship and the Right to the City as seen from the role of local governments and social movements.
After the weekend, the meeting moved to the Portuguese capital. The Coimbra meeting continued in Lisbon, from 2 to 7 July, with the Summer School on "Rethinking the City", which was based around various field trips and the generation of new areas of debate.
The guests, who came from all over the world - and included representatives of Barcelona City Council and the Committee - were able to share experiences on how to foster the processes of collective creativity, and the protection and enhancement of the commons, among other topics.
This was all aimed at contributing to the ultimate objective of Cities are Us, which is by no means trivial: to make cities into more participatory, inclusive and environmentally sustainable spaces.
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