The third event of the programme was organized under the responsibility of the Union of Local Authorities of Hungary (TOOSZ) in Budapest, on May 18, 2023, entitled: Public consultations on urban regeneration.
The event took place at the TOOSZ headquarters and was attended by all the partners of the program as well as members of the TOOSZ staff.
A total of 36 people participated, from 6 countries, 15 men and 21 women.
Ferenc Gyergyák Secretary General of TOOSZ welcomed the participants while Gergely Csiga Deputy Mayor of Budapest XIII (municipality of the city of Budapest) presented detailed examples of participatory budgeting from her municipality and the ways in which they enhance citizen participation through social networks , the website of the municipality, brochures and workshops.
Konstantinos Efstathiou with Ifigenia Folidou and Elpida Tsagari presented on behalf of the Municipality of Kallithea the most important urban renewals being implemented in the municipality and how they functionally connect the Stavros Niarchos Foundation with the center of the municipality, but also the way in which they institutionally involve citizens in public consultations.
Ivana Štrkalj, Vice-President of the European and International Cooperation Committee of the Union of Municipalities of Slovenia (ZMOS) explained how Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) supports a number of projects in Slovenia and cited the example of Koper which is conducting public consultations on the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPS) which also include participatory budgeting projects whose implementation citizens can follow online.
Sorin Munteanu, general director of the Union of Counties of Romania (UNCJR) focused on the definition of urban regeneration and the example of Iași, which proceeded with a large-scale regeneration of its center – with public and private funds, which if and particularly successful it cost the mayor his re-election as he did not consult the residents of his city before the implementation.
Soledat Colomer Belda, youth technician spoke about how Xativa uses participatory budgeting to select urban regeneration projects and infrastructures of interest to citizens and how it collects and evaluates proposals simplifying participation processes and ensuring involvement of residents in all stages of project implementation.
The presentations were followed by an extensive discussion among the participants regarding the role that local government can play in the activation of citizens but also the balance that should be ensured between desires/needs and realistic possibilities/funding. The partners renewed their appointment for Xativa in July.
