Southeast European (SEE) Regional Network continues exchange on recovery methods and practices

A total of up to 100 urban practitioners and experts participated in the Network Events held on behalf of Connective Cities international network initiative and Covid-19 Program. Two separate events held on 12^th of November and 13^th of December 2021, served as final big get-togethers of the year 2021 for the SEE Network members, leaving them with some food for thought and the floor for exchanges widely open for an upcoming year.

First Event on November 12, 2021 – “Connective Cities virtual exchange discussing the Southeast European Network’s development and presenting good municipal practices in the area of digitalization and crisis management” – was devoted to supporting peer-to-peer exchange and gathering municipal representatives, as well as field experts, to discuss crisis management and digitalization experiences, existing challenges, and to explore how scale-up strategies could be enhanced to meet crisis-induced demands. To cover these topics, the event was divided into three parts ensuring representation of all types of interaction as well as exchange. The web-seminar featured a Keynote speaker, who focused on COVID-19 and long-term challenges for territorial policies, followed by 3 case-study presentations on municipal responses to COVID-19 in terms of digitalization and crisis management from Melitopol (Ukraine), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – these examples demonstrated diverse practices taken up by each municipality during recent times. A panel discussion about the importance of digitalization for efficient crisis management at local governance level amid COVID-19 served as a closing ground of the event, ensuring an all-encompassing discussion on challenges, visions and possible peer-to-peer exchanges in the regards of topics discussed all throughout the day.

Recording and resources of the first session can be found on Connective Cities Platform here.