Innovation-in-Europes-Cities_Bloomberg-Mayors-Challenge1

Five Core ThemesSocial InclusionBuilding trust and valueAmongst all 155 submissions, the most pervasiveambition was to increase the capacity of individualsor communities that are socially excluded toparticipate in society at the same level as everyoneelse. These innovations generally target ‘at-risk’groups – for example, elderly citizens, individualssuffering from mental health disorders, highaccessibility needs or loneliness – to encourage themto remain an active part of society. Projects rangefrom balancing resources like housing, energy ordental care, to re-habilitating former drug users,integrating migrants or staging able-bodied anddisabled sports events. These initiatives suggest thatlocal governments in Europe have recognised theneed to reduce the negative social and economicimpact of inequality and exclusion in order tocreate strong and resilient communities. Nationalgovernments are not well-equipped to respondto these, often complex, local challenges. Citygovernments, however, are trying to turn areas ofweakness into strengths by building connections toalienated groups and isolated individuals.Utrecht, the Netherlands recognised that foreignlanguage speakers from migrant communities facea range of prejudices, and proposed measures topromote language diversity as a valuable resource,while Varna, Bulgaria suggested introducinglife-long learning opportunities. Valladolid, Spainsuggested that greater inclusivity might be promotedby crowd-sourcing interpreters to make publictexts more accessible, while Braga, Portugal aimedto reduce isolation and increase employabilityfor residents with dental conditions by providingfree dental care. To reduce the disadvantagesto children from deprived homes with minimaladult supervision, Mannheim, Germany proposed‘smart bags’ containing everything required tomeaningfully participate at school. Cluj-Napoca,Romania proposed to make public spaces feel saferfor children to increase accessibility. Beyond school,Malmö, Sweden planned to target inequalities inhealth – life expectancy can differ by up to 6.5years across the city. Warsaw, Poland wanted tomake cities more accessible to blind residents, whileBarcelona, Spain sought to strengthen connectionsboth within and to their ageing population.Reflecting the general trend of an ageingEurope, the European Mayors Challenge hasprovided concrete evidence that municipalgovernments have deep concerns for the wellbeingof large elderly populations. Łódź, Polandand Sintra, Portugal came up with fresh ideas onhow to use retired residents’ skills to train youngerpeople. Sunderland, United Kingdom co-creatednew products that enable seniors to retain anindependent lifestyle, and Helsingborg, Swedendeveloped ways of keeping its elders active and“Local governments haverecognised the need to reduceinequality and exclusion inorder to create strong andresilient communities.”involved in the community. Gelsenkirchen,Germany imagined neighbourhood-levelconnecters, residents who would actively providelinks between the young and the old, and toimmigrant communities. Amersfoort, theNetherlands and Liverpool, United Kingdomsuggested using technology to connect peoplestruggling with loneliness, while Cascais, Portugalproposed that previously employed people could beeasily re-integrated into the job market by using anapp that would keep them socially active with dailytasks.Several cities proposed ideas based on theemerging concept of the collaborative or sharingeconomy, where the city provides a platform ornetwork for a range of services or resources that canbe shared. This marks a societal shift away fromindividual ownership and towards a shared modelof consumption. These developments have beenfacilitated by the rise of the Internet and mobiletechnologies, which make it easier for people tobuy, trade, rent, share or simply give away goodsand services. While numerous initiatives areassociated with transport-share schemes, manyothers focus on the sharing of social capital toencourage collaboration, or even on making cityassets available to the public when not in use. Forexample, Latina, Italy; Sabadell, Spain and Paris,France developed schemes to share electric bicyclesand electric vehicles, while Venice, Italy focused onsharing electric boats. Kirklees, United Kingdomconceived a platform to broadly share municipaland private resources, while Copenhagen, Denmarkand Antwerp, Belgium suggested investing inopen data systems that would provide access toinformation that could improve the development ofcity services.26