The festival is an event where the cities that are part of the European URBACT programme, which promotes sustainable development through exchange and learning, share experiences about the URBACT projects they have implemented or are currently implementing. As a result of the global pandemic this edition took place virtually and was streamed from Paris. We were able to enjoy the contributions of several cities which, like ours, are part of some of the European collaborative projects. Viladecans was represented politically by Jordi Mazón, Deputy Mayor for Ecological Transition, and by the representatives of the two URBACT projects in Viladecans, Alicia Valle, Vilawatt's municipal manager and project manager, and the team that has led the ON BOARD project over the last few years.
During the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought all citizens, institutions, municipal and political representatives, companies, organisations, etc. to the test. It has also been a time to learn how to share and build collaborative networks to find solutions to common problems. Crucial issues such as sustainability and innovation gained traction and collaboration between sectors, creating new solidarity networks and reinforcing existing ones to ensure that citizens' needs are met. Resilience has been essential to cope with this new situation, as well as the exchange of good practices which is one of the core objectives of the URBACT projects.
Viladecans, together with the cities of Idrija (Slovenia) and Cesena (Italy), and with the help of Alicia Valle, showed how our population has coped with the pandemic since its beginning, at the panel discussion 'Vitality of small cities-Post-Pandemic resilience'. How it has focused efforts on taking care of the residents of Viladecans, meeting their needs, offering a single channel of communication and centralising public spaces, facilities and essential services to ensure the welfare of all, from the elderly to the youngest members of the community.
This year's edition also focused on the results of the URBACT transfer networks. Viladecans presented the results of the ON BOARD project, which has just finished. The ON BOARD project, led by our city was based on the transfer of the good practice of the Educational Innovation Network (EIN) of Viladecans to five European cities. URBACT festival included a presentation of some of the results, goals and main lessons learned during almost three years of teamwork.
Finally, the Deputy Mayor Jordi Mazón spoke about the commitments of our population at the panel discussion to work in the fight against climate change, and highlighted the role of the Vilawatt project as "an engine of social innovation to involve people in a community and participatory commitment to achieve the necessary challenge of the energy transition to a fairer model for people and the planet”.
