Networks and Partnerships
The Municipality of Milan, with the support of the investee companies with which it works in the area, is part of various international networks of a global and regional nature.
Participation in each network is functional to the interest in the topics covered, with respect to which the exchange with the other cities and subjects involved is a source of interesting ideas and tools for action at a technical and political level.
Il C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a global network made up of the Mayors of the world's major cities, committed to addressing the effects of climate change at the urban level through the implementation of mitigation and adaptation policies and programs that are significant, measurable, replicable and sustainable.
C40 today brings together 97 major cities, which together represent more than 700 million citizens and a quarter of the global economy. The role of the network is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing among its members, in order to build more sustainable, healthy and inclusive cities.
Milan joined C40 in September 2009, with the aim of increasing the City's awareness and strengthening its climate action, in line with the commitments established in the "Paris Agreement", in the "Long-term Strategy for 2050 of the European Commission", in the "European Green Pact" and in the so-called "Ready for 55%" package, as well as with the indications of the "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°Celsius" of the IPCC.
In particular, Milan aims to increase efforts in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency, as envisaged by the European Union's "2030 Climate and Energy Framework", and the improvement of air quality, to get closer to the limits of air pollutants indicated in the "Guidelines on Air Quality" of the World Health Organization.
In addition to guaranteeing access to countless resources in terms of know-how and skills in these fields, C40 offers the opportunity to present abroad the good practices implemented in Milan, such as in the field of mobility, separate waste collection, and Food Policy.
The Mayor of Milan is part of the Steering Committee and during 2020 chaired the Mayors' Task Force for a Green and Fair Recovery. Furthermore, the Municipality of Milan hosts within its offices the C40 staff who make up the Food Systems Network and Inclusive Climate Action.
It is universally recognized that culture plays a fundamental role in creating prosperous urban centres, and the political and economic influence of the world's largest cities places them in the privileged position of drawing up a global agenda for sustainable urban development.
World Cities Culture Forum (WCCF) is a circuit of political representatives from 43 cities around the world with the aim of sharing research and information and exploring the fundamental role of culture for their future prosperity.
With the increase in the urban population, the pressure on administrators also increases not to lose the unique character of the city, attract business and work, highly qualified employment and present themselves as resilient and adaptable to change.
The forum pursues these objectives through a program of meetings including themed symposiums, summits and workshops, which converge in the annual summit: hosted on rotation in the participating cities, it gives the opportunity to exchange ideas and points of view on the role of culture as an organizing principle for the sustainable city of the future.
EUROCITIES is a network of European cities founded in 1986 by Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Lyon, Milan and Rotterdam.
Today the network brings together more than 190 cities in more than 39 European countries (representing 130 million people) and is based in Brussels. It offers its members an executive committee, six thematic forums (culture, economic development, environment, knowledge society, mobility, social affairs), more than forty working groups, exchange and European planning platforms.
The network operates with the following tools:
- Advocacy: representing the voice of cities at European institutions, to bring concrete change at a local level.
- Study and in-depth activities: monitor news coming from the EU institutions in terms of regulations, funding opportunities and guidelines and share them with the cities.
- Sharing best practices: Facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices between cities to support sustainable urban development.
- Training: Support cities with capacity building activities to address current and future urban challenges.
The Municipality of Milan, in particular, chairs the Food Working Group, is active within the Social Affairs Forum (co-chairs the Children and Youth Working Group and actively participates in the Education, Migration and integration and Housing Working Groups), works actively to the various Working Groups of the Environment Forum, the Mobility Forum and the Knowledge Society Forum.
The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), one of the main legacies of EXPO 2015, is the first international pact that commits Mayors to working to make food systems sustainable, guarantee healthy and accessible food for all, preserve biodiversity and fight against food waste.
The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact was signed at Palazzo Reale on 15 October 2015 and was delivered to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon on 16 October 2015, during the celebrations for World Food Day.
Since 2015, the cities of the Pact and its partners have met 20 times, both at a regional and global level, to share challenges and opportunities and develop supranational projects aimed at formulating more effective food policies for their citizens.
During the pandemic, the Pact further consolidated its role as an exchange platform, giving many cities the opportunity to respond more quickly and effectively to the emergency, guaranteeing access to healthy food to the most vulnerable citizens.
Thanks to the organization of the Milan Pact Awards - the prestigious international award organized together with the Cariplo Foundation - the Pact has become a catalyst for innovation, rewarding the most advanced food policies from all over the world and making important know-how available to the signatory cities harvest. With the different editions of the award, the Pact has created a unique food policy 'library of good practices' which is the basis of collaboration between cities.
The Compact is now a vibrant network of more than 200 cities around the world jointly advancing towards achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth, an initiative of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/OECD) based in Paris, is a network of Mayors around the world who actively promotes the fight against growing social inequalities through innovative policies and awareness campaigns in the field of assistance health, mobility for people with disabilities, access to services and economic growth.
The Mayors Network helps governments to analyze the causes of increasing inequalities within societies, to monitor the quality of material life and well-being in a more general sense and to identify solutions for promoting growth and equity.
It adopts a multidimensional approach to achieve Inclusive Growth, going beyond income parameters as indicators of how citizens experience certain areas of life, such as work and health.
Il European Forum for Urban Security (EFUS) is a European network that brings together 250 cities from 16 countries. It was founded in Barcelona in 1987 on the initiative of the Mayor of Epinay-sur-Seine and with the support of the Council of Europe, and aims to encourage dialogue, reflection and cooperation on urban security policies and practices.
It promotes cooperation programs between cities aimed at reducing crime and helps to stimulate and guide local, national and community policies on urban security.
It aims to guarantee the safety of people and urban spaces in order to preserve the quality of life of citizens, solidarity and local economic development in the awareness that safety is experienced, developed and improved starting from the streets and neighborhoods of the city. Cities must therefore become protagonists of urban security policies through the exchange of good practices to build a common culture and disseminate the results obtained from research projects and practices.
The city of Milan is participating, as a partner, in the European Impulse project presented by EFUS in response to the call for proposals from the European Program for the Prevention and Fight against Crime and is one of the cities that make up the Executive Committee of the Forum.
Il Resilient Cities Network was born from the 100 Resilient Cities (RCN) program, launched by the Rockefeller Foundation, with the aim of helping the world's cities become more resilient towards the constantly increasing physical, social and economic challenges of our time.
The RCN encourages the adoption of a vision of resilience that includes not only disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods and more, but also the set of issues that weaken the fabric of cities on a daily or cyclical basis, such as high unemployment , inefficient transportation systems, endemic violence or chronic shortages of water and food. By addressing both disasters and causes of stress, cities become more capable of reacting to adversity, and in general more ready to carry out their essential functions, both in good and bad times, towards all citizens.
The Mayors Migration Council (MMC) brings together Mayors globally, with the aim of promoting and consolidating the influence of cities on the political agenda and on the international debate regarding migration, refugee reception and inclusion. Among its objectives, there is also that of guaranteeing cities access, preferably direct, to funding and resources for the implementation of policies, initiatives and projects on their territory.
To these ends, MMC has activated a strategic partnership with C40 Cities and works in synergy with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to affirm and formalize the role of cities and Mayors in Global Forum on Migration and Development, and in that on Refugees, and in the implementation and review processes of the Global Compact on Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees.
The Mayor of Milan is the founder and sits on the Steering Committee of MMC.
Starting from the bond of friendship and collaboration born within the MMC, the Mayor of Milan and the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aky-Sawyyer, launched the Mayors Dialogue on Growth & Solidarity in July 2019, an initiative that brings together approximately twenty African and European cities with the aim of developing innovative practical solutions in the field of human mobility.
The ultimate goal is to improve the living conditions of all citizens, including those of foreign origin, and make cities places of opportunity, where mobility is a choice and not a necessity. To do this, the Mayors Dialogue aims to contribute to strengthening relations between Africa and Europe starting from cities and their relations between the two continents, changing, first of all, the approach and language with which the topic of migration between the two continents is addressed and told today.
Peace in the Municipality is a coordination of municipalities and associations in the Milan area that have chosen to place peace among their priorities as a tool for conflict resolution and as a process based on respect for human rights.
It was born in the nineties from the experience of some public administrators who initiated awareness and training courses for citizens, associations and local authorities, enhancing the role of cities in building and promoting the culture of peace, solidarity and international cooperation .
It brings together 32 Municipalities and 6 associations, networking the experiences of the territory and acting in synergy with the National Coordination of Local Bodies for Peace, with which it collaborates for the organization of the Perugia-Assisi Peace March and the UN assemblies of the Peoples.
Pace in Comune promotes respect for human rights and supports initiatives and activities regarding peace, non-violence, interculture and peaceful coexistence, encouraging relations and partnerships with the administrations and local communities of other countries and with other bodies and local, national and international coordinations that work for peace.
For several years now, the coordination has been organizing the event “Do You Want Peace? Pedala!”, bicycle ride between the Municipalities for peace promoted together with the ACLI Milanese, in which thousands of citizens participate.
Since 2019, Milan has been part of the international network of cities (including Barcelona, Amsterdam and New York) committed to promoting and protecting the digital rights of citizens.
Urban Agenda for the EU:
- Partnership on the Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees in Cities
- Partnership on Air Quality
- Global Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy
- Circular Economy 100 (CE100
Updated: 01/09/2022