Title of Event:

Name of Organisation:

Date and time of the session:

"Improving Urban Policies trough Best Practices

Transfer"

Ministerio de Vivienda (Housing Ministry of Spain)

20 June 2006. 13,30-15,30

Key Highlights

1. Estimated no of participants: 90
2. Stakeholder group representation at the event: "Ministerio de Vivienda" (Housing Ministry). "Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias" (Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces). "ROLAC, Foro Iberoamericano y del Caribe de Mejores Prácticas"(ROLAC, Latin America and Caribbean Forum of Best Practices).
3. What were the expected objectives: The improvement of the urban policies trough the explanation of three Best Practices selected by "Ministerio de Vivienda": "Valdespartera ecocity", "Green Ways Programme", and "Cooperation Programme for La Habana urban improvement".
4. What did the networking event achieve: The verification on how these three practices can contribute to improve a better definition of urban policies, the knowledge of the main problems, action lines, and best practices results, carried out in other countries and environments.

2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII?

The three Best Practices exposed are linked to:

•  Affordable Housing and Slum Upgrading - A Road to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

•  Inclusion - The Right to the City.

•  Planning - A New Local Governance Paradigm.

One of the problems identified along the debate was the lack of the communication and transference existing between the different national, regional and local governments, that difficult to benefit of the experiences and global knowledge acquired on similar urban problems.

3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? Along the event the participants exposed clearly how they had faced up the problems and challenges exposed, inside their regarding environments, changing the ideas into action and reaching positives outcomes. It was confirmed the necessity to establish the proper channels for a joint traineeship, taking advantage of the new technologies, and the ideas, contributions and the efforts of different Administrations and professionals, along their daily management.

4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality?

Firstly based on the Spanish Housing Ministry experience, it is necessary to identify and validate the best practices and experiences made in the urban environment, detecting the main challenges, the aspects of the context, the financial structure of the intervention, as well as the quality of the outcomes obtained in a short, medium and long term.

Secondly it is necessary to establish some mechanisms of transference or interchange of urban policies that take part of the global knowledge, accessible mainly across new technologies.