METREX is an Associated Partner of this Interreg Central Europe project, which is led by Brno Metropolitan Area and which will focus on strengthening metropolitan cooperation and Governance in Central Europe.
The MECOG-CE project aims to identify the best tools, procedures and examples of good practices for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe and apply them in metropolitan areas towards strengthening integrated metropolitan strategic and spatial development.
The project includes partners from cities and metropolitan areas – many of which are METREX Members –, as well as research institutions. These are:
- The City of Brno (Brno metropolitan area)
- The City of Warsaw
- The City of Ostrava
- Stuttgart Region Association
- Joint Spatial Planning Department Berlin Brandenburg
- Metropolitan City of Turin
- Charles University
- University of Silesia in Katowice
- Metropolitan Research Institute
The project also involves associated partners, namely:
- Metropolitan City of Milan
- Upper Silesian Metropolitan Area
- Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic
- Union of Polish Metropolises
- Eurocities
- METREX network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas
The method of work will consist of intensive cooperation between the partner cities, research experts and representatives of international networks. The cooperation is based on international meetings aimed at sharing good practices. The first transnational partner meeting has already taken place in Brno.
The project is divided into three parts:
In the first part, the partners will summarize the current status quo of metropolitan cooperation and governance and then the best tools/examples of good practice will be identified that can be shared and applied to other cities in their operation. At the same time, new tools will be identified that can be used to deepen metropolitan cooperation and governance (with inspiration from other parts of Europe).
On the basis of the selected tools and examples of good practice, the partners will create in the second part of the project “learning clusters”, whose main objective will be to deepen the sharing of experience in the implementation, management and transferability of these tools. This part also includes pilot actions to test selected tools and methods in practice. During this part, partners will develop new solutions within each cluster and selected tools.
The third part will focus on the main objective of the partners’ cooperation, namely the development of a ‘Strategy for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance in Central Europe’ and the creation of action plans for cities and metropolitan areas involved.
The project will also include the production of position papers towards the European level, reflecting the position of metropolitan areas and cities and their challenges (in the context of strategic European documents). At the same time, a general transferable methodology for strengthening metropolitan cooperation and governance will be developed and shared with other cities in Central Europe.
Outputs and results
The individual outputs and results of the project will be continuously updated throughout the project. These outputs and results will include the already mentioned documents such as the Strategy and Action Plans, pilot actions and proposed new solutions. In addition, sub-outputs such as the Common Metropolitan Vision summarising the needs of metropolitan areas or the analysis of existing best practices and tools for enhancing metropolitan cooperation will also be shared.
The project has a projected budget of €1.647 million over three years, 80 per cent of which will be co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and 5 per cent through state subsidy.
The project has its own official website, which is maintained within the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE website. The project also has its own profile on the social network LinkedIn.
