The Urban Innovative Actions Initiative of the European Union: a Critical Analysis of the Selected Projects

Abstract

The Urban Innovative Actions initiative of the European Union supports pilot projects aimed at identifying and testing new solutions related to sustainable urban development. The cities that responded to the call for proposals had the opportunity to experiment with creative ideas, which are not funded by traditional sources, and to turn them into prototypes. The first UIA call was part of the process of definition of the European Urban Agenda. With a view to consolidating collective intelligence, this paper proposes a critical analysis of the 18 projects that won the first UIA Call. The overall objective is to highlight how Urban Authorities interpreted the definition of innovation through the various projects.

Keywords

• innovation
• urban areas
• urban challenges
• urban authorities