Topic 3 : Making local areas active partners in globalisation

Cities and local areas are where economic, social and environmental aspects are structured inseparably, and where the social and environmental consequences of economic practices are played out. For this reason, but also because they are a place where people live out their lives together and where the numerous public, private and association-based actors interact on a daily basis, cities and local areas have a central role to play in inventing and implementing new multi-actor rules, both within their own setting and on the international stage. As a basic structure of governance, cities and local areas are key actors of the 21st century. In this perspective, cities and local areas must assert their competency in crafting initiatives to better cope with the issues surrounding globalisation and, collectively, to become a driving force of global governance.

Making local areas active partners in globalisation means, first of all, considering them not as political or administrative entities, but as a system of interconnected actors, a medium for cooperation via networks acting on a global scale. Making local areas active partners also means redesigning local governance, by making it a major vehicle for promoting cooperation between actors, making it a place for managing the complexity arising from the layering of the economic, social and environmental issues, and making it a tool for long-term planning.
This theme focuses on what is required to implement collective approaches by actors, in order to foster dialogue in local areas. It also examines what is needed to bring about innovative initiatives for anticipating and guiding major economic and social changes, and to ensure the participation of the various actors in the decision-making process. Finally, this theme raises the question of what the various modes of cooperation might be, between private, public and association-based actors. We will also examine cooperation between local areas and the different regions of the world, whether they be linked by trade, human interaction, shared cultures or similar problems.