Transformative pathways for a more resilient, regional development in Europe and beyond
15. September 9:00 - 11:00
The Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change has been launched last year by the European Commission and it represents a key instrument for regions and communities that will need to accelerate their actions and commitment to become climate resilient by 2050. In this framework, the Horizon 2020 projects ARSINOE, IMPETUS and TransformAr have started in 2021 assessing climate risks and developing pathways in 23 regions and communities across Europe. In addition, the project REGILIENCE facilitates the upscaling of the most promising resilience solutions: supporting their implementation in 10 vulnerable and low-capacity regions in Europe and replication beyond those; communicating through various channels and actions; and inspiring policymakers, organisations, and individuals to become part of this transformational change.
This session represents a great opportunity to foster shared collective learning and coordination amongst the existing networks, to discuss with actors from the regional and community levels about the challenges faced, and to agree on the joint way forward for the next years. In particular, it will showcase to a broad audience of European stakeholders how European regions can benefit from the projects’ solutions portfolio and upcoming activities and how to engage further with them.
Speakers
Director, Arnhem-Nijmegen Green Metropolitan Region
HarriËt Tiemens, Director, Arnhem-Nijmegen Green Metropolitan Region
Harriët Tiemens is director of the Green Metropolitan Region Arnhem-Nijmegen. The Green Metropolitan Region is growing towards 800.000 inhabitants and represents eighteen municipalities. The region faces the challenge of dealing with growing housing, working and mobility by finding the balance between metropolitan power and a relaxed quality of life: green growth. The region is also famous for its fast bike path network and hosting Velo-city, Nijmegen European Green Capital and the 2020 Polis Conference. Harriët Tiemens has served as Deputy Mayor for the City of Nijmegen for seven years until September 2021. She was responsible for Sustainability, Housing and Mobility. Heading the campaign to become European Green Capital 2018, she has represented Nijmegen in a number of international and European conferences and meetings, such as the COP, the EU Urban Agenda, the Austrian World Summit, GlobeEU, EcoProcura, Polis and meetings with the European Parliament and European Commission. Tiemens studied Environmental Science and Public Administration.
Senior Advisor and EU Representative; Urban Innovative Actions, Resilient Cities Catalyst; Deputy Head, Climate Change Hub Greece
Konstantina Karydi, Senior Advisor and EU Representative; Urban Innovative Actions, Resilient Cities Catalyst; Deputy Head, Climate Change Hub Greece
Konstantina Karydi is an impact oriented professional with global level experience on urban resilience, climate transformation and change management leading transformative change in systems and organisations to address 21st century risks and challenges. Her recent work is on Global Urban Development and Resilience working as Senior Advisor and Europe Representative to Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC) and EU Urban Innovative Actions Expert. In these capacities, she is co-founder and Deputy Head of the Climate Change Hub, an ambitious initiative to accelerate climate transformation through knowledge development, ecosystem building and capacity in Greece and SE Europe. Among others, she currently sits at the MCR2030 UNDRR Regional Coordinating Committee for Europe and Central Asia and serves as adhoc European Commission Urban policy and Climate Transformation advisor while she offers expert support to other national and international entities globally.
She has held positions as Associate Director for Europe & Middle East and Climate Transformation Lead for the global 100 Resilient Cities Initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation as well as Special Advisor on Resilience and Social Security at the Greek Prime Minister’s office Alexis Tsipras and Advisor to the Mayor of Athens, Giorgos Kaminis, with a focus on the EU Urban Agenda. Prior, she worked for 10 years in the areas of civic engagement and civil society growth in the Balkans and the Black Sea. She is co-founder of the regional organisation Balkans Beyond Borders (BBB) focusing on Balkan integration and peace-building through culture.
For her work she has been co-recipient of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) civil society prize promoting "Identities, European values and cultural heritage in Europe" and the European Youth Charlemagne Award. She is holder of the international Executive Masters Innovative Governance of Large Urban Systems from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and the MSc on European Public Policy from University College London (UCL), UK.
Professor / ARSINOE Coordinator, University of Thessaly
Chrysi Laspidou, Professor / ARSINOE Coordinator, University of Thessaly
Chrysi Laspidou is a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department, University of Thessaly in Greece. She is the Vice-President of Research and Technology at Water Europe and a member of the Steering Committee of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Knowledge Action Network at Future Earth. She is the Chair of the COST Action NEXUSNET and the coordinator of the H2020 project ARSINOE. She has spent 15 years in the USA, where she conducted all her studies and obtained her degrees from reputable institutions. She has published over 70 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings and her work is widely recognized with currently over 3380 citations, according to Google Scholar.
Project Manager – Climate Governance, Resilience & Innovation, Acterra
Rim Khamis, Project Manager – Climate Governance, Resilience & Innovation, Acterra
Dr. Rim Khamis is an expert in climate governance, adaptation, sustainable development, and urban resilience. She is currently working with Acterra as a climate governance, resilience, and innovation consultant, supporting actors from the private and public sector in developing their climate risk and vulnerability analysis, establishing adaptation strategies and action plans as well as finding appropriate fundings and investments for the implementation of adaptation initiatives. Rim is coordinating, supervising, and implementing H2020 transformAr project activities aiming at accelerating and upscaling transformational adaptation in Europe close collaboration with concerned institutional and scientific partners.
Principal investigator & Senior Researcher, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU Prague)
Tereza Hnátková, Principal investigator & Senior Researcher, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU Prague)
Dr Hnátková is a bioengineer specialized in the management and bioremediation of soil, water and sludge. She is responsible for research for commercial projects focused on the treatment of (waste)water thought esp. natural based solutions. She has 15 years of experience in contaminated water related services, from characterization and risk assessment, over design of treatment strategies, to coordination of both innovative and large-scale preparation of design documentation and construction of technological units. She is Project Manager for the ongoing innovative activities of Dekonta and CZU, which includes both operational and structural R&D projects. In this capacity he has successfully obtained funding for various R&D projects on national and European level. The main task within the projects was to specify – supplement – critique and verify the methodological approaches used to monitoring, design and implement the technical solutions - this was done in the form of theoretical approaches and practical instructions for applications.
Urban Advisor, European Investment Bank
Ana-Maria Mitroi-Ciobica, Urban Advisor, European Investment Bank
Head of Secretariat Mission Adaptation to Climate Change, European Commission
Johannes Klumpers, Head of Secretariat Mission Adaptation to Climate Change, European Commission
Head of Secretariat for Climate Adaption Mission at DG CLIMA (appointed in April 2021). He previously worked as Head of Unit in Research and Industrial Infrastructures at DG Research and Innovation (European Commission). Johannes Klumpers has been occupying management posts in the European Commission for more than fifteen years under various roles and responsibilities. He notably established and led the “Group of Chief Scientific Advisors – SAM, EGE” Unit that provided science advice to all Commission departments. A German National, born in Geneva in 1964, he studied forestry and wood technology and obtained a PhD from the French Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et Forêts (ENGREF). After several years of industrial research in Sweden, he joined the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research & Innovation in 1998 and has worked there since, on a variety of topics, from renewable raw materials and industrial processes to gender, science in society, finance and budget.
External expert for the housing project of the Municipality of Thessaloniki
Dimitra Siatitsa, External expert for the housing project of the Municipality of Thessaloniki
Moderators
Junior Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Jole Lutzu, Junior Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Jole is Junior Officer at ICLEI Europe in Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience, supporting local governments facing urbanization challenges, assisting them building a vision that allows them and their communities to consolidate resilient and sustainable transformation pathways. She is an architect from Italy with experience in strategic resilience planning, infrastructure and governance. She has conducted key research in Rome and Barcelona on community led transition processes and public space regeneration.
Jole currently supports a number of different European funded projects on urban resilience and climate adaptation, such as ARCH (cultural heritage), REGILIENCE (regional resilience), and CoCliCo (coastal cities), and directly involved in global advocacy initiatives, such as Making Cities Resilient 2030.
Officer, Urban Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
LUCA ARBAU, OFFICER, URBAN RESILIENCE AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION, ICLEI EUROPE
Luca Arbau is an architect and a sustainable urban development practitioner. He works as an Officer at ICLEI Europe and at the Covenant of Mayors - Europe in the field of urban resilience and adaptation to climate change. Previously, he was Research and Communication Officer at Metropolis (Barcelona). Luca also worked in sustainability research and as an architect, focusing on co-design and co-creation of urban spaces. He holds a master degree in international cooperation and emergency architecture from the International University of Catalonia (Barcelona) and a master degree in architecture from the University of Ferrara (Italy). Luca is a native Italian speaker, is fluent in English and Spanish, and has good knowledge of Catalan.