6 November 2018

The unstoppable internationalisation of cities and regions: CIEDEL conference report

The CIEDEL (International Research Centre for Local Development) published last month the report of the conference “The unstoppable internationalisation of cities and regions: issues, trends, prospects”, held in December 2017 in Lyon.

What does the constantly evolving internationalisation of cities and territories, increased by a flow of people and goods always rising, by the multiplication of events which unite participants from different countries, by the development of technologies… change for the development of external actions of local authorities ?

In response, several points were discussed during the two-day symposium :

– the challenge for local authorities of balancing global issues with regional issues, and local economic interest with solidarity and humanity

– the great diversity and the complexity of regional internationalisation

– the influence of political majority, budgetary limitations, regional restructuring…on the international actions

– the increasing diversity of local and regional skateholders and the part which local authorities can play in

– the need of a better understanding of the current dynamics and of a better communication on external actions

The actual tensions and difficulties faced by city-to-city cooperation highlight the urgent need to create the “External Action of Local Authorities” of the future in order to address the issues of our world.