‘GLOBAL CITY 2.

0’

1. The current context of severe economic uncertainty in many countries and visible shifts in
the world's strategic equilibrium is leading to discussions about a fundamental transition in
the economic and social paradigms of the West. The civic initiative 'NO ECONOMIC
RECOVERY WITHOUT CITIES & CITIZENS' (or ‘CIDADES PELA RETOMA’), based in Portugal,
is a collective challenge to discuss and promote the role of cities in that transition.

2. It departs from the notion that there is a specific quality to cities that makes social
change possible. The agglomeration of people, infrastructure and ideas generates features
of innovation, collective action and mutual gain that other spatial and social contexts
cannot create. Global City 2.0 states that a certain speed, scope and depth of change can
only be delivered by cities.

3. The initial step of this 'civic challenge' was the creation of its website/blog
(http://noeconomicrecoverywithoutcities.blogs.sapo.pt/) and Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/CidadespelaRetoma), both thought as a meeting point to share
innovative experiences (best practices) in different aspects of urban problems: public
policies, collaborative planning, civic action. The goal of the project is to inspire other
experiences, to enhance the dialogue between diverse communities and to stimulate
collective learning, in order to ensure that the dynamic nature of cities has a positive impact
on territorial and social cohesion, civic empowerment and economic adjustment of nations
to future changes.

4. The Portuguese CIDADES PELA RETOMA movement is now challenging partners

worldwide to create a global network called GLOBAL CITY 2.0, an open invitation to
individuals, groups and institutions who wish to think about the role of URBAN CIVIC
MOVEMENTS and its potential to transform cities and beyond, specially in this hard
economic times (http://globalcity.blogs.sapo.pt/).

5. GLOBAL CITY 2.0 is currently developing a map of urban-based blogs and sites- from the
scale of streets to neighbourhoods and cities- promoted by citizens or groups that think
collaboratively about the future of the places where they live and work. The initiative is
developed under the spirit of the '2011 European Year of Volunteering to promote more
active citizenship’(http://europa.eu/volunteering/). Following the first gathering of
information we have managed to map more than 250 blogs in 15 countries.

6. To produce this 'city civic world map' we tried to involve partners in several countries,
with connections and interests in different subjects related to the ‘global city 2.0’ concept
(cities, technologies, city civic movements, spatial planning, governance). Following the
first contacts and invitations we have managed to involve institutions/civic groups from the
UK, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina and Australia, but we hope to further spread this
network.
7. At the same time, we are inviting engaged and concerned citizens (professors,
researchers, journalists, artists, decision makers,…) to join this network and help spread
the ‘global city 2.0’ concept (and to fill the gaps on the world city civic map), to organize
knowledge about ‘city civic movements’, its potential and limitations, the ways to make it
public, and to support thinking about the ‘city civic movements’ world network. Ultimately,
the reunion of engaged citizenship and technical competence in different areas will help to
give versatility, credibility and a durable time-frame to the project.

8. By the end of 2011 we would like to: i) organize a complete database and map of ‘city civic
movements’ (we estimate probably 2.000 projects worldwide) ; ii) produce a new and more
user-friendly website (already being done, pro-bono, by Portuguese ICT firm); iii) mobilize
partners from all countries in the world; vi) stabilize a network of concerned citizens
sharing information (research, documents, studies) and thinking about civic movements
and urban problems; vii) begin to organize a questionnaire to ‘city civic movements’ from
our database; viii) identify best-practices or relevant initiatives from different movements,
public policy authorities and urban institutions; ix) organize an international meeting to
make a balance of ‘Global City 2.0’ (in 2012);

9. Global City 2.0 is developed without public or private funds, depending only of civic and
personal engagement. Despite its limitations of time and money we feel that the network
can be an important opportunity to join ‘city civic movements’ from different countries and
cultures, interested people and concerned institutions and, finally, knowledge. We depart
from the notion that urban issues are in many ways transversal, which means that a
collective and shared vision is crucial and that a solution to a problem anywhere in the
world can help to solve a similar problem somewhere else. This means, in turn, that we
need to think of and search for proactive ways to promote the dialogue between those
who in regular situations do not ‘speak’ with each other, either because they simply ignore
themselves (or the importance of learning with others) or for the reason that they simply
do not have a ‘voice’. Hence, instead of inventing the wheel over and over again, we believe
that collaboration and dissemination of information can strongly enhance the effectiveness
and quality of urban policies.

10. Even though there is no single or simple solution for this economic and social crisis, this
network can provide an added value to assist cities in this transition phase. We think that it
could achieve the following results: i) give strong visibility to local civic dynamics; ii)
strengthen the involvement of citizens in their communities; iii) stimulate mutual learning
and dialogues between different cities, specially those who are geographically close to each
other; iv) produce accountability and evaluation mechanisms of city civic movements
activities; v) deepen knowledge about ‘local democracy activities’; vi) enhance an
alternative media, already under way, to global exchanges and interdependencies, other
than multinational private companies or bureaucratic public authorities.

[Site] http://globalcity.blogs.sapo.pt/
[‘Cidades pela Retoma’] http://noeconomicrecoverywithoutcities.blogs.sapo.pt/ e
http://www.facebook.com/CidadespelaRetoma
[email] globalcitytwopointzero@gmail.com ou cidadespelaretoma@gmail.com