Co-Creation in FC2: Sustainable Urban Mobility, Community Engagement, and Circular Economy
IUC Learning Exchange — Fort Collins and Vila Nova de Famalicão
FC2 (FC-squared; from the title of this post) is a reference to Fort Collins and Famalicão coming together to collaborate, which we did in November 2018!
I met the rest of our Fort Collins delegation at the Porto Airport eager to head to our IUC partner city, Vila Nova de Famalicão, 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast. Our first time in Portugal, we peppered the Uber driver with questions about the local economy, university system, and Portuguese customs. Having lived in Europe myself for almost a decade and only being back in the U.S. for a handful of years, I mulled on EU-US cultural differences, while also latching on to the things our driver told us that were uniquely Portuguese or uniquely regional. It was in this latter space that our trip most challenged my pre-conceived notions of what sustainability looks like in the EU vs. the US. Yes, there are generalizations that can be made about the two, but at a local level, generalizations aren’t worth much. Local sustainability is all about history, geography, topography, and culture, all of which framed my Learning Exchange takeaways.
Takeaway #1: Co-creation is a shared approach to governing
Mayor Paulo Cunha welcomed us to his city with a group photo and short overview of his vision for Famalicão. Mayor Cunha spoke about changing the way his city governs, moving toward a model of co-creation in which community members are involved in designing their city’s future. Cunha’s sentiments made our delegation feel right at home, as co-creation is top of mind for our city leadership too. With this first common value as a foundation, we moved through the rest of our week focused on how we can continue to engage our communities in developing solutions to sustainable mobility, entrepreneurship, and a circular economy.
Takeaway #2: Beyond cars — hidden forces that shape mobility and land use
Driving into Famalicão, we noticed the narrow streets, cobblestones, and hilly landscape. We already knew Famalicão wanted to work on implementing more bike infrastructure and getting people to use it. What we saw seemed like initial clues to the challenges they face. Over the next several days, these clues gave way to larger narratives as we learned their hilly landscape divides the city into parishes. Almost like little villages, the parishes are separated from each other and “downtown” by pastures and vineyards. This was not the compact “European” land use I had been expecting. As we showed our counterparts pictures of Fort Collins roads, they were surprised to learn why they are so wide — it isn’t to accommodate cars, bikes, and parking simultaneously. Fort Collins roads were designed during a time when stagecoaches needed to make a U-turn! Yes, both cities do face common challenges brought by the legacy of designing streets for cars, yet both have their own unique history beyond the automobile that shapes mobility today.
Takeaway #3: Circular economy is the new black
Our delegation visited several local industries and businesses to learn about how the city supports their local economy and fosters entrepreneurship, especially in the area of climate economy. After visiting a textile company and textile industry cluster, it was clear that “circular economy” is the new black in the world of sustainable fashion and Vila Nova de Famalicão is the place making it happen. Seeing how their city supports their textile industry clusters to move in this direction, our delegation went home with ideas to share with our Economic Health Office and climate economy advisor.
There were so many other takeaways that challenged, inspired, informed, and delighted our delegation. Having a one-stop-shop front office for all city inquiries — genius! Calling a campaign a “festival” — way more fun! Branding your “festival” with a bright yellow couch to make community engagement cozy — brilliant! Also, any place that invented natas must be a place of innovation and creativity.
We are so grateful for everything our new Famalicão friends did to make our visit so wonderful and to the IUC for this opportunity. We look forward to welcoming the Vila Nova de Famalicão delegation to Fort Collins this summer. We don’t have natas but we do have beer, bikes, and buses!
Molly Saylor is the Senior Sustainability Specialist at the City of Fort Collins, Colorado.
This story is part of the #USEUCities series, featuring stories written by EU and US participants in the EU’s International Urban Cooperation (IUC) City Pairings program that helps achieve local and international political objectives on sustainable urban development and climate change.
Read the press release and visit the IUC website to learn more.
