Project representatives of the Municipality of Piraeus, the Laboratory of Urban Criminology of Panteion University and the Research Center of the University of Piraeus participated on the 14th & 15th of June in the events organized and hosted by the fellow UIA urban security project SURE, in the framework of the Tampere Smart Cities Week (TSCW2022) in Finland.
During their meetings, the three Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) projects BSFS (Piraeus, Greece), SURE (Tampere, Finland) and Tonite (Turin, Italy) shared their recent achievements and challenges since their last physical meetings in the “Security, Democracy and Cities” Conference in Nice,France (2021) and in the “UIA Day” event on June 2022 in Piraeus, Greece. ICT tools, renovations, cooperation, joint actions, synergies are some of the concepts that were discussed.
As “Smart” tools and the use of technology in public spaces are among the common elements of the three projects, each project presented their Urban Risk Management Platforms. A fruitful discussion followed focusing on the importance of the participatory approach and social cohesion. The three projects have prepared the ground and continue to promote – throughout their projects’ lifetime – the importance of citizens participation in decision-making for their cities. The BSFS UIA expert highlighted these aspects as well and emphasized the participatory approach of the BSFS project during the implementation of technological measures and solutions.
Finally, a joint document containing recommendations and attention points was drafted & will be sent in September 2022 to the European Commission. The Information exchange and feedback with relevant European Institutions, such as the European Commission is of great importance for the sustainability of the UIA urban security projects and their results.
The events were also supported by the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Public Health and chairwoman of the Local Council for Crime Prevention of Piraeus, Mrs. Kyriaki Bourdakou.
In parallel, the Deputy Mayor for Extroversion, Tourism and European Programs Mrs. Andriana Zarakeli, representing the Mayor of Piraeus Mr. Ioannis Moralis, participated in the mayor’s panel event: “Actions for Co-Developing Smart and Climate Wise Cities”.
Mrs. Zarakeli took part in a constructive discussion on co-formulating proposals for smart and sustainable cities with Mrs. Anna-Kaisa Ikonen, Mayor of Tampere, Mr. Tuomas Heikkinen, Chief of Staff from the city of Turku and Mr. Teppo Säkkinen, Climate, Energy and Industrial Policy Adviser from the Finnish Chamber of Commerce.
Finally, during the TSCW2022 exhibition , the representatives of the BeSecure-FeelSecure (BSFS) had the opportunity to informvisitors from more than 40 countries about the complete and innovative urban security solutions implemented in the city of Piraeus through the BSFS project.
