On March 26, 2018, the Cities of Tomorrow # 7, 2019 conference was held at the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel. Details of the event can be viewed at www.citiesoftomorrow.ro.

According to the organizers, the conference “Cities of Tomorrow” puts on the foreground citizen and states that the city is created by the community. The 7th edition of the conference focused on communities and how they are involved in urban development. Civil participation and public consultation were the main topics of the event.

Prior to the 7th edition, a project competition was organized for the public administration, business environment and civil society. The organizers considered, in selecting the winning projects, the factor of sustainable development. They looked for initiatives with a particular impact on the development of cities, quality of life and dialogue between local and national stakeholders.

With the help of a jury made up by people with vast expertise, 4 finalists were established on 3 main categories (Public Administration, Business Environment, Civil Society) out of a total of 83 proposed projects.

The 4 finalists in the Public Administration category were:

• Reșița City Hall – local financing program called “Trust in Reșița”.
• ReghinCity Hall – meant to provide data about the city, events, attractions, leisure, restaurants, transportation, etc.
• Oradea City Hall – initiative that aims to transform the historical centre of Oradea.
• Invest in Jiu Valley– the first joint initiative of the mayors of the Jiu Valley to promote the region.

The “Trust in Reșița” program is the first local financing program developed in Romania that offers non-reimbursable mini-grants totalling 500,000 Ron to the inhabitants for the development and implementation of projects for the regeneration of the city. The objective of the program is to improve the common life in the city by supporting the initiatives developed by residents. We believe that the residents are most able to imagine new possibilities for the

The program, at its first edition, is implemented through 2 competitions of projects carried out during the year 2019/2020, on the themes of Urban Life and Entrepreneurship with impact in the community. Scalable initiatives are encouraged, which can grow in the long term, and which can contribute to systemic changes in the development of the city and its communities, and are not specific/isolated actions as extension and impact. The call will support those ideas that stimulate the spirit of community, capitalize on the existing local resources, promote the identity of the city of Reșița and give a new meaning to the abandoned spaces. This vision of urban regeneration is open to all initiative groups consisting of at least 3 people, as well as NGOs.

The winning project was the one of the Reșița City Hall. The project was conceived and proposed by MKBT: Make Better and will be implemented by the City Hall. The call for projects as well as the selection of the winners will take place during 2019/2020, following their implementation until 2020, due to the gap with the approval of the national state budget. The initiative states that city residents should be considered partners in these projects because they are the most able to imagine new opportunities for the community. Thus, they must become the partners of the Resita City Hall in the project of regaining trust in the city.