In Mainz, the Mayor underlined the “resilient, sustainable and healthy” character of València

Today, Mayor Joan Ribó stated in Mainz that “in the last few years, València has stood out for the steps made towards a resilient, sustainable and healthy city which owns spaces for living and leisure, and defends values such as tolerance and diversity. This is well known by students and teachers visiting us every year thanks to exchange programs such as Forthem Alliance, led by the University of València”. In those terms, and after reiterating “the City Council’s engagement with those bodies that enable the exchange of experiences and joint research”, Joan Ribó introduced the city of València to representatives from six other European cities participating in the project, as well as universities and chambers of commerce.

The work done in València in order to fight climate change was one of the key points of the speech by the Mayor, as well as promoting sustainable food, during a set of similar speeches that took place with the aim of exchanging good practices in terms of climate and resources. In that sense, Joan Ribó explained that “one of the examples of the great transformation experienced in València is its declaration as bicycle Mediterranean city”. He continued: “Overall, we are carrying out many changes when it comes to mobility, and we encouraged a redistributing of public space in a more democratic and friendly way by reducing the number of motorised vehicles every year”.

“Since 2015, we have increased green and pedestrian zones by around 150,000 square meters. The beacon of these reforms is the pedestrianisation of squares such as the City Hall Plaza, where over 10,000 cars used to transit every day. Now, 12,000 square meters of plaza stand at the very heart of the city for the daily enjoyment of neighbors and visitors”. The Mayor of Valencia also recalled that the city owns the Túria Gardens, the largest urban garden in Europe, the “unique and only” Huerta of València and the Albufera natural park, “a protected natural space, a Mediterranean ecosystem that concentrates an incredible amount of biodiversity”.

As of yesterday, the Mayor participates in this encounter held in Mainz, Germany, promoted by a network of European universities, among them the University of València (UV), “in order to favor and strengthen cooperation in research and innovation”. Today he also introduced the “multicultural, open and inclusive València, where everyone is welcome regardless of their origin, religion, race or sexual orientation”.

With these words, the Mayor of València opened the city doors to students and teachers belonging to the “Forthem Alliance” in order to “strengthen cooperation among research and innovation projects, the aim being to facilitate student mobility and boost virtual campi”. With that in mind, the Mayor signed yesterday the compact to cooperate and share experiences on a wide range of topics with representatives from universities, cities and chambers of commerce. As a matter of fact, in addition to climate, the topics of diversity and migration, multilingualism at school and in higher education, food science and digital transformation, among others, are under study.