This week: IURC Gathers 100 City and Regional Leaders at the World Cities Summit 2026 in Singapore

This week: The IURC Asia and Australasia gathers 100+ delegates from the EU, Asia and Australasia to participate in the World Cities Summit (WCS 2026) from 14–16 June 2026 in Singapore.

Within this event, we are proud to host our 2nd Global Thematic Workshop on Tuesday 16 June 2026 — bringing together over 100 city and regional delegates from Europe, Asia, and Australasia to advance Communities of Practice (CoPs) and accelerate the development of pilot projects designed to address shared urban challenges. The IURC Workshop will be structured as an interactive half-day programme. Following the opening ceremony and keynote interventions from the European Union and Singaporean authorities, the workshop will feature a high-level Leadership Dialogue focused on the future of cities and regions and the role of international cooperation in addressing shared urban challenges. The second part of the programme will consist of interactive CoP Marketplace sessions, designed to facilitate peer exchange, showcase pilot projects, and encourage collaboration among participants through practical working discussions. The workshop will conclude with a reporting and closing session summarising key outcomes, future cooperation opportunities and next steps under the IURC programme, followed by a networking lunch and participation in further World Cities Summit activities.

The workshop will bring together representatives from 30 EU cities and 16 EU regions, alongside delegates from several partner countries and territories in Asia and Australasia.

IURC and CLC Cooperation

Participating as a Strategic Partner of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore, IURC Asia-Australasia contributes to Asia’s most influential biennial platform for government leaders, urban practitioners, and international partners. An IURC booth on Level 4 (B6) of the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre will be present throughout the summit from 14–16 June, providing a base for bilateral meetings, on-site interviews, and programme visibility.

A High-Level Leadership Dialogue

The centrepiece of the 16 June workshop is a Leadership Dialogue bringing together an international group of elected leaders and senior officials to discuss urban cooperation in practice. Expected speakers include Nicholas Reece, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia; Ana Abrunhosa, Lord Mayor of Coimbra, Portugal; Dr. Ashok George Verghese, Vice President of the Hindustan Group, Chennai, India; Cr. Nathan Hersey, Mayor and Chair of One Gippsland, Australia; and Silvia Martínez Rocher, Head of Unit, European Affairs, Valencia Region, Spain; and Dr. Syed Harun Alhabsyi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of National Development.

Communities of Practice: Advancing Toward Pilot Projects

Following the Leadership Dialogue, IURC delegates will participate in parallel CoP working sessions — cities in Room 310 and regions in Room 311 — to present progress on their Urban and Regional Cooperation Action Plans (UCAPs and RCAPs) and map out next steps toward defining concrete pilot projects for implementation in 2026–27.

Sessions will cover themes across the programme’s 21 Communities of Practice, including:

• City-to-City: Mobility & Transport, Urban Innovation, Circular Economy, Climate Adaptation, Urban Regeneration, Social Cohesion / Housing, Strategic Sectors, Sustainable Smart Tourism
• Region-to-Region: Clean Energy, Agri-food Systems, Industrial Modernisation, Blue Economy, Just Transition

Participants from the WCS Young Leaders Programme will also attend and contribute through on-camera interviews, providing a next-generation perspective on urban cooperation for IURC’s film and social media assets.

Building on the Momentum of Barcelona

The Singapore workshop is the second global in-person milestone of the current IURC programme phase, following the 1st Global Thematic Networking Event held at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona, November 2025. That event brought together more than 240 delegates from 130+ cities and regions across four continents and marked a pivotal step in launching the programme’s thematic cooperation structure.

Singapore represents a step forward in programme depth. Cities and regions have since completed preparatory CoP online sessions, technical deep dives, and study visits — and are now actively working to define their first pilot actions. The 16 June workshop is designed to capture that progress and set clear directions for the second half of 2026.

EU City and Region Cooperation on a Global Stage

IURC Asia-Australasia is part of a broader EU-funded global city/region cooperation framework alongside IURC Latin America and the EU Cities Gateway North America programme. The World Cities Summit provides a rare opportunity for these programmes to intersect — with cities, delegates, and thematic interests from multiple continents converging in Singapore. The EU’s presence at WCS 2026 reinforces its role not only as a funder of international cooperation, but as a structured, long-term partner in city-to-city and region-to-region development.

High-level EU representation at the event will include officials from the European Commission’s DG REGIO and the EU Foreign Policy Instruments (EU FPI), alongside the EU Delegation to Singapore.

Follow the Conversation

Follow live coverage of the IURC workshop at WCS 2026 on LinkedIn (IURC Asia-Australasia), X (@IURC_AA), Instagram (@IURC_asia_australasia), BlueSky (IURC.bsky.social) using the hashtags #IURC, #WCS2026, and #EUForeignPolicy. Full event coverage and a post-event article will be published on www.iurc.eu/asia-australasia in the days following the workshop.

Funded by the European Union. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.