Territories and globalisation: The importance of international networks of cities and territories

Session 11 takes another look at the increasingly numerous international networks of cities and territories. What exactly can be expected of them? Territorial governance, after all, is not confined to the local level, but includes strategies involving group action, in particular through networks. Firstly, we will look at the origin of these networks. Networks created in the 1990’s were mainly concerned with making the voices of cities and territories heard on the international level. Is this still the main objective? Secondly, we will analyse the expansion of such networks and suggest a means of classifying them.

Finally, we will look toward the future. Nowadays cities use networks to learn from each other and set up rigorous systems for exchanges of experience. Since cities and territories are in fact key players in the transition to sustainable societies, their participation in networks and exchanges of experience is a responsibility: they must meet future challenges and orchestrate the capacity of the world’s local societies to discuss their ‘internal affairs’.