4.3. Exchanging practices, knowledge and ideas with peers

The PACTESUR project has shown that cities are keen to exchange knowledge and practices with their peers at home and abroad, and to learn from their experience. This confirms what we at Efus see and hear every day when working with our member cities. Whatever their size or geographical location, many regularly express their desire for down-to-earth, direct exchanges with other, similar cities on pressing urban security issues such as the protection of public spaces.

PACTESUR organised exchanges through open, in-person debates such as the Local Governance Workshops and the European Weeks of Security organised in Nice (2019), Turin (2020) and Liège (2022), with the aim of giving a voice to European local stakeholders, police representatives, experts and civil society in the ongoing conversation on security and public spaces. They also contributed to raising awareness among citizens and local politicians on their role in prevention and as security actors.

Some of these exchanges have already had concrete results: the City of Edinburgh, one of PACTESUR’s 11 associated cities, has set up a working group on “hostile vehicle mitigation” in order to better secure the yearly Edinburgh International Festival. David Robertson, Superintendent for Specialist Operations at the Scottish Police Force, said the equipment chosen “was directly inspired by our visit to Liège.” Furthermore, representatives from the City of Turin visited Edinburgh during the International Festival in order to trial smart sensors for crowd management.44 “This is a first step towards becoming a smart city and a direct result of the visit from Turin and the workshops we attended,” he added. They were also presented to the City of Xàbia in June 2022.