Welcome

The city of Haarlem is a municipality in the Netherlands. With 160.000 habitants it’s in the category of middle sized cities. The municipality of Haarlem has initiated an extensive sustainability program that focuses on climate adaptation, energy transition and circular economy. As part of the implementation strategy for this program, several living labs have been created to test new concepts in a practical urban setting. Close cooperation between the municipal government, local business and business organizations, educational institutions and NGO’s has created an easily accessible network of expertise. Actual living labs, active over a period of two years now, include projects focusing on zero emission city logistics and combatting food waste. The Haarlem municipality plays an active part in the living labs in a coordinating capacity. Examples of living labs in the city of Haarlem: Haarlem is the action leader of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Public procurement. The Urban Agenda for the EU was launched in May 2016 with the Pact of Amsterdam. It represents a new multi-level working method promoting cooperation between Member States, cities, the European Commission and other stakeholders in order to stimulate growth, liveability and innovation in the cities of Europe and to identify and successfully tackle social challenges. The Partnership on Public procurement brings together urban authorities (Haarlem, Gabrovo, Larvik, Nantes, Preston, Vantaa), a Member State (Italy), observers and associations (CEMR, EUROCITIES, URBACT) and the European Commission (DG REGIO and DG GROW).