Martin Grisel

What really drives me is working with a wide variety of stakeholders, sometimes at a high strategic level, to develop policies and research projects that contribute to greener, more just and yet prosperous cities. As founding director of the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN), a network of national ministries responsible for urban matters, I operate as a knowledge broker, a connector, a networker, and a strategic advisor and trusted partner of policymakers from the local to the global level. With my team at the EUKN, I have been providing an increasing range of activities to support both EUKN members and non-members with strategic knowledge support, ranging from policy advise, research, conferences, Policy Labs, and knowledge dissemination activities. Since 2007, I have supported over 25 member states holding the Presidencies of the EU, which led to the establishment of several strategic urban agendas, including the Leipzig Charter for sustainable cities (2007), the Urban Agenda for the EU (2016), the global New Urban Agenda (2016) and, more recently, the New Leipzig Charter (2020) and the Ljubljana Agreement (2021). With the EUKN, I have organised and moderated over 50 EUKN Policy Labs and conferences and has coordinated over 20 EUKN publications, covering practically all aspects of urban policy.