On 27 January, Henk Bouwman, Secretary General of Metrex signed as last out of three parties a new MoU with ISOCARP to support territorial collaboration in and on Eurodelta, the 40-million European megalopolis, with London, Paris, Hamburg and Frankfurt as the main cities surrounding this functional transnational urban area. Eurodelta is a potential lab for polycentric metropolitan development in a megalopolis area comparable with its peers in USA and Asia, e.g. Pearl River Delta. Third signatory party is Association Deltametropolis, based in Rotterdam. Eurodelta can be considered as ISOCARP’s ‘home-base’, with our new office in the heart of the Eurodelta. While METREX contribute to Eurodelta by establishing SURE Eurodelta Network, hosted by the municipality of The Hague, Deltametropolis will establish a Knowledge Platform for Eurodelta – as a follow up of a joint activity of Deltametropolis, WRI, METREX and ISOCARP during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2020.
The three signatory MoU parties will now develop a joint workplan. ISOCARP will contribute with a Community of Practice for the Eurodelta and provide global discussion opportunities during its upcoming World Planning Congresses in Doha and Brussels, the latter being a supernode in the Eurodelta. As a testcase for polycentric megalopolis, ISOCARP can also mobilise its members outside the Eurodelta for comparative analysis and mutual learning. While is no direct revenue generated by the MoU, parties agreed to jointly lobby for sponsored planning activities and services.