Preparations for this year's edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities (8-11 October 2018, Brussels) are already ongoing. On 25 January, the two co-organisers, the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, launched their call for partners to join the organisation of the 16 ^th edition of the event.

Under the main headline of 'For a strong EU Cohesion Policy beyond 2020', applying event partners are invited to contribute to the official programme, by proposing different types of participatory sessions, exhibitions, local events, etc. This year, a public online survey was carried out to identify the preferred themes for the official programme. The results show a clear interest in participating and organising sessions focusing especially on territorial development (regional, urban, rural); the future of cohesion policy, EU budget, and; education, culture and youth.

Overall, the event will consist of 100 working sessions, exhibitions and networking activities, and is expected to attract some 6 000 participants, plus speakers and journalists. Many novelties are planned this year, in particular new innovative formats and a main central venue in the Brussels' Square Conference Centre.

In addition to the Brussels-based workshops, the European Week of Regions and Cities features local events taking place in May and June and between September and December 2018 all over Europe.