<< Background >>Cities around the world have been affected by the global outbreak of coronavirus with the pandemic quickly exposing countries’ fragile social fabric. The multidimensional nature of the pandemic has left an indelible mark on the outlook of the cities and has led to rethinking cities’ development in different dimensions - social, cultural, economic, and environmental. Being at the forefront, cities have played a central role in the global response to the ongoing pandemic (UNESCO Cities Platform, 2020). More than ever, in such a challenging time, the collaboration of urban actors (including mayors, local policymakers, city council members, professionals and practitioners, NGOs, international institutions, city decision-makers) should be leveraged to strengthen cooperation among cities and reinforce ties between people and communities (Pazarbasioglu &Ayhan Kose, 2020). Cities should be mobilised to further enhance solidarity, cooperation, and collaboration by sharing valuable information, including their innovative measures and good practices taken before and during coronavirus, being implemented to cope with the global challenge that we are all currently facing and work towards building environmentally balanced, sustainable and resilient cities of today and tomorrow (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2020).The project idea derived following an online focus group that was carried out in the form of an online thematic chat where a number of diverse urban actors of the project’s partner countries participated. The focus group aimed to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on the cities from the project’s participating countries and identify opportunities/solutions to overcome those impacts.The main conclusion derived were:- the territorial challenges each country is facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and similarities of the issues among the countries- the participant interest in developing the skills and competences to deal with unexpected challenges - their willingness to obtain training to develop and/or enhance their skills and competences to mitigate occurring challengesThe activity shaped the project’s mission to develop the skills and competences of diverse urban actors in being capable of responding to unexpected challenges. In this framework, the CoopCities project will bring together partners from diverse backgrounds and fields of expertise, who aim to collaboratively work through an innovative training model for VET trainers/educators combining training materials with digital means (serious game and e-learning portal, video narratives, digital case study report cards) directed towards urban actors. Through this project and its results, the partnership will contribute in the urban context for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (17 Goals of Sustainable Development) and support city decision-makers in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis with main focus on Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 17 Partnerships for the Goals.<< Objectives >>The project’s mission is to develop the skills and competences of diverse urban actors in being capable of responding to unexpected challenges. In this framework, the project aims to develop an innovative training model for VET trainers/educators to assist them to acquire the skills and competences on how to deal, in their cities, with the unexpected global challenges faced, e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic. The training model will be combined with training materials with digital means, i.e serious game and e-learning portal, video narratives, digital case study report cards, all available as an OER in the project’s e-learning portal. The project’s results will contribute toward one of the most important global need of overcoming climate change and environmental protection. It will directly contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (17 Goals of Sustainable Development) with main focus on Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 17 Partnerships for the Goals. To achieve this, the following objectives are set:-To develop an innovative training model for VET trainers to give them the tools, guidance, and proper support to train urban actors (city decision-makers, mayors, city officials, city council members, local policymakers, city consultants, advisors, counselors, relevant authorities, NGOs, international institutions).-To directly train VET trainers to develop the knowledge, skills, and competences to train urban actors and enhance their future effect in training about sustainable cities.-To contribute to developing the urban actors' skills in building sustainable and resilient cities and have the flexibility on responding to challenges, e.g. the Covid-19 pandemic.<< Implementation >>CoopCities results are directly connected to the PRs and the activities carried out during the project implementation:1. CoopCities innovative training model which incorporates:- PR1: CoopCities state-to-the-art report, which will be the result of field research with data as emerged via questionnaires and interviews/focus groups with local public actors and authorities and citizens), and desk research, which will result in the identification of international best practices of cities towards their sustainable development. The data collected will be transformed into case studies (at least 1 local and 1 international case study per partner) and will be included in the report. Each of the local case studies will be accompanied by a video narrative as it will result in the cases investigated by the partners at the local level. The international case studies will be accompanied by digital case study report cards.- PR2: CoopCities Blueprint: This Blueprint will act as a guidebook that will provide guidance to city actors on how to develop sustainable and resilient cities that mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 crisis or other unexpected challenges to come. It will be based on the field research results and the best practices/case studies collected in PR1.-PR3: CoopCities Serious Game, which will support VET trainer in leading the end-users to build sustainable cities while faced with challenging social, economic, and environmental decisions when dealing with situations such as the Covid pandemic, sea-level rise etc.-PR4: CoopCities e-Learning portal as the virtual learning environment for VET trainers and city actors (mayors, local policymakers, city council members, professionals and practitioners, NGOs, international institutions, city decision-makers) as final beneficiaries. The products of PR1, PR2, PR3 will be incorporated into the portal after proper modification. Also, material from the previous PRs will become the MODULES for training purposes in the form of webinars/offline activities. It will also integrate a set of Open Badges sponsored by an Open Badge provider, which will automatically be linked with the assessment process of the courses/webinars so that, upon completion of a course, the trainee will receive an e-token that will be attachable to their e-resume in order to demonstrate the acquirement of the skill.-Ε1-6: Multiplier events. Each project partner country will organise a local event aiming to promote and disseminate project the PRs, with a special focus to promote Open Educational Resources (OER) produced in the project, to various stakeholders. The events will be implemented in the last months of the project.-LTTA1&2: The activity will provide training on the project’s results and become “ambassadors” of the educational material back in their country<< Results >>- 15 trained (LTTA1) VET trainers (3 per country) to train city actors as the final beneficiaries on how to build a sustainable and resilient city able to deal with the global challenges faced due to the Covid19 pandemic- 25 trained city actors (5 per country) on the development of sustainable cities capable to cope with situations such as the Covid crisis or sea-level rise events.- 5 multiplier events to promote the project, its intellectual outputs, and its outcomes among all interested stakeholders (E1-E5).Moreover, the project will result in:-Social Media Campaigns of CoopCities-Increasing the awareness of the existence of the innovative training model of CoopCities and its benefits to all interested stakeholders, and the general public-Generate new ideas related to sustainable cities and building of new partnerships to develop these ideas-Changed social, economic, and environmental expectations and city actors' attitudes.-Collaboration between key people (trainers, specialists, experts, representatives of city actors) to effectively face the unpleasant consequences of Covid in their respective cities and its effects on the EU societies, the economy, and the environment in general-European international mobility of project participants (field professionals, representatives of target groups)Additionally, the project also foresees a set of overall project management, time management, project evaluation and quality assurance plan, dissemination, and coordination results