French pavilion at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in 2020

Who are we?

The French Partnership for Cities and Territories (PFVT) is the platform for exchanges and promotion of French actors’ expertise in urban development worldwide.

It is a multi-actor partnership launched in June 2011 with the support of the Ministries of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Territorial Cohesion, Ecological Transition, and Culture.

It now federates more than two hundred organizations representing the diversity of French urban expertise.

  • State and public establishments
  • Local authorities and associations of elected officials
  • Federations and urban development professionals
  • Private sector
  • Civil society organizations
  • Universities, research and training organizations.

In the same way as a think tank, the PFVT mobilizes its partners during workshops in order to develop joint proposals for World Urban Forums and international events regarding urban issues.

The PFVT coordinates the participation of French actors in the international debate and promotes French expertise in terms of sustainable urban development, in response to requests from cities and partner States in developing and emerging countries.

The technical secretariat of the PFVT is provided by the National Federation of Urban Agences (Fnau).

Missions

The PFVT helps to provide a more coherent French response to the demands of partners in developing and emerging countries by pursuing the following objectives:

Building a shared French vision

  • Facilitate exchanges and capitalization based on the experiences of PFVT members
  • Develop shared French positions in working groups and promote them in the international debate

Animating the participation of French actors in national or international events

  • Coordinating the activities of the French delegation
  • organize the French presence on the events, notably through the animations of the France Pavilion
  • Organize the representation of the PFVT

Valuing French urban expertise internationally

  • Collect partners’ opportunities and requests and identify the right French expertise
  • Animating the network of actors and informing members about the current development of urban development
  • Promote the expertise of PFVT members, particularly in terms of capacity building, project management, support for governance processes and urban and territorial planning, in connection with the activities of France Sustainable City, and other French initiatives to enhance urban expertise internationally.