Tamara Espiñeira

18 years of EU and international experience (with local authorities) including 12 leading a European urban network. Analyst and speaker in expert groups and before international organisations.

PhD in Geography and Spatial Planning. Thesis under the supervision of Pr. Guy Baudelle (Jean Monnet Chair): European urban diplomacy: a tool-based approach.

Associate researcher IGADI – Galician Institute of International Analysis and Documentation and associate UMR CNRS 6590 Spaces and Societies (ESO).

Qualified as Assistant Professor (MCF)– France’s University Council- Currently working as Lecturer in International Relations.

Several awards and recognitions at national and European level (writings and projects)

City storytelling

Cities have the right to exercise the powers derived (expected?) from their political mandate, their legal existence but, above all, their accountability to citizens. These dimensions, represented by the urban project, could justify, at the international level, a transition from actions of influence and soft power towards active subsidiarity as defined by Calamé (2016). In the case of active subsidiarity, the local authority also exercises its competence at international level without consulting the regional or the national levels and not being limited by devolution schemes. Active subsidiarity thus provokes a natural decentralization, in alignment with the objectives of the urban project and beyond constitutional considerations.

Tamara Espiñeira (2022)