The World Urban Forum WUF11 took place in Katowice - the largest and most important event in the world dedicated to the development of cities. The event was attended by the Mayor of the city, Marek Materek, and Starachowice was strongly emphasized both during the discussion panels and at the exhibition prepared by the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy in the Polish Pavilion.

On Monday, President Marek Materek, at the invitation of the Institute for the Development of Cities and Regions, participated as a panelist in the session "Socio-economic transformation of post-industrial cities", which took place in the Polish Pavilion at WUF11. The speech was largely devoted to the projects that the city of Starachowice intends to implement as part of the project "Direction for the Future - Starachowice Local Development Program" financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 (85%) and the State Budget (15%).