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A rough guide to European Urban Policy

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09 October 2017
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Physical Urban Development

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Urban Renewal

Urban policy is not of itself an EU level responsibility under the treaties of the European Union but in the Lisbon treaty of 2009, the notion of territorial cohesion appeared for the first time. This reflected a steady progression of steps over the past quarter century to reinforce the urban and territorial agenda.

A rough guide to European urban policies

 

  • The Urban Pilot Projects from 1989 onwards: these financed small scale mostly area based actions in the old EU 12 Member States and were later joined by the Nordic Countries after accession.
  • The URBAN I programme from 1994-99 which financed 110 programmes in neighbourhoods and included both ERDF and ESF investments.
  • The URBAN II programme from 2000-2006 which financed programmes in 70 neighbourhoods in the EU 15.
  • The Gothenburg agenda of 2001 agreed at the Gothenburg European Council added a third environmental pillar to the economic and social reform pillars of the EU's Lisbon agenda.  The four priorities were: climate change,  sustainable transport, public health and resource management. 
  • The URBACT I programme 2003-6 supported exchange and learning activities between cities that were active in URBAN I and II.
  • The ‘URBAN Acquis’ of 2004 recognised the contribution that cities make to the economic, environmental and social success of Europe, and referring to a method combining the area-based, integrated and participative approach including local partnerships. The key principles comprising the URBAN Acquis as a way to promote the development of ‘sustainable communities’ are: (i) To promote long-term visions at city and metropolitan scale (set in appropriate territorial policy frameworks) recomposing individual projects in a strategy balancing economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental quality; (ii) To adopt an integrated approach, which involves both horizontal and vertical coordination across policy areas and government tiers; (iii) To engage the widest number of local players in the programming and implementing of the projects, supporting private public partnerships as well as fostering participative processes and reinforcing local society’s ‘ownership’ of the promoted actions; (iv) To concentrate funds in selected target areas ; (v) To capitalise knowledge through networking, exchange of experience and dissemination practices related to urban development and policy learning; (vi) To identify and adopt appropriate indicators and evaluating procedures in order to assess progress against established objectives.
  • The 2005 Bristol Accord highlighted the importance of sustainable communities for Europe´s development, set out eight characteristics of sustainable cities and called for set of case studies based on a template.  The eight characteristics are: Active, inclusive and safe; well run; well connected; well served; environmentally sensitive; thriving; well designed and built; fair for everyone
  • The URBACT II programme 2007-2013 aimed at making exchange and learning activity concrete in each city by introducing local support groups and local action plans along with a strengthened approach to capacity building and capitalisation.
  • The Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities of 2007 highlighted the importance of integrated urban development policy approaches and the need to pay special attention to deprived neighbourhoods.
  • The 2007 Territorial Agenda introduced the idea of territorial cohesion and situated the issues faced by cities, towns and urban areas.
  • The 2008 Marseilles Statement called for the implementation of the Leipzig Charter principles by developing a common European Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities also known as RFSC  .
  • The 2008 Barca Report put a new emphasis on ‘place-based’ approaches in regional development.
  • The 2010 Toledo Declaration recognised the role that European urban areas can play in achieving the aim of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy and emphasised the significance of integrated urban development and called for a common understanding of the concept and its application in urban regeneration.
  • The Europe 2020 strategy  responds to the European and global challenge  by proposing 7 flagship initiatives to catalyse progress under the priority themes of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Cohesion policy and its structural funds are key delivery mechanisms.  The flagship initiatives are: Innovation Union, Youth on the Move, A Digital Agenda for Europe, Resource Efficient Europe, An Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era, An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, European Platform against Poverty
  • The 2014-20 URBACT III programme which brings a stronger emphasis on capacity building, on exchange and learning through three types of networks (action planning, transfer and implementation) and a renewed focus on capitalisation and dissemination all set within a reinforced results framework. 

 

 

 

 

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