2010

"Investing in Europe’s future": fifth report of the European Commission on economic, social and territorial cohesion

Every three years, the European Commission publishes a report on economic, social and territorial cohesion, detailing progress in these areas and how the European Union, national and regional governments have contributed.

Regional observatories have launched their European integration

Some 360 regional observatories of employment and training operating across Europe have just met formally for the first time in Marseille on October 6th and 7th.

One billion Euros for the city of tomorrow

The agreement between the French State and the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), for the implementation of the action "City of tomorrow" of the future investment program voted by Parliament last March, was published in the Official Journal of September 30th 2010.

Ex-post Evaluation of cohesion policy programmes 2000-2006: the URBAN Community Initiative

This report forms part of the ex-post evaluation of cohesion policy programmes (2000-2006) launched by the European Commission. It covers the URBAN II Community Initiative (2001-2006) and the URBACT I programme (2003-2006).

Final publications of 6 URBACT projects

After two years of work, six URBACT projects have just completed their programme of exchange and learning activities. The final publications of three of these projects are already available.

EU Regulation on the simplification of financial management of European funds

This Regulation amends Council regulation (EC) n° 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European development fund (ERDF), European social fund (ESF) and Cohesion fund.

Spanish EU presidency - Toledo, Spain - 22 june 2010 - informal meeting of ministers in charge of urban development

The informal meeting of ministers in charge of urban development, held as part of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, took place on June 22nd, 2010 in Toledo, Spain.

« Europe en France » opens !

The website Europe en France, portal on European funding opportunities in France, has just been launched.

Private city - keep out

Cities within cities are eating up Britain's streets. Urban regenerationhas seen entire districts pass into the hands of private companies – and theirsecurity guards.

Record number of inhabitants Brussels

In November 2009, the Brussels Capital Region had 1.101.872 inhabitants: ahistoric record. The capital of Belgium has never had that many inhabitants. Noteven during the population peaks after the Second World War and the 1960s. 

Most popular documents EUKN website 2009

In 2009, more than 1 million people visited the EUKN website. Whether theywere looking for the latest developments in urban policy, research or practice,they could find what they were looking for in our online e-library, which nowcontains almost 5000 documents. In addition, visitors have intensively consultedour overview of meetings, interviews with urban professionals and selected newsfrom European cities. Below you will find a selection of the EUKN documents thatwere consulted the most in 2009.

Top 10 most bike-friendly cities in the world

The website AskMen.com has released a list of the world's mostbicycle-friendly cities. Of the ten listed cities, five are located in Europe,two in South America, two in North America and one in Asia. Amsterdam is listedas the number one city for cyclists. 

ACE Survey: Is Public Sector Abandoning Architects?

The Architects' Council of Europe's (ACE) quarterly Survey on the impact of<br/>the economic crisis on Europe's architectural profession, shows that the<br/>profession is being let down by the public sector. The Survey, carried out in<br/>December 2009, shows that despite commitments made at European and nationallevel to invest in the construction sector, expenditure by the public sector inbuildings is expected to fall significantly.

EUKN annual conference 2009 report and presentations online

EUKN's annual conference of 2009 'Young Urban Migration - From Challenge toChance' took place in Malmö on 14 December 2009. Many people from all overEurope gathered to discuss the integration of young migrants in Europeancities. In addition, participants had the opportunity to visit differentprojects in this field in Malmö, while at the same time learning more aboutsimilar initiatives abroad.

The ten smartest cities in the world

Forbes has composed a list of the ten smartest cities in the world. But whatis a smart city exactly? Today being 'smart' often refers to having a greensustainable agenda. However, the list of Forbes was composed along a wider listof criteria, including upward mobility, economic progress and stronginfrastructure. According to Joel Kotkin, composer of the list and presidentialfellow in urban futures at Chapman University, cities often brag about beinggreen and environmentally friendly. But in the end he believes "it will not betheir clean air but their commercial prowess that will sustain their success inthe decades ahead.

SUGAR Awards 2010 for Rotterdam and Parma

The awarding ceremony of the SUGAR AWARD 2010 was held at the premises ofEmilia-Romagna Region in Bologna (Italy) on the 25th January 2010. The eventtook place within the SUGAR project (Sustainable Urban Goods logistics Achievedby Regional and local policies) financed by the European Union within theEuropean Territorial Cooperation Programme INTERREG IVC (European RegionalDevelopment Fund).The award in the category of “Metropolitan areas and largecities” was assigned to the Municipality of Rotterdam, while the Municipality ofParma won the prize for “Small and medium sized cities”.

EU summit: forming financial rescue plans for Greece

European Union leaders will lay the groundwork for a financial rescue ofGreece at a summit today (11 February) in Brussels, but any support is likely torequire a major commitment from Athens to get its economy in order. Germany andpossibly France are expected to take the lead in any aid package the EU draws upto help Greece, whether its mounting debt and deficit crisis, although thestructure, size, nature and any conditions attached to a deal remain unclear."We have to help Greece, and Europe will do it as well as the Eurogroup,"Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Wednesday (10February), referring to a meeting of EU finance ministers on Monday, whendetails of any plan are likely to be decided.

Jobless migrants living in shanty towns offered free flights home

East Europeans ineligible for benefits and hoping for better times struggleto survive in rural camps. Homeless east European migrants are being offeredfree flights back to their home country by a government-funded scheme set up tocombat the rise of shanty towns in rural Britain. The scheme, known as theNational Reconnection Service, is expected to cost about £150,000 and is beingtrialled in Boston, Lincolnshire, and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, two townsthat have experienced a large influx of migrants seeking work.

Celebrating 20 years of EU Urban Policy

EUROCITIES Secretary General Paul Bevan among invited speakers at EuropeanCommission celebration of 20 years of urban policy. Looking at the past 20 yearsof urban development and in particular at how the EU's Cohesion Policy hasplayed a part in helping cities grow was the core purpose of a meeting held bythe European Commission on 4 February in Brussels. Many key figures wereinvolved including the current Commissioner for Regional Policy Pawel Samecki,ex-Commissioners Monica Wulf-Matheis and Danuta Huebner, Director General DirkAhner, ex-DG Graham Meadows, academic Michael Parkinson, and Jan Olbrycht, Chairof the EP's Urban Intergroup.

Mayors to sign EUROCITIES charter on migrant integration

<strong>The mayors and deputy mayors of Europe’s cities will gather in theUK capital next Monday 22 February to sign a charter setting out their vision onmigrant integration. The Charter signing is one feature of the IntegratingCities Conference hosted this year by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson,EUROCITIES and the European Commission at London’s City Hall. </strong>

Bristol - 'UK's Greenest City'

Bristol (UK) was one of the eight selected nominates of the European GreenCapital Award 2010/2011. Ever since the nomination the city has benefitedextensively from the attention. It has now been labelled the 'UK's GreenestCity', and as a result, its people are proud, its hotels are fuller than beforeand innovative industries are flocking to the area.

Intolerance towards foreigners disaster for Europe

Europe's intolerance towards foreigners threatens its economic future, anarticle published in Newsweek states. Stefen Theil, author of the article 'TheIncredible Shrinking Continent' argues that Europe desperately needs to upgradeits workforce to compete in knowledge-intensive sectors. Immigration is vitalfor this upgrading process, he believes. As Europe's demographies are rapidlychanging, shortages on the labour market will increase significantly. Accordingto Stefan Theil, the answer to these shortages lies in the attraction of skilledmigrants. However, he fears that the current intolerance and negative attitudestowards foreigners in Europe, will prevent migrants from entering the Europeanlabour market. As a result, Europe might be heading for serious long-termeconomic trouble.

Participate in the International Awards for Liveable Communities 2010

The LivCom Awards were launched in 1997 and are endorsed by the UnitedNations Environment Programme. LivCom is the world’s only Awards Competitionfocussing on best practice regarding the management of the local environment.The objective of LivCom is to improve the quality of life of individual citizensthrough the creation of ‘liveable communities’. The 14th edition of the awards,LivCom 2010, has recently been launched and awaits your participation.

EU lawmakers call for stricter green rulebook

The European Parliament's environment committee has called on the EuropeanCommission to distribute lists of member states that fail to properly implementEU legislation on waste, water and nature protection, arguing that thesituation had become "absurd".

More Greek cuts and bail-out details anticipated

EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn is to travel to Greece on Monday (1 March),fueling expectations that further Greek austerity measures in exchange foreurozone financial support could be announced as soon as this week. EU financeministers are set to take a decision on the need for further Greek action on 16March, although officials caution the date is too distant.

BrabantStad EUROCITIES´newest member

BrabantStad Metropolitan Area, an economically thriving region in the southof The Netherlands, is one of EUROCITIES’ newest members. What’s unique aboutBrabantStad is that it is an alliance of cities formed by Breda, Eindhoven,Helmond, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg and the local government of Brabant. Thealliance aims to achieve sustainable growth in all aspects of the city’seconomic, spatial, social and cultural life. Collaboration is focused onaddressing important regional development issues that the cities and province,alone, would have been unable to achieve.

"The URBACT Tribune"

The URBACT Secretariat has produced "The URBACT Tribune", a documentgathering articles written by URBACT Lead Experts. At this point, midway throughthe life circle of the first URBACT II projects, these articles reflect on thestate of play in the URBACT projects, heavily impacted by the multiple effectsof the crisis.

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