EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - EU compares quality of life in European cities

EU compares quality of life in European cities

16-12-2005

The European Commission has published a comparison of the quality of life between cities in the old and new member states aimed at promoting successful urban living as an engine for growth in Europe. Regional policy commissioner Danuta Hubner launched the "Urban Audit" website. This site lists 258 large medium-sized cities from all over the 25 EU member states and candidate countries, according to a wide range of key indicators on the quality of life.

Commissioner Hubner said the Urban Audit was a "useful toolbox" for cities, allowing mayors and other local elected officials to compare their cities with others, and improve urban life by studying best practices. According to Hubner the most striking in the listing were the neighbourhood disparities, with unemployment or poverty differences far greater within cities than between cities or regions. "We have huge disparities within Europe's cities. We need to have a common policy that will address the problems' where they exist", Ms Hubner said.

According to the report, almost half of the cities looked at had neighbourhoods with unemployment rates above 20 percent, reaching as high as 58 percent in some areas. Some of the recently riot-struck Parisian areas registered over 50 percent unemployment, while some Manchester neighbourhoods had an employment rate of 51 percent.

Some other examples of data that can be derived from the Urban Audit website:

Paris is also the most educated city among those listed, with almost 37 percent of residents of the French capital having a university degree. Cambridge came second in the listing with 32 percent.
Drivers in Milan are Europe's most dangerous, killing or seriously injuring 1.43 percent of the city's populations. Italy accounts for 17 of the 20 cities with most road accidents while the four safest cities are in Finland.
People in Budapest need the longest time to go back and forth to their job - 71 minutes on average - and the most crime-prone city in Europe is Liege.
Slovaks were found to attend most concerts in the EU, with 2,41 concerts per 1000 residents.

Links
Source: EU observer Urban Audit website

Files

Urban Audit Press Release: The Urban Audit provides key indicators on the quality of life in 258 European cities (PDF, Eng, 77 KB)

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