EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Integrated Urban Policy - a prerequisite for for urban sustainability in Europe

Integrated Urban Policy - a prerequisite for for urban sustainability in Europe

Introduction

On 1 January 2007, Germany took over the EU Council Presidency for six months. Within the context of its presidency, Germany hosted an informal meeting of the ministers responsible for urban and spatial development in Leipzig on 24 and 25 May 2007. The key policy issue of the informal ministerial meeting has been "Strengthening European cities and their regions - promoting competitiveness, social and territorial cohesion in Europe and in its cities and regions". This key policy issue of the German Presidency picked up the thread of the European Council decisions on sustainable development and applies them in concrete terms to the spatial development of urban neighbourhoods, cities and regions.

Description

This background study on the Leipzig Charter on sustainable European cities focuses on the implementation of programmes, projects and measures that are needed to achieve urban sustainability in Europe. Comparing the diverse policies of Member States suggested certain basic common strategic requirements, which were weighted differently in the agendas of each country or city due to varying framework conditions.

Comparison of national programmes and/or regional and municipal approaches to the integrated, area-based development of deprived neighbourshoods in the European Union indicates that in cities of all 27 EU Member States, globalisation and transformation processes have led to the emergence of deprived neighbourhoods which are either already, or in danger of being, disconnected from general urban and regional development. This trend is usually driven by micro-spatial socioeconomic segregation processes with older buildings and/or big housing estates. As a rule they are characterised by a complex combination of urban planning, economic, social, cultural and ecological problems. How these problems manifest themselves and the extent of their effects on cities and regions varies, depending on their specific situation, and must be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Conclusions

Practical experience gathered in the 27 Member States demonstrates that -even though with varying intensity in the different countries- integrated urban development policies are suited to achieving the objectives of Europe's renewed Sustainability Strategy. In particular, most countries stress the correlation between economic development and social cohesion, which is why concepts addressing integrated area-based development approaches for deprived neighbourhoods take on more and more importance in addition to strategies to boost economic growth. This can be summarised in, among many others, these points:

The growth of knowledge-based sectors is currently one of the key areas of economic development in Europe. Not all sections of society benefit from these positive trends: they are accompanied by unemployment, poverty and other disadvantages. This especially affects cities in which economic, social, urban development, and environmental deficits are concentrated in certain areas.
Involving private enterrpises (corporate social responsibility) is a way to mobilise additional resources, directly and idirectly reduce costs and use public funds more effectively.
(Area-based) policies for children and young people, education and training are increasingly gaining prominence in integrated urban development strategies.

Contact info

Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik
Berlin
difu@difu.de

Contact info

Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning
Bonn
Dr. Markus Eltges

Publication date

26/03/2007

Researcher

Thomas Franke, Wolf-Christian Strauss, Bettina Reimann, Klaus J. Beckmann, Dr. Markus Eltges and Eva Nickel

Article info
ISSN: 1963-8732

Links

Click here to visit the website of the Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik Click here to visit the website of the The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning in Germany

Download the full report "Integrated Urban Policy - a prerequisite for for urban sustainability in Europe" (PDF, Eng, 1.99 MB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy

Keywords