In the 2008 Budget Bill, the Government proposes a new direction and more precise targets for this policy area. By implementing this change, the Government wants to strengthen links to other policy areas, with a focus on employment, education and security. The Government is preparing procedures for how instruments in the area of general policies can best be used and how follow-up, evaluation and analysis can be developed.

The Government has proposed the following objectives for urban development policy:

Urban development policy
As part of the Government’s work to combat exclusion, an urban development policy is making its contribution by directing a particular focus on those districts, primarily in large cities, that are characterised by exclusion. In urban districts where a large proportion of inhabitants are experiencing exclusion due to unemployment, long-term dependence on social welfare allowances, feelings of insecurity or ill health, there are reasons for central government to cooperate in particular with the respective municipalities involved in order to find effective methods to overcome exclusion. This involves coordinating the most important agencies so as to make central government’s efforts as effective as possible. The Government sees a need to develop, if possible, the procedures for following up this policy area. In order for the prospects of a positive development both for individuals and for areas to be strengthened, development work must be carried out both locally and from municipal and regional perspectives. Issues concerning urban development policy generally have a strong connection with community planning, physical planning and sustainable urban development. An urban development policy will monitor how ordinary central government policy affects the competitiveness of metropolitan cities and large cities to the advantage of the surrounding region and the country as a whole. In addition, both national and international research in this area will be monitored and the conclusions from ‘Storstad i rörelse’ (‘Big City on the Move’) (SOU 2005:29) will be taken into consideration. A central part of the Government´s work in this policy area is cooperation with relevant and interested municipalities as well as other actors,
and coordination of government agencies.

Follow-up, evaluation and analysis
There are clear advantages in holding together a system for the follow-up, evaluation and analysis of, above all, the effect of general policies on urban districts characterised by exclusion. It provides an opportunity on a local, national and European level to adapt current follow- up procedures within the municipalities, government agencies and the EU in order to make geographic comparisons and analyses possible. The Government is currently reviewing the value of developing such a system and is looking into ways in which it could be designed and implemented.

Coordination and collaboration
Local development agreements are being offered to municipalities to develop more strategic collaboration than previous project-based collaboration between, primarily, public sector actors. The agreements are now intended to make it possible for local partnerships to be formed between government agencies, municipalities, private actors and civil society for the implementation of local development work.
Agencies that, by virtue of their ordinary tasks, are already active in the fields of employment, education, security and growth, will have opportunities to shape their activities to meet local needs and to actively participate in the local partnerships. The local partnerships give municipalities opportunities to become more effective in their use of resources from the European structural funds for local development work with the aim of achieving the goals of the Lisbon Agenda, among other things. At national level, the Government sees a value in developing forms of collaboration between central government, municipalities and the EU, as well as other relevant actors.

Dialogue and exchange of experience
Rapid developments are occurring in the areas of dialogue and exchange of knowledge and experience between different actors involved in urban development on a local, municipal, regional, national and international level, for example within the European Urban Knowledge Network and Urbact, which has become more important for Swedish cities. The Government views this kind of general development in a positive light.

Local development agreements for 2007
There are 21 municipalities with local development agreements for 2007: Borås, Botkyrka, Gävle, Göteborg, Halmstad, Haninge, Huddinge, Jönköping, Kristianstad, Landskrona, Linköping, Luleå, Malmö, Nacka, Norrköping, Stockholm, Sundsvall, Södertälje, Trollhättan, Uppsala, Växjö.

Government agencies with missions linked to the local development agreements: In the 2007 appropriation directions, the Labour Market Administration, the National Council for Crime Prevention, the Social Insurance Agency, the National Agency for School Improvement and the National Police Board were given instructions to – on the basis of their ordinary mission – help to achieve the objectives of the local development agreements by concluding collaboration agreements with the relevant municipalities.

Other government agencies with responsibilities within urban development policy are the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, the National Institute of Public Health, the Institute for Growth Policy Studies and the National Board for Youth Affairs.