Partnership with the Cities the URBAN Community Initiative

Brochure 2003 en Partnership with the Cities The URBAN Community Initiative The European Commission wishes to thank the national, regional and local organisations, including private enterprises, which collated and provided the necessary information for this publication. Photographs (pages): Mike St Maur Sheil (1, 2-3, 7, 13, 15, 30, 37, 41), URBAN I Wien (8), URBAN I Bremen (4, 8, 19), London URBAN Conference (10, 22), Bristol URBAN II (16), Ayuntamiento Pamplona (17), Stadt Graz (18), URBAN II Berlin (19, 26), URBAN II Saarbrücken (19), Dienst Sport en Recreatie (20), West Dunbartonshire Healthy Living Initiative (21), URBAN II Bremerhaven (23, 26, 32), URBACT (24), Deutsch-Österreichische URBAN-Netzwerk (25), URBAN I Mantes-la-Jolie (26), Comune di Taranto (27), RAW Tempel e.V. (28), Ville du Havre (29), Les Mureaux (31), Malmö stad (33), Stadt Luckenwalde (34), Cable Factory (35), Greek Ministry of National Economy (36), Ministère du Logement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg (38), Fundação para o Desenvolvimento do Vale da Campanhã (39), Le Forum de Grenoble (40), Office of the Taoiseach (42), LINDHOLM 21 (43), Ayuntamiento Cáceres (44), Comune di Torino (45), Museu de Construçao Naval, Vila do Conde (46). Cover picture: A scene from the Palermo URBAN I area, Sicilia, Italy Further information on the EU Structural Funds can be found at the following address: European Commission Directorate General - Regional Policy http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/index_en.htm A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2003 ISBN 92-894-5106-8 © European Communities, 2003 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Design & Production: AEIDL Edited by: Sonja Haertel and Daniel Mouqué Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union New freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Contents Foreword 5 Europe’s cities, the Structural Funds and the URBAN Community Initiative 6 The economic, social and environmental challenges facing cities and URBAN II areas 11 Local partnership and exchanging good practice across Europe - the URBAN method in action 16 Partnership with local authorities – helping cities to help themselves 16 Involving the local community 19 A systematic learning cycle 22 An integrated approach to urban needs 26 Reinforcing competitiveness 31 Tackling social exclusion 37 Physical and environmental regeneration 41 Glossary 47 4 Partnership with the Cities Partnership with the Cities 5 Foreword Europe is a continent characterised by a high degree of urbanisation. Today, close to half of the population live in urban areas with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Towns and cities play a major role in Europe’s social, economic and cultural life. As the principal motors of growth in a global economy, they contain the major share of Europe’s wealth, knowledge and technology. The paradox of Europe’s cities is that they are also home to some of the most serious problems facing society today: multiple deprivation, economic and social exclusion, degradation of both the natural and the built environment, congestion, crime, intolerance and racism, and loss of a sense of community. Urban policy has therefore been at the heart of the Union’s efforts to forge a strong, competitive and sustainable Europe while maintaining social cohesion. One of the main instruments in this regard is the URBAN community initiative through which the Union currently delivers support to areas in some 70 towns and cities across the fifteen Member States. The experience of my visits across the Union has left little doubt in mind that URBAN is widely regarded as one of the success stories of European cohesion policy. It has achieved this, I believe, because it has been able to strike a balance between the need for a coherent policy framework at Community level and the involvement of communities at the grassroots in the implementation of the programmes. It has thus contributed to new forms of governance in towns and cities. Another key feature of URBAN is that it places particular emphasis on innovation in tackling the problems faced by urban areas and urban communities. This brochure contains examples of some of the exciting projects that have been developed under this initiative in order to address the wide variety of problems experienced and opportunities arising in our towns and cities. These projects are the proof of the added value of European policy when combined with local flair and imagination. And they explain why, in the context of the ‘great debate’ on the future of European cohesion policy for the period after 2006, so many are convinced of the need for the maintenance of a strong urban dimension. Michel Barnier Member of the European Commission responsible for Regional Policy and Reform of the Institutions 6 Europe’s cities, the Structural Funds and the URBAN Community Initiative Partnership with the Cities Europe’s cities, the Structural Funds and the URBAN Community Initiative Europe’s towns and cities present a paradox. On the one transport, telecommunications, training, education, hand they are the motors of growth in an increasingly health, water supply, energy and waste treatment - and global economy, concentrating wealth, knowledge and encouraging investment in business and economic technical capacity. They are also centres for the provision activity. Cities act as motors of growth in such regions of public services, such as education, healthcare and and the Structural Funds seek to build on this. transport. At the same time however, many of the worst problems facing society today are concentrated in urban • Objective 2 funding amounts to over Euro 22 billion and areas, including economic and social exclusion, supports economic and social conversion in areas facing degradation of the natural and built environment, structural difficulties, including industrial restructuring congestion, crime, intolerance and racism, and the loss of and urban areas in difficulty. The major problem for such local identity. areas is not lack of infrastructure, but the decline in traditional economic activities. This requires the Urban areas are therefore important strategic locations for development of alternatives. Key measures include the pursuing shared European goals such as promoting promotion of enterprise and retraining. economic competitiveness, social inclusion, environmental • Objective 3 (Euro 24 billion) focuses on modernising sustainability, and enhancing local culture and identity. training systems and promoting employment. Three challenges in particular stand out: In addition, the EQUAL Community Initiative aims to • Reinforcing the competitiveness of Europe’s towns tackle social exclusion, which is particularly relevant to and cities. Building on successes, removing obstacles to deprived urban areas. entrepreneurship, new technology and employment. • Tackling social exclusion, improving access to jobs and The URBAN Community Initiative makes a specific training for all, including immigrants and those from contribution within this framework. The current round ethnic minorities. In addition, building the capacity of covers some 2.2 million people across Europe living in 70 local communities to help themselves. urban neighbourhoods in crisis. Some Euro 730 million is devoted to tackling the main problems these areas face. • Physical and environmental regeneration, ensuring Key features include: sustainability and improving the attractiveness of towns and cities. Building on the cultural and architectural • An integrated approach to issues which elsewhere are heritage of urban areas. often tackled in isolation: reinforcing competitiveness; tackling social exclusion; and physical and environmental Europe’s cities benefit in various ways from European regeneration. Cohesion Policy: • A high profile for EU priorities such as the integration of • Objective 1 helps regions who are lagging in immigrant communities, sustainable development, equal development to catch up. Spending accounts for two opportunities and the information society. thirds of the Structural Funds or some Euro 135 billion (1). The focus is on providing Objective 1 regions • Programmes are run at the local level, close to with the basic infrastructure they lack - in terms of people and their problems. Local authorities are involved in the running of two thirds of the programmes. Urban areas are being enabled to help (1) for the EU15 in 1999 prices. themselves. Europe’s cities, the Structural Funds and the URBAN Community Initiative 7 Partnership with the Cities • Close involvement of local communities, who participated in the drafting of over 80% of the programmes. They are also well represented on the monitoring committees. The participation of the local community is a precondition for programme effectiveness, not least when it comes to tackling issues to do with social exclusion or the local environment. • A built-in learning cycle, with extensive tools for analysing and exchanging experience. Within URBAN, the URBACT programme will structure the identification of good practices and the exchange of experience between some 200 EU cities. This document provides information on the situation of Europe’s urban areas and on the

Load more