Towards a green economy in Europe: EU environmental policy targets and objectives 2010-2050

Posted on: 25 July 2013
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European Union legislation has established more than 130 separate environmental targets and objectives to be met between 2010 and 2050. Together, these can provide useful milestones supporting Europe’s transition towards a ‘green economy’, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency.

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European Conference on Mobility Management. Gavle, Sweden, 29-31 May 2013

Posted on: 17 July 2013
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This year’s conference saw many contributions on the rising sharing economy, the use of information technology and gamification to promote the shift away from the car, evidence of the financial and economic benefits of mobility management for society, and tools for cities to assess their sustainable urban mobility policies. Presentations are available online.

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Quality of government and the returns of investment: Examining the impact of cohesion expenditure in European regions

Posted on: 16 July 2013
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This paper sets out to examine the impact of the quality of local and regional governments on the returns of investment, focusing on the returns of EU structural and cohesion funds. Despite the widespread belief that the quality of government affects the returns of public investments, whether this is effectively the case has seldom been proved.  The results of the analysis underline the importance of the quality of government both as a direct determinant of economic growth, as well as a moderator of the efficiency of structural and cohesion funds expenditure. The analysis finds that both EU investments targeting regions and quality of government make a difference for regional economic growth, but that above a significant threshold level of expenditure, the quality of government is the key factor determining the returns of public investment. In many of the regions receiving the bulk of structural funds, greater levels of cohesion expenditure would, in the best case scenario, only lead to a marginal improvement in economic growth, unless the quality of government is significantly enhanced.

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Cities. Crisis? Creativity? Modelling creative zones. Utrecht, 13-15 June 2013

Posted on: 16 July 2013
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Medium sized cities in Europe are struggling to cope with the urban crisis. When looking for revival Creative Zones take central stage. Building or strengthening your own urban creative zone was the core focus of the international CURE-Summer School where city planners, creative professionals, researchers, educators and urban project leaders shared new knowledge and innovative experiences when developing creative areas that contribute to the quality of urban life. Presentations are available online.

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National Sustainable Development Strategies in Europe 2013

Posted on: 15 July 2013
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This ESDN (European Sustainable Development Network) Quarterly Report (QR) is based on up-to-date information from the ESDN Country Profiles and continues the NSDS stock-taking that has begun with the ESDN Quarterly report September 2010. It also includes and reflects on the work and debates at the ESDN Conference 2013 on the same topic. The intention behind this QR is to provide an analysis of the situation of National Sustainable Strategies (NSDSs) in Europe. Therefore, it aims to investigate past achievements, explore new developments, identify future challenges, but we also take into consideration the discussions and insights with delegates during the ESDN Conference 2013.

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Agency and influence inside the EU institutions

Posted on: 5 July 2013
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The recent structural changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon exemplify the dynamic and constantly evolving nature of the European Union (EU)’s institutional system. Given the gradual empowerment of EU institutions, this Special Issue focuses on bringing agents and agency into the study of EU politics and influence. The objective is to explore the roles and activities of specific groups of actors inside the institutions and investigate actors’ capacity to influence (policy-making) processes beyond the analysis of outcomes.

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EU bioenergy potential from a resource efficiency perspective

Posted on: 3 July 2013
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The main objective of this report is to review the implications of resource efficiency principles for developing EU bioenergy production.

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From ice to high seas: Sea-level rise and European coastlines

Posted on: 28 June 2013
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This report provides an overview of the main issues surrounding the future of sea level rise, and how this will affect European coastlines. The emphasis is to improve understanding of the very real issues facing individuals and governments, and the institutions responsible for protecting and managing our coastal environments. The document is not simply a report from the ice2sea programme, but draws on established and recent science to provide a valuable primer and sourcebook for policy makers and general interest readers alike.

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What cities want: How cities plan future mobility

Posted on: 27 June 2013
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This study by the Technical University of Munich contains information from 15 international cities on how they want to more positively design their urban traffic in the future. The cities of Ahmedabad, Beirut, Bogota, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, Lyon, Melbourne, Munich, St. Petersburg, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore show the opportunities that go hand in hand with urbanisation.

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Cities of tomorrow: Action today

Posted on: 26 June 2013
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In October 2011, the European Commission published a report, Cities of tomorrow: Challenges, visions, ways forward, which examined the possible impact of a series of major trends on different types of European cities in the coming years. Six ‘workstreams’, launched by URBACT at the beginning of 2012, examined a theme which corresponds with one of the threats identified by Cities of Tomorrow and, over the period of a year, has brought together evidence from URBACT projects but also from a wide range of stakeholders from all around Europe. Reports on these themes are now available:

From crisis to choice: Re-imagining the future in shrinking cities

This report calls for a new realism with regard to urban regeneration in cities affected by shrinkage.

More jobs: Better cities. A framework for city action on jobs

This report provides a framework for city action on jobs, which aims to help cities support and grow more and better jobs for the recovery. It is aimed at practitioners and policy-makers at the city level, as well as those at national and international levels, concerned with urban employment and skills policy and practice.

Supporting urban youth through social innovation: Stronger together

This report examines how cities can promote social innovation to address chronic social challenges. Although our specific focus is young people, the conditions identified for promoting social innovation have wider relevance.

Against divided cities in Europe

This report intends to provide an overview of the concept of urban segregation and related public policies that have been studied and explored within URBACT. The objective is also to bring forward some of the most interesting practices from URBACT partner cities working on integrated sustainable development, which have implemented innovative policies against segregation.

How cities can motivate mobility mindsets

This report focuses on the ways in which cities can facilitate the transition to a new urban mobility, which is more fundamentally linked to the quality of space, to a new mindset, and is built on integration between policy priorities and multi-stakeholder buy-in.

Building energy efficiency in European cities

This report examines how cities can mitigate climate change by reducing energy consumption in the construction, maintenance and refurbishment of buildings.

Cities of tomorrow: Action today. URBACT II Capitalisation. Key message

This report highlights some of the main points previous six reports make, with a particular focus on those that are relevant for cities concerned with supporting integrated sustainable urban development in the next round of EU programmes.

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