
75 
Cities of tomorrow - Challenges, visions, ways forward 
Europe-wide data  the Urban Audit149 
and Urban Atlas150 
The Urban Audit provides comparable data for 321 cities 
in the 27 EU Member States, 10 cities in Norway and 
Switzerland, and ( with a smaller data set ) 25 cities 
in Turkey. It is a unique source for city comparisons. 
It contains a long list of indicators collected every three 
years, and a short list of key policy indicators which are 
collected annually. The Urban Audit builds on ten years 
of close cooperation between the national statistical 
offices, cities and the European Commission ( Eurostat 
and DG Regional Policy ). It will be further developed 
and adapted to European policy objectives, such as the 
Europe 2020 strategy. 
Based on the analysis of the Urban Audit data, the State 
of European Cities reports provide information about 
demographic change, urban competitiveness, living 
conditions and the administrative power of 321 EU cities. 
The European Urban Atlas provides detailed digital 
geo-referenced data on land cover and urban land 
use, compiled from satellite imagery and auxiliary data 
sources. The Urban Atlas was launched by the European 
Commission ( DG Enterprises GMES bureau and DG 
Regional Policy ) and supported by the European Space 
Agency. All major EU cities and their surroundings will 
be covered by 2011. This adds harmonised land-use 
indicators to those already collected by the Urban Audit. 
The Urban Atlas will be updated every five years. 
Rotterdam 
REGIOgis 
Urban Atlas Classification 
Continuous Urban fabric (S.L. > 80%) 
Discontinuous Dense Urban Fabric (S.L.: 50% - 80%) 
Discontinuous Medium Density Urban Fabric (S.L.: 30% - 50%) 
Discontinuous Low Density Urban Fabric (S.L.: 10% - 30%) 
Discontinuous very low density urban fabric (S.L. < 10%) 
Isolated Structures 
Industrial, commercial, public, military and private units 
Fast transit roads and associated land 
Other roads and associated land 
Railways and associated land 
Port areas 
Airports 
Mineral extraction and dump sites 
Construction sites 
Land without current use 
Green urban areas 
Sports and leisure facilities 
Agricultural Areas 
Forests and semi-natural areas 
Wetlands 
Water 
0 5 Km 
Text 
149 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/themes/urban/audit/index_en.htm and 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/region_cities/introduction. 
150 http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/urban-atlas.

Perception survey on the quality 
of life in European cities151 

The European Commission has conducted perception 
surveys every three years since 2004 in order to assess 
the quality of life in major European cities (31 cities 
in 2004, 75 cities in 2007 and 2010). The most recent 
surveys have given environmental issues more 
attention, including a series of questions on: 

 
the availability and use of public transport, and other 
means of transport to work/training; 
 
cities commitment to fighting climate change 
(e.g. reducing energy consumption in housing or 
promoting alternatives to transport by car); 
 
perception of the city as ahealthy city; 
 
perception ofpovertyin the city; 
 
peoples satisfaction regarding the availability of 
public spaces and the quality of the built environment 
in their neighbourhood. 
gathering and analysis not only at the level of regions 
and countries but also at a local level. Ideally a range of 
different data sets should be included in such a knowledge 
base, e.g. indices of housing conditions, accessibility and 
actual use of public services and infrastructure, deprivation, 
environmental health, cultural aspects, etc., as well as a 
set of assets which are often given insufficient attention 
because they are non-marketable, such as quality of air, 
sound pollution, aesthetics and architectural quality, 
cultural heritage, cohesion and social peace. 

New and more precise indicators alone are not sufficient to 
properly understand and assess cities current situation and 
future development potential. Cities also need the ability to 
communicate this type of information between their own 
departments in order to foster a shared and integrated 
understanding of the current situation and the progress 
made in meeting overall objectives. 

There is also a need for city diagnostics to be fully 
understood and shared by those outside a restricted 
group of experts. Information and communication policies 
to render technical information comprehensible and 
accessible to wider groups have to be complemented with 
participatory approaches to create a shared understanding 
of challenges and shared ownership of strategies. One 
solution is to promote collective intelligence-learning 
focused on daily life problems, e.g. developing projectbased 
learning. The ability to formulate a long-term vision 
is dependant on the ability to make a solid diagnosis of 

current needs and future potential. But a long-term vision 
is also needed to focus intelligence-gathering and learning 
on the right issues. 

4.4.2. Foresightasaparticipativegovernance 
tooltomanagecomplexity 
Urban governance must be focused on understanding 
the possible development trajectories of the city and the 
switch to sustainable trajectories according to a long-
term and shared vision of the city. A solid knowledge base 
alone is insufficient to build a long-term vision to guide 
actions; cities also need appropriate tools and instruments 
for strategic planning and collective visioning. The ability 
of cities to conduct forward-looking exercises and to 
formulate their own visions of the future is fundamental in 
this context. 

Foresight is about shaping, debating and thinking 
about the future. It is a systematic, participatory, futureintelligence-
gathering and medium-to long-term vision 
building process aimed at present-day decisions and 
the mobilisation of joint actions. It is a set of structured 
and participative vision building and strategic planning 
activities that allows cities and regions to think about, 
consider, debate and shape the medium-to long-term 
future of their territories. Many of the key process elements 
of foresight are widely used in strategic planning: the use 
of expert panels; socio-economic and environmental data 

151 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/themes/urban/audit/index_en.htm. 


Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 

SERAING  Urban foresight of residents integrated into the city Master Plan 


Seraing is a former industrial city in Belgium with 
61000 inhabitants and a surface area of 36 km2. A decline 
in the local steel industry has contributed to high 
unemployment and a downturn in commercial activities 
in some areas, including Molinay, a multicultural, inner 
city neighbourhood covering 1.5 km2 and home to 
1700 inhabitants. Since 1997, the NGO Centre dAction 
Laique (CAL) has played a key role in addressing issues here. 

In 2006, the city of Seraing adopted a Master Plan 
(physical urban plan). As Molinay was not specifically 
targeted, the CAL organised nine debate workshops 
involving residents in order to establish a common 
vision for the neighbourhood, and worked with external 
experts and partners to identify the main challenges. 

One partner, the Destre Institute, a foresight expert, 
managed to integrate the Molinay 2017 process into 
its INTERREG project: Futurreg. However, no strategic 
action or monitoring programmes were identified, as 
CAL believed this was the duty of the municipality. 

The challenges listed were later positively received by 
the municipality, and, even though other challenges are 
still to be addressed in the fields of education, safety 
and housing, in 2008 some local infrastructure works 
were successfully integrated into the revised Master 
Plan. Despite difficulties in turning strategies into 
action, Molinay 2017 remains an excellent example of a 
participatory foresight process combining local support 
and professional expertise. 



consultation; brainstorming; trend and extrapolation; 
and the setting of strategic goals. Foresights distinctive 
feature is a long-term future orientation that goes 
beyond immediate issues and concerns, and the use 
of methodologies such as brainstorming, scenario 
development and scenario analysis using SWOT (strengths, 
weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis or similar 
techniques. 

Foresight, unlike most approaches to strategic planning, 
deals with long-term prospects, and draws upon the views 
of multiple stakeholders. Foresight is not only a powerful 
tool for reacting and adapting to external events but also a 
method for engaging individuals, communities, businesses, 
public authorities and other organisations proactively in the 

identification of their preferred future. It is recognised that 
before decisions with long-term implications can be taken, 
it is necessary to generate a widespread dialogue about 
future choices and preferences. Stakeholder engagement 
is, therefore, at the heart of most contemporary futures 
exercises. 

Foresight exercises can have a narrow sectoral focus or 
adopt a wider, more systemic perspective. The former tends 
to be more technology-and competitiveness-oriented 
while the latter often has a more social perspective. Some 
years ago, long-term visions were dominated by the Lisbon 
Agenda, converging in the idea of achieving national or 
global competitiveness and levels of attraction. Following 
the economic downturn with its associated negative social 

Peri-urban transition challenges  a wicked problem 
needing a foresight approach 

Policymakers are surrounded by wicked problems 
which cannot be solved, and policy challenges which 
are multi-level, multi-objective and multi-stakeholder. 
From practical experience, success may depend not 

only on more or better governance, but on new forms 
and systems of governance. So we can look at the 
challenges for urban governance in more than one way 

 from dealing with the problems of the present, to the 
challenge of how to respond, adapt and evolve in the 
future152 . 
Peri-urban transitions / challengesRural 
conservationUrban 
developmentRural 
developmentUrban 
conservationLocalizing 
responses 
Urban 
gravitational 
pull 
Globalization 
pressures 
Rural & peri-
urban pull 
STRUCTURALTENSIONSLocalizing agenda  
spatial ecology 
& the green infrastructure 
transition: localizing 
identities for newly 
globalizing communitiesGlobalizing agenda - 
cultural cognitive transition: 
new patterns of globalizing 
capital, in post-fordist 
liberalized economic / 
social structuresCOMPETING 
POLICY 
AGENDASRuralizing agenda  
quality of life & green 
auence: grow your own 
connection to the land 
with all modern facilities 
& resourcesUrbanizing agenda  
metro-scape transition: 
networks of urban economies 
& lifestyles, across wider 
peri-urban & rural areas;
Source: Ravetz, Joe 153 
152 Ravetz, Joe, Challenges for urban governance, Brussels, June 2010. 
153 Ravetz, Joe, op.cit. 


Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 

Wider stakeholder mobilisation to manage complexity154 

The growing complexity of urban and territorial 
development increases the need for a wider stakeholder 
engagement, which is mirrored in the evolution of 
foresight. As we move away from a closed practice 
between experts and decision-makers, we see more 
open and participative approaches, involving, in most 
cases, key stakeholders in various thematic or transversal 
workshops and sometimes a wider citizen involvement 

(e.g. Charleroi 2020, Ctes dArmor 2 mille20). In the 
latter situation, important financial and communication 
means are needed to support the process. 
This evolution has had impacts on the methods used. 
Expert-based Delphi surveys and scenario building are 
being replaced by more open foresight workshops to 
debate issues and future scenarios. In the participative 
way of creating scenarios, we see artists, writers or 

Table 3 Examples of city foresights157 

videographers helping to describe the images of 
tomorrow. A striking feature is the culture of debate 
which now characterises most future studies, including 
highly participative methods such as world cafs, a 
rather simple but structured conversational process.155 
Information technologies are increasingly being used, 
as for instance in the Urgent Evoke156 project, and their 
full potential has yet to be explored. 

The involvement of a wider set of actors makes foresight 
more democratic and gives its results more social 
legitimacy. Outputs of foresight exercises become 
milestones in cities development and can be referred 
to by citizens or organisations when dialoguing with 
decision-makers. Wider involvement also generates a wider 
ownership of the exercise, of its results and of the territory. 
As a consequence, foresights have in some cases, such as 
the Northern Basque Country in France or in some Spanish 
regions, become replicable rather than one-off exercises. 

Small / medium-size urban context Large-size / global urban context 

Prospective des quartiers158: Avignon, Randstad 2040 (NL); Grand Paris; Lyon; Rennes; Pays 

Long-term systemic 

Rennes, Besanon (FR); Seraing, Basque; Normandy 2020 (FR); Bruxelles 2040 (BE); 

view . 20 years 

Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve 2050 (BE) Gteborg 2050 (SE); Gipuzkoa +20 (ES) 

Built Environment Foresight 2030 (UK); 

Long-term sectoral Digital Thermi (Central Macedonia, 

BMW 2025 (IE); Cyberterritoires et territoires en 

view . 15 years Greece); Martinique 2025 (FR) 

2030; Lille 3000 (FR); TransBaltic Foresight Debate 

Istanbul Digital City programme (TR) 

Short-term sectoral Linz 21 (AT) and many Agenda 21 

ManchesterasaKnowledgeRegion(UK) 

view 510 years initiatives led in small urban contexts 

Agenda 21 of Berlin 

Hammarby Sjstad (Stockholm, SE); 

Short-term systemic Piano Strategico Turin (IT); Andalucia 2020; 

Chambery 2020 (FR); Castellon 2020 

view 515 years Bilbao 2010 (ES)

(ES); Many urban planning exercises 

Source: Van Cutsem, Michal, op. cit. 

154 Van Cutsem, Michal, Institut Destre, Cities of tomorrow  Challenges, visions, dys-visions as seen by cities, Brussels, December 2010. 
155 http://www.theworldcafe.com/. 
156 http://www.urgentevoke.com/. 
157 Van Cutsem, Michal, Institut Destre, op.cit. 
158 Literally, neighbourhood foresight. 



consequences, the awareness of climate change as a main 
threat, and the shift in policy rhetoric away from the Lisbon 
Agenda, foresights now tend to be more environmentally or 
socially driven. In both cases, the marketing and mobilising 
role of foresight is often emphasised, as illustrated by the 
ambition of Liverpool to be a thriving city by 2040 (see 

p. 46) or the vision of Bilbao 2030 as an innovative city, open 
to the world and exceptionally creative (on previous page). 
The branding dimension159 of future visions often results in 
bold catchphrases such as the best big city in the world, 

a world city in the international competition between 
territories, the Knowledge Capital, Knowledge means 
Change, Cosmoregion in 2015, etc.  most of which are 
centred on economic leadership, quality of life, balanced 
development, and technological proactivity. Such visions 
do not always reflect reality and may lack the necessary 
widespread ownership and processes of change to be 
effective. But well conceived and shared visions can be 
effective tools to overcome conflicts and have strong 
leverage effects in steering investments and forming a base 
for shared projects. 

A vision of Bilbao 2030 

In 2030 Bilbao is an innovative city, capable of 
foreseeing change, with a strong sense of identity 
and belonging, with communities sharing a long-term 
project, open to the world and exceptionally creative. 
Different types of innovative cultural, urban renewal and 
environmental projects are being developed, as well as 
an infrastructure for global competition. 

The vision is based on three principles: 

 
Optimisation of resources and effectiveness; 
cooperation with surrounding territories. 
 
Motivation of people and ideas ; analysing things 
in a more innovative way. 
 
Metropolitan Bilbao as a locomotive for the region 
(7 million people in the hinterland of Bilbao), and 
development of the region as a poly-nuclear region 
rather than a metropolitan region. 
Cities do not compete using only infrastructures but 
also with intangibles, such as knowledge, people, 
quality of life and leadership. The vision of Bilbao is a 
vision of a city capable of attracting and materialising 
good ideas for the benefit of the community. It is based 
on people and their values, the citys activities and 

the citys appeal. Innovative businesses and initiatives 
should turn Bilbao into a knowledge node within a 
global network. 

Bilbao 2030s vision underlines the need to be creative, 
open, entrepreneurial, well educated, multicultural, 
etc. There is a focus on the 2535-year-old cohort 
as many young people have left the city during the 
recent crisis. The generational change of leaders and 
the role of professionals are emphasised by working 
in networks. 

The main challenges in realising this vision are: 

 
Understanding an uncertain future and adapting to 
the economic, social and cultural changes brought by 
the global economy; 
 
Achieving effective publicprivate collaboration; 
 
Mobilising leadership and involving people; making 
the projects credible and worthwhile. 
The project is implemented by the Metropoli 30 association. 
It involves more than 400 people from 
the public sector, private sector and civil society. 
It builds on the experience of the Bilbao regeneration 
project, which was a success in terms of integrated 
development. 

159 Emile Hooge underlines a tendency according to which cities themselves become copyrighted labels 
(Quand les villes deviennent des marques), La cote des villes in Futuribles, No 354, JulyAugust 2009, p. 49. 


Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 

Negative visions or dys-visions may play an important 
role in visualising potential conflicts and emphasising the 
need for corrective actions. The most negative scenario in 
the Liege 2020 foresight exercise focused on governance 
fragmentation, pointing to the danger of individual and 
institutional conflicts, with each actor following its own 
strategy. This scenario was so negatively received by the 
local actors that the process was stopped. However, the 
dys-vision functioned as a strong warning signal and raised 
awareness of the need to act. Subsequent steps were 
taken to tackle some of the challenges presented in the 
scenario160. Dys-visions may also play an important role 
in raising awareness of different more or less predictable 
hazards and may be useful tools in strengthening cities 
resilience to both foreseeable and unexpected risks. 

4.5. Collective mobilisation 
around a European urban 
development model 
Foresights and other forms of participative strategic 
planning initiatives mainly have a citywide or cityregional 
scope, and are often market-geared with a focus 
on institutional actors. A wider collective mobilisation 
engaging citizens in key urban development issues seems 
increasingly important for remedying socio-economic 
polarisation and exclusion, as well as counteracting the 
negative effects of growing diversity. Large sports or 
cultural events can have a mobilising effect and help to 
create a shared identity and boost confidence in the future. 
But also less spectacular action is needed with a focus on 
everyday concerns. 

4.5.1. Residentmobilisation 
The involvement of city residents is crucial to the success of 
many policies, especially in a context of crisis and possible 
conflicts between the different stakeholders. In cities where 
resources and time have been dedicated to organising 
participatory processes, there is stronger cohesion, 
especially at neighbourhood level, and greater ownership 
of both short-and long-term strategies and visions by the 
residents.161 Some local governments have put into place 
mechanisms to directly involve the residents in budgetary 
decisions. Even if such processes are restricted to specific 
parts of the local budget, they create a trend for a greater 
empowerment of citizens. Other examples of participative 
and solidarity-based governance include employment 
pacts, the Quebec model,162 social enterprises, etc.163 

4.5.2. Localcommunity-led development 
approaches 
Area-based local community-led development approaches 
are focused on supporting endogenous development 
processes, i.e. stimulating development from within by 
external support, facilitating innovative local solutions. 
Unlike local authority-led initiatives, they build on a 
stronger role, commitment and engagement of the 
community itself and are not necessarily confined within 
administrative borders. As such they are able to also take 
on wider and more long-term economic development 
strategies. 

160 
Van Cutsem, Michal, op.cit. 

161 
Moulaert, Frank, reference to the recent history of urban policy in Antwerp in presentation, Workshop 3 Cities of tomorrow  
How to make it happen ? Brussels, December 2010. 

162 
A model of governance ensuring the participation of a plurality of actors. 

163 
Reference to the KATARSIS FP6 Coordination Action in Tosics, Ivn, issue paper, Cities of tomorrow, January 2011. 


Resident empowerment and participation 
in deprived neighbourhoods in Berlin164 

Berlin faced massive flows of in-and out-migration 
in the years following the fall of the Iron Curtain. 

1.7 million people left the city and as many people 
moved in, until every second inhabitant was a 
newcomer in a city of around 3.4 million people. 
The massive population flows resulted in a growing 
impoverishment of the inner city as wealthy people 
moved to the outskirts of the city. To remedy this, 
the city set up the Soziale Stadt programme aimed 
at the revitalisation of deprived neighbourhoods 
in districts with special development needs. Thirtyfour 
intervention areas with a total population of 
390000 inhabitants  more than a tenth of Berliners  
were established. The programme is funded by the 
Land, the European Union and the State. 

The programme is aimed at fostering participation, 
activation and empowerment and is based on a series 
of principles, notably: 

 
focus on the needs, opportunities and resources 
of the residents and their living environment; 
 
intensive and interdisciplinary cooperation involving 
local interest groups and local stakeholders; 
 
a change in perspective  target-group-specific scope 
is extended to include territorial reference with a 
focus on the social situation; 
 
common learning, innovation and development 
process. 
Formal structures with resident participation, or 
Quartiersrte, have been put into place. These area 
councils are responsible for deciding local budgets, 
75% of which have been devoted to the development 
of socio-cultural projects (compared to 25% only as an 
average for the wholeSoziale Stadtprogramme). 

The positive impact of giving local residents greater 
responsibility has led inter alia to a new definition 
of tasks to be achieved by the boroughs and by the 
Senate Department for Urban Development. New 
forms of cooperation between the boroughs and the 
Senate administration have been developed, as well as 
a regular dialogue on city-wide objectives, local needs 
and territorial sets of priorities. 


164 Klikar, Clemens, Workshop 3 Cities of tomorrow  How to make it happen ? Brussels, December 2010. 


Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 

PLAINE COMMUNE  Area-based approach to encourage businesses 
to provide jobs to locals in deprived areas in transition 

Plaine Commune (346 209 inhabitants  2007 data) is one 
of the many metropolitan government structures set up 
since 1999 to facilitate joint work between local authorities, 
and one of the most prominent ones in the capital region. 
Eight municipalities in the Seine-Saint-Denis dpartement 
are part of Plaine Commune: Aubervilliers, Epinaysur-
Seine, La Courneuve, lle-Saint-Denis, Pierrefitte, 
Saint-Denis, Stains, Villetaneuse. It is located in an area 
characterised by much poverty, unemployment, lowskilled 
workers and economic relocation. 

Plaine Commune had a strategy of attracting large firms 
from the service industry, however such firms do not 
typically recruit low-skilled workers. Another problem was 
unbalanced urban development between different areas. 
Plaine Commune thus developed a new strategy to improve 
access to jobs with new businesses coming to the area. 

One flagship initiative was the set-up of job-search 
resource centres (Maisons pour lEmploi) in each of 
the eight municipalities, backed by the ERDF. Charters 
have also been signed by Plaine Commune and about 
100 companies for specific actions aimed at social 
cohesion. In April 2011, the large LE MILLNAIRE 
shopping centre opened in the area. According to the 
Charter signed in 2006, locals should be recruited for 
75% of the 700 jobs expected. 

The main strength of Plaine Communes strategy 
is the will of all local authorities concerned and 
the supra-local level to work together rather than 
compete. Other strengths are its capacity to promote 
synergy between its own administration and businesses, 
and the strong link between Plaine Commune 
and residents. 



Local development in an urban setting  URBAN I & II 

The Urban Pilot Projects and the subsequent URBAN 
Community Initiative programmes (URBAN I 199499 and 
URBAN II 200006) are examples of local-developmentapproach 
initiatives supported by the European Union, 
via the European Regional Development Fund. Local 
partnerships were encouraged to develop an integrated 
and innovative approach to tackling the social, economic 
and environmental challenges of urban areas suffering 
from multiple deprivations. 

The ex-post evaluation of URBAN II found evidence of 
positive impacts of the local development approaches 
in programme areas through improved performance in 
relation to economic, health, crime, education and other 
data. The stakeholders saw the main benefits of the 
URBAN programme in the method itself, the promotion 
of integration, its flexibility, partnership building and 
its local agenda. 

Local development approaches encourage partnerships 
between public, private and voluntary organisations, 
providing a powerful tool to mobilise and involve local 
communities and organisations, as well as citizens. 
They provide a more integrated and inclusive approach 
to tackling local challenges, with a focus on the quality, 
inclusiveness and sustainability of growth strategies. They 
are particularly relevant in addressing areas hit by multiple 
disadvantages where traditional regional development 
tools do not work. They can also be used to support active 
inclusion, fight poverty, foster social innovation, or design 
initiatives for the regeneration of deprived areas. 

As with any other instrument or approach built on 
strong bottom-up participation and engagement, local 
development is dependant on actors having sufficient 
capacity. 

4.5.3. Needfor capacitybuilding 
toensurefull empowerment 
In parallel with the increased need for resident mobilisation 
and participation, there is a tendency for old models 
of representative democracy to be complemented by 
more participative modes of democratic engagement 
and accountability. It can be expected that within 
new governance frameworks, individual citizens and 

communities will take more responsibility for their own 
welfare and for the local policy processes that shape their 
lives and the places in which they live.165 

Citizen participation and empowerment raise some 
questions about democratic legitimacy and the 
representativeness of those engaged. Weaker or 
marginalised groups, e.g. the long-term unemployed, 
single mothers, ethnic minorities or the less-educated, have 
greater difficulties in expressing their voices. Participation 
is sometimes mistakenly used to designate information 
activities. Stronger interest groups or those who are 
more skilled in making their voice heard may monopolise 
opinions and act as communication gatekeepers. Outreach 
methods are, therefore, needed to ensure that participation 
involves not only active citizens and representatives of 
the middle classes, but also a higher diversity of actors 
at the local government and community levels, including 
people from all socio-economic backgrounds, age groups 
and from diverse positions in society. 

The success of local development approaches relies heavily 
on individual management capacity and the commitment 
of project holders and their social networks. The need for 
capacity building at the local level is especially strong in 
communities with little or no tradition of civic engagement 
by citizens and organisations, which is the case in many of 
the EU-12 Member States. 

165 Vranken, Jan, issue paper, Cities of tomorrow. 


Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 

4.6. Cooperation between cities 
is key to sustainable European 
urban development 
Cities have competed against and cooperated with each 
other throughout history. The more recent expansion of 
cities beyond their cores and their increased connectivity 
with a much larger territory, has not only increased 
possibilities for economic (and socio-cultural) exchange, 
but also increased competition. Today cities compete for 
foreign and domestic investments, human capital, trade, 
tourists, etc. This competition often leads to productive 
emulation processes, but may in some instances be 
detrimental to economic development and territorial 
cohesion, as well as leading to a suboptimal use of 

resources. There are, for instance, limits to the demand for 
airports, universities, business parks and large arenas in a 
given territory. 

In a situation of scarce public resources, cooperation 
around strategic issues such as public services, large 
development projects, knowledge infrastructure and 
transport hubs becomes essential for sustainable urban 
and territorial development. It is, therefore, essential that 
cities in neighbouring territories engage in coopetition or 
cooperative competition rather than in plain competition. 

The main challenge for coopetition among EU cities is 
developing a strategic process of thinking, talking, planning 
and acting creatively and differently, yet together, towards 
a sustainable responsible and successful future.166 

The European added value in trans-national 
city cooperation 

Cross-border cooperation concerns neighbouring cities 
which belong to the same Functional Urban Area on 
different sides of national borders. Within cross-border 
metropolitan regions, cities cooperate on issues 
such as transport and regional planning, economic 
development, tourism, culture, research, education 
and employment.167 Well-known examples include 
LilleKortrijkTournai and CopenhagenMalm. Cross-
border cooperation also involves cities that belong to 
a common broader geographical basin with shared 
features, e.g. ViennaBratislavaGyorBrno. The cross-
border strand of the European Territorial Cooperation 
Objective supports such cooperation. 

Networks of cities also operate at the level of macroregions, 
such as Baltic, Mediterranean or Atlantic cities. 
For example, through its fourth priority Promoting 
attractive and competitive cities and regions, the 
Baltic Sea Region 200713 Transnational Cooperation 

Programme foresees both hard measures, such as 
investments in infrastructures, as well as softer ones, such 
as marketing and encouraging synergy between actors 
to create a global integration zone. The cooperation 
programme is now closely linked to the broader macroregional 
EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.168. 

Cities also network across Europe to share experience 
and to learn from each other. The EU networking 
programme URBACT169 supports such cooperation 
in a number of thematic areas such as innovation 
and creativity, active inclusion, cultural heritage or 
human capital and entrepreneurship. This networking 
stimulates peer learning and reinforces city managers 
capacity to confront shared problems and exploit similar 
potentials. 

