Cities are great economic drivers

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, outlines the policies on the menu for urban areas.

Cities are the nerve centres of economic activity, research and innovation. They are also where the vast majority of European citizens live, and they are brimming with dynamism. Paradoxically, however, many are confronted with difficult issues related to social exclusion and suffer from poor environmental quality.

For me, cities symbolise the dual challenge facing the European Union today, namely to improve our competitive-ness while at the same time tackling social and environmental problems. I do not believe that there is a single answer, a standard recipe applicable to all cities. Each situation is unique and has to be considered in its own context. We know, for example, that of the cities studied in the Urban Audit¹, one in three is experiencing a phenomenon of decline, population drift away from the centre, vacant properties, and under-used equipment and infrastructure. Others, in contrast, are experiencing a property boom and infrastructure and housing shortages.

But cities are not only centres of economic activity and of significant concentrations of our populations; they are also autonomous players in their own right. In all Member States, local and municipal authorities have a wide range of powers, these include statutory powers – which vary widely from country to country – and also powers which arise from their capacity for initiative.

And these powers are considerable. Certain local authorities demonstrate great creativity and innovation in a variety of ways: encouraging partnerships between businesses, universities, research centres and trade unions; putting artists in touch with creative industries and cultural infrastructure; promoting dialogue – difficult in some countries – between employers and education chiefs or the public employment service to establish employers' needs in terms of jobs and qualifications.

It is this capacity to bring together actors from different fields and to create partnerships that engenders the sort of development dynamics and synergies that are conducive to innovation and job creation.

It is not just cities that can take such initiatives. The regions, of course, are at the front line too. Cities, regions, national governments all wield powers essential for the development of urban centres, whether in the field of transport, education, security or immigration. Co-ordination of all the public players is essential for good governance.

I believe in the active and effective role that cities can play in helping the Union attain the ambitious goals it has set itself in the fields of growth, employment and competitiveness. This is why I have presented a proposal (Communication 'Cohesion Policy and the cities: the urban contribution to growth and jobs in the regions' COM (2006) 385) that aims to involve them fully in the implementation of European regional policy.

We made a realistic analysis of the urban situation of the Union and of the urban dimension of Community policies. This is based on our long experience of programmes with an urban dimension. The Union's regional policy has supported major infrastructure projects developed in the cities and regions of Europe under the 'Convergence' and 'Competitiveness and employment' objectives, and in the 200 cities that benefited from the Community initiative URBAN, which was designed specifically to help urban areas in difficulty. This experience has helped us to identify the most effective and often innovatory methods that these programmes have permitted in three key fields, namely, the economic, social and environmental.

We have set out 60 recommendations that we hope will help all partners – associations, economic operators, professionals, or local and regional authorities – to design action programmes eligible for support from the structural funds during the period 2007-2013. The Union will be able to support numerous projects and help to ensure that the Community funds are used to maximum effect.

We have opted for an 'à la carte' approach, so that each region or urban area can tailor our recommendations to its own needs. The range of objectives is wide:
• Improving the attractiveness of cities, in terms of transport, services, environmental quality and culture;
• Promoting balanced development between cities. Strengthening relations between urban, rural and peri-urban areas;
• Reinforcing the role of cities as poles of growth, promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and the knowledge economy, and supporting SMEs;
• Improving employability and reducing disparities between neighbourhoods and social groups;
• Tackling delinquency and the fear of crime;
• Improving the governance of urban projects through the involvement of all competent parties concerned and through efficient planning;
• Promoting networks for exchanging experience and Best Practice;
• Developing financial engineering mechanisms so as to maximise the lever effect of the structural funds.

I am convinced that my proposal will be a useful tool for the partners concerned in preparing their cohesion programmes for the period 2007-2013.

The Union needs innovative and dynamic cities, which create the best conditions for growth, job creation and innovation, while at the same time guaranteeing social cohesion and the quality of the environment.

1 The Urban Audit organised by the European Commission collects information on the quality of life in large and medium sized cities in Europe. At present it covers 258 cities in 27 countries.