- JPI URBAN EUROPE -


TRANSITION TOWARDS 

SUSTAINABLE 
AND LIVEABLE 
URBAN FUTURES

THE STRATEGIC RESEARCH 

AND INNOVATION AGENDA 

OF JPI URBAN EUROPE



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The paper was written by Darren Robinson (University of Nottingham; Nottingham, United 
Kingdom), Jonas Bylund (IQ Samhällsbyggnad; Stockholm, Sweden), Olivier Coutard (Laboratoire 
Techniques Terriroired Et Sociétés; Paris, France), Göran Finnveden (KTH Royal Institute 
of Technology; Stockholm, Sweden), Pieter Hooimeijer (Utrecht University; Utrecht, the 
Netherlands), Sigrun Kabisch (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Leipzig, Germany), 
Rafaela Matos (LNEC Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil; Lisbon, Portugal), Margit Noll (AIT 
Austrian Institute of Technology; Vienna, Austria), Roderik Ponds (Atlas Onderzoek - Atlas voor 
Gemeenten; Utrecht, the Netherlands) Cristina Pronello (Politecnico di Torino; Turin, Italy), and 
Johannes Riegler (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology; Vienna, Austria). 

The JPI Urban Europe would like to thank all institutions and individuals who participated in 
the development process of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda. A large amount of 
researchers, practitioners, representatives of cities across Europe, funding agencies, European 
institutions contributed by providing their viewpoints on research, technological development 

and innovation in workshops and meetings over the past two years and by contributing to the 
consultation process on national and European level.

JPI Urban Europe is a transnational research and innovation programme built upon and aligning 
national strategies and research programmes. According to our mission statement ‘Global Urban 
Challenges – Joint European Solutions’, the main ambition of the initiative is to provide relevant 
solutions and improvement for cities, their inhabitants and businesses. 

September 2015

JPI URBAN EUROPE



The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of JPI Urban Europe


-1-

CONTENT

 Executive Summary 2

1 Preamble 5

2 Developing the SRIA: A consultative and deliberative approach 7

3 The Challenges of an Urbanised Europe 9

4 The Urban Policy Debate: calling for revitalised efforts to improve Urban Sustainability 11

5 The Landscape of transnational, urban-related research cooperation in Europe 13

6 Building upon and aligning national strategies the benefit of transnational cooperation 15

7 JPI Urban Europe: Global Urban Challenges – Joint European Solutions 16

 A Programme on Transition Towards Sustainable and Liveable Urban Futures 18

 Transitioning towards sustainability and liveability: A longitudinal programme 19

 Thematic Priorities 20

8 Research Themes 22

 Sustainable Transition Pathways 22

 Vibrant urban economies: growth and decline of European cities 26

 Welfare & Finance 31

 Urban Environmental Sustainability and Resilience 36

 Accessibility & Connectivity 40

 Urban Governance & Participation 45

9 The JPI Urban Europe Multi-Annual Call Agenda 49

10 SRIA Implementation Plan 51

 Joint Calls 51

 Programme Management 51

 New Instruments and Framework Conditions 53

 Alignment Actions 53

 Strategic Dialogue and Relationships 53

 Evaluation 54

 Valorisation, Dissemination and Communication 54

11 Impact 55

 Glossary 57

 Appendix 60

Figures

 Figure 1: Alignment process of JPI Urban Europe to develop and implement its Strategic Research 
and Innovation Agenda 6

 Figure 2: Multi-stakeholder involvement in the SRIA process 7

 Figure 3: Alignment objectives and added value of transnational cooperation 15

 Figure 4: Framework of the SRIA 18

 Figure 5: Implementation plan structured along seven action lines 51

 Figure 6: Network of urban research projects in FP5 60

 Figure 7: Network of urban research projects in FP7 61

 Figure 8: Number and received funding of FP5-7 funded projects thematically clustered 62

 Figure 9: Comparison of the geographical collaboration pattern from FP5 to FP7 for the thematic 
cluster Urban Governance and Energy 63

 Figure 10: Participation of actor groups in urban research projects in FP5-FP7 per cluster 63

Tables

 Table 1: Target groups and potential instruments for program management 52



-2-

Cities are wonderfully vibrant loci of 
education, employment and commerce, 
social encounter and recreation; they are 
the nerve centres of the modern global economy 
and as such they continue to attract migrants in 
search of a better quality of life for themselves 
and their families. Indeed with the 21st century we 
have entered the urban age, in which the urban half 
of the global population is responsible for around 
80% of global economic activity. Europe is yet 
more urbanised (around three quarters) so that our 
fortune, our position on the global economic stage, 
is highly concentrated in our urban areas and the 
technology, commerce and industry and supporting 
service, retail and leisure sectors accommodated 
within them. 

This concentration of economic and social activity 
is matched by a similar concentration in the metabolism 
of energy and materials as well as of technology 
and infrastructure, with consequences for raw 
materials depletion, greenhouse gas emissions and 
climate change; likewise a concentration in societal 
challenges. Increased disparity in income and social 
inequality can adversely affect social capital and 
cohesion and in the worst of cases lead to exclusion 
of access to home ownership, education, welfare 
and healthcare. 

But this concentration also brings considerable 
opportunities. By improving the liveability of 
Europe’s towns and cities we can improve the liveability 
of its urban majority; whilst improving their 
attractiveness to visitors and migrants. By reducing 
the dependency on non-renewable energy and 
materials of Europe’s urban areas and increasing the 
efficiency with which these resources are metabolised, 
we can achieve our greenhouse gas emission 
reduction targets whilst demonstrating our solutions, 
showcasing our technologies, and maintaining 
our economic competitiveness in a global market. 

But of course, understanding how to go about 
this, for the diversity of Europe’s cities and in their 
local contexts, requires an ambitious programme 
of research, technological development and innovation. 
It was against this backdrop that the Joint 
Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe was 
initiated in 2011. In parallel with launching two pilot 
research funding calls the process of developing a 
Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) 
was initiated, with a view to developing a coherent 
programme of research through to 2020 to:

--Enhance capacities and knowledge on 
transition towards more sustainable, resilient 
and liveable urban developments. 


-- Reduce the fragmentation in funding, 
research and urban development; to build 
critical mass to realise urban transitions. 


--Increase the profile of European urban 
science, technological development and innovation 
and foster exploitation of European 
technological, social and economic models 
and solutions on the global stage. 


In preparing the SRIA, the following have been 
reviewed and deliberated upon: results from 
dedicated stakeholder focus groups; reports relating 
to the urban research priorities of national research 
councils (the Dutch NWO, French ANR, German 
BMBF, Slovenian ARRS, Swedish Vinnova, UK 
ESRC…) and the EC-funded projects Social Polis, 
Urban-Nexus and SEiSMiC; responses from national 
research councils on the Scientific Advisory Board’s 
(SAB) Urban Megatrends report. From these 
deliberations and continuing from the conclusions 
of the Urban Megatrends report, it is evident that:

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of JPI Urban Europe


-- There is a common desire to support cities in 
improving their attractiveness and liveability 
whilst improving their economic competitiveness 
as well as their resilience to major 
disruptions (whether sudden or progressive).


-- Building upon our technological advancements 
and scientific expertise, the potential 
of these solutions in the urban context needs 
to be tested and demonstrated, demands and 
opportunities for future technological 
solutions and social innovation have to be 
identified, and the economic benefit of these 
achievements has to be exploited.


-- There is a dearth of research relating to the 
rigorous definition, measurement and modelling 
of complex and interwoven factors 
influencing urban sustainability in the nexus 
of technological, economic, social, and 
environmental issues. Several research 
programmes have tackled aspects of this 
research challenge, but none have done so in 
an integrated and comprehensive way.


-- Urban technologies and infrastructures are 
often perceived as a problem, rather than a 
solution to urban needs. Without the capacity 
to make our European technological prowess 
a part of the solution, urban infrastructures 
will fall short of contributing to the resource 
efficiency, sustainability and liveability of 
cities.


--Without the ability to define, measure and 
model, it is not possible to define ambitious 
yet realisable context-specific targets for 
the improvement of cities’ sustainability and 
liveability, nor to identify the most promising 
transition strategies for their achievement.


In addition to these general sustainable urban 
transition challenges, Europe’s cities also face 
some specific but closely related challenges in 
terms of their social, economic and environmental 
functioning. They are: 

--Highly differentiated in terms of the 
composition of their economies and of 
the benefits they enjoy from their local 
and regional agglomerations. Some are 
growing, stable or re-growing whilst others 
are declining; enhanced or exacerbated by 
in- and out-migration; experiencing varying 
degrees of social inclusion, capital and 
cohesion. 


-- Facing varying degrees of austerity measures, 
leading to a declining welfare state and 
increasing calls on society to fill the void 
through voluntary efforts. The role of social 
entrepreneurship, local economy and shared 
economy is under debate, with frameworks 
needed to tap the full potential of these 
opportunities, as well as social innovation.


-- Subject to change due to social, economic 
and environmental pressures, with a corresponding 
need to be more resilient and adaptive 
to these internal and external influences. 


-- Varied in terms of the accessibility they 
afford to their citizens to amenities and the 
connectivity of these amenities; with the 
less able and less well-off being particularly 
disadvantaged.


-- Hosts to incredibly creative people who, if 
suitably empowered, could be a powerfully 
positive force in creating and implementing 
innovations to tackle challenges to improve 
citizens quality of life. 




Addressing these interrelated urban challenges 
in earnest requires a joined up approach, in which 
academic experts from different complementary 
disciplines work together, in concert with non-
academic experts and stakeholders, to tackle them 
for the first time and/or in more comprehensive and 
innovative ways than has hitherto been the case. A 
combination of inter- and transdisciplinary research 
is called for, addressing the entire research, technology 
and innovation lifecycle with the ambition 
to position our cities as hubs of technological 
and social leadership and as venues for successful 
European economy on global markets. 

Following this principle and to address the above 
challenges, the SRIA is comprised of two complementary 
components:

--An ambitious longitudinal research 
programme that is focused on the development 
and application of methodologies 
supporting the definition and measurement 
of urban sustainability and the establishment 
of transition targets and strategies to 
achieve them. This is chronologically structured, 
enabling the methods and outcomes 
from earlier projects to inform those of later 
projects. 


--Thematic priorities that are directly relevant 
to and inform this longitudinal programme, 
but which are destined to enable research 
teams to tackle a specific societal urban 
challenge in detail:


--Vibrancy in changing economies
-- Welfare and finance
-- Environmental sustainability and resilience
-- Accessibility and connectivity
-- Urban governance and participation


Through careful programme management, backed 
up by investments in shared resources including 
urban observatories, datasets, models and living 
labs, this structure will ensure that the whole is 
greater than the sum of its parts; that outcomes 
from research projects and the methods employed 
in realising them are mutually informative. This 
will be complemented by ongoing alignment with 
national and institutional research programmes, 
to build European urban research, technology and 
innovation capacity, and European solutions to 
address global urban challenges. 

SO WHAT IS SO SPECIAL 
ABOUT JPI URBAN EUROPE 
AND ITS STRATEGIC 
RESEARCH AND 
INNOVATION AGENDA? 

JPI Urban Europe’s SRIA responds to the 
urgent need for ambitious, sustained and 
truly inter- and transdisciplinary research 
to radically improve our understanding 
of how socially, economically and environmentally 
sustainable our urban areas 
are; and to support Europe’s cities in their 
transition towards a future that maximises 
their sustainability, resilience and their 
liveability in this era of global competition 
for commerce, industry, tourism, labour 
and investment; to drive urban innovation 
and technologies. 

 



The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of JPI Urban Europe


-1-

PREAMBLE

The Joint Programming Process was opened in 2008 with a Communication of the 
European Commission1 and subsequent Conclusions of the European Council2. The 
JPI Urban Europe was established following the Council recommendation of 20103, 
with a formal launch by the European Council in 20114. The attractiveness of Joint 
Programming lies in its structured and strategic process, whereby Member States 
voluntarily agree to work in partnership towards common visions, encapsulated in a 
SRIA and implemented through joint actions. 

The JPI Urban Europe responds to Global Urban Challenges by developing Joint European 
Solutions. Through joint actions, JPI Urban Europe aims to: 

-- Enhance the capacities and knowledge on transition towards more sustainable, 
resilient and liveable urban developments. 
-- Reduce the fragmentation in funding, research and urban development; to build 
critical mass to realise urban transition; and to 
-- Increase the profile of European urban science, technology and innovation on 
the global stage. 


Through these aims JPI Urban Europe will contribute to the EU 2020 Strategy on smart, 
sustainable and inclusive growth. The European Commission, in its recommendations 
from 20115, stresses the relevance of the JPI Urban Europe and its importance to support 
the transition of urban areas – Europe’s hubs of innovation, growth and competitiveness. 

The JPI Urban Europe has now developed its Strategic Research and Innovation 
Agenda that sets out clear medium and longer term research objectives together with 
instruments for their implementation. The European Commission and the European 
Council’s High-Level-Group for Joint Programming (GPC) emphasise the importance 
of a SRIA as an integral element of the Joint Programming Process. 

1 EC, Towards joint programming in research: Working together to tackle common challenges 
more effectively, COM(2008) 468 final, Brussels, July 2008, 

<http://ec.europa.eu/research/press/2008/pdf/com_2008_468_en.pdf>.

2 CEU, Council conclusions concerning joint programming of research in Europe in response to 
major societal challenges, 16775/08, Brussels, 3 December 2008, 

<https://ec.europa.eu/research/era/pdf/programming_st16775_en.pdf>.

3 CEU, Conclusions concerning various issues related to the development of the European Research 
Area, 10246/10, Brussels, 26 May 2010, 

<https://ec.europa.eu/research/era/docs/en/council-conclusions---may-2010.pdf>.

4 CEU, Council conclusions on the launching of the joint programming initiatives on ‘Healthy and 
Productive Seas and Oceans’, ‘Urban Europe – Global Urban Challenges, Joint European Solutions’, 
‘Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe’, ‘Water Challenges for a Changing World’ and ‘The 
Microbial Challenge – An Emerging Threat to Human Health’ – Adoption, 17424/11, Brussels, 29 
November 2011, 

<http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2017424%202011%20INIT>.

5 EC, Commission recommendation on the research joint programming initiative „Urban Europe – 
Global urban challenges, joint European solutions’, C(2011) 7406 final, Brussels, October 2010, 

<https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/doc/call/fp7/fp7-jprog-regions-
2013/33268-commission_recommendation_c%282011%297406_final_en.pdf>.



The overarching principle of the SRIA is that it actively supports the alignment and 
coordination of regional, national and European research, technological development 
and innovation in the field of urban development (Figure 1). Achieving this requires a 
cooperative alignment process defining joint objectives, developing common values; 
agreeing on a joint strategy which builds upon national strategies and strengths to 
define common frameworks for collaboration that finally provide the operational basis 
for joint actions. 

 

In practice this includes the alignment of:

-- National and regional research, technological development and innovation policies 
and programmes, via targeted and open calls. 
-- Institutional funding, via the Urban Europe Research Alliance (UERA); and 
-- Research infrastructures, e.g. via Urban Models, Observatories, Datasets and 
Living Labs. 


Through this alignment principle, JPI Urban Europe contributes to the development 
of a European Research Area, striving to make the whole of European urban research 
and technological development and innovation (RTDI) more than the sum of its parts. 

JPI Urban Europe’s SRIA defines research priorities that need consolidated efforts 
and benefit from transnational cooperation. As emphasised by the GPC in its biannual 
reports6 this crucially also requires an implementation plan. In the case of JPI 
Urban Europe, this aims to provide the basis for more intensive cooperation with the 
European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities, Horizon 2020, the 
European Urban Agenda and with Structural Funds. Its ambition is to set the scene for a 
new paradigm in research, technology development, and innovation (RTDI), embracing 
the complexity of the grand challenge of urbanisation, and bridging the innovation 
space from strategic research to implementation. 

6 EU, 2014 Biennial Report, European Research Area and Innovation Committee, High Level 
Group for Joint Programming, ERAC-GPC 1310/14, Brussels, 21 November 2014, < register.consilium.
europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST 1310 2014 INIT>; EU, 2012 Biennial Report, European Research 
Area and Innovation Committee, High Level Group for Joint Programming, ERAC-GPC 1301/13, 
Brussels, 7 february 2013, 

<http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%201301%202013%20INIT>.

ALIGNED OBJECTIVES

> European hub for 
urban research

JOINT ACTION & 

COMMON PRACTICES

> Joint Calls

> Urban Europe 
Research Alliance

> Urban Observatories

> Shared Data

> Shared Infrastructure

COMMON FRAMEWORKS 
& INFRASTRUCTURE

> Call Procedures

> Programme 
Management

ALIGNED STRATEGIES

> JPI Urban Europe 
Strategic Research & 
Innovation Agenda

COMMON VALUES

> JPI Urban Europe 
Principles & 
Research Approach

Figure 1

Alignment process of JPI Urban Europe to develop and implement its 
Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda



The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of JPI Urban Europe


-2-

DEVELOPING THE SRIA: 
A CONSULTATIVE AND 
DELIBERATIVE APPROACH 

Developing a strategic agenda for such a complex topic as urban development requires 
an appropriate process that: 

-- builds upon national urban priorities, strategies and programmes as well as city 
visions and strategies,
-- considers the practical needs of civil society and a diverse set of urban actors,
-- takes advantage of the latest scientific findings and technological developments,
-- supports the development of a visionary programme of research, technological 
development and innovation,
-- establishes links to national, European and international policies and programmes 
for joint implementation.


To meet this ambition a co-creative 
process was established, involving 
representatives from all parties – scientists, 
funding agencies, cities, companies, 
civil society – in an iterative 
approach; developing a common vision 
and raising commitment by regularly 
reflecting on ideas, topics and implementation 
measures (Figure 2). The 
JPI Urban Europe SRIA thus considers 
the diversity of research needs across 
Europe, and decidedly opens the door 
for small and less RTDI intensive countries 
to contribute towards JPI Urban 
Europe’s activities (and vice versa). 

In addition to the SAB’s Megatrends 
Report7, recent research results, policies 
and strategies have been taken into 
account in developing the SRIA; as have 
the findings of two particularly pertinent 
FP7 funded projects – Social Polis8 

7 O. Coutard, G. Finnveden, S. Kabisch, R. Kitchin, R. Matos, P. Nijkamp, C. Pronello, D. Robinson: 
Urban Megatrends: Towards a European Research Agenda; A report by the Scientific Advisory 
Board of JPI Urban Europe, March 2014.

8 D. Cassinari, J. Hillier, K. Miciukiewicz, A. Novy, S. Habersack, D. MacCallum, F. Moulaert, Transdisciplinary 
Research in Social Polis, Social Platform on Cities and Social Cohesion, 2011, EC ERA FP 7, 
<http://www.socialpolis.eu/uploads/tx_sp/Trans_final_web_single_page.pdf>.

Governing Board 
representing national 
strategies, defining 
priorities

Scientific Advisory Board 
elaborating scientific 
concept, topics and 
roadmaps

European Commission 
and European level 
networks providing 
references and 
relationships for joint 
actions

JPI 

URBAN 
EUROPE

SRIA

Research organisations 
reflecting on research 
topics and needs for 
programme management 
according to their 
experiences

Funding Agencies 
setting up pilot calls, 
starting into alignment 
of national programs 
and reflecting on new 
instruments

City representatives, 
urban stakeholders 
and actors defining 
practical demands and 
opportunities based on 
their strategies

Figure 2

Multi-stakeholder involvement in the SRIA process



and Urban-Nexus9. European and international policy debates have also been reflected 
upon; including the conclusions of UN-HABITAT II10, the progress made in defining 
Sustainable Development Goals by the UN11, the EU urban agenda12 and the European 
Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities13. Furthermore, national 
consultations have been conducted in several JPI Urban Europe countries14 and national 
research strategies have been analysed15. The ideas and concepts emerging from the 
resultant reflections have been challenged in both scientific workshops and workshops 
with city representatives. Finally, the SRIA development process has benefitted from 
a close cooperation with the FP7 funded project SEiSMiC16, which focuses on urban 
social innovation through societal engagement in Europe. 

Throughout these activities the development of the SRIA has been coordinated by the 
JPI Urban Europe Management Board (MB). In particular the MB has: supported the 
SAB in its scientific analysis and concept development, liaised with funding agencies 
to prepare the multi-annual call agenda and 
instrument development, and consulted 
with external stakeholders and 
related projects. The resultant 
SRIA has been approved by 
the Governing Board of JPI 
Urban Europe for the 
implementation phase 
2016–2020. 

 

9 Urban-Nexus, EC ERA FP7 CSA, <http://www.urban-nexus.eu>.

10 UN, Progress to date in the implementation of the outcomes of the second United Nations 
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and identification of new and emerging 

challenges on sustainable urban development, Report of the Secretary-General of the Conference, 
A/CONF.226/PC.1/5, 26 July 2014. 

11 UN, Report of the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development 
Goals, A/68/970, New York, 12 August 2014, 

<http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/970&Lang=E>; in particular Goal 11: 
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

12 EC, The urban dimension of EU policies – Key features of an EU Urban Agenda, COM(2014) 
490 Final, Brussels, 18 July 2014, 

<http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/consultation/urb_agenda/pdf/comm_act_urb_agenda_
en.pdf>;

13 EIP SCC, The European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities, 

<http://ec.europa.eu/eip/smartcities/>.

14 National consultations were performed in AT, SE, DK, DE, NO, CY, IT, UK

15 National research strategies on urban issues have been provided by UK, SL, FR, NE, DE

16 SEiSMiC, Societal Engagement in Science, Mutual Learning in Cities, EC ERA FP7 CSA, 

<http://www.seismicproject.eu/>.



The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda of JPI Urban Europe


-3-

THE CHALLENGES OF AN 
URBANISED EUROPE

With the 21st century we have entered the urban age. The megatrend of urbanisation 
is the result of the sigmoidal growth in world population and rural-urban migration 
in the search for improved socio-economic opportunities in urban agglomerations. In 
2007 the urban fraction of the 6.7B strong global population reached parity with the 
rural for the first time.17 By 2050 it is projected (assuming medium fertility) that the 
population will increase to 9.5B and its urban fraction to three quarters. Since urban 
areas are responsible for around 80% of global economic activity and a similar fraction 
of resource use, it follows that – under business as usual conditions – urbanisation will 
impose greater stress on the natural environment; and this at a time for which the 
intergovernmental panel on climate change is counselling the reduction of greenhouse 
gas emissions to 40–70% of 2010 levels by 2050, and near-zero emission by 2100, to 
limit global mean temperature rise to 2oC. To achieve greenhouse gas emission reduction 
targets will require transformative research to understand how cities’ functioning 
can be decarbonised; replenishing not reducing natural capital in a variety of resources. 
But urban areas and societies are not only a substantial part of contemporary planetary 
challenges; as hotspots for innovation and technological development, and resource 
nodes (particularly financial), they have considerable potential to resolve them.

Some 73% of the European population was considered urbanized in 2010. In contrast 
with for example Asia and South America, Europe has relatively few cities with more 
than 1M inhabitants and a relatively high number of small and medium sized cities 
(SMCs). The larger urban areas are also mainly formed of amalgamated SMCs. Urban 
Europe thus poses some rather specific constraints and opportunities, in particular 
due to a relative abundance of functional urban regions rather than of standalone or 
discrete administrative territories. 

Comparatively speaking, European urban areas are also historically, architecturally and 
culturally rich, offering attractive urban and green spaces, so that quality of life is in 
large part considered to be high. They are also embedded within states that traditionally 
have highly developed welfare services. Europe’s urban areas are also particularly 
diverse in their forms and organisation, spatial dynamics, local economies, governance 
structures, sociotechnical infrastructures, cultural heritage. Notwithstanding higher 
order (national, continental, global) influences, actions will ultimately need to be integrated 
in complex local conditions and requirements so that responses (strategies to 
bring about performance improvements) fit to their contexts.

The 2008 crisis hit European urban areas hard and the aftermath still presents major 
challenges for European urban economies, overall sustainable development and 
economic structures, since it resulted in increased unemployment and redirected 
priorities from ongoing urban development. These challenges and the opportunities 
available to tackle them depend on, for example, planning and management capacities 

17 Note that urban here refers to an extremely diverse set of settlement configurations, with a 
rough common denominator qualified by agglomerations by 2000 inhabitants and above.


