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This briefing provides background information on the financing needs of Ukraine’s reconstruction, options to finance the process and the possible role of the EU budget, as well as the governance architecture and the involvement of the European Parliament.

Adopted during the 2007 German Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities helped establish the concept of integrated urban development at EU level and was influential in the development of EU initiatives such as the Urban Agenda. It has now been updated to link in with this new urban framework and take account of the fresh challenges facing cities, with the New Leipzig Charter adopted at the informal meeting of ministers responsible for urban and territorial ...

Our towns and cities are home to nearly three quarters of the EU's population, and most EU policies concern them, be it directly or indirectly. While the revised 2014-2020 cohesion policy framework introduced a number of new instruments intended to enhance the urban dimension of cohesion funding, a shared vision of urban development has gradually taken shape at inter-governmental level, accompanied by increasing calls to give city authorities and stakeholders a greater say in policymaking. To help ...

Ports have always been an important asset to Europe, serving as gateways to the rest of the world and as connection points to rivers across European territory. For centuries, ports and their cities developed hand in hand, the port generating prosperity for the city. This has changed with the industrial revolution, globalisation and the rapid development of containerisation. Most ports moved out of their cities and their mutual relationship began to suffer. Today, this relationship experiences a new ...

Our towns and cities are home to nearly three quarters of the EU's population and most EU policies concern them, be it directly or indirectly. Within the EU, a shared vision of urban development has gradually taken shape at inter-governmental level. At the same time there have been increasing calls for concrete action and the development of an EU Urban Agenda to give city authorities and stakeholders a greater say in the process. To help guide these discussions, the European Commission launched ...

The European City/Capital of Culture Programme was launched in 1985 and the ECoC title has been awarded to nearly 60 cities in 30 countries. The Programme has become a key platform for city positioning and a catalyst for economic and cultural regeneration. Immediate cultural, social and economic impacts are common and the capacity to secure long-term effects, though harder to evidence, has grown in key areas such as urban image change and tourism development. The latter is evidence of the stronger ...

Most current environmental challenges have their origins in urban areas, but it is also these same urban areas that bring together the commitment and innovation needed to resolve them. In recent years, the EU has sought to explore ways in which urban and environmental policies can be integrated in order to promote and develop sustainable cities.

This study covers two successive programming periods (2000-2013). It looks at the background and the achievements of European policy on deprived neighbourhoods, sensitive urban areas and the instruments used for such purposes by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund. It sets out recommendations for improving future urban development policy by means of an integrated approach, especially from the point of view of governance and inter-sectoral integration.