The future of the Urban Audit berthold.feldmann@cec.eu.int

Structure of my talk First “Think Tank” meeting Political context Spatial units – lessons learnt Eurostat involvement and next data collection What happens in 2005?

AIM OF THIS TALK: Initiate a discussion concerning the future of the Urban Audit data collection Inform about the “think tank” meeting

First meeting of the “Think Tank” Chapter 1 First meeting of the “Think Tank”

The “Think Tank” Small group of volunteers for open discussion of future options Mission: to give advice to Commission and Working Party Experts from Germany, France, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and United Kingdom First meeting: 15th September 2004, Luxembourg Next meeting February 2005

Chapter 2 Political context

Next Structural Funds Probably three objectives Cohesion Competitiveness and Employment Cooperation

Next Structural Funds Two targets: Improve the performance of lagging regions (for example “urban regeneration”) Support areas of opportunities (knowledge society, services, environment, job creation) It is not possible to focus on specific topics for the future Urban Audit data collection We have to provide a wide spectrum of data measuring the quality of life in cities

Chapter 3 Spatial units in the UA

Lessons learnt (1) Core city Morphological city Remains the major focus of Urban Audit Current definitions all in all satisfying Morphological city So far not covered in Urban Audit, and not foreseen for the future, but: Problem of overbounding or underbounding the city - mismatch between core city (administrative) and built-up area (morphological city) Measures for identifying the problem are proposed

Lessons learnt (2) Larger Urban Zones Sub-city districts Remains a cornerstone of Urban Audit Defined as the function zone of the local labour market Improvements of the delimitations are necessary for several countries; often too large (DK, GR, ES, IT) Sub-city districts Population thresholds not always respected, but probably the best we can get (data availability) Comparability problem, depending on creation algorithm (artificial versus historically developed) Risk of misinterpretation

Chapter 4 Next data collection

Data collection in 2006 Nothing decided yet, but 2006 is a target year for the next Urban Audit data collection No fresh census data in 2006  problem, in particular for SCD Proposal: full data set (see next slide) for current 260 UA cities, plus 35 core variables for a cities above 100 000 inhabitants

Reduced variable list (indicative)

Future role of Eurostat Eurostat will define Urban Audit as part of its core business This implies that a core collection of variables (costs for the collection of 80 variables) will be financed by Eurostat´s budget Co-financing with DG REGIO envisaged

Chapter 5 Urban Audit in 2005

What remains to do in 2005? Thorough quality control Fill the gaps as far as possible! Launch analysis of the results (DG REGIO), Europe-wide and national Prepare the 2006 collection through “Think Tank” meetings, electronic exchange of views and plenary sessions

Thanks for listening ! Any Questions ?