EUROSTAT between demand and supply By Berthold Feldmann 25/02/2001

We all know the seven quality features: Clarity Relevance Coherence Completeness Accuracy Timeliness Comparability Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

We should check these against the Urban Audit results Are the total quality criteria fulfilled? Where is improvement necessary? Are the user needs met? Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up Who are the Users? Client Number 1 of Eurostat is the Commission Then: policy makers at European, national and local (city) level For benchmarking (best practice) Environmental issues (sustainability) Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Who are the data suppliers? Normally: national statistical offices for urban statistics: a more complex picture the cities local data networks regional statistical offices Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Back to the 7 quality features Relevance Accuracy Timeliness Clarity Comparability Coherence Completeness Let’s check them for the Urban Audit statistics Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up RELEVANCE Can the Commission and other policy makers make use of the information of the Urban Audit? Do they want other information? Only they can tell….. Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up ACCURACY The data collected in the pilot study has been checked several times, but certainly still contains errors Accuracy is also a function of the data collection organisation! Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up TIMELINESS So far only a one-off data collection, covering 3 years (1981, 1991, 1996) Data freshness needs certainly to be improved Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up CLARITY What do the statistics of the Urban Audit, as they are published on paper or on the web, mean? Website meets a high standard of clarity and accessibility Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up COMPARABILITY Since the data collection of the pilot study was not organised by statisticians, comparability (of the same variable) between cities is far from satisfactory Comparability over time is a challenge (not easy to achieve) Also satisfactory comparability of the spatial definition of cities is not easy Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up COHERENCE Definitions and methodologies of the Urban Audit statistics differ greatly between countries Improvements are mandatory Coherence to other statistics is difficult to achieve (NUTS breakdown) Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up COMPLETENESS Does the user get a complete picture of the latest evolution in European cities? Difficult to achieve Cost - Benefit analysis necessary Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

What is the result of the analysis? Relevance Accuracy Timeliness Clarity Comparability Coherence Completeness unknown needs improvement acceptable good needs strong improvement Helsinki 2001: Urban Audit follow-up

Thanks for listening ! Any Questions ?