August 31, 2003 ESPON action “Enlargement” Matera October 2003 Lars Olof Persson

Lessons to Accession Countries stimulated growth and social well-being in Portugal encouraged innovation and expansion in the manufacturing extremely important to infrastructure modernisation economic cycles more influent than European funding Enlargement means difficulties the catching-up process After more than ten years of public (national and community) funding, the pattern of regional disparities did not change significantly

Measuring polycentricity the size or importance of cities (population, economic activity, human capital, higher education, cultural importance, administrative status etc.) their distribution in space or location and the spatial interactions or connections between them.

Development of polycentricity in Europe for different scenarios of urban growth and linkages macro trends, such as further integration of the world economy and intensification of the competition between regions and cities the development of energy cost, transport technology and the further diffusion of telecommunications.

Level I: European: promoting the growth of urban centres outside the “Polygon” in the remoter areas of the EU. Level II: National: This would seek to promote the growth in each EU nation of second order (“provincial capital”) cities as counter-magnets to the first-order capital cities. There are several examples of such policies, reviewed below. Level III: Regional: This would further seek to promote growth in third/fourth order centres in each region. The problem is that this may be easy to achieve in favoured central regions around the first-order centres, especially along major transport corridors, where it may lead to the development of “Polycentric Mega-City-Regions

Policy options Decentralise government employment Create new public institutions Encourage Foreign Direct Investment Attract major one-off events with longer-term development potential Intensively develop regional highway networks focussing on major cities new high-speed rail lines to serve selected cities and regions Build new airports, or expand airports, in secondary cities exchange of information and experience between cities.

Towards TIR Aug Prov. Final Diagnosis risks and potentials 2. Border region typology case studies on flows and barriers 3. Effects of ongoing transformation processes: Scenario 1 Policy options TIA Scenario 2 TEN-T and Tina TIA