1. The thorough revision of the Urban Audit project
Berthold Feldmann
Eurostat

2. Structure of the talk Why a fundamental reform?
Major elements of the reform
Time table

3. Why do we need a thorough revision of the Urban Audit?
Chapter 1
Why do we need a thorough revision of the Urban Audit?

4. Dimensions of the Urban Audit
More than 300 variables collected from Member States
Cover many demographic, economic and social aspects in European cities
Data collections
Exhaustive collection every three years – 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013
Annual data collection of 38 variables since 2010
Three spatial units
369 core cities
larger urban zones (=including the city hinterland)
sub-city information (reduced dataset)

5. Current situation of Urban Audit
The Urban Audit project was started more than 10 years ago as a pilot project (58 cities)
It has grown to an ambitious voluntary data collection in order to give a comprehensive statistical picture of urban life in more than 350 cities with over 300 indicators
The Urban Audit data has been intensively used in EU Policy context and analyses
Urban Audit has been very useful in defining harmonised concepts for core cities, larger urban zones and sub-city districts
Overall response rate: only 60%

6. Major challenges in the Urban Audit
Data delivery delays
As a consequence to these delays of data inflow, the quality control, which needs a critical mass of data, is very delayed
Comparability of the data is questioned by some
This reduces the usability of the data for political analysis
Missing data is a problem for all countries
Different gaps in different countries due to diverging social and statistical history
Estimations required – some countries estimate a lot, others don‘t estimate at all

7. Part of estimation in data delivery

8. Where the Urban Audit data comes from
Inevitably a complex data collection system

9. Several Stakeholder meetings in 2010/11
Peer Review summer 2010
Conclusion: Actions are needed to raise awareness about the data collection and to reduce the amount of missing data
Working Party meeting September 2010
Conclusion: there are a still several unresolved challenges related to the Urban Audit data collection
High level stakeholder meeting December 2010
Conclusion: The Urban Audit should be continued. DG REGIO is ready to continue providing substantial financial support
Think tank meeting March 2011
Conclusion: The proposed thorough revision of the Urban Audit found unanimous support

10. Ten proposed actions of the Urban Audit revision
Chapter 2
Ten proposed actions of the Urban Audit revision

11. 1. Create a consistent list of cities
The current list of cities is over-complex: standard list, additional list for some countries, large city Audit etc.
New target: include all European cities with more than inhabitants in the Urban Audit
Advantage: Thanks to the revision of the “degree of urbanisation”, LF and EU-SILC will provide country level values for all cities
These figures can be used in combination with other information, primarily administrative data, to improve the quality of the city specific estimates

12. 2. Create consistent spatial definitions of cities
Eurostat and DG REGIO are currently conducting a comprehensive analysis of all European core cities and Larger Urban Zones (LUZ), based on the newly developed urban-intermediate-rural typology
This approach, based on objective criteria, will significantly increase the comparability of Urban Audit statistics
As a result, there will be a list of European core cities (urban centres) and LUZ (agglomerations) following a harmonised methodology

13. 3. Create a focused list of indicators
Currently we collect 40 variables annually and 330 variables every three years
In order to ease the burden on data suppliers, we will collect in future 85 variables annually and 175 variables every five years
Policy relevance and response rate were the guiding principles for deleting or keeping variables

14. 4. Revise the frequency of data collections
There is a trade-off between response burden and timeliness of data
Eurostat proposes to increase the scope of the annual data collection (=timely data)
Decrease the frequency of the exhaustive data collection to every five years
With a significantly shorter list than at the current stage
These measures will considerably reduce the burden on NSIs

15. 5. Reach an overall 80% response rate
Reduce the number of required variables by deleting those with a poor response rate
Increase the number of centrally collected variables, i.e. data put together by Eurostat from existing Europe wide source (EEA, Urban Atlas of DG REGIO etc.)
Foster estimations of the data suppliers
Grants for estimating missing data
Create a Board of Urban Audit Advisers that gives advice on estimation techniques
Collect at least data for all urban areas in each country (using the new “degree of urbanisation”)

16. 6. Improve the data validation process
7. Increase direct cooperation with cities
Fine tuning of Eurostat’s validation tools
Encourage validation by the data suppliers
6. Improve the data validation process
After each collection round, the data set for each city should be sent to the individual cities
Cities will be asked to confirm or improve the data

17. 8. Improve communication with users
Restructure the public Eurostat database (Eurobase), taking more into account the user perspective and the possibilities offered by the data explorer
Intensify the dialogue with the cities involved

18. 9. Increase awareness of urban statistics
A joint Eurostat / DG REGIO publication on the "State of European Cities" should be launched starting 2012
This publication should have descriptive and analytical elements
It should have an annual frequency

19. 10. Exploit synergies with other statistical data collections
Harmonised definitions shall be used as much as possible to support the analysis of functional regions, metropolitan regions, coastal regions, etc.
Using the new “degree of urbanisation” concept, statistics can be produced for all urban areas in a country
These figures can then be used as benchmarks for city specific estimations

20. Next steps and time table
Chapter 3
Next steps and time table

21. Next steps in the Urban Audit revision
DM discussion May 2011
Meeting of all national Urban Audit coordinators June 2011
Present strategy at ESS-Com. Oct 2011
Implementation Jan 2012

22. Thank you for
your attention!
Any Questions ?