1. The City Summit & The Urban Audit
Lewis Dijkstra
The Urban Unit
Directorate-General for Regional Policy,

2. The City Summit

3. What, where, why
Conference co-organised by the European Commission and the Dutch Government
Noordwijk, the Netherlands /11
To discuss the role of cities in the future structural funds
To highlight the Urban Audit

4. 600 registered participants
Commissioners Barrot and Balazs
Dutch vice prime minister Thom de Graaf responsible for Urban Affairs
Mayors
Urban policy experts
URBAN II programme managers

5. Three declarations Capital City declaration City Summit declaration
Italian city declaration

6. The Urban Dimension
Urban Actions (URBAN II and Urban actions in the mainstream)
Urbact, the European Network for exchange of experience between cities
Urban Audit: a reliable and regularly updated source of comparable urban indicators

7. The Urban Audit

8. 123 Large cities
135 Medium-sized cities

9. The Urban Audit Approximates a functional urban region (commuter shed)
Larger Urban Zone – city and surrounding areas
Approximates a functional urban region (commuter shed)
City
Has a political leader such as a Mayor or Council Leader
Neighbourhood
Min inhabitants Average Max

10. Three levels for Paris and London

11. Paris & London Population Inner London 2.8 m 2.1 m La Ville de Paris
Greater London
6.2 m
7.2 m
Paris et petite couronne
LUZ London
12 m
11 m
Ile de France

12. How much information did we receive?
Some sent more than others: NL sent 90% while IT only sent 40% of the data
At the neighbourhood level, four EU15 MS could only provide between 0-8 variables out 33 requested (so far)
In the Environment and Information Society domains many cities lacked data

13. Neighbourhood Disparities

14. Unemployment in Berlin

15. Education in Budapest

16. Housing in Warsaw

17. Poverty in Amsterdam

18. Suburbanisation in Helsinki

19. Crime concentrations

20. Singles prefer Cities

21. Young & Old Cities

22. The educated prefer (large) cities

23. Cities and the Lisbon Target

24. Cities and the Lisbon Target

25. Unemployed often concentrated in cities

26. Not in Suburbs in EU15

27. But in many suburbs outside EU15

28. Most foreigners live in large cities and capitals
UK data not available

29. Owners or Renters?

30. Summer Smog still a problem

31. On a lighter note…

32. Top Tourist Cities

33. The Perception Survey
Perception data is an important complement to the "objective" data collected by the Urban Audit (safety ≠ small number of recorded crimes)
How citizens feel is important to politicians
Show the differences in citizen opinions in different cities

34. 31 Cities in the EU 15 Madrid Barcelona Malaga Paris Marseille Rennes
Bruxelles/ Brussel
Antwerpen
Liège
København
Berlin
München
Leipzig
Dortmund
Athina
Irakleio
Madrid
Barcelona
Malaga
Paris
Marseille
Rennes
Dublin
Roma
Napoli
Torino
Luxembourg
Amsterdam
Rotterdam
Wien
Lisboa
Braga
Helsinki
Stockholm
London
Glasgow
Manchester

35. 18 Cities in outside EU15 (beginning of 2005)
Sofia
Burgas
Lefkosia
Praha
Ostrava
Tallinn
Budapest
Miskolc
Vilnius
Riga
Valletta
Warszawa
Gdańsk
Opole
Bucuresti
Cluj-Napoca
Ljubljana
Bratislava

36. Perceptions of Safety

37. Employment Opportunities

38. Housing Costs

39. Public Transport

40. Air Pollution

41. Good News

42. Conclusions/Questions
Role of cities is important, draft regulations are a step forwards
Can the Commission guarantee that cities will be able to participate in the next round of Cohesion Policy?
Should housing be included among the eligible actions?
More flexible funding? 10% limit for ESF type action should be increased.

43. Conclusions/Questions
GDP per capita is a flawed indicator due to commuting flows. This leads to large cities and capitals losing Objective 1 status.
Other indicators should be taken into consideration when deciding in Objective 2 funding

44. Main Conclusions Urban Audit was supported by many of the speakers
Mayors considered the Urban Audit very useful
Contributes to the exchange of experience and cooperation
Commission is planning a new round in 2006

45. Upcoming events
Eurocities Annual General Meeting in Vienna November
Informal Ministerial Meeting in Rotterdam November Spatial Planning and Urban Policy