1. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages Commission activities 2008-2009 Władysław PISKORZ DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR REGIONAL POLICY Directorate for Policy Development Head Of Unit C2 - Territorial Cohesion and Urban Development Meeting of Directors General Prague, 18 May 2009

2. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages: an old divide Traditionally, urban and rural development have been shaped as different strands of spatial policy Urban development was traditionally targeting growth poles and urban centres Rural development is an off-spring of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union and is despite recent reforms mainly oriented towards the farming community

3. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages: New times require new approaches The classical divide more and more obsolete The promotion of competitive territories and sustainable and balanced development at regional level requires new thinking Valorisation of experience already gained on the ground

4. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages: key developments The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) The Territorial Agenda (including its Action Programme) The Leipzig Charter Green paper on Territorial Cohesion

5. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages and territorial cohesion: Territorial cohesion: a place-based approach Move away from administrative to functional areas Example: Urban-rural territories (but also others…)

6. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Urban-rural linkages: Situations vary considerably across Europe Diversity of situations across EU27 Some situations require cooperation across administrative borders – others not Example: Czech Republic, Sweden

7. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Seminars on urban-rural linkages: overall aim To foster and stimulate the debate among stakeholders on urban- rural issues To provide a platform by which experience from the ground can be disseminated and taken stock of. To feed in to the discussions on the future Cohesion policy

8. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Messages from 1st seminar on 17 September 2008 in Brussels From urban and rural to functional urban-rural areas Urban-rural context varies a lot across Europe (EU15 ↔ EU12) Need to develop effective multilevel governance structures Remoteness in a geographical sense ≠ remoteness in a relational sense Better integration of European funding Lessons learned from the URBAN and LEADER Community Initiatives Initiatives offered to overcome the urban-rural dichotomy

9. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Messages from the 2nd seminar on 23 January 2009 in Brussels Which urban-rural areas? (metropolitan, remote including small and medium- sized towns, intermediate) Case studies illustrated: Voluntary cooperation not always enough Spin-off effects (ex Lille: start with public transport, extend to other fields) Win-win situations (ex Lake Balaton) The compact city (vision for the future or illusion?)

10. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION Upcoming and future events Budapest conference 11-12 June 2009 on rural poverty 3 nd urban-rural seminar: 1 July 2009? Theme: Social cohesion How to address the issue of micro-pockets of poverty in urban and rural areas? How to develop cooperation between urban and rural areas to help in identifying methods to counter segregation and promote re-integration? And then? Two seminars on local development planned (autumn 2009, beginning 2010)

11. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/conferences/ urban_rural/index_en.htm Urban-rural linkages Commission activities 2008-2009 i

12. REGIONAL POLICY EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Cohesion Policy 2007-2013: Factsheetshttp://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/fiche_index_en.htm  INFOREGIO (DG REGIO website)http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.fr.htm  Rural development site at DG AGRI http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/agriculture/index_en.htm More information: