DRAFT FACTSHEET
Cooperation between towns, cities and their neighbourhoods
Obtaining insight in the added value and European experiences
Introduction
This factsheet is developed in support of the Hungarian EUKN Policy Lab on
“Cooperation between towns, cities and their neighbourhoods”. The aim of the EUKN
Policy Lab is to provide cities and regions with a better understanding of how to
negotiate and cooperate with each other, and how to improve the economic, social
and environmental relations. This factsheet provides an overview of the broader
context of integrated development ranging from the European level to the local
perspective. Furthermore, a number of international cases and European projects are
presented, which provide a deeper insight in territorial and urban integrated
development in practice.
An intrinsic aspect of integrated development is the encompassment of different
policy areas as well as geographic areas. To fully maximise the added value of
integrated development, cooperation with other key actors and layers of government
is important. Complex urban challenges surpass municipal administrative borders
and therefore the cooperation between cities and between cities and their hinterland
provides an added value. Issues as transport and infrastructure, economic
development and job creation development, strengthening the investment climate
and environmental impact, are all issues which have an impact on a wider
geographical scale. To facilitate cooperation on these issues, cooperative structures
have been put in place between cities and or between cities and regions. This
factsheet provides background information on a number of these urban and regional
cooperation structures. Tools, instruments, factors for success and pitfall will be
addressed. These case studies can function as a source of inspiration.
EU policies and projects in the field of cooperative development
The European Commission has no competency in the field of integrated or
cooperative development. However, the European Commission actively stimulates
integrated urban and regional development and (trans)national cooperation through a
number of EU programmes. For more information, please go to:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index_en.cfm
Furthermore, the European Commission supports regional cooperation through other
initiatives, such as a ‘European Cooperation Day”
http://www.regional-cooperation.eu/
Cohesion Policy (2014-2020)
The overarching objective of European cohesion policy is to promote the harmonious
development of the Union and its regions. In this respect, it makes an important
contribution to the three strategic objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy:
Smart growth, by increasing competitiveness especially in less developed
regions;
Inclusive growth, by promoting employment and improving people's well-
being;
Green growth, by protecting and enhancing environmental quality.
Cohesion Policy is also the policy behind the hundreds of thousands of projects all
over Europe that receive funding from the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) – the two "Structural Funds" – and the
Cohesion Fund. The idea is that Cohesion Policy should also promote more
balanced, more sustainable "territorial development" – a broader concept than
Regional Policy, which is specifically linked to the ERDF and operates specifically at
regional level. http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/faq/q1/index_en.cfm
The total proposed budget for the period of 2014-2020 will be 376 billion euro,
including funding for the new Connecting Europe Facility, which is designed to
enhance cross-border projects in energy, transport and information technology. The
European Commission proposes a more integrated approach to EU investment,
including common eligibility and financial rules, and the introduction of multi-fund
programmes for the ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund, as an option. The European
Commission introduces two new tools to stimulate integrated territorial development:
Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) and Community Led Local Development
(CLLD). Via these tools European subsidies from different EU funds can be
combined.
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/what/future/publication/index_en.cfm
European project example: CityRegion.Net (URBACT)
Recommended process for creation of cooperation
The partners of the European funded project “CityRegion.Net” have implemented
their experiences in developing best models of regional structures to face the
financial crisis in cities. The joint current analysis was that all cities have more or less
financial problems not only affected by the crisis but more because of their fields of
infrastructure activities, which get more and more expensive and could be arranged
much better in regional cooperation in an agglomeration area. Environment, waste
and waste water management, public transport or social affairs are issues which
could be arranged more efficient in regional cooperation. A successful method and
structural models of cooperation are identified below.
Method for co-operation
Five criteria for building a cooperation which play a key role in its future success:
1. the framework – e. g. which legal preconditions are there, is the cooperation
forced by law or on a voluntary basis
2. how should decisions be made, who has the right to vote
3. which persons should be involved, who are possible stakeholders, what could
be the urgency, necessity, exogenous stimuli of possible partners
4. which functions, tasks, duties can be shared in the cooperation, who is
responsible for which tasks and why
5. how can the cooperation be financed, how can the common revenues be
shared, etc.
Structural models
Depending on the size and the intentions of the participating cities / municipalities,
three different models can be used:
1. Cooperation of smaller municipalities
Functions: establishing joint development projects & common management of at
least 1 municipal task (e.g. housing policy, development and maintenance
of roads, provision of schools)
Finances: own budget, own taxation + local, provincial, national funds / ERDF co-
financing
Framework: inter-municipal cooperation with autonomy right; legally determined by
statutes, no jurisdiction, own staff, assets, equipment
Decision
making / voting
rights:
Extension of powers is subject to a blocking minority of a third of its
members; reduction of its power can only be decided unanimously (one
voice)
Stakeholders
involved:
associative committee with representatives of municipal councils, whose
membership is mostly egalitarian
2. Cooperation of a big city with surrounding municipalities
Functions: fulfillment of tasks that are not manageable for a city on its own (e. g.
public transport, waste water management, spatial planning, location
management, tourism, etc.)
Finances: own fees, own budget for cooperational projects
Framework: own legal status; own organisational office with assets, equipment, staff,
etc.
Decision
making / voting
rights:
decisions are made by a double qualified majority (3/5 of the members
must be present and have to represent 3/5 of the inhabitants)
Stakeholders
involved:
all mayors of all participating municipalities + members of the provincial
parliament, no other stakeholders
3. Multi-level decision-making model
Functions: shared projects, lobbying, identity-building, etc.
Finances: yearly contributions in relation to the inhabitants of counties and
municipalities, and separate financing of larger projects by those who are
interested and willing.
Framework: association with statutes, management board, small office, but with clear
political lead (not by administrations)
Decision
making / voting
rights:
more inhabitants, more voting rights, more financial contributions
Stakeholders
involved:
both county governors and communal mayors
Main findings/ conclusions
New approaches are particularly needed for financing the measures with
respect to an equal and fair cost distribution between cities and their
hinterland.
The main challenges of urban infrastructure finance are the lack of adequate
funding.
Improving or creating an adequate environment for increased private sector
participation normally requires sector and often additional legal reforms.
There is still missing a coordination of taxes between the cities
Full document to be found on:
http://urbact.eu/en/projects/metropolitan-governance/crn/homepage/
http://urbact.eu/fileadmin/Projects/CityRegion_Net/outputs_media/CRN_Interim_Prod
uct_on_structure.pdf
EU Presidencies
Intergovernmental cooperation on territorial and urban integrated development takes
also place under the umbrella of European Presidencies. The following Presidencies
focused explicitly on integrated development:
German EU Presidency: Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities (2007)
Promotion of an integrated approach
Providing special attention to deprived neighbourhoods
Leipzigcharter will be enclosed
French EU Presidency: Marseille Statement (2008)
Focusing on climate change
Development of initiative “Reference Framework for Sustainable European
Cities (RFSC)”
Marseille statement will be enclosed
Spanish EU Presidency: Toledo Declaration (2010)
Alignment with Europe 2020 strategy
Focusing on integrated urban regeneration
Toledo declaration will be enclosed
Hungarian EU Presidency (2011): Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020 -
Towards an Inclusive, Smart and Sustainable Europe of Diverse Regions
The Hungarian EU Presidency revised the Territorial Agenda of 2007. The revision
process started in 2009. The review was necessary because Member States face
new challenges. The new Territorial Agenda is adapted to the Europe 2020 Strategy,
which reflects the conclusions of the 5th Cohesion Report of the Commission, and
opens up new horizons for territorial-based, integrated developments. During the
meeting held in Gödöllő on 19 May 2011, territorial development ministers supported
the new framework document.
http://www.eu2011.hu/news/territorial-agenda-presidency%E2%80%99s-proposal-accepted#sthash.cGX8Hoqj.dpuf Territorial agenda will be enclosed
Evaluation report will be enclosed
Ministerial conclusions will be enclosed
Polish EU Presidency: Effective instruments supporting territorial development (2011)
A report on strengthening urban dimension and local development within
Cohesion Policy
Report will be enclosed
National policies and programmes in the field of cooperativeintegrated urban
and regional development
Hungarian national policy
Hungary introduced for the EU budgetary period 2007-2013 the requirement that Hungarian cities prepare Integrated Urban Development Strategies. Only the cities which had done so could apply for subsidies for any kind of area-based urban renewal programme with EU funds in line with the Integrated Urban Development Strategy for the whole settlement. The IUDS is a medium term strategic document for the city with sectoral and territorial aims, oriented to implementation. This Strategy must include a so-called Anti-segregation Plan within which segregated areas of the cities have to be identified, exploring their basic conditions. Furthermore, the guidelines have to be laid down in a programme which the local government is willing to carry out on a mid-term basis in order to mitigate the effects of segregation. In 2008 altogether 157 Hungarian cities prepared an Integrated Urban Development Strategy and, if relevant, an Anti-segregation Plan.
France: Contrats de ville (The new generation city contracts) 2014-2020
The new generation city contracts intend to replace the current Urban Social Cohesion Contracts (CUCS) running until the end of 2014. The new contracts, to be developed in 2014, aim to promote an integrated intervention approach to priority neighbourhoods based on a shared project. An exercise of foreshadowing began in mid-June and will be run until the end of 2013, in order to obtain useful lessons to consolidate the national policy and procedures to guide new contracts. Complementary to the CUCS, the city contracts present four major innovations decided by the Inter ministerial Committee cities (CIV) of 19 February 2013 that should be taken into account by the allocated sites: mobilization of all involved actors, joint analysis of territorial challenges, shared project definition, identification of resources and tools mobilized in the project, establishment of a governance system and a political and technical organization to control, monitor and evaluate future contracts and formalization of the first commitments. http://www.ville.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/sgciv-sitesprefigurat-130614-gravure.pdf
Germany: The Social City
In towns, growth and decline are often to be observe at close quarters. In a large
number of large and small municipalities, districts exist where building-related,
economic and social problems come together. In order to counter the threat of a
downward spiral in these kinds of disadvantaged districts, in 1999, central and local
governments launched an urban development programme, "The Social City”. In 2012,
this developed into "The Social City – neighbourhood-level investments". The focus is
on an integrative approach: the programme finances investments in buildings and
apartments, living environments and the infrastructure at district level. These are
complemented by and dovetail with measures in other areas of politics, for example,
funding for education and employment, integration, health and the local economy.
Accordingly, the Social City programme specifically targets cooperation between
different departments and the pooling of resources in specific social environments.
The joint objective is to stabilize and upgrade all aspects of these districts and thus to
improve residents’ quality of life, to encourage them to socialize and integrate with
one another. An additional aim is to extend cooperation with third parties in the
district, for example, by getting companies and foundations more involved, but also
by promoting voluntary work.
The joint basis on which the responsible parties become involved in such activities is
the integrated development concept for the relevant urban district. Moreover,
residents are included and involved in planning and implementing such measures at
an early stage. A district management team coordinates and assists with the various
processes locally.
Nationwide projects are financed, particularly in the areas covered by the Social City
programme, with resources from the European Social Fund (ESF) and from the
Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS). These
projects are aimed at improving the qualifications and the social situation of residents
and thus at enhancing a sense of belonging in these districts. A wide range of
different measures to improve education and the level of training, to bolster
employment and to strengthen the local economy are promoted by BIWAQ.
Document: national urban development policy-Germany
http://www.nationale-
stadtentwicklungspolitik.de/nn_342834/EN/NationalUrbanDevelopmentPolicy/Nationa
lUrbanDevelopmentPolicy__node.html?__nnn=true (English)
www.staedtebaufoerderung.info (German site)
Czech Republic: Regional Development Strategy (2012-2020)
The Czech Republic attaches value to an integrated urban and territorial approach
which is based on the specific Czech settlement structure. A national framework of
the regional dimension - the Regional Development Strategy for 2014 – 2020 - has
been approved in May 2013. Based on the update Regional Development Strategy, a
territorial typology of the Czech Republic has been defined:
1. Developing areas
Metropolitan areas (areas with concentration above 300,000 inhabitants)
Agglomerations (concentration 100,000 – 300,000)
Regional centres (incl. surroundings; concentration 25,000 – 100,000)
2. Stabilized areas – not belonging to agglomerations and regional centres (and
their surroundings) and peripheral areas
3. Peripheral areas – geographically remote areas with a long-term accumulation of
problems (borders areas, mountain areas, inner peripheries or areas with specific
issues).
Each type of territory is associated with the integrated instruments. Besides the two
new tools introduce by European Commission, the Czech Republic proposes
Integrated Territorial Development Plans as an extension of Integrated Urban
Development Plans applied in current programming period. These new plans
encompass not only the city itself but also the city hinterland and catchment
(functional) region and will be implemented within the areas with more than 25,000
inhabitants (excluding the metropolitan areas focused on the ITI primarily).The
Regional Development Strategy 2014-2020 will be translated into English by the end
of this year and published on the EUKN website.
For more information about Integrated Urban Development Plans please visit the EUKN website: http://www.eukn.org/Czech_Republic/EUKN_Czech_Republic/E_library/Urban_Policy
/Ministerial_guidelines_evaluation_and_approval_of_Integrated_Urban_Development
_Plans_IUDP
Local policies and programmes in the field of cooperation between
towns, cities and their neighbourhoods
The Magdolna Quarter Programme: Pioneering for Social Urban Rehabilitation
In 2005, the municipality of Budapest launched various pilot programmes in which urban regeneration plays a central role. For this, three socially disadvantaged areas were selected, among which was the Magdolna Quarter in the 8th district of Budapest (Jozsefvaros). The first phase of the Magdolna Quarter Programme was part of the larger rehabilitation strategy of the Jozsefvaros district and the Urban Development Programme for Budapest. The second phase of the programme had different financial resources, mainly originating from the New Hungarian Development Plan. The purpose of the first phase of the programme (2005-2009) was to improve standards of living in the neighbourhood through the rehabilitation of residential buildings (four tenement buildings) and public spaces. In addition, it stimulated social integration, fosters social cohesion and upgrades social diversity. The second phase continued to support these goals and addresses six specific objectives:
Fostering quality education;
Community development;
Lowering the crime rate;
Improving the living conditions of the residents;
Generating a better quality of public spaces;
Strengthening the economic potential of the quarter.
Overall, most of the objectives of the two phases of the programme have been met. The first phase in particular was successful, the living conditions in the neighbourhood improved, the long-term unemployment reduced, more affordable and sustainable housing was provided and the local cohesion was strengthened. However, due to a change in decision-making procedures of the local administration and the economic crisis, which started in 2008 made it more difficult to achieve the goals of the second phase. Suggested (Web) Resources
General information about the rehabilitation programme for the Magdolna quarter can be found at: • www.rev8.hu • www.nfu.hu • kesztyugyar.blog.hu • www-jozsefvaros.hu • www.maneszota.hu
Other case studies and European funded projects
BrabantStad
BrabantStad is an urban network of the five major cities of Brabant: Breda,
Eindhoven, Helmond, 's-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg and the province of North
Brabant. Together these municipalities and province are working on an internationally
competitive and sustainable urban network. The network BrabantStad has been
working closely together over a period of more than 10 years. The network focuses
on strengthening the position of the participating cities and province in the region, but
also at national and European level. BrabantStad also collaborates with other Dutch
en German urban cooperative structures such as: Drechtsteden and with Nordrhein-
Westfalen.
BrabantStad is not an extra administrative layer; it is a governance network of an
informal nature; the respective cities and province retain their own autonomy.
Interaction is based on equality between partners. In short, a loose network without
the power to persevere on its own. For this reason, BrabantStad is investing in
mobilising commitment. BrabantStad develops, stimulates, initiates, connects and
cooperates. The dynamism this generates is to the benefit of the entire region of
Brabant.
A Strategic Agenda was adopted in March 2011, guiding cooperation between the
five cities and the province. This Strategic Agenda (2012-2020) outlines the following
key priorities for the network:
Strengthen economic resilience through knowledge, innovation and
valorisation
Increase international allure
Increase (international) accessibility
Strengthen the spatial structure of the urban network
The Strategic Agenda is enclosed (in English)
The enclosed documents provide more in-depth background information on
BrabantStad (BrabantStad-1 & BrabantStad-2)
German case studies
Munich
The official cooperation structure for Munich is the Planning Region of Munich. 186
municipalities and 8 counties are compulsory members. Munich’s Planning Region is
the largest and economically strongest of 18 regions in Bavaria. The regional plan
was elaborated according to the guiding principles of the Spatial Development
Program of Bavaria (LEP) and deals with all topics of regional concern.
Additionally, municipalities of the region cooperate with Munich in certain fields, e. g.
“Munich Transport and Tariff Association (MVV)”, “Inzell initiative” as PPP to improve
the overall traffic situation, “MORO-initiative” (City of Munich and 9 municipalities) to
strengthen sustainable development within the region of Munich, the “Association of
Regional Recreational Areas (EFV)”, which focuses on the establishment of
recreational areas and cycling paths, financed by all 60 members (City of Munich,
counties, municipalities), and the “Greater Munich Area (GMA)”.
It is planned to intensify the cooperation in the following four fields:
Knowledge
Business and Marketing
Environment and Health
Transportation and Mobility
Once a year, the Munich Metropolitan Region stages a Metropolitan Conference
which aims to develop a joint identity, gather new ideas for projects, and attract
additional participants to secure their involvement and support.
Fig. - The region of Munich and Munich Metropolitan Region (EMM)
- City Region Net report: City-hinterland co-operations – a way to find the best
structure for common work
- http://www.region-muenchen.com/themen/info_en/info_en.htm
- http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/424.pdf Mitteldeutschland
The Metropolregion Mitteldeutschland is a good example of a fusion type region
consisting of a constellation of once rather distinct medium and small-sized cities,
which are now becoming increasingly dependent on each other. The network co-
operates in the fields of science and industry, transport and mobility, culture and
tourism, and promote family-friendly structures. Member of the metropolitan area are:
in Saxony Chemnitz, Leipzig, Dresden, Zwickau
in Saxony-Anhalt Dessau, Halle (Saale), Magdeburg
in Thuringia, Erfurt, Gera, Jena, Weimar
Despite all the benefits and potential, Mitteldeutschland is a polycentric metropolitan
region that is not yet very strong in its functional, cultural and institutional integration.
The distances between the cities are too long for having frequent functional
interactions. Also the lack of support from the federal states strongly compromises
the institutional integration within the region.
The sense of urgency, that is the fear that the region will lose out to other German
metropolitan regions, is the main driver for a metropolitan strategy. The aim is to
strengthen the economic competitiveness of the region with a strong externally-
oriented economic marketing strategy. Most activities and products of the working
groups are focused on ‘getting the region on the map’ and attracting (and keeping)
firms and highly-skilled people in the region. The creation of one regional identity for
inhabitants is seen as important but obviously has a lower priority.
http://www.region-mitteldeutschland.com/en/ http://www.emi-network.eu/Research/Download_page (Polycentric metropolitan areas)
Austrian case study: Graz
In 2008 the Land Steiermark (Provincial government of Styria) in Austria passed a
bill, which regulates new forms of municipal cooperation in ‘great regions’ and ‘small
regions’. The project “Regionext” is an example of cooperation between Austrian
regions. The main goals of the project are the creation of a thematic and structural
pooling of municipalities, develop personal responsibilities within the cooperation, the
creation of attractive living spaces for the inhabitants, and improve the region’s
competitiveness.
The process “Regionext” is currently implemented on three different levels. Firstly,
municipalities have to cooperate and form “small regions”, then two or more of these
“small regions” are linked to “great regions” and then there is the Province of Styria
with the provincial government and all the funding departments/agencies. Each “small
region” has to elaborate a development concept for the small region to define which
communal tasks will be performed commonly by the municipalities of the small
regions. According to these models, the cooperation will receive special grants, if a
certain number of municipalities decide to cooperate on specific topics. At the
moment, almost 95% of the Styrian communities have found cooperation in small
regions. This high proportion was achieved in a relatively short time. In September
2009, the Province of Styria was split into seven “great regions”, which are supposed
to work as ‘laboratories in regional development’. Each of these seven has to
establish a regional assembly and a regional managing committee. Members of the
regional assembly are all mayors of the municipalities of the respective region as well
as all members of the Austrian Parliament and the Styrian Parliament, whose
principal residence lies in the region. The regional managing committee is composed
of only 12 delegates of the parliaments plus representatives of the small regions. The
main tasks of the “great regions” are the development of objectives for regional policy
and projects as well as the input to the Provincial Government when designing or
adapting the regional development programme. Regional development concepts
have to be elaborated, validated by the regional assembly. The so called “leading”
projects that are illustrated in the regional concepts will then have funding priority.
The existing regional development agencies will support the regions in their
operational work. - City Region Net report: City-hinterland co-operations – a way to find the best structure for common work
United Kingdom: Scottish Cities Alliance
The Scottish Cities Alliance is the collaboration of Scotland’s seven cities, the
Scottish Government and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI)
tasked with the collective aim of attracting external investment, stimulating economic
activity and most importantly creating new jobs and business opportunities. The
partnership will develop Scotland’s potential as a competitive and world class place to
live, work, visit, invest and do business. Scotland’s seven cities are:
Aberdeen
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Inverness
Perth
Stirling
The cities and the Scottish Government established the Scottish Cities Alliance to
take forward a programme of collaborative action.
The Leadership Group brings together the Scottish Government’s Minister for Cities,
the Leaders and Chief Executives of the seven cities and draws in the expertise of
senior private sector representatives. The Leadership Group agrees priorities for the
Scottish Cities Alliance and provides strategic direction for the work programme of
the Delivery Group and Action Teams.
The Delivery Group comprises operational representatives from each of the Seven
Cities and the Scottish Government. It oversees the Action Teams and works in
partnership with the national Cities Investment Network to ensure the right resources
are available.Action Teams, working with the Cities Investment Network, develop the
business case and associated marketing material for programmes and propositions
selected by the Leadership Group. These teams are flexible and vary in duration.
Resources are drawn from the Cities, Scottish Government and the private sector.
The Cities Investment Network brings together specialist resources from national
agencies to help Action Teams develop the business case for collaborative
programmes and propositions. It includes a range of national agencies.
The Scottish Cities Knowledge Centre draws together expertise from academia and
the public and private sectors and is embedded within the Scottish Cities Alliance to
provide evidence-based advice to the Leadership and Delivery Groups. Included in its
responsibilities is futures work, helping the cities understand emerging global trends
that may impact on their competitiveness; evaluation of programmes and propositions
taken forward, and international knowledge exchange to exploit best practice.
http://scottishcities.wordpress.com
United Kingdom: Core cities
Core Cities represents a cooperative structure in which the councils of England’s
eight largest city economies outside London are represented. Working in partnership,
the Core Cities group aims to enable each City to enhance their economic
performance and make them better places to live, work, visit and do business. The
Core Cities Group has a track record of 15 years as a cross party group, led by the
City Leaders. It is a self selected and self funded group. The following cities are part
of the Core Cities Group:
Birmingham
Bristol
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Newcastle
Nottingham
Sheffield
The Core Cities Group developed and put into practice new tools for working across functioning economic areas: City Region Partnerships; Multi Area Agreements; and
now Local Enterprise Partnerships. The CC-Group has developed detailed work on important new investment tools that will drive jobs and growth – e.g Tax Increment Financing – and worked to get them adopted by National Government. The Core Cities Group also works together on delivery, on programmes like RE:FIT together with London, procuring efficient and low cost solutions to reducing carbon emissions from public buildings. More information and background documentation can be found on: http://www.corecities.com/home
Italy: Milan metropolitan area
The Milan Metropolitan Area is the urban agglomeration around the city of Milan.
Although Milan is its dominant urban core in terms of economy it is rather small in
terms of population. Located within the wealthiest region of Italy – the region of
Lombardy – Milan is the capital city and it is widely considered to be the driver of the
regional, and even national, economy. The metropolitan areas’ strong economic
sectors include financial, commercial and juridical services, marketing and bio-health.
Furthermore, Milan is famous for its fashion and design businesses, which are
strongly linked to the textile and furniture clusters in the municipalities in the
northwest and northern part of the region.
The Milan Metropolitan Area is a prototype of an ‘incorporation mode’ polycentric
metropolitan area, meaning that this polycentric area is dominated by a large city that
extends its sphere of influence to once rather distinct other, but much smaller cities in
the wider metropolitan area. Milan’s dominance is not only in terms of population, but
also the fact that Milan is the driver of the national economy. Since Milan is gradually
running out of space to accommodate new developments, the city is increasingly
more dependent on possibilities offered in the broader region. This requires Milan
and the surrounding region to cooperate better with each other.
The main economic clusters in the surroundings of Milan are:
North of Milan ‘Brianza region’ - Furniture
North-East of Milan ‘Vimercate’ - Communication, media, ICT
North-South of Milan ‘Legnano’ - Textile, elector mechanical industries
South of Milan - Agro-food business
http://www.emi-network.eu/Research/Download_page (Polycentric metropolitan areas)
Relevant research publication
Many cities have become part of a broader functional urban region, incorporating
many different types of centers: the polycentric metropolitan area. In order to find out
how metropolitan areas around Europe deal with these spatial dynamics and what
questions they share, research is needed. As a result, the spatial dynamics of cities
within such areas have become much more interwoven. This has important
implications for the (regional) economy, labour market, housing market, infrastructure
and levels of services.Thee European Metropolitan network (EMI) has developed a
Knowledge & Research Agenda on Polycentric Metropolitan Areas.
Please find the full report here:
http://www.emi-
network.eu/Research/Polycentric_metropolitan_areas/Knowledge_Research_Agenda
Please visit www.eukn.eu for more background information on integrated
territorial and strategies