Urban Facts' Centenary Conference2/22
Structure of the talk
Why a fundamental reform?
Major elements of the reform
Time table
Why do we need a
thorough revision of
the Urban Audit?
Chapter 1
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference4/22
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)
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference5/22
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%
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference6/22
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference7/22
Part of estimation in data delivery
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
DE ES SK SI PL TR LT LV GR MT UK IE CY SE NL RO PT FR LU EE FI BG CH IT AT NO BE CZ HU DK
was available
estimated
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference8/22
Where the Urban Audit data comes from Large countries
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
DE ES FR IT PL UK
Other
by City
by regional stat. Office
by NSI
EU27 + CH, NO
by regional stat. office
17.1%
by central stat. office
63.2%by city8.0%
other11.7%
Inevitably a complex data collection system
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference9/22
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
Ten proposed
actions of the
Urban Audit
revision
Chapter 2
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference11/22
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 50 000 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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference12/22
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference13/22
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
Future Urban Audit data collection
future annual26.3%
in addition exhaustive
24.0%collected centrally
11.1%
deleted38.6%
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference14/22
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference15/22
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”)
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference16/22
6. Improve the data validation process
Fine tuning of Eurostat’s validation tools
Encourage validation by the data suppliers
7. Increase direct cooperation with cities
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference17/22
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference18/22
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
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference19/22
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
Next steps and
time table
Chapter 3
Urban Facts' Centenary Conference21/22
Next steps in the Urban Audit revision
DM discussion May 2011
Meeting of all nationalUrban Audit coordinators June 2011
Present strategy at ESS-Com. Oct 2011
Implementation Jan 2012
Thank you for
your attention!
Any Questions ?