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EU regional and urban development

Urban Agenda: new knowledge sources available for Europe's cities

  • 12 October 2016
Urban Agenda: new knowledge sources available for Europe's cities

The Commission launches today three new initiatives to help push forward the Urban Agenda for the EU by facilitating more coordination, coherence and synergies between urban policies and data. The online "One-stop shop" portal on EU urban policies responds to the needs expressed by cities in the context of the Urban Agenda to have complete, reliable and updated information in a simple and accessible form on the key EU urban policies and initiatives having an impact on cities. The portal central

The Commission launches today three new initiatives to help push forward the Urban Agenda for the EU by facilitating more coordination, coherence and synergies between urban policies and data. The online "One-stop shop" portal on EU urban policies responds to the needs expressed by cities in the context of the Urban Agenda to have complete, reliable and updated information in a simple and accessible form on the key EU urban policies and initiatives having an impact on cities. The portal centralises all information on the priority themes of the Urban Agenda for the EU, such as on air quality, climate adaptation, energy transition and urban mobility.

The Commission State of European Cities Report issued together with UN-Habitat supports the Urban Agenda by assessing the performance of European cities with regards to the priority themes: jobs and skills, poverty, climate-resilient cities or low-carbon economy. The analysis will enable the exchanges and learning between mayors by comparing the performance of their cities, and by providing concrete project examples.

The Urban Data Platform, which will be linked to the "one-stop shop", provides a single access point to common indicators on the status and trends of more than 600 urban areas in Europe. This will facilitate urban practitioners to compare data, benchmark, and monitor, which is one of the key aims of the Urban Agenda.

This comes at the right timing, as the Urban Agenda for the EU is now moving fast forward some months after the adoption of the Amsterdam Pact by the Council. At the heart of it are the 12 partnerships, where relevant stakeholders work together on an equal basis to find common solutions to 12 identified urban challenges.

By January 2017, four new partnerships will start in addition to the already existing ones: circular economy coordinated by Oslo; digital transition coordinated by Estonia, Oulo (Finland) and Sofia (BG); urban mobility coordinated by Czech Republic and Karlsruhe and jobs and skills coordinated by Romania, Rotterdam (NL) and Jelgava (LV). 

The work on the Urban Agenda for the EU will be presented next week in Quito during the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)., taking place from 17 to 20 October. It will also feed into the reflections on the establishment of a global "New Urban Agenda", which is a renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, addressing poverty as well as the key urban challenges. Those initiatives are being announced on the occasion of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which takes place from 10 to 13 October 2016 in Brussels. Carrying on from last year's OPEN URBAN DAY, the European Week of Regions and Cities has provided a platform for practitioners, officials and experts from all over Europe interested in the urban dimension of EU policies. This year there are 20 workshops and 3 site visits on urban matters getting more than 1000 urban practitioners together, ending with the Political Event on the Urban Agenda for the EU on Wednesday 12 October.

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