Community of Practice on Cities

Dear community members,

We are delighted to be back in touch with you after intense and fruitful exchanges during this year’s European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) and our Community’s very own annual plenary meeting.

This issue will be the last of 2023 and focuses on the key takeaways from our CoP-CITIES plenary and from other JRC sessions at the European Week of Regions and Cities. However, do scroll to the very end if you do not want to miss news on Sustainable Urban Development and Territorial Development.

Our heartfelt thanks go to all Community members who made their way to Brussels to attend the plenary. It was a truly special occasion to meet participants in person and to engage in stimulating discussions on urban inequalities. A great deal of knowledge and insight on the topic was shared during the event - yet, we would like to go back to the one message we want to retain and focus on: even though more and more resources have been devoted to research on urban inequalities, large portions of population remain invisible to data. Such significant evidence gaps weaken policy approaches and call for increased efforts. 

We wish you a pleasant read and, as usual, encourage you to get in touch with us to flag any initiatives and activities that can be of interest to our community.

The newsletter editorial board

During the panel exchange, three guests introduced complementary perspectives on urban inequalities. Solène Molard from Eurocities highlighted the challenges connected to skills potential, affordable housing and inter-generational issues. Housing Europe’s Sorcha Edwards focused on supporting climate-neutral, affordable communities, and highlighted the key challenges around housing. Finally, Teresa Sordé from the Autonomous University of Barcelona introduced neighbourhood learning spaces, as a glue to unite generations and provide pathways to opportunities.

Participants actively engaged in an ‘opinion line’ exercise. Particularly lively discussions were sparked by the issue that significant gaps remain in the understanding of the factors behind poverty and exclusion – a statement shared by the majority of participants. A consensus emerged that significant proportions of the urban population remain invisible to data. As a result, and despite high levels of investment over time, significant gaps remain in the evidence of urban inequalities, which ultimately weaken the policy approach and implementation on the ground.

The session ended with final inputs from the JRC. Patrizia Sulis presented a comprehensive review of recent and relevant JRC work related to urban inequalities and housing affordability. Alessandro Rainoldi concluded the event highlighting how all topics presented were highly relevant for CoP-CITIES members and can be the focus of further research from the JRC.

In particular, Rosemarie van Ham and Michelle ter Haar (City of Rotterdam) spoke about the Inclusive Climate Action Rotterdam (ICAR), presenting the topic of inequality from the climate perspective. Subsequently, Xavier Timbeau (Sciences Po) presented a case study on inequalities resulting from urban sprawl in the city of La Rochelle. JRC’s Ricardo Barranco addressed the housing topic, focusing on how the amount of available services has changed in the city of Milan (Italy) in the period 2014-2023. He also looked at the population's socio-economic conditions and the potential main factors driving those changes. Finally, Silvia Iodice (JRC) focused on a specific aspect of urban inequalities and vulnerabilities, related to the homeless population, presenting the main results from a recent report.

After the panel, a lively and productive Q&A session furthered the discussions on current trends and challenges to be addressed by urban administrators and policymakers, as well as possible policy interventions to promote cities that leave no one behind. Another key subject that emerged during the session was the importance of facilitating the data collection process and fostering data harmonisation through European cities, in order to design policies that are adapted to the specificities of the local context.

JRC organised this session in partnership with the DG REGIO and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), as part of the project "Urban Futures".

Lewis Djikstra (JRC) and Lucile Lecomte (DG REGIO) further contributed with their paper "Towns in Europe" explaining how towns in Europe are defined using the Degree of Urbanisation classification, while David Burgalassi presented OECD's works "Shrinking Smartly and Sustainably" and "Settlement Networks and Links between Population, Services and Connectivity". These presentations combined offered a comprehensive view of the crucial function of towns as regional hubs, thus enhancing their relevance in regional development strategies.