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