ESPON Handbooks

The post-2020 programming period is now entering its design phase. National and local authorities are looking for input that will help them better assess their needs and benchmark them against European pioneers when designing their new development policies. They are also looking for tools and hands-on support for this exercise. 

In ESPON we worked hard the past years to create a vast knowledge base of territorial research. The results produced by our applied research, targeted analyses and tools are now offering to policymakers an impressive volume of information and evidence in a broad area of topics. From Green Infrastructure to Youth Employment, from Metropolitan areas to Circular economy, ESPON research touched upon all the big issues that are dominating the political debate on European, national or local level.

It is time to capitalize and share this knowledge further; with all those that are designing and implementing development policies around Europe - Cohesion policy, future EU programmes, urban and regional strategies. Our aim is to help them answer some of the questions they are facing in their efforts to design development policies that will respond to the needs of the people, beyond the boundaries of their administrative borders.

In order to make the content of ESPON more accessible and more comprehensive for anyone to use we developed through our projects a number of handbooks, aiming to support the use of the results of our research by policymakers. The complete list is available here and it will be updated regularly. 

These handbooks encompass the essence of our projects and they offer a step by step guidance to policymakers to design policies that will improve the lives of the citizens.

We are confident these publications will be proved valuable in the programming of the post-2020 period at the national, regional and local level. 

Our team of experts is also on your side, if requested, to further support you use these handbooks and overall the results of our projects. Don’t hesitate to contact us for any information you may need.

Climate, environment and energy

[BRIEFING]

Relating Green Infrastructure to the Strategic Environmental Assessment

Addressed to a broad audience, aimed to enhance applying the concepts of green infrastructure and ecosystem services in the context of the Strategic Environmental Assessment.

GRETA, 2019

Contact: Michaela Gensheimer

 

 

Download

(09 pages)

[BRIEFING]

Unpacking Green Infrastructure

Addressed to: individuals making decisions for monitoring, planning, and developing green infrastructure at all scales to enhance integrating the benefits and challenges of green infrastructure into decision making.

GRETA, 2019

Contact: Michaela Gensheimer

 

 

Download

(10 pages)

[BRIEFING]

Planning for green infrastructure: Methods to support practitioners and decision-making

A publication aiming to provide practitioners with an overview of the methods applicable for considerations around green infrastructure and ecosystem services.

GRETA, 2019

Contact: Michaela Gensheimer

 

 

Download

(10 pages)

[POLICY GUIDE]

Towards a Circular Economy

Addressed to: local and regional policymakers to support them with the development of circular economy strategies to change the structure and operations of their economies and industries.

CIRCTER, 2019

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen

 

 

Download

(69 pages)

[OPERATIVE GUIDE]

Good Practice Framework for European Sustainable Urbanisation

addressed to: decision-makers, policymakers, practitioners and professionals, aimed to highlights key components for improving sustainable urbanization of the maritime cities by using regeneration.

ENSURE, 2020

Contact: Michaela Gensheimer

Download

(78 pages)

 

European Territorial Cooperation

[PRACTICAL GUIDE]

Developing Cross-border Public Services

Addressed to: public authorities or other stakeholders interested in developing and setting-up a CPS, aimed to provide recommendations and that highlight the main elements to consider.

CPS, 2019

Contact: Nicolas Rossignol

 

 

Download

(28 pages)

[HANDOOK]

CBC TIA

Addressed to: experts and cross-border cooperation (CBC) programme specialists, aimed to give guidance on the TIA methodology to conduct an ex-post TIA for a CBC programme.

TIA CBC, 2019

Contact: Zintis Hemansons

 

 

Download

(50 pages)

[PRACTICAL GUIDE]

Big Data for Corridor Development

Addressed to: public sector authorities interested in contributing to corridor development, aimed to presents tools to generate understanding about the various potentials that big data brings to the field of European growth corridors.

BIG DATA, 2019

Contact: Nicolas Rossignol

 

 

Download

(22 pages)

[USER GUIDELINES]

Result indicators for ETC Programmes

Addressed to: programme managers, joint technical secretariats and policymakers involved in the practical implementation of ETC programmes to help them in selecting and applying appropriate result indicators in their programmes.

TEVI, 2019

Contact: Gavin Daly

 

 

Download

(69 pages)

 

Spatial Planning

[HANDOOK]

Inner Peripheries

Addressed to: regional and national actors dealing with “Inner Peripheries” to enhance the understanding of IP features and underlying dynamics and providing meaningful examples and ideas on how to cope with their challenges.

PROFECY, 2017

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen

 

 

Download

(24 pages)

[HANDOOK]

Detecting Territorial Potential and Challenges

Addressed to: policy-makers and practitioners on how to use ESPON knowledge at the local and regional level.

DeTeC, 2014

Contact: Nicolas Rossignol

 

 

Download

(50 pages)

[TOOL KIT]

Towards a Regional Integrated Strategy

Addressed to: practitioners to present them a range of operational models, questions and recommendations that can be used as inspiration for learning elaboration of a regional integrated strategy in its individual context.

RISE, 2012

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen

 

 

Download

(30 pages)

[GUIDE]

Sustainable Urbanisation and land‑use Practices in European Regions

Addressed to: decision-makers and policymakers at various levels across Europe, aimed to proactively contribute to a more equal, balanced, and sustainable territorial development.

SUPER, 2020

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen

Download

(116 pages)

 

Governance

[GUIDE]

Developing soft territorial cooperation

Addressed to: practitioners of territorial cooperation to provide them with concrete guidance on how soft territorial cooperation areas may be initiated, set up in practical terms and further developed.

ACTAREA, 2017

Contact: Sandra Di Biaggio

 

 

Download

(27 pages)

[GUIDE]

Towards better territorial governance in Europe

Addressed to: practitioners, policy and decision-makers to become inspired by effective territorial policies at various levels through suggestions for practices, techniques and rules, oriented to achieving better territorial governance in Europe.

TANGO, 2013

Contact: Michaela Gensheimer

 

 

Download

(58 pages)

[GUIDELINES]

Qualitative analysis of regional governance system and resilience

Addressed to: policymakers and practitioners, aimed to support them in developing a framework for a qualitative analysis of their region and its relationships with macro spatial challenges.

TPM, 2012

Contact: Sandra Di Biaggio

 

 

Download

(22 pages)

zip file

[MODERATOR'S GUIDE]

ESPON TIA Tool

Addressed to: potential moderators of a TIA workshop to guide them with applying the ESPON TIA Quick Check using the TIA webtool. 

TIA tool, 2020

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen and Zintis Hermansons

Download

(104 pages)

 

Demography, services, quality of life

[TECHNICAL GUIDE]

Using Big Data to measure housing affordability

Addressed to: practitioners and scientists to give them guidance on the data selection, harvesting and analysis process in relation to the affordability of housing.

Big data and Housing, 2019

Contact: Marjan van Herwijnen

Download

(54 pages)

[POLICY HANDBOOK]

Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy challenges and best practices
Addressed to local authorities and policymakers, aimed to be used as a starting point to learn more about age-friendly practices.

ACPA, 2020

Contact: Piera Petruzzi

Download

(104 pages)

 

Migration and Tourism

[TECHNICAL GUIDE]

Integrating refugees

Addressed to: local and regional policymakers to give them practical support with the integration and inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees.

MIGRARE, 2019

Contact: Martin Gauk

Download

(29 pages)