ESPON Workshop

“Territorial Vision for Europe towards 2050”

 

Brussels, 11 October 2013

Timing: 8h30 – 16h00

Background and objectives

Policymakers in the field of territorial development and cohesion have asked for a future oriented and integrated vision on the development of the European territory.

In a period of economic and political turbulence and uncertainty, existing long-term perceptions guiding policy development are challenged. Previous forecasts and policy ideas may have become obsolete. The speed of change is often faster than our capacity to adapt our previous expectations and new forecasts risk to be easily discredited.

These dynamics also have a territorial dimension that influences cohesion in Europe, the balances and structures on the European territory, and have an impact on long-term growth opportunities and challenges for European regions and cities.

In this context, a long-term framework for policy thinking and decisions, which is informed by evidence and related to the development of the European territory, is considered helpful for policy makers.

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 The 31 countries behind the programme have demanded ESPON to elaborate a Territorial Vision for Europe in 2050. The vision is meant to guide policy debate on territorial development and provide a coherent European framework for policy initiatives at different decision-making levels. The ESPON project ET2050 has the challenging task to support this territorial vision-building process and use a participatory process involving relevant stakeholders at European, national and regional level.

The ET2050 project has so far been exploring different possible future scenarios for Europe. All scenarios find their basis in the Europe 2020 Strategy and are to support a strategic policy debate up to 2030 and further towards a Vision for the European Territory in 2050.

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A very important objective of the workshop was to raise awareness among all relevant stakeholders on the work that is done and to involve stakeholders in dialogue and cooperation on the development of a Territorial Vision for Europe towards 2050.

It is important that policy makers and stakeholders related to territorial development influence the elaboration of a Territorial Vision 2050 for Europe. At the workshop opinions on a Territorial Vision in general and on the first draft were welcomed. This input will be used to continue the process of building a vision that is supported by a large group of stakeholders.

Aim and Structure

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 The workshop brought together 41 European stakeholders (Policy-makers, practitioners and organisations) and provided a platform for lively, useful and constructive discussions in plenary and parallel sessions. The project presented scenarios and striking results for Europe in 2030 and 2050. Several prospective documents at European and global level as well as inputs from stakeholders already received, added to this evidence base for a Territorial Vision for Europe towards 2050.

A first draft text towards a Territorial Vision was presented for discussion. The participants discussed in both plenary and parallel sessions the elements developed and presented by the ET2050 project. The input gathered from all attendees will feed the next version of the Territorial Vision 2050 that will be presented in December 2013.

Further information

Please find below the two documents that formed the basis for this workshop, the programme of the workshop, the presentations and the synthesis.

More photos here.

Contact the ESPON Coordination Unit at [email protected] for additional details.

 

This Workshop is organised within the framework of the ESPON 2013 Capitalisation Strategy / Actions related to European Seminars and Workshops

“Territorial Vision for Europe towards 2050”
 

 

Brussels, 11 October 2013

 

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Documents