Map of the Month "Energy trades and demands in Europe and its Neighbourhoods"

ESPON released 3 maps on "Energy trades and demands in Europe and its Neighbourhoods".

Most EU countries consume high levels of energy; the EU neighbouring countries hold at the same time a large amount of the world’s energy resources. Energy collaboration in the neighbourhood is therefore strategic for Europe, in ensuring energy supply but also as basis for industrial, social (employment) and environmental partnerships. More reading

Events - Register now for inspiring days of discussion and networking!

Workshop “Scenarios and modeling in the framework of exploring Territorial Cohesion”

Brussels, 4 September 2014 - The aim of this workshop is to provide for dialogue and exchange of experiences between modellers involved in scenarios linked to cohesion policy and to discuss the reasons behind the similarities and differences between the results of the different regional models that exist at EU level for assessing the impact of Cohesion Policy, to identify the advantages and strengths of each of the models and to look into the next generation of models.

More details and programme at the ESPON Website.

Workshop "Green Economy in European Regions?"

Brussels, 29 September 2014 - The workshop intends to present and discuss the recent and future relevance of the green economy in the territorial development of European regions. Three presentations will set the scene by outlining the recent international perspective related to the green economy, relevant actions, instruments and actors.

Concrete examples will inform on green growth processes within different sectors. Case study results will identify the role of the regions in driving a green economy development and good practices of regional transition. The registration is open till 19 September 2014 at 14h00. More details at the ESPON Website.

ESPON Day "What European Territory Today and Tomorrow?"

Brussels, 10 October 2014 - The ESPON Day is hosted by the Committee of the Regions and takes place back to back to the Open Days, the key annual event in Europe for regional and local stakeholders. The purpose of the event is three-fold:

1. To present ESPON 2013 Programme’s achievements including its major projects;

2. To communicate evidence-based policy messages that address major challenges facing regions, cities and larger territories, as well as countries and Europe as such;

3. To demonstrate that ESPON evidence can help improve policy development adding the European context in many policy areas at the European, national, regional and local levels.

The event, being organised at the crossroads between two programming periods, will also act as a bridge to the upcoming specific objectives and new institutional arrangements of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme for 2014-2020. The registration is open until 23 September 2014 at 14h00 at the ESPON Website.

ESPON at the Open Days 2014

The OPEN DAYS - European Week of Regions and Cities- is the key annual event for regional and local stakeholders. This year ESPON will contribute to the event with joint workshops and speeches in cooperation with the European Commission DG REGIO, the Committee of the Regions, INTERACT, INTERREG IVC and URBACT as follows:

• 7 October 2014 Workshop “Territorial dynamics for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in EU cities and regions – Presentation of the 6th Cohesion Report and of the ESPON Synthesis Report”
• 7 October 2014 Speech at the Workshop "Territorial Impact Assessment as a key instrument for promoting territorial cohesion in the European Union"
• 8 October 2014 Workshop "Getting the most out of pan-European cooperation programmes 2014-2020"  

More details at the ESPON Website.

Latest Publications

Territorial Observation “European Neighbourhoods”

The challenges that Europe faces today, such as international competitiveness, climate change, energy security, demographic aging, all have a territorial aspect and hence a Neighbourhood dimension.

An evidence base is needed by policy makers and practitioners in Europe, but also in the Neighbourhood, to understand and tap potentials, and cooperate on joint challenges and opportunities.

This Territorial Observation draws on ESPON research that has been undertaken by researchers from many different countries in and around Europe. It gives a snapshot of the current relationships across the EU’s borders. Territorial Observation n. 11 is available at the ESPON Website.

Guidance “Towards Better Territorial Governance in Europe - A guide for practitioners, policy and decision makers”

This guide highlights key elements for improving territorial governance in Europe. In that respect, it unfolds five core dimensions by presenting their components, provides a checklist and indicators, and suggests techniques that can be adopted and rules that have to be followed. Each dimension corresponds with one recommendation suggested for improving territorial governance.

Building upon these, the guide shows how theory can be put into practice and provides insights from different territorial governance examples.

The ESPON Guidance is available at the ESPON Website.

Evidence Brief “CityBench Webtool: Urban Benchmarking” A quick scan tool supporting investment decisions

ESPON has developed, in cooperation with EIB and EUROSTAT, an innovative and user friendly tool for a first benchmarking of European cities. It aims at giving a first indication on suitable locations for urban investment, based on various themes such as demography, economy, quality of life or investment climate.

The tool offers a quick comparison of up to four cities in Europe (within a total of 171 Larger Urban Zones) on the basis of pre selected territorial indicators. Based on the results of the quick scan, investors can decide on the most interesting cities for a more thorough investigation.

Try the tool at: http://citybench.espon.eu

Evidence Brief No. 9 “CityBench Webtool: Urban Benchmarking” is available at the ESPON Website.

Evidence Brief “A territorial monitoring tool for a European macro-region: the example of the Baltic Sea Region”

Territorial development has been an issue in the Baltic Sea Region for the past 20 years. Experience shows that territorial cooperation and policy approaches to transnational development potentials and challenges require a sound base of comparable transnational evidence.

This ESPON Brief illustrates how policy making at macro-regional or transnational level can benefit from territorial evidence provided by ESPON.

The ESPON BSR TeMo (Territorial Monitoring for the Baltic Sea Region) project has developed a tailor made territorial monitoring system, based on indicators, to promote territorial cohesion and support the contribution of the Baltic Sea Region to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth as mentioned in the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’.

ESPON Evidence Brief No. 8 “A territorial monitoring tool for a European macro-region: the example of the Baltic Sea Region” is available at the ESPON Website.

Interactive Handbook 'Detecting Territorial Potential and Challenges'

Detecting Territorial Potential and Challenges is an interactive handbook for policy-makers and practitioners on how to use ESPON knowledge at local and regional level.

The handbook is designed for local and regional practitioners and policymakers working in the fields of regional development and spatial planning. It is a guide for long-term strategic development, e.g. to support the design and evaluation of regional development plans and programmes.

The handbook is also available through the iBook Store and optimized for iPads and iPhones mobile platforms. More at the ESPON Website.

Latest Reports from Projects

Final Reports

1. Services of General Interest: SeGI - Indicators and Perspectives for Services of General Interest in Territorial Cohesion and Development

2. Indicators for Territorial Cohesion: KITCASP - Key Indicators for Territorial Cohesion and Spatial Planning

3. Landscape: LP3LP - Landscape Policy for the 3 Countries Park

4. Capitalisation and dissemination: CaDEC - Capitalisation and Dissemination of ESPON Concepts

Draft Final Reports

5. Scenarios - ET2050 - Territorial Scenarios and Visions for Europe

6. Neighbour Regions - ITAN - Integrated Territorial Analysis of the Neighbourhood

7. Economic Crisis: ECR2 - Economic Crisis: Resilience of Regions

8. Town – TOWN – Small and Medium-Sized Towns

9. Poverty and Exclusion: TIPSE - Territorial Dimension of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe

10. Transport - TRACC - TRansport ACCessibility at regional/local scale and patterns in Europe

11. Energy NSS - NORTH SEA STAR, North Sea - Spreading Transnational Results.

12. Territorial Evidence TerrEvi – Territorial Evidence Packs for Structural Funds Programmes

13. Mapping Tool – RIMAP - ESPON Online Mapping Tool. The beta-version of the interactive tool is available here http://rimap.espon.eu/

14. Capitalisation ENECON - ESPON Evidence in a North European Context