Discontent, Division, Disparities, Divides. Those are the four "Ds" characterising the spatial megatrends in Europe today, according to the ESPON findings, as presented by the director of ESPON, Mr Wiktor Szydarowski, at the European Summit of regions and cities, in Marseille.

Mr Szydarowski offered the participants "a snapshot" of the current situation in Europe and described the new divisions arising and the new iron curtain that is developing in front of our eyes in Europe. He also emphasised that territories have different specificities and needs, but they all have to become more resilient and address their exposure to hazards and shocks. As part of resilience, the ESPON director included cooperation among places that face similar challenges and could benefit from alliances and lessons learnt by other places with similar characteristics to address them. 

Mr Szydarowski emphasized that territorial governance, and interregional cooperation, in particular, have never been so important for ensuring territorial development. The more European economies and societies get global and integrated, the more flows and functional interdependencies need to be considered in policymaking.

You can watch the video with ESPON's director presentation (15.46) and his answer on the most important priority for territorial development (16.36) on the official website of the Summit.