Article 174 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that ”the Union shall aim at reducing disparities between the levels of development of the various regions and the backwardness of the least favoured regions” and that ”among the regions concerned, particular attention shall be paid to […] regions which suffer from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps such as the northernmost regions with very low population density and island, cross-border and mountain regions.”

The Europe 2020 Strategy aims at responding to the challenges facing Europe, such as the global economic crisis, climate change and energy security by focusing on three growth priorities for ensuring European competitiveness: smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Europe’s seas have great potentials for contributing to achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, as regards economic growth and renewable energy. In recent years, the role and importance of maritime potentials has received increasing policy attention, as the idea of Blue Growth has developed.

The Territorial Agenda 2020 addresses maritime activities as essential for territorial cohesion in Europe and establishes that Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) should be integrated into the existing planning systems. On the same line, the EU Integrated Maritime Policy calls for MSP in order to enable harmonious and sustainable development of a land-sea continuum.

EU Cohesion Policy post-2013 focuses on eleven investment themes where cities and regions need to improve their performance in order to contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In seeking better integration to maximise the benefits from investment of public money, all key themes of the future European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) need to take account of Europe’s territorial diversity.

Europe is currently affected by two major global challenges. One is the economic and financial crisis. The other is the gradual change of climatic conditions. Like the impacts of the economic and financial crisis, the impacts of climate change caused by natural processes but also human activities, affect and will affect the European territory. However not all regions and cities are and will be affected in the same way. In some places these challenges have little impacts. In other places, they will in the worst case reinforce each other and provide a serious challenge for future growth and employment.

A practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners based on contributions from ESPON projects and the European Commission.

ESPON has published an Atlas to analyse the territorial dimension of the Europe 2020 Strategy and to present the regional and, when possible, urban dimension of Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth as defined in the Strategy.