Under the guidance of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, attention is turning towards the pivotal role of small and medium sized cities in fostering balanced territorial d
Are you a policymaker in the Alpine region? The final report "ESPON Territorial Studies: Quality of Life in the Alpine Area" is not to be missed: It provides valuable data, m
A working paper and a Policy brief that were jointly developed by ESPON with Nordregio and the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU (for the first semester of 2023), focusing on two of the presidency’s priorities: the green and energy transitions.
At the European level, there is a raising interest in developing a common, operational definition of functional rural areas.
ESPON observes that some regional public authorities demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviour when pursuing social and environmental benefits for their communities. In innovation-scarce environment, they connect temporarily with private-sector innovators from regions with higher potential for societal knowhow flow, adopt external knowhow and ‘pollinate’ their regional markets with new opportunities. These opportunities are discovered by local firms, who in turn respond with actions adding societal value in regional markets.
Most Cross-border Public Services (CPS) deal with environment protection, civil protection and disaster management and transport. In the future CPS development is expected in the fields of spatial planning, economic development, tourism and culture. Many regions in Europe also explore possibilities to establish CPS dealing with health care and labour market challenges.
Inner peripheral areas are present in almost all European countries; they deserve political attention in order to support the essential action of local stakeholders that are dealing with the associated challenges. ESPON released a new policy brief on inner peripheries in Europe.
ESPON released a new policy brief and working paper that bundle together key observations and policy messages from ESPON studies with the aim of supporting the debate on the territorial dimension of future policies at European, national, regional and local scales.
The instruments to strengthen polycentric development and integrated territorial development
How can the impact of integrated territorial investments be measured? In this map: Potentials for further polycentric development in Europe
This policy brief aims to help European, national, regional and urban authorities to better understand the level of digitalisation of public services, to learn from others through benchmarking and to design actions for the future.
The purpose of this Policy Brief is to identify shrinking rural regions and where they are located in Europe; explore key development challenges and opportunities; examine some policy responses using case study examples from shrinking rural regions; and present some emerging policy recommendations at European, national and sub-national levels.
This paper aims at informing policy-makers at the EU level about the benefits and added value of the interregional programmes in times of resource scarcity.
March 2017 - ESPON presents territorial observations on key development patterns of territories with geographic specificities (coastal areas, islands, mountains and sparsely populated regions) and key messages for policy-makers for designing and implementing development strategies specifically tailored to the needs of these places.
In times of decreasing resources and growing responsibilities, a transition to a circular economy is both a necessity and an opportunity for cities and regions, with the potential to offer long-lasting economic, environmental and social benefits. Many local and regional authorities are already making efforts towards a more circular economy.
Polycentricity is a concept that encourages regions and cities, working with neighbouring territories, to explore common strengths and reveal potential complementarities, which brings added value that cannot be achieved by the individual regions and cities in isolation.
More than ever, cities today need to reinforce smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, while managing e.g. demographic change, housing, urban mobility, energy transition, all in a context of scarce public but also private resources.