Impacts on Life Satisfaction and Policy Development in Spain as a Result of EU Urban Integration Initiatives

By Clemente J Navarro Yáñez

Urban areas are strategic spaces for the promotion of sustainable development

and socio-spatial cohesion in Europe. Around 75 per cent of

the European population lives in urban areas, generating about 80 per

cent of the European GDP. However, urban areas also face the challenges

of poverty and social exclusion in some neighbourhoods, as well

as socio-spatial segregation processes or environmental problems. Due to

this relevance and these challenges, since the 1990s, the European Union

has been shaping a policy area through different initiatives to promote

development and social cohesion in cities.

Nowadays, EU urban initiatives-also termed the urban dimension of

the Cohesion Policy-include different initiatives supporting local plans

to promote sustainable urban development, initiatives seeking innovative

solutions to urban problems, or the sharing and increasing of capabilities

among national and local policymakers and practitioners through different

collaborative networks across Europe. However, since the URBAN Initiative

in the 1990s, the most traditional and relevant initiatives have been

the 'urban integrated strategies'. These are plans designed and implemented

at the local scale, and applying the integrated strategy in public

policies aimed to fulfil the goals proposed by the EU through its cohesion

policy at the local scale across Europe. Analyses of the legal framework

and documentation for these initiatives at the EU and member state

level, as well as in-depth case studies, have provided analytical ideas and information about this growing dimension of the European cohesion

policy.

The New Urban Agenda (United Nations) and the Urban Agenda for

the European Union indicate new urban policies based on the integrated

strategy require evidence-policy analyses to ensure better policy design,

implementation and the accomplishment of objectives. The current book

aims to offer some policy evidence, analytical ideas and research strategies

aligned with this goal. We do so by analysing the actual nature of

integrated urban strategies promoted by the EU and their added value

in terms of improvements in their policy design, implementation and

effects at the local level. Have these strategies applied the integrated

strategy proposed by the EU? Are there changes pointing to the existence

of improvements and learning effects about the integrated strategy

across time? Have these strategies improved the living conditions among

residents in targeted urban territories.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1805305212
• ISBN13: 9781805305217
• Release Date: July 2023
• Publisher: Independent Author
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"