Inspire policy making by territorial evidence ESPON Seminar “Territories Acting for Economic Growth: Using territorial evidence to meet challenges towards 2020”

Workshop 1.C

Towns in the European Territorial fabric of the future

Setting the scene

Towns are an important component in the European urban fabric. The prospects for small and medium sized towns as well as very small towns seem highly dependent on three factors: size, functionality and territorial context, in particular their proximity to larger towns or cities. In smaller countries and more sparsely populated areas, towns play a major role for the economy and the provision of services of general interest, while in larger and more densely populated countries they may have a more passive role as places of residences. This workshop will deal with the future of Europe’s towns. An important focus in the workshop discussions will be on key messages useful for policy makers in the context of Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and in policy development promoting policy orientations of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the Territorial Agenda 2020.

Setting the scene

Questions the presenters should seek to address

1. What can and should be done at European level related to policies for towns?

2. How can their important functionality, in some parts of Europe, be captured and turned into policy?

3. According to your project findings, what opportunities and challenges are cities/towns particularly confronted with in their attempts of tackling negative effects of the economic downturn, such as the unemployment of young, highly qualified people?

4. Have you, in your project, came across concrete experiences or examples that could be transferred to other cities/towns?

Indicative running times

14:00 Welcome and introduction by moderator, Peter Billing 14:10 Project presentation TOWN, Loris Servillo (max 20 min) 14:30 Project presentation SGPTD, Michael Parkinson (max 20 min) 14:50 Reflections on possible policy development for towns, Indra Ciukša (max 20 min) 15:10 Remark and opening up of discussion by moderator, Peter Billing 15:40 Final reflections and closure by moderator, Peter Billing