Integrated sustainable urban development strategies in the European Union: added value and challenges

This chapter will consider the implementation of integrated sustainable urban development strategies as part of this chapter requirements under the 2014–2020 European Regional and Development Fund regulation. This chapter will reflect on the place-based rationale of the approach and consider the major innovations in the 2014–2020 regulations. It will subsequently consider how Member States have designed and implemented the regulation, particularly focusing on variation between and within member states. The second section of the chapter considers the added value of the provisions at the European level. Added value can be captured in three dimensions: the extent to which new or strengthened strategic frameworks have emerged, the extent to which integrated governance and strengthened implementation capacities have been achieved and the extent to which experimentation and innovation in relation to interventions have taken place. The third part of the chapter will analyse some of the key challenges in relation to implementation of these strategies through European funding streams. These relate to issues around capacity, regulations and governance. The final section will reflect on the lessons that can be learned in relation to the role of integrated place-based strategies to achieve territorial cohesion.