Tailoring spatial development planning to foster local talent

The integrated approach should encompass all economic, ecological, territorial and social factors, and promote partnership at all levels. The report looks at progress in implementing the EU Territorial Agenda (sustainable spatial development) and Leipzig Charter (sustainable cities).

 

 

Spatial development challenges include climate change, urban sprawl, energy consumption, transport infrastructure, demographic change (including rural depopulation), the effects of EU enlargement, the uneven regional impact of globalisation, and the unequal development of urban and rural areas, says the report.

 

 

The report stresses the importance of partnership and of sharing functions between urban and rural areas for the balanced and sustainable development of the territory as a whole. It calls on the urban and rural authorities, in co-operation with all public and private stakeholders, to identify their common assets and come up with joint regional and sub-regional development strategies to secure better living conditions and quality of life for all EU citizens.  It also calls on the Council and Member States to involve all these parties in the action programme for implementing the Territorial Agenda and the Leipzig Charter.

 

 

Central to this approach is the concept of "territorial cohesion", which the Lisbon Reform Treaty makes a treaty objective (alongside economic and social cohesion). The Kallenbach report welcomes the fact that the Treaty provides for shared legislative competence between the EU and Member States in this area (22) and calls on the Commission clearly to define territorial cohesion and to list EU territorial development objectives in its forthcoming green paper on territorial cohesion.

 

 

The Agenda advocates, inter alia, a polycentric and balanced urban system, a new urban-rural relationship, innovative regional clusters, and parity of access to infrastructure and knowledge. It was adopted at an informal Council of Ministers in Ponta Delgada (Azores) in November 2007.

 

 

The report calls for a policy on creative economic sectors to be incorporated into spatial and urban development with the aim of creating a framework for improving opportunities for creative and innovative action.

 

 

To enable people to exploit their region's own specific opportunities and potentials, the report calls on Member States to guarantee, throughout their territory, the availability of, right of access to and accessibility of services of general interest.

 

 

The report calls on the Commission and Council to make better use of synergies with the European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development (EAFRD) for the development of the territory as a whole and recommends, with a view to post-2013 cohesion policy, close co-ordination between cohesion policy and rural development policy, so as to enhance opportunities for improving the quality of life in rural areas.

 

 

The report also calls on the Council to agree quantifiable indicators, such as annual land use, for measuring spatial development in the EU.

 

 

The Charter advocates integrating urban development policy measures to, inter alia, create high-quality public spaces, modernise infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, promote innovation and education, provide sustainable and affordable urban transport, and strengthen the local economy. It was adopted at an informal Council of Ministers in Leipzig in May 2007.

 

 

To combat landscape fragmentation and the loss of land to urban growth, the report calls on Member States to restrict land use. It also recommends that they step up the re-use, or use for new purposes, of existing buildings, before building on new land. The report also calls on the Commission to concern itself more intensively with the issue of urban sprawl. 

 

 

The report takes the view that cities have a particular responsibility for fulfilling EU climate targets, as they are in a unique position to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.  It calls on the Commission and Council to agree city sustainability benchmarks, as set out in the Leipzig Charter, such as per capita energy consumption, use of local public transport as a proportion of total transport volume, and per capita greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Finally, the Kallenbach report regrets that the Council has yet to adopt an action programme for implementing the Charter, and calls on forthcoming EU presidencies to remedy this omission.