European cities have for decades found themselves in a phase of important changes. Concomitantly multi-level and multi-actor policy processes have unfolded in the EU. Sub-national governments are facing new challenges as their manufacturing industry withers away, still more responsibility for matching the globalisation ch- lenges such as welfare, employment and general social improvements are tra- ferred from national to sub-national levels. This raises speci?c governance problems for city regions in their attempt to meet the demand from the emerging knowled- based society. Yet, no city or city region exists in a vacuum; they are all embedded in national settings with speci?c structures and traditions as well as different p- ceptions of challenges, needs and solutions. It appears that a general, neoliberal discourse has conquered the political agenda during the last one or two decades: That economic regeneration requires increasing competitiveness achieved by - forced stress on knowledge intensive industries, which itself needs more and better education. However, the implementation of such a strategy has many forms and the realities are often quite a step from the intended outcome. During the last three years, a group of about forty people has met regularly across Europe to develop the ideas as originally presented in the Memorandum of Und- standing, setting the agenda for the analysis of preconditions, strategies and o- comes among different cities in their effort to reconcile welfare and growth.
The book is the result of a COST Action financed by the European Science Foundation. It analyses the key concepts, ideas and processes driving competitiveness and cohesion agendas across Europe and demonstrates the implications and the effects of contemporary urban regeneration policies and politics in Europe. The case study material ensures that an in depth understanding of policy processes is conveyed to readers, and attention is drawn to the problems and paradoxes of policy, but also to the possibilities for policy innovation and learning across national and disciplinary borders. The material a.o. studies the cities of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Bratislava, Istanbul, Maribor, London, Rotterdam, Vienna, and Zurich. Specific policy fields which are looked at relate to housing, labour markets, enterprises, integration of ethnical groups, urban regeneration, or transport. The book shows that spatial and urban policy continues to be a key site of policy intervention and experimentation. Different national welfare systems, political cultures, and socio-economic conditions combine and recombine to address policy problems and opportunities. Collectively, the authors argue that the examined policy initiatives reflect and reproduce these broader changes and shifting ways of thinking about the appropriate relationships between citizens, businesses, and the state.
