Urbact

• Presentation
• Functioning of the programme

Presentation

The 2007-2013 URBACT II programme is a programme of urban development that comes under the “European territorial cooperation” objective. Approved by the European Commission in October 2007, it covers all of the Member States of the European Union as well as Norway and Switzerland. Its budget amounts to about €68 million, of which €53 million comes from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), i.e. around 12% of the funding allocated to interregional cooperation and networking programmes.

URBACT II’s objective is to promote cooperation in the area of urban development and to foster exchanges between European cities regarding lessons learned from their experience. It thus aims to improve the effectiveness of urban development policies and to reinforce a shared concept of integrated urban development. It supports the capitalisation and dissemination of knowledge. The programme’s goal is to provide a tool for the exchange and acquisition of knowledge for decision-makers, practitioners and other bodies responsible for developing urban policies.

URBACT II has the following priorities:

• Priority 1: Cities, the engines of growth and employment (around 44% of ERDF funding)
  With the sub-themes:
  - Promoting entrepreneurship;
  - Improving innovation and the knowledge economy;
  - Jobs and human capital (employability, professional competence, access to the labour market, education and training systems, and job creation, particularly for the most disadvantaged groups and regions).

• Priority 2: Cities’ attractiveness and cohesion (around 50% of ERDF funding)
  With the sub-themes:
  - Integrated development of disadvantaged areas and those that risk becoming disadvantaged
  - Social inclusion
  - Environmental issues
  - Urban governance and planning.

• Priority 3: Technical assistance (6% of ERDF funding)
  Technical assistance is available to ensure the effective management of URBACT II. It is mainly entrusted to the URBACT Secretariat by the programme’s managing authority.