This working group focuses on the city in relation to its surroundings and the governance of functional urban areas

The work of the group feeds into EU debates around delivering the urban agenda  and European structural and investement funds 2014 – 2020.

Objectives:

• influencing European and national frameworks for improving city-region cooperation

• serving as a platform for exchange between city experts that are involved in strategic policy planning on issues that include and go beyond core city administrative areas

• serving as a strategic group to advise our work on issues around metropolitan governance and integrated local planning 

The working group will complement the work being done by our working group cohesion policy and urban agenda.

The working group will base its work around:

• work of our member cities on metropolitan issues

• findings of the OECD on metropolitan cooperation

• findings from the URBACT Joining Forces project

• findings from the URBACT NODUS project

• findings from the URBACT neT-TOPIC project

and research:

• IGEAT

• PLUREL

• METREX

List of publications of the working group: 

• Metropolitan areas in action: Concluding report, 2013

• Beyond boundaries: Functional urban areas matter, 2011

• Cities cooperating beyond their boundaries: Evidence through experience in European cities, 2011