The "EGTC" URBACT project
"Expertising Governance for Transfrontier Conurbations"

Contents:
- Issues of the project
- Project partners
- Objectives
- Documentation and events

Issues of the "EGTC" URBACT project

The development of cross-border conurbations and the improvement of the quality of life of their inhabitants call for an innovative approach to go beyond national boundaries.

There are cross-border conurbations on many European borders. The main challenge of cooperation for them is to give concrete answers to the needs of the inhabitants in fields such as urban planning, public transport (border worker movements), public services, economic development, environment, health, etc. For this purpose, they may establish cross-border governance tools: setting-up of a common structure in order to lead urban, economic, social and cultural policies on either side of the border, implementing work programmes, etc.

To respond to this challenge, the “EGTC” URBACT project aims to enable cross-border conurbations to exchange on innovative governance tools based on a partnership that brings together, on the same territory, the competent authorities necessary to the development of common objectives.

Project partners

- MOT, Lead Partner, FR
- Lille Metropole Communauté Urbaine, FR (for the Eurometropole Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai, France/Belgium)
- The City of Slubice, PL (for the Frankfurt on Oder/Slubice conurbation, Germany/Poland)
- The City of Chaves, PO ( for the Eurocidade Chaves-verin, Portugal/Spain)
- The City of Esztergom, HU (for the Ister-Granum EGTC, Hungary/Slovakia)
- The Communauté Urbaine of Strasbourg, FR (for the Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau, France/Germany)
- The Canton of Basel-Stadt, CH (for the Trinational Eurodistrict Basel, Switzerland/Germany/ France)


Objectives of the project

The partners will work on the promotion of innovative governance instruments on a sample of cross-border conurbations in Europe. They will identify the relevant protagonists and analyse how the cross-border conurbations develop joint diagnostics, strategies and organisation plans. The objective is to identify best practices, define a methodology and analyse how the structural funds, other public funding and legal instruments, such as the European grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC) can be used to help them in their development.

The project will give cross-border conurbations in Europe the opportunity to identify concrete results, success and failure, the causes of such results, and to transfer those good practices into other cross-border conurbations, so as to improve their governance system. Whereas some cross-border agglomerations are quite in advance in this process, other ones, especially from the new Member States, need good practices as models.

The European grouping of territorial cooperation is today the only legal tool allowing multi-level governance including national authorities when necessary. This project will aim to study how it could become a European tool of reference to support governance of cross-border agglomerations.

Duration of the project: October 2008 – May 2010.

Documentation and events

• The leaflet of the project

• The map of the conurbations involved in the project
  
  
• Events
  - 1st Thematic seminar “Cross-border conurbations: empowering internal governance”, Chaves (Portugal), 12 March 2009
  - Launching conference of the project (19/11/2008, in Strasbourg, FR)
  
  
• Press releases:
  - 9th June 2008
  - 1st October 2008
  - 21st November 2008
  - 24th March 2009
  

• Publications:

• Further information on the URBACT website

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