Functional Urban Areas and Regions in Europe

Closed

The main outcome of this service contract will be an updated version of the ESPON OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) cube which was developed during the ESPON M4D project (2013) and a practical and communicative web tool integrating the new ESPON OLAP cube functionalities. Both tools will allow to disaggregate NUTS 3 and other data at a lower scale, thus providing an opportunity to benchmark and analyse data on the current situation and recent trends in functional urban areas and other functional regions in Europe. In addition, the web tool will provide a range of analysis functionalities, for instance benchmarking possibilities via mapping, charts and graphs.In order to improve the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the policy making and implementation process regarding functional urban areas and other functional regions, it is essential to have data, indicators and analysis tools that can help to better understand the drivers for growth and inclusive social development in these areas across Europe. By now significant data gaps exist to be able to understand their contribution to polycentric and balanced territorial development. This project will fill the existing data gaps, complement the work of Eurostat, OECD and DG Joint Research Center in this field and will facilitate policy debates at various levels, for instance within Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Sustainable Use of Land.

Medium