Policy responses to territorial impacts of demographics trends Results from ESPON and beyond Moritz Lennert IGEAT – ULB Projects TPM, FOCI, TIGER

Regions facing demographic challenges Demographic evolutions exacerbated at regional scale Depending on dynamics, many specific challenges for regional and local authorities: Adaptation of infrastructures Adaptation of service provision Provision of housing Management of land use (urban sprawl and shrinking regions) Integration of migrants Two « lessons » from TPM Important to understand the role regions play in dynamics at other scales Important to review relevance of indicators and concepts at specific scales

Questions of scale: understanding regional roles Regions as part of migration systems at different scales Policies based on the role played by each region in that system Different interpretations depending on scales of policy making Source: « Shrinking regions », study for the European Parliament, 2008

Dependency ratios generally relevant for social security systems operating at national scales Regional imbalances of dependency ratio not necessarily a problem Indicators need to be linked to fields of policy action Question of scale: adequate scales for indicators Source: DEMIFER, Final Report