1. The future of the Urban Audit

2. Structure of my talk First “Think Tank” meeting Political context
Spatial units – lessons learnt
Eurostat involvement and next data collection
What happens in 2005?

3. AIM OF THIS TALK:
Initiate a discussion concerning the future of the Urban Audit data collection
Inform about the “think tank” meeting

4. First meeting of the “Think Tank”
Chapter 1
First meeting of the “Think Tank”

5. The “Think Tank”
Small group of volunteers for open discussion of future options
Mission: to give advice to Commission and Working Party
Experts from Germany, France, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and United Kingdom
First meeting: 15th September 2004, Luxembourg
Next meeting February 2005

6. Chapter 2
Political context

7. Next Structural Funds Probably three objectives Cohesion
Competitiveness and Employment
Cooperation

8. Next Structural Funds Two targets:
Improve the performance of lagging regions (for example “urban regeneration”)
Support areas of opportunities (knowledge society, services, environment, job creation)
It is not possible to focus on specific topics for the future Urban Audit data collection
We have to provide a wide spectrum of data measuring the quality of life in cities

9. Chapter 3
Spatial units in the UA

10. Lessons learnt (1) Core city Morphological city
Remains the major focus of Urban Audit
Current definitions all in all satisfying
Morphological city
So far not covered in Urban Audit, and not foreseen for the future, but:
Problem of overbounding or underbounding the city - mismatch between core city (administrative) and built-up area (morphological city)
Measures for identifying the problem are proposed

11. Lessons learnt (2) Larger Urban Zones Sub-city districts
Remains a cornerstone of Urban Audit
Defined as the function zone of the local labour market
Improvements of the delimitations are necessary for several countries; often too large (DK, GR, ES, IT)
Sub-city districts
Population thresholds not always respected, but probably the best we can get (data availability)
Comparability problem, depending on creation algorithm (artificial versus historically developed)
Risk of misinterpretation

12. Chapter 4
Next data collection

13. Data collection in 2006
Nothing decided yet, but 2006 is a target year for the next Urban Audit data collection
No fresh census data in 2006  problem, in particular for SCD
Proposal: full data set (see next slide) for current 260 UA cities, plus 35 core variables for a cities above inhabitants

14. Reduced variable list (indicative)

15. Future role of Eurostat
Eurostat will define Urban Audit as part of its core business
This implies that a core collection of variables (costs for the collection of 80 variables) will be financed by Eurostat´s budget
Co-financing with DG REGIO envisaged

16. Chapter 5
Urban Audit in 2005

17. What remains to do in 2005? Thorough quality control
Fill the gaps as far as possible!
Launch analysis of the results (DG REGIO), Europe-wide and national
Prepare the 2006 collection through “Think Tank” meetings, electronic exchange of views and plenary sessions

18. Thanks for listening !
Any Questions ?