Today, if you go to Athens, or to Sofia or other Bulgarian cities, you see something that is a copy of other experiences and it is very difficult to stop that process. People want to become international. They do not realise how good they are where they are. Bringing in this notion of ‘do not grow’ is not easy. One of the challenges we confront, particularly the one of sustainability, requires a change of lifestyle. This goes beyond switching off the light or not using water. This goes through a much more sophisticated and political process that will be very conflicted. The city governance role is to create conditions for changes in habits, lifestyle and modes of behaviour. It should lead to less aggressive and less greedy individual choices without falling into the trap of collectivist, centralised, inefficient and wasteful institutions and decision-making. […]” 107 Rettich, Stefan, op. cit. 108 Already the case in Brussels where many regeneration projects have foreseen such ‘shared spaces’. 109 Zaimov, Martin, Workshop 2 Cities of tomorrow – Visions and models, Brussels, October 2010. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 3.4. Creating a resilient and inclusive economy We are no longer in a situation of continuous economic and demographic growth. The negative effects of the economic and financial crisis, especially the reduced public budgets and a rising need for social expenditure, have brought many cities closer to a similar situation, where they are faced with the challenge of redeveloping and diversifying their economies, of creating stronger links between the local economy and the global one and of becoming more attractive for a skilled and active workforce. Even the cities that are doing better and have more competitive and diversified economies have problems with the structural unemployment of youths and groups who are less qualified and more marginalised. They are faced with the challenges of creating stronger links between economic and social development and reducing socio-economic polarisation. The fact that all cities are very dependant on national economic policies and development patterns is a challenge in itself. They thus have to be inventive in terms of policy and policy instruments, and focus resources where they can be best deployed. 3.4.1. Managing transitionstowards aviable local economy To what extent are cities capable of changing the direction of their development trajectory or even moving to another one? First, the determinants of the trajectories must be identified based on understanding the city’s development potential. When considering this potential, it is not sufficient to understand only the performances of the public and private sectors – these have accounting systems and are measurable by conventional indicators – but also to include collective goods and positive externalities, i.e. nonmonetary complementary sources of well-being. Together they generate an urban surplus. If a decoupling of economic and social development and increasing polarisation within cities are to be avoided, new paradigms of economic development are needed that will emphasise the domestic urban economy. Such an economy Figure4 Understanding a city’s development potential City's development potential110 Level of urban surplus Private sector's Public sector's self-organisation decision modes mechanisms Agents' objective Agents' cognitive ability functions Source: Calafati, Antonio, op. cit. 110 Calafati, Antonio, op. cit. ‘When assessing the development potential of European cities, three spheres have to be examined: (1) the amount of urban surplus; (2) the private sector’s self-organisation mechanisms and (3) the public sector’s decision modes. Insufficient “development potential” may be rooted in one or more of these spheres and to assess its precise origin from a regional, national or European perspective is not a minor task.’ would not depend solely on export-oriented sectors but build to a higher degree on development of endogenous resources. One of the crucial issues for the diversification of the local economy is the extent of economic surplus from current economic activities, how it is distributed, and the governance mechanisms affecting how it is fed back into the city’s further development. In addition, collective goods, i.e. public goods or goods that are not exchanged in the market but are self-produced and exchanged within small groups such as a family, club or social network or association, are of great importance, and are always underplayed in economic analyses that focus on GDP alone. These play a crucial role in quality of life and are often significant in economic development. The manner in which urban surplus is generated and allocated greatly affects cities’ development potential. Not only private and public sectors, but also households themselves are part of this allocation process. The Cities of tomorrow must not only understand the city’s development potential, but also find innovative ways of exploiting it and directing it towards shared objectives and ownership of strategies. Cities have to develop more varied and sensitive indicators to better understand problems and the potential inherent in the local economy and its resources. They must also mobilise stakeholders and citizens in collective and participative planning and visioning exercises. Foresight and other strategic planning tools can play a key role in this. 3.4.2. Stimulating job creation, entrepreneurship andabroad local skill-base Cities face major problems in converting or changing their development trajectory. It may be wishful thinking to expect that a tourism-based service industry will be able to replace the manufacturing sector.111 A too strong a focus on competitiveness may risk favouring only investments in central parts of cities. Business development through direct investments may also rely on an external qualified workforce and fail to create job opportunities for local people.112 There is a specific risk of decoupling the local economy and society from the global economy, leaving parts of the population untouched by these investments and left out of the economy. Using foresight to manage economic transitions Economic transition is a key objective of many forwardlooking or planning exercises in European cities. Two types of economic transition logic can be identified: • the classic one, which sees cities of the former Western industrial basins and of Central and Eastern Europe in the process of coping with the recent or less recent decline of their industrial capabilities. Many strategies exist in this field: cultural investments (Metz, Liege, Lens, Bilbao and Emscher Park), industrial consolidation (Valenciennes, Turin, Barcelona), transition towards innovative tertiary systems (Linz, Belfast, Leeds), technological pathways in partnership with universities (Manchester, Lausanne), and investment in a performing transport infrastructure (Charleroi); • the post-financial-crisis reflection, which is starting to assess the limitations of a strategy solely focused on financial and immaterial services, or depending on economic factors with little regional or national command. In this type of reflection, the nature of the required transition is often presented as smart, green, sustainable, intelligent, etc. It goes along with concepts of residential economy, quality of development, open innovation, and technological facilities. Source: Destrée Institute 111 Even if ‘avoiding wishful thinking’ according to which tourism or development of services would allow all cities to develop a new competitive model [Calafati, op.cit.]. 112 Example of Plaine Commune : Large creation of new jobs but not for the local population (skills mismatch & weak links with local economy). Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward The manufacturing sector will remain important for many cities, but delocalisation will persist with globalisation, and the erosion of the European manufacturing base will continue. But service sectors also face delocalisation and are dependent on a strong manufacturing base. It becomes crucial for cities to adapt their workforce to new job opportunities, while also upgrading the manufacturing sector as much as possible for a more diversified economic base. To diversify their economies, cities will have to support innovation at all levels, creating a favourable entrepreneurial environment while at the same time addressing employment, education and social issues to avoid marginalisation of vulnerable groups. This cannot be done overnight, but is a long-term process, especially when moving from a mono-sector economy. ‘We have to highlight the social position, prestige and public image of the people creating jobs. Policies to support entrepreneurial activity are part of city governments’ responsibilities.’113 The present economic development model in which economic growth does not equate to more jobs raises the challenge of not only ensuring a decent life for those outside the labour market, but also engaging them in society. An increasing number of young people have grown up in jobless households. Those who either leave school without proper skills or do not find a job when leaving school tend to be drawn into a vicious circle of inactivity. In Rotterdam, following the impact of the economic crisis, the municipality has set up a specific programme to address this problem. The basic idea is ‘keep them busy’. Training for young people is negotiated with employers in sectors with employment opportunities. Those for whom neither work nor training opportunities can be found are being pushed into community work.114 Liverpool – linking opportunity and need115 In 2009 Liverpool adopted a 15-year strategy to become ‘a thriving international city’ by 2024. All the major public, private, and voluntary sector organisations in the city were involved in developing the strategy and are committed to the city and its people becoming Competitive, Connected, Distinctive, Thriving (neighbourhoods) and Healthy. http:// www.liverpoolfirst.org.uk/what-we-do/vision-for-liverpool To be competitive, the city needs ‘a sustainable business sector and strong knowledge economy, supported by a workforce drawn from citizens with competitive levels of aptitude and skills’. This is a real challenge, as Liverpool has ‘major concentrations of worklessness’, and in some neighbourhoods, ‘not working’ is a way of life. Over the past 10 years, initiatives aimed at giving people in need opportunities to enter into education, training or employment have, therefore, been introduced. Examples include: using empty shop premises to provide job and training advice; organising advice sessions for parents taking children to kindergarten/ nursery; helping ‘problem families’ identified by social housing providers; support, advice and funding for entrepreneurs and start-ups; and driving a minivan down a street, knocking on doors to see if anyone wants help. Some 10000 residents from deprived neighbourhoods have already been helped into employment – but more remains to be done and ongoing support (including ERDF and ESF) is still required. 113 Kayser, Tomasz, Deputy Mayor of Poznañ, Workshop 2 Cities of tomorrow – Visions and models, Brussels, October 2010. 114 ‘From statistics, we know that many people – if they are out of work for too long – will have additional difficulties in working again. […] We hope that the economy will improve in two to three years, providing employment prospects’. Giuseppe Raaphorst, City of Rotterdam, Round table on impact of crisis on cities, URBACT Conference, 1 December 2010. 115 Eyres, Martin, contribution to Workshop 2 Cities of tomorrow — Visions and models, Brussels, October 2010. 3.4.3. Developing social capital ‘Previously we believed that we especially needed investment capital, later we realised that human capital was more important, now we understand that the most important is the social capital.’116 The development of social capital is crucial for the development of diversified and knowledge-intensive local economies. Social capital relates not only to education and skills, but also to the ability of people to trust each other, to be willing to cooperate, to engage in social networks and dialogues, as well as to be pro-active regarding challenges and sharing common goals. Social capital is vital for the development of entrepreneurship and small business creation. Social capital is also a necessary ingredient in the exploitation of local capacities and the development of the very local and more informal parts of the economy. It can help raise the quality of local consumption and demand, and drive development towards a more knowledgeintensive economy. It can also be a driver of social innovation, while social innovation can be an important tool in fostering social capital. Social capital is, therefore, a key factor of city attractiveness. 3.4.4. Usingtechnologytofostercollective intelligenceand innovation Information and communication technologies (ICT) and specific urban technologies have the potential to bring solutions to many of the urban challenges. These range from hard technological solutions in the field of urban energy efficiency, renewable energy, transport, safety, etc., to soft solutions for social interaction, citizens’ participation or global management systems for city administrations. City managers must avoid the pitfalls of sectoral visions built on technology alone. The systemic dimension of problems and the high level of future uncertainty demand a refined understanding of the challenges and the possible technological responses within a wider societal context.117 An interesting trend is the use of pre-commercial procurement procedures that can help to make public procurement more innovative, systemic and holistic.118 A real challenge lies in engaging people in an active co- design of technologies in a social context that could result in social and technological innovation. 3.4.5. Linkingtothe global economy – cities as hubsfor global networks A city is not only a ‘space of place’, but with the rise of global interactivity it increasingly becomes a ‘space of flows’.119 Cities can be regarded as nodes in global networks of multinational firms. Some European cities play more prominent roles as hubs. They not only have stronger business links to other European and non-European cities, but are also positioned higher in the hierarchy of these networks in terms of control of decisions and investment flows. Through their firms, these cities have the advantage of a stronger and more direct connectivity with global financial and technological centres.120 In most cases, a city’s size is an indicator of its hierarchical position in these global networks, although smaller cities may also be well placed when they are host to headquarters of major firms. However, there is a marked difference between the Northern and Western parts of Europe and the Central and Eastern parts. Companies in Central and Eastern Europe tend to have lower hierarchical and less central positions in global networks, even if they are based in capital cities. This is a structural weakness that leaves the host cities more exposed to changes in global demand. 116 Kayser, Tomasz, Deputy Mayor of Poznañ, contribution to Workshop 2 Cities of tomorrow — Visions and models, Brussels, October 2010. 117 The increasing use of technologies to ensure our security is also a factor of anxiety and does not necessarily address the problem of a negative perception of urban safety. Some cities also try to improve the social links between people in order to reinforce solidarity. For example, events such as ‘Neighbours’ Days’ allow people to meet each other and then rely more on each other, which contributes to a feeling of safety and trust in a given neighbourhood. 118 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/tl/research/priv_invest/pcp/index_en.htm. 119 Castells, Manuel, The Informational City,Blackwell Publishers, 1989. 120 Based on an analysis of the location of the 3000 biggest multinational firms and their subsidiaries by ESPON–FOCI. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward A city’s position in global networks is highly pathdependent and often anchored through positive historical circumstances, long-term private and public investments, location-based skills etc., making them difficult to replicate or modify. A key challenge for cities is to understand the role their firms play in international networks and how their positions may be strengthened. Good connectivity is of primary importance for this – connectivity to markets and to technological and financial resources, but also connectivity to cultural trends. A vision of living social labs supporting social innovation121 A shortage of public finances, demographic shrinking, etc. will demand innovative and radically new approaches to societal problems. Social living labs would permit us to simultaneously address multiple challenges – e.g. ageing, inclusion, food supply, greening of the city – and would transform those most concerned from objects to subjects, or from being a part of the problem to being a part of the solution. Living labs build on four main elements: co-creation, exploration, experimentation and evaluation. A living social lab would take these steps further, framing them in a bigger process involving mobilisation, capacity building, visioning and monitoring. A social living lab would be a way to develop participative democracy, providing a platform where public interest can be defined in more concrete ways. It would also support the notion of a ‘negotiated city’, permitting negotiation between apparently opposing values and vision. To function, living social labs require a mobilisation of citizens and stakeholders and the opportunity to define objectives, shape content and process and be part of implementation. It also requires a revised and more inclusive vision of the knowledge society and the encouragement of knowledge alliances. 121 Vision derived from the notion of a ‘Living lab’which can be defined as a ‘user-centred, open-innovation ecosystem, often operating in a territorial context (e.g. city, agglomeration, region), in which user-driven innovation is fully integrated in the co-creative process of new services, products and societal infrastructures’ http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/livinglabs/index_en.htm. BRNO – Upgrading the international status of the city and its region by attracting highly qualified people and activities Brno city itself has 370 000 inhabitants, the wider metropolitan zone 520 000. Brno is a traditional industrial city, but since 1990 it has seen major transformation; in 2011, the tertiary sector dominates the local economy. Brno also has international status potential, given its Central Europe location, its many universities and research centres, and its capacity to host R&D development. Brno’s challenges are to develop its innovative economies and international R&D functions and make them sustainable. To address these, the city is starting to attract highly qualified people through different research and grant programmes. In 2002, the South Moravian region formulated its Regional Innovation Strategy, with the aim of being among the top fifty innovative regions in Europe by 2013. ERDF funding represents 58% of the total budget. The related action plan stresses the importance of cooperation between the city, region and universities. The policy has resulted in the creation of a solid network of actors, all working towards the same goals. Sustainability remains the biggest challenge, as research facility infrastructure development is limited, and larger urban infrastructure is still lacking (e.g. rail, road and air). Attracting people and activities also raises important issues for future action: developing an integration policy for newcomers, increasing benefits for local students and convincing locals about the programmes’ long-term benefits. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward 3.4.6. Theconnectivitychallenge The connectivity of Europe’s cities is a key element in creating balanced territorial development. Many European cities benefit from good connectivity by air or rail with other major European cities, allowing for business day trips with full-day meeting possibilities. Such cities have good‘contactability’.122 This is the case for most Western European cities and the capital cities of Central and Eastern Europe. However, for non-capital cities in the latter group there is a low level of contactability with cities in other European countries. Rail links are still mainly national, and cross-border train-connectivity is low even for relatively short distances. A major future challenge for these cities lies in increasing contactability in a sustainable way, e.g. with a possible focus on high-speed rail rather than air connections, especially given the scale and nature of such investment beyond the control of individual cities. 3.5. A polycentric urban Europe with balanced territorial development The European model is based on a balanced polycentric urban structure, which allows the entire European territory to develop. Cities play a key role as centres for services, business and culture for their surrounding areas. The development of cities is key for the viability and development of their surrounding rural areas. But cities’ development gives rise to several territorial challenges at different geographic scales, from the relationship between the cities and their peri-urban areas to the relationship between cities and the territorial development of the EU as a whole. 3.5.1. Aharmonious developmentof the city with its surroundingregion The interplay between urban centres and their surrounding regional rural space is a serious challenge, together with the resilience and vulnerability of the natural resources in that peri-urban space. Large cities need vast hinterlands, and conflicts over resources and their use may arise with other cities or agricultural users. Ecosystems may come under pressure by the over-intensive and weakly regulated use of the soil, by demographic or market pressures, e.g. intensive agro-food production for a global market rather than for a shorter producer–consumer circuit with diversified local production. A vision of urban development without sprawl123 To reduce urban sprawl, Cities of tomorrow improve the compactness and attractiveness of city centres in terms of quality of life, price-affordable housing, and family friendliness – encouraging households with young children to settle within cites. They provide services and infrastructures for public transport, which encourages further densification of already dense areas. Cities of tomorrow develop polycentric spatial patterns to relieve the pressure on their bigger central agglomerations. They plan green belts and green corridors within cities and in their periphery as structuring elements for green mobility (walking and cycling lanes). Cities of tomorrow implement strong planning policies together with supporting measures, such as fiscal incentives or land pricing. They develop tools for dynamic monitoring of land use, as well as for comparative evaluation of land use in other European cities and urban areas. This is being prompted by the requirement for an integrated land-use plan (including Strategic Environmental Assessment, in line with EU regulations) to receive European funding. 122 ESPON–FOCI report, Brussels, 2010.‘Contactability’is defined as the possibility of a single day business trip (by rail, by air or by a combination of rail and air) with 6 hours available at destination and within the time windows 6am–10pm and 5am–11pm, under a door-to-door approach. 123 Thematic sub-group under the Territorial Cohesion and Urban Matters Workgroup, Final Report on Urban and Development Sprawl, July 2010. Urban sprawl is hard to reverse. However, it may be controlled, directed, coordinated and minimised. ‘This is especially important in the transition countries that have not been able to sufficiently coordinate metropolitan growth’.124 The city and its surrounding region must be analysed in terms of density of habitat and workplaces, and these densities must be reinforced and well connected to transport nodes. In certain cases, up to 80% of people working in a city live outside it. In other cases, people living outside cities must bring their children to schools in the city or go there for health, social or cultural services. It is, therefore, meaningless to plan mobility in a city without taking into account the mobility patterns of those living in the greater urban functional area as well as the flow of goods to and from the city. The planning and management of public transport at the level of functional urban areas involve partnership and collaboration between all the local authorities concerned and raise specific challenges of cooperation, coordination and financing. Many Eastern European cities have very well developed metropolitan tramway networks. Certain experts point to the renovation and upgrading of these networks as a top priority, as they present a unique opportunity to develop low-carbon mobility at a large territorial scale. But – given the metropolitan scale of these networks and the cost of such upgrading – there is a huge governance challenge in implementing such a renovation across the municipal structures concerned. A vision of a sustainable urban inwards growth125 Form, sustainability, and territories of intervention The Cities of tomorrow will stop growing outwards and instead grow inwards in various forms of redensification. There will be clustered cities with multiple centres and various forms of neighbourhoods. Sustainability needs re-densification; densification needs social agreements; social agreements need social innovation. Different social classes and generations have to be willing to live together again – on an even denser territory. Old neighbourhoods need to be adapted for new families, for multiple generations and for an increasingly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society. Post-war mass housing settlements and early suburban detached house neighbourhoods are pre-destined for re-densification. The monotonous and monofunctional satellite towns will undergo an urbanisation process with a more colourful, socially mixed and multi-functional outcome. The early areas of suburban detached houses are demographically old-aged, and the change from the old generation to the next one is a huge opportunity for such interventions. Later, the huge suburban fields of the 1990s will be ready for re-appropriation and re-densification. New Public Space and New Social Institutions: Catalysts of social invention and renewal Public spaces and new social institutions will form one of the pillars of this process. These spaces and institutions should address the current population as well as the new settlers: public domains to get to know each other and platforms for exchange and respect. Neighbourhood-adapted forms of education and knowledge sharing are the second pillar of this social cohesion strategy. New forms of district libraries (e.g. IDEA stores London, UK), new forms of schools (e.g. Westminster Academy, London) will help to improve integration of low-skilled and low-educated people. In shrinking areas, such projects and spaces can serve as a social glue (e.g. Open Air Library, Magdeburg, Germany). 124 Gorzelak, Grzegorz, Warsaw University, Cities of tomorrow – Contributions from experts, Brussels 2010. 125 Rettich, Stefan, Workshop 3 Cities of tomorrow – How to make it happen ? Brussels, December 2010. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward Planning, Participation and Communication Planning will be an open and flexible process, where all stakeholders and citizens have the same rights and importance. Existing users and economic and social networks will play a major role in this public debate about the future. New forms of real participation will be developed. There will be formats without thresholds, where all people, including those with lower education standards, feel comfortable and are able to participate. Communication, not only verbal, will play a major role in this contemporary and new type of planning. Temporary interventions and testing fields of future solutions will be an important communication tool with the broader public. Temporality Can we afford to leave buildings abandoned in overcrowded cities for reasons of speculation? And what shall we do with abandoned buildings in areas with shrinking population? In both cases temporary use is a solution. In the first, the building stock can be used more efficiently, and entrepreneurs and creative people might profit from temporarily reduced rents while the owners can profit from the recognition of a building in use. In the second case, temporality can be used as a strategy to direct and to focus developments of revitalisation on certain areas. In both cases, temporary use is a basis for new forms of social cohesion and local economic networks. A new relationship between Town and Country In the last century the relationship between town and country became imbalanced. The countryside was mainly seen as a potential site for suburbanisation and industrial agriculture. With sustainable development, this relationship could change: the wide landscape areas offer space for windmills and biomass production; the countryside, once an essential supplier of food, could become a green supplier of energy. Regional production of food will also come into vogue again, with rising prices for fuel and transportation. Bio-food will first be produced for public facilities of the cities like schools, kindergartens, municipal canteens, etc. and later most of the city food will once more be regional. Source: Rettich, Stefan, op.cit. 3.5.2. Promoting the diversity and authenticityof cities Cities’ attractiveness is as much about the quality of life they offer as their competitiveness. Cities compete not only to attract enterprises but also to attract talent. While vibrant cities in the core zones of the European economy attract many migrants from within and beyond national borders, peripheral cities have modest or non-existent inflows from other regions and countries. It is naturally a key priority for peripheral cities to provide favourable conditions that keep economically active inhabitants in the region.126 To compete, cities brand themselves as ‘green’, ‘creative’ or ‘cultural’ cities. Attractiveness builds on the quality of education, cultural and aesthetic assets, good sport and leisure opportunities, environmental assets and cleanliness of air and water, as well as social life and urban safety. Attractiveness is a result of sustainable and integrated urban development: sound urban planning; sustainable urban transport; all-age-friendly policies; affordable housing; good public services, clean air, clean water, green spaces, etc. A functional integrated approach to urban development will also have to take into account all 126 Second ‘State of European Cities Report’, pp. 15–16. 57 aspects of life. For example, urban public transport has to serve leisure journeys as well as work commutes, and the adaptation of transport infrastructures to future age patterns can generate new services for an active elderly class. An attractive city has a creativity that reaches beyond narrow cultural aspects to the wider processes of creative action, social innovation, organisational learning, and the building of ‘urban intelligence’. Such processes can be applied to economic activity, public governance, social structures and cultural expression.127 There is no standard recipe for creating attractiveness. The large diversity among cities is an asset for Europe and allows cities to shape their own unique attractiveness. Cities have to build on their past to prepare the future. Some cities build on their specific traditions of production, on their architectural or cultural heritage as well as on their local and regional knowledge base. The specific attractiveness of a given city has to be seen in the context of a forward-looking scenario as an element of a broader urban transition. The cities that perform best in terms of attractiveness are those on a rising development path. They have more financial resources and more space to manage public and private creative investments that go beyond basic needs. However, there are also successful examples of cities where the transformation of former brownfield sites into cultural and creative neighbourhoods and the renovation of city centres have balanced negative developments. 127 Ravetz, Joe, Cities of tomorrow – Contributions from experts, Brussels 2010. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward FLORENCE – Private actors as motors in revitalising the local economy and manufacturing traditions based on cultural heritage Florence has 368 901 inhabitants (2009 data) and sits at the centre of a metropolitan area of 618 990. Florence is known for tourism as well as its manufacturing and arts and crafts activities, notably art restoration. Nevertheless, there are signs of a decline in the city’s economic and urban stability: fewer tourists and manufacturing plants, more empty buildings and growing competition from other cultural cities in Italy and Europe. The city’s main challenge is, therefore, to re-establish itself on the international stage. The challenge is already being taken up by Confindustra, the trade union confederation of Italian commercial and industrial enterprises, backed by the CNA association representing local SMEs. The consortium organised the nine-day Florens2010 – International Week on Cultural Heritage and Landscape in November 2010, offering cultural events, exhibitions, fairs and a conference to the 90 000 who visited. The strategy was to promote Florence as a new capital of cultural heritage restoration. This strategy is in line with the urban development strategy recently adopted by Florence, which includes plans to create an innovative economic cluster, the ‘Technological District on Cultural Heritage’. 3.6. Towards a more holistic model of sustainable city development 3.6.1. Towardsaholistic,integrated model of sustainable urban development Our cities are facing a series of challenges that – taken separately – are demanding in their own right. Diversity needs to be turned into a positive driver for innovation and attractiveness, supporting rather than undermining cohesion. Cities need to adapt their economic strategies and social services to an ageing population. To develop a green, healthy and attractive city, a holistic approach to environmental and energy-related issues needs to be adopted. Pollution and unsustainable use of natural resources need to be reduced, and mobility has to be made sustainable, inclusive and healthy. The open public space needs to be revalorised. Cities have to manage transitions towards viable local economies that are linked to the global economy and to global hubs of excellence and innovation, developing resilient, inclusive and knowledgebased economies. They have to stimulate job creation and support a broad local skill-base. Cities also have to develop in harmony with their surrounding regions and play their part as motors of regional growth, favouring a polycentric urban Europe with balanced territorial development. They must safeguard their identity and unique characteristics and play different roles in cooperation networks over broader territories as well as in the global economy. Cities have to move towards a more holistic model of sustainable city development, in which they overcome seemingly conflicting and contradictory objectives. Economic growth has to be reconciled with the sustainable use of natural resources, global competitiveness must be inclusive and favour a local economy, and attractiveness to the global social and economic elite must not exclude lessfavoured groups. In essence, to meet the challenges of tomorrow, cities need to adopt an integrated approach to planning and development, integrating the social, economic, environmental and territorial dimensions of urban development. 3.6.2. Overcomingconflicts andcontradictions There are obvious contradictions between social, economic and environmental models of development. Economic development does not always permeate into social progress in a positive fashion, and there are an increasing number of situations where there is a decoupling of social and economic development. For example, the economic dynamics of some companies may contrast with the social deprivation of the area where these companies are settled. Cities must remain engines for economic growth and participate in world competition while maintaining social cohesion within their territories.128 The green development model of a balanced and healthy society is contradictory to an economic growth model based on competitiveness and continued economic growth. Environmental and social concerns do not always go hand in hand. Tensions may occur in cities where environmental objectives are higher on the political agenda than social ones. Eco-neighbourhoods and green technologies may, for instance, be unaffordable to those most exposed to energy poverty. Social cohesion policies do not necessarily fall in line with environmental policies. There are also contradictions between ambitions, visions and objectives at different territorial scales and between neighbouring territories. If neighbourhood problems are addressed only at neighbourhood level, the problem at hand may be moved on to another part of the city or beyond it. If competition between nearby cities is too strong there may be no clear winner and partial losers instead. Socially-oriented development models may also compete with and be contradictory to technology-oriented models. 128 Jacquier, Claude, Research Director, CNRS, introductory note to the Conference on Multilevel Urban Governance, Belgian Presidency of the European Union, Liege, 1–2 December 2010. Cities of tomorrow -Challenges, visions, ways forward Competing societal visions?129