The integrated and participative approach in the urban policy of the European Union. The case of the Iniciativa Urbana (2007-2013) in Spain

Abstract

Objective

At the beginning of the 1990s it is possible to identify the formalization of an international trend that aims to tackle the problems of urban decay through an integrated and participative approach.  The URBAN Community Initiative, launched by the European Commission in 1994, adopted both aspects in its urban regeneration method. It was further developed under the second round of URBAN (called URBAN II -2000-2006). The literature has pointed out that through this methodology URBAN and URBAN II contributed importantly to introduce innovation in the practice of urban regeneration in Spain. This study analyses the adoption of the integrated and participative approach in the Iniciativa Urbana (IU), the instrument that explicitly continued the path of URBAN under the Urban Policy of the EU in Spain in the period 2007-2013. 

Methodology

Through a qualitative research methodology that analyzes a relevant number of primary sources, scientific literature on the topic, and 44 programmes of urban regeneration developed under the IU, the study reveals the importance of the launch and the design of this instrument to consolidate the introduction of the integrated and participative approaches in the country. 

Conclusions

It allows understanding the level of adoption of both methodological aspects in the programmes of the IU, the fields in which relevant advancement has taken place, and those in which Spanish cities still find relevant limitations in a framework characterized by path dependence. 

Originality

The study aims to provide knowledge and contribute to the (so far insufficient) academic reflection on a topic that will be crucial to define the instruments that will be operative in Spain under the urban dimension of the Cohesion Policy of the EU in the post 2020 period.