La perspectiva integrada com a nou paradigma del desenvolupament urbà sostenible: una aproximació a partir de la iniciativa comunitària URBAN

Abstract

One of the most notable effects of the economic restructuring undertaken in Europe during recent decades has been the intensification of processes that give rise to urban poverty and social exclusion. This has led to the reinforcing and sharpening of social inequalities and spatial segregation and to the consolidation of a dichotomous urban reality. Situations of social exclusion have tended to concentrate in urban areas that have suffered major processes of degradation and which have levels of quality of life and economic opportunity that are appreciably inferior to those of their nearest urban neighbours. Several European cities are currently working towards the creation of a model of sustainable and more socially just urban development and towards providing responses to the challenges and special needs of neighbourhoods with difficulties. This initiative forms part of what are known as integrated intervention programmes. These programmes explicitly share the will to take appropriate action to influence the many variables that configure and explain situations of urban marginality. They do not only propose interventions aimed at physically transforming space, but also dedicate special attention to the different factors that interact to determine the social and economic configuration of urban space. The integrated approach implies improving on the classical model of sectorial division. The elements that channel public responses are not responsibility and competence frontiers, but rather the deficits and opportunities manifested by a given urban area. This new model for intervention has gained increasing protagonism, both in the political agendas of various European states and regions and in the European Union itself. In 1994, the EU established the URBAN Community Initiative. The general objectives of this programme were related to the need to take measures against the loss of quality of life in certain parts of cities and to take action to promote the socioeconomic and environmental revitalisation of urban areas with difficulties. To date, two editions of URBAN (1994-1999 and 2000-2006) have permitted the co-financing of 188 programmes in 15 EU member states. In this communication, we will present the results of research relating to the URBAN Community Initiative, specifically focusing our attention and analysis on the model for urban reality that it proposes. This model is characterised by the way in which social, economic and environmental questions are addressed from an integrated approach, which serves as a mechanism for providing better responses to local problems. Finally, we will analyse the impact that the URBAN has achieved, using case studies based on British, Spanish, French and Italian cities as indicators in this analysis.