© 2007, International Centre for Local and Regional Development. All rights reserved.

ESPON is an INTERREG funded multinational planning and related information research project. It has a European and international focus and seeks to inform a better understanding of spatial and territorial cohesion policies in the EU. The National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) is the national contact point for the Republic of Ireland.

ICLRD will assist this initiative by hosting the ESPON website. This will help to make available comparative European planning information and databases to practitioners, administrators and policy-makers. See below for details of the latest ESPON newsletter.

6th ESPON Newsletter No 2/2007

Welcome to the sixth issue of the electronic ESPON Newsletter.

This newsletter offers information on the latest developments within ESPON. Furthermore, each newsletter briefly informs about a special feature related to latest ESPON findings.


Scenarios on the territorial future of Europe – New ESPON Publication

ESPON has carried through an applied research project with the aim of presenting contrasting spatial scenarios for the European territory. The new report on “Scenarios on the territorial future of Europe” presents the results stemming from this research. Thinking towards the future is an essential precondition for understanding territorial trends and impacts of different orientations of policies. A short scenario report “Territorial Futures” serves the purpose of an executive summary.


MAP OF THE MONTH, JULY 2007

The map of the month of July 2007 focuses on three contrasting scenarios that compare the spatial structure and urban hierarchy of Europe in 2030. Spatial scenarios are the key theme of the latest ESPON publication mentioned above. ESPON project 3.2 has developed several of spatial scenarios, exploring directions of trends and driving forces as well as contrasting policy orientations, providing corresponding images of the long term territorial development of Europe. Find out more at the ESPON website where the map of the month offers a taste of ESPON findings. www.espon.eu.


USE OF RESULTS FROM APPLIED TERRITORIAL RESEARCH IN POLICY MAKING: REPORT OF ESPON SEMINAR

The ESPON Seminar in Bonn on 12-13 May 2007 aimed at discussing the ESPON 2006 Programme and its capitalisation. This was an internal ESPON event involving researchers, policy makers as well as ESPON Contact Points and specialists from the scientific networks and projects of the ESPON Programme. Six workshops gave to more than 100 participants the opportunity to debate and exchange ideas on applied territorial research for policy making. The workshops discussions are documented in a summary report.


INFORMAL MINISTERIAL MEETING ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND TERRITORIAL COHESION

On 24 and 25 May 2007, a joint informal ministerial meeting on urban development and territorial cohesion was held in Leipzig by the German Presidency. Two policy documents, the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable Cities and the Territorial Agenda of the EU, were adopted. ESPON took part to this meeting by presenting the main results of the ESPON 2006 programme and a first overview on the priorities for the ESPON 2013 programme.

Taken into consideration the results of ESPON under the 2000-2006 Programme, the ministers “agreed to support and make use of ESPON 2013 and the new objective 3 instrument – European Territorial Cooperation – for implementing the EU Territorial Agenda and the Leipzig Charter”. Ministers have particularly recommended that “the ESPON 2013 Programme, in close cooperation with the European Commission undertake a more in-depth analysis of the effects of EU Policies on territorial cohesion, reveal cause-and-effect relationships and develop operational indicators for a regular reporting on territorial matters”.


ESPON 2013 PROGRAMME

The ESPON Managing Authority has on 16 July 2007 re-submitted the ESPON 2013 Operational Programme to the Commission. The current programme document is called version 3. It is the result of editorial changes and amendments following an Inter Service Consultation carried through by the Commission. The European Commission will launch a second Inter Service consultation in the coming weeks. The ESPON 2013 Programme is expected to be approved during September 2007.


THE ESPON CU IS LOOKING FOR TWO NEW TRAINEES

Two new trainees will have the opportunity to work at the ESPON CU, both on content oriented tasks (i.e. involvement in the launch of ESPON 2013 Programme applied research activities and targeted analysis) and administrative tasks. Here you can find more information on the required profile and deadline for applying for a traineeship.


SIGN-UP AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS

This is the sixth ESPON Newsletter. The ambition is to issue 4 to 5 newsletters a year. If you find the ESPON Newsletter interesting and useful, please check the ESPON (www.espon.eu) or ICLRD (www.iclrd.org) websites or sign-up to receive direct notification by sending a blank reply to newsletter@espon.eu.