Objective
Placing itself in the context of other COST Actions and European Science Foundation programmes, the CIVITAS Action is concerned with determining what types of management and government are necessary for cities to become economically efficient and socially effective. In this context, the relationships between public and private sectors are crucial, as are the interaction of various geographical and administrative levels.
The Action proposes to compare changes occurring in European cities and analyse how each of them reformulates policies in the face of these transformations. It will provide information to guide policy-makers in their work and help them better understand contemporary urban phenomena.
The global issue of urban governance must be addressed under three heads of enquiry :
Which urban spaces will be organising our lifestyles and in what kind of city do we want to live ?
What are the most efficient combinations of 'actors' for producing collective goods and services, and under what conditions can economic efficiency be compatible with social cohesion ?
How can the principles of collective urban action and co-operation between elected and non-elected representation be redefined so as to deal more effectively with the problems of social cohesion and urban exclusion ?
Current status
The first meeting of the Management Committee was held in Brussels in November 1995. At the time of writing (Jan 1997), 12 countries participate in the Action (the latest being Switzerland, which signed in January 1997). During its first year, the most important task for the Action was to define how to implement the co-operation between the different countries and to further define the contents of the research topics. Draft scientific papers have been prepared and presented in Working Group meetings.
Three working groups have been established :
WG 1 : What has and has not changed in urban systems ?
WG 2 : Making the city - Economic efficiency and social effectiveness
WG 3 : Urban governance and social cohesion
In order to improve co-operation with other initiatives about cities in a similar perspective (UN Habitat II, OECD Urban Affairs Group, NATO, ESF, etc), the CIVITAS Action decided to establish links to researchers involved in these networks.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
38100 GRENOBLE
France