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development, nor has federalisation changed that, which is logical. This is changing on
the regional level, especially in Brussels and Flanders, concern for the situation of towns
has increased, and a vision of urban development is being developed as a first step to a
more integral approach. The measures carried through in the past few years have been
mostly sectorial, and hardly an efforts has been made to harmonise policy initiatives. In
the fight against urban poverty the Flemish government has recently integrated a number
of individual measures in the Social Impulse Fund (SIF). The government allocates
funding to the cities with the largest problems on the basis of locally formulated integral
plans.
In Austria, urban development has only recently become a concern, now that
suburbanisation more and more encroaches upon the scarce space, and increases the need
for infrastructure. The national government draws up the framework for spatial
development, and gathers and distributes information, but the cities are highly
autonomous in their policy making. Given the progressive urbanisation and the fact that
houses tend to be built on generous plots of land, the expectation is that the national
government will move coordinated spatial development higher on the political agenda.
In Spain, where the responsibilities are highly decentralised to the autonomous
communities, there is no explicit national urban policy either. But sectorial policy in
Spain -more than in Germany, for example- is relevant to urban development. In the
National Infrastructure Plan, the connections among towns and also internal urban
transport are important aspects, on the consideration that external and internal
accessibility is a necessary condition for economic development. Besides, national
housing policy, intended to relieve the tension on the housing market, expressly addresses
the cities. The national environmental policy, too, is clearly concerned with the position
of the larger cities. All policy measures spring from sectorial policy, and as in other
countries, the (seven) major cities have pointed out the drawbacks for the quality of urban
development. They plead an approach in which the major cities themselves can take
decisions and thus stimulate a more integral urban development.
Nordic countries: explicit regional policies with increasing attention to cities
In Denmark, Sweden and Finland, urban development in the past few decades has given
less rise to an explicit urban policy. In these counties the main focus is on explicit
regional policies. Increasingly, the functioning of cities becomes an important part in
these policies. Cities are seen more and more as a stimulator of regional development.
In Sweden, a high degree of local autonomy is laid down in the Constitution, and
moreover, Sweden is not much urbanised yet, so that the national government feels no
urge to conduct an explicit urban policy. Nevertheless, in the context of regional policy, a
study has been made of the problems of the metropolitan regions of Sweden, the
conclusion of which is that ’a favourable development of the towns can also benefit the
development of the national economy’. That study has induced the Swedish government
to enter into agreements with the three regions with the highest investment in road
infrastructure and public transport.