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transport and infrastructure policy attribute a lot of weight to the accessibility and the
national and international connections of the major Dutch cities. The Danish Government
and also the German government promote the starting-up of strategic networks between
cities. In Denmark, the new bridge to Sweden is another example of a new physical link.
Also in Italy, the government has started to promote strategic network among cities.
PART 3 NATIONAL URBAN POLICY IN PERSPECTIVE
In spite of wide differences in the degree of urbanisation, the structure of the national
urban systems and the development phase at which the various urban regions find
themselves, there are some similarities among the member states (see also table 1). For
one thing, urbanisation is advancing most rapidly in those countries that were until
recently hardly urbanised. Urban growth manifests itself more in the ring zones around
the major cities rather than in those cities themselves. Everywhere the ring zones of the
largest cities are the fastest growers. The result is progressive concentration of activity in
the largest urban regions. That process is especially striking in the countries of relatively
late urbanisation. More and more Europeans belong to the urbanised population.
A problem is that in quite a lot of countries there is social and spatial segregation in the
urban regions. The highest concentrations of unemployment and problems as low
residential and living quality, crime, vandalism, health concern are found in the urban
regions, often in the central cores, sometimes in the suburbs, and sometimes in both.
There are sizable differences in the degree in which major cities are threatened by social,
living-climate and safety problems. The typically urban problems seem to develop fast in
those countries that until recently had remained unaffected.
Differences in administrative and financial structure within Europe are exceptionally
wide. These differences appear to have an effect on the urban development and the nature
and form of the national policy with respect to the towns. On the other hand, the
administrative and financial structures are highly dynamic. The last two decades have
shown drastic administrative changes in at least seven of the fifteen member states. With
the exception of the federalisation of Belgium, almost all changes have given shape to the
wish for more decentralisation of competencies in those countries which in the past had a
strictly centralist government system. A second exception is the United Kingdom, where
the central authority has rather assumed more power at the expense of the competencies
of local authorities.
There are wide discrepancies in the degree of autonomy among the cities of Europe.
Autonomy ranges from all but nil in Greece to all but complete in Sweden. Although the
tendency towards decentralisation is manifest, that does not invariably mean that the
formal responsibilities and opportunities to conduct an autonomous and integral policy on
the municipal or metropolitan level have been much extended. Concerning municipal
finance no clear trends are perceivable, although the observation is warranted that as
decentralisation proceeds, the grants allocated by the state are reduced. On the other hand,
specific grants have gradually supplanted by generic grants. The towns have been forced