the possibilities for future generations (World Commission on Environment and
Development, 1987).
The need for organising capacity
Cities find themselves challenged. They have to adapt themselves to the new logic of
competition (Bramezza, 1996) and at the same time find their place in various urban
networks. They compete on a widening international scale in search of mobile investment
and trade but at the same time are threatened by the cumulating societal and
environmental problems. Cities have to organise themselves to deal with the complex of
potential opportunities and problems. The ability of the cities to develop and implement
strategies to anticipate, respond to and cope with internal and external changes and to
create conditions for sustainable development depends on the organising capacity in the
urban region (Van den Berg, Braun, Van der Meer, 1997). The city government cannot
cope by itself: challenges demand a joint effort of different layers of government as well
as other public institutions and private actors.
1.3 Urban policy
It is clear that the challenges presented above make high demands on urban policy. In
general terms, urban policy can be described as the whole set of government measures at
different administrative levels - European, national, regional or local - that is directed to
cities.
Explicit and integral urban policies
In theory, all layers of government could pursue urban policy. However, the higher layers
of government also formulate policy that is not specifically designed for cities but that
may still have a major impact on them. This policy is not targeted to cities, but it is to
some extent ‘urban’ in its impact on cities. Concerning national policy responses, it is
important to make a distinction between policy that is explicitly directed to cities and
policy that is not, but that is ‘urban’ in the sense that it makes impact on cities, such as
housing policy, transportation policy, spatial planning policy etc. Another, equally
important distinction is that between partial (sector-specific) and integral (sector-
exceeding) policy. Such urban problems as accessibility, quality of living and economic
revitalisation are so strongly connected that a more integrate approach can be far more
effective. The nature of the policy responses in the member states -whether or not
explicitly addressed to cities, partial or integral- is supposed to be bound up with the
national pattern of spatial development, the administrative and financial framework, and
the political priority a member state gives to the perceived urban problems and
challenges. A systematic investigation of all these aspects in the member states permits an
up-to-date and accurate presentation of the ‘state of the art’ of explicit national urban
policy in the member states of the European Union.
1.4 A framework for national policy response to urban issues