Our Project

According to the "State of World Population 2007" of United Nations, 76% of the European population lives in medium and small cities, with less than half million inhabitants. This is a reality that has not been analysed enough, because the large cities have been normally the studies target.

NeT-TOPIC is addressed to medium sized (intermediate) cities located close to a major city within a metropolitan area. As a resut of their location, these cities face today some common challenges, such as territorial fragmentation or the need to adapt to the new demands for uses and activities in the process of post-industrialisation and of new tertiary activities.

NeT-TOPIC Thematic Network is composed of European peripheral cities in transformation, with shared problems including industrial decline, territorial fragmentation and social polarisation. Located near to major cities, they are transforming to more attractive urban areas: focusing on developing their own urban identity, offering a greater quality of life, improving citizen integration and social cohesion to fulfil a new role within their metropolitan areas.

One of the biggest challenges faced by these cities is the use and promotion of new tools and approaches relating to territorial governance and urban planning processes at local, regional and national level to improve urban transformation processes. The network provides these cities with a platform to reflect on changes in the city model to increase the strategic value of its territory.

NeT-TOPIC’s network aims to foster the exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices among its partners.  The project seeks to enhance the role of peripheral cities in territorial governance and urban planning processes to achieve their desired new city model.

TOPIC

Challenges

As a result from their location and the urban and territorial systems in which these cities are nestled, the land of the intermediate cities has often been used for the industrial sector (sectors which are now in recession/decline), for infrastructures (which slipt up the city) and for residential functions (which need integrated rehabilitation). Faced with this situation, these cities need to adequate the land uses with their socio-economic and territorial area trends, and therefore to develop a city model change process. This means, that they are transforming from peripheral cities to central cities, from residential to daytime cities (university, administrative or business centres), from industrial cities to technological/knowledge/services cities, from monofunctional to multifunctional cities.

These cities are considering the common challenge of mananging a city change that increases the strategic value of their territory in order to transform them into more attractive cities which offer greater quality of life and better citizen coexistence.

An important challenge of these cities concerns with their territorial governance and urban planning processes, throughout the promotion of new tools and approaches among their local governments in order to improve their urban transformation processes. In other words, the traditional forms or urban management and planning of peripheral monofunctional cities is no relevant or efficient anymore to govern cities experimenting important transformations and to plan strategies for an urban change.

Key point of focus

Considering the common contexts & challenges of all network cities, some topics have been identified:

Core Theme:

  • Building new models of urban development in peripheral cities in metropolitan areas

Sub Themes:

  • Development and consolidation of an urban identity.
  • Enhancement of new forms of urban and metropolitan governance.
  • Tackling urban fragmentation caused by roads and communication   infrastructures.
  • Recovering and conditioning abandoned and obsolete industrial areas.
  • The planning and management of the transformation from a mono functional to a multi functional city.

A word from the lead partner

What motivates you to be part of the URBACT adventure ?

L'Hospitalet aims to foster the exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices among its partners.  L'Hospitalet, as the rest of network partners, seeks to enhance the role of peripheral cities in territorial governance and urban planning processes to achieve their desired new city model.

Who would you like to benefit from the work achieved in your project?

By means of its participation in NeT-TOPIC network, the whole city will benefit from the experiences, knowledge and best practices exchange among other partner cities.