Preparation of this paper has been requested by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to substantiate discussion on urban policy in the upcoming term (first half of 2025), with a declaration to be agreed upon by Ministers for Cohesion Policy, Urban Matters and Territorial Cohesion at the informal meeting in Warsaw, in May 2025.

This stocktaking paper compiles ESPON’s territorial evidence on the role of functional urban areas (FUAs) in the organisation of territories, and it presents key information on both the support for FUAs under cohesion policy and other European policies and how specifically cohesion policy instruments are applied in FUAs. In that context, the document collates observations also by other organisations researching FUAs in Europe.

The paper provides a basis for developing a survey on FUAs among Urban Development Group members, which will then feed into a thematic issue paper to be drafted by the Polish EU Council Presidency in cooperation with the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN).