What is the territorial agenda?
The Territorial Agenda 2030 underlines the importance of and provides orientation for strategic spatial planning and calls for strengthening the territorial dimension of sector policies at all governance levels. It seeks to promote an inclusive and sustainable future for all places and to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals in Europe. It defines two overarching objectives, a Just Europe and a Green Europe, which have six priorities for developing the European territory and all its places.
How is ESPON involved?
ESPON played a pivotal role in the renewal of the Territorial Agenda, which was first agreed in 2011. ESPON projects, European Territorial Reference Framework and European Territorial Review were among the key background documents of the renewed agenda.
The Atlas for the Territorial Agenda is a flagship document that was published by ESPON and the German Presidency of the EU Council in December 2020. The Atlas illustrates selected aspects of spatial development in Europe and focuses on the most important areas of action in the Territorial Agenda 2030.
ESPON also published a series of articles on the implementation of the pilot actions in its TerritoriALL magazine in November (pages 46 to 55)
How do we currently support its implementation?
ESPON supports the EU Territorial Agenda 2030 (TA2030) by providing evidence and analysis to inform policy decisions.
- Research and Data Provision: ESPON conducts research projects that generate territorial evidence on various topics relevant to TA2030's goals. This evidence base helps policymakers understand the challenges and opportunities faced by different regions in Europe. For instance, a recent project explored territorial resilience along the EU's eastern borders [ESPON website].
- Policy Impact Assessment: ESPON develops methodologies to assess the territorial impact of policies. This ensures that policies consider the diverse situations across European regions and promote territorial cohesion. They're currently working on upgrading this methodology [ESPON website].
- Supporting Implementation: ESPON's research and analysis can be used by policymakers at all levels (national, regional, local) to implement the TA2030's priorities. This allows them to tailor actions to their specific territorial contexts.
Overall, ESPON acts as a bridge between research and policy, ensuring that TA2030 is grounded in evidence and effectively addresses Europe's territorial development challenges.
There's even an ongoing initiative to assess the effectiveness of TA2030 itself. ESPON is involved in a stocktaking review that will analyze the progress made so far and suggest improvements for the future [ESPON website]. This highlights ESPON's commitment to continuous improvement and ensuring TA2030 achieves its goals.
