Urban development strategies in the EU: the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions

The European Union (EU) has been developing a model for urban intervention since the 1980s, which we refer to in this study as the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Model (ISUDM). A defining element of this model is its integrated nature and understanding of a city as a complex, multidimensional social system. We analysed the EU's database of urban development initiatives (the Urban Data Platform) and studied the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions of the urban development strategies implemented within the framework of EU Cohesion Policy. Our findings indicate those strategies that were supported by multiple EU funds and delivered through decentralised instruments targeting several cities that were the more integrated ones. In contrast, strategies financed by a smaller number of EU funds or a single fund, using more centralised delivery instruments, and targeting only one city, were less integrated.