Download or read book Impacts on Life Satisfaction and Policy Development in Spain as a Result of EU Urban Integration Initiatives written by Clemente J. Navarro Yáñez and published by Independent Author. This book was released on 2023-07-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban areas are strategic spaces for the promotion of sustainable development and socio-spatial cohesion in Europe. Around 75 per cent of the European population lives in urban areas, generating about 80 per cent of the European GDP. However, urban areas also face the challenges of poverty and social exclusion in some neighbourhoods, as well as socio-spatial segregation processes or environmental problems. Due to this relevance and these challenges, since the 1990s, the European Union has been shaping a policy area through different initiatives to promote development and social cohesion in cities. Nowadays, EU urban initiatives-also termed the urban dimension of the Cohesion Policy-include different initiatives supporting local plans to promote sustainable urban development, initiatives seeking innovative solutions to urban problems, or the sharing and increasing of capabilities among national and local policymakers and practitioners through different collaborative networks across Europe. However, since the URBAN Initiative in the 1990s, the most traditional and relevant initiatives have been the 'urban integrated strategies'. These are plans designed and implemented at the local scale, and applying the integrated strategy in public policies aimed to fulfil the goals proposed by the EU through its cohesion policy at the local scale across Europe. Analyses of the legal framework and documentation for these initiatives at the EU and member state level, as well as in-depth case studies, have provided analytical ideas and information about this growing dimension of the European cohesion policy. The New Urban Agenda (United Nations) and the Urban Agenda for the European Union indicate new urban policies based on the integrated strategy require evidence-policy analyses to ensure better policy design, implementation and the accomplishment of objectives. The current book aims to offer some policy evidence, analytical ideas and research strategies aligned with this goal. We do so by analysing the actual nature of integrated urban strategies promoted by the EU and their added value in terms of improvements in their policy design, implementation and effects at the local level. Have these strategies applied the integrated strategy proposed by the EU? Are there changes pointing to the existence of improvements and learning effects about the integrated strategy across time? Have these strategies improved the living conditions among residents in targeted urban territories.