FINAL CONFERENCE: FAs IN THE EU
FINAL CONFERENCE:
FAs IN THE EU
Final conference: Functional areas in the EU – challenges, opportunities and strengths
The final conference marked the end of the ‘Functional Areas in the EU’ project, and we want to thank all participants for their active involvement and valuable feedback. The online event from May 29th was attended by 294 representatives from various functional areas. We encourage you to keep an eye on our upcoming newsletter, webpage, and social media communications, and to continue to be an active part of the community of FAs that was formed during our project. Here are the key takeaways from each session of the conference:
Passcode: K@=H+Tv3
Introduction to the conference
Overview of the project’s objectives and significance
Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu (Senior Urban Development Specialist, World Bank) kicked off the final conference by thanking the team at DG Regio for the successful collaboration during the project, followed by a presentation of the agenda.
Marek Teplansky (Head of Unit, DG Regio) further explained the rationale of the project. The Cohesion Policy recognises the importance of the functional approach for more coordinated action across territories, stimulating cooperation between territorial actors and for addressing today’s complex challenges. The project aimed to concretely support actors to advance the operationalisation of the functional area approach and to be better equipped to implement joint investments. Place-based approaches are integral to Cohesion Policy, with EUR 8 bln. allocated to FUAs in the 2014-2020 programming period. In 2021-2027, Cohesion Policy programmes have more than EUR 20 bln. programmed for functional urban areas. Therefore, it is important to build on this momentum and increase the capacity of all functional areas. The work carried out with the 12 FAs contributes to this end through the various deliverables created during the project (a methodological toolkit, best practices, and many others). Marek Teplansky also thanked the World Bank team for their dedication in implementing the project.
Identified challenges by the FAs through the project
Insights and perspectives into the obstacles faced by functional areas, offering valuable perspectives on the complexities and nuances of strengthening functional approaches.
Grzegorz Aleksander Wolszczak (Urban Development Specialist, World Bank) presented the main goals of the project: to support interjurisdictional collaboration, access to funding and joint investments, peer learning, as well as developing tools and methodologies for advancing the functional approach. After presenting the 12 selected areas for targeted support, Greg highlighted that many challenges can be better managed at the scale of the functional area, rather than the NUTS2 or NUTS3 levels – these include the green and just transition, demographic decline and ageing, strategic and spatial planning, developing green-blue infrastructure, or delivering quality public services. Mainstreaming the FA approach has many benefits: injecting flexibility to the planning and delivery mechanisms, reinforcing place-based and people-based principles, and enhancing the overall performance of development instruments, by enabling economies of scale, limiting duplication and establishing partnerships.
Grzegorz Wolszczak then highlighted the key challenges identified during the collaboration with the participating functional areas. These include the lack of a clear role for FAs, limited visibility and data disaggregated at the functional area scale, insufficient capacity building instruments, combining strategic and spatial planning, and an incipient culture of cooperation. He stressed the importance of including FAs in the strategic dialogue to develop policies, instruments and legislation at the regional, national and EU levels, and creating more channels for direct dialogue with the subnational level. Peri-urbanisation trends and opportunities to diffuse development highlight the value added of FAs for strategic and spatial planning and promoting urban-rural linkages.

Methodological toolkit: recommendations and best practices
Presentation on the main recommendations highlighting ways in which functional areas could improve coordination, planning and implementation processes across jurisdictional boundaries.
Yondela Silimela (Senior Urban Specialist, World Bank) took the floor to showcase the final deliverable of the project, a Methodological Toolkit to support functional approaches, based on the practical work within the project. She presented the structure of the toolkit, complementing two other publications of DG Regio and the Joint Research Centre (Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies; Handbook of Territorial and Local Development Strategies). The toolkit is based on six building blocks: strategic focus, territorial focus, governance and administrative capacity, cross-sectoral integration, funding and finance, and monitoring and evaluation. The presentation included key recommendations for each of these topics, and the challenges addressed, along with practical examples.
- The first topic addressed was strategic focus and the critical role of having a joint development vision and identifying territorial needs. For instance, Brno Metropolitan Area conceptualised integrated, metropolitan-scale projects in their Integrated Development Strategy for 2021+ based on identified needs that traverse administrative boundaries, even without a legislation for metropolitan areas.
- With regards to territorial focus, Yondela Silimela stressed the importance of evidence-based decision making, and data-based delineation of the functional territory. The Romanian national law on metropolitan areas was offered as a practical insight, which regulates the delineation, competencies and financial transfers at the metropolitan level.
- Governance recommendations of the toolkit include the gradual development of the institution and its role (as in the case of Barcelona Metropolitan Area), expanding the realm of competencies and ensuring multi-stakeholder engagement.
- The Cross-sectoral integration chapter of the toolkit focuses on the interplay between spatial and strategic planning, joint climate action, and opportunities of sustainable mobility planning to drive transit-oriented development and neighbourhood level regeneration.
- The recommendations related to Funding and finance cover addressing disparities in financial capacity, mobilising private financing through public-private-partnerships (PPPs) and coherent investment attraction at the FA territorial scale to avoid negative territorial competition. An inspiring example given was that of Krakow Metropolitan Area, which created a joint database of investment sites and is coordinating the bundling of PPP projects in the metropolitan area.
- The final chapter, focusing on Monitoring and evaluation, showcases the importance of data collection and analysis, indicators for integrated investments, and facilitating participatory M&E processes. Two data observatories in Poland were offered as a practical insight, followed by an interactive session.




Key results of the project: major projects and tools developed under the initiative
Presentation highlighting the achievements and the insights gained throughout the project, alongside the developed tools.
Marcel Ionescu-Heroiu (Senior Urban Development Specialist, World Bank) presented an overview of the results of the project, which started with a selection process, and the formulation of action plans for each participating functional area. All resources developed are available on the website of the project. In the following, he presented the 12 functional areas that received targeted support, the challenges identified in their action plans and activities to address them:
- Zagreb Metropolitan Area accessed funding to improve green spaces in urban courtyards as part of their Net Zero City programme. Another topic of interest for Zagreb Metropolitan Area was identifying areas that are most suitable for social housing.
- One of the most interesting activities developed with Brno Metropolitan Area was a land suitability analysis, identifying areas suitable for private investments and other uses.
- West Athens was particularly interested in developing a Resilience Plan, securing financing sources for the transition to a Net Zero Region, and preparing flagship regional projects.
- In the Balaton functional region, the project enabled an analysis of climate change forecasts, the improvement of regional transport and cycling infrastructure and identification of financing and cross-border partnership opportunities.
- Polish functional areas (Kalisz-Ostrow and Krakow Metropolitan Area) were involved in a host of activities related to spatial planning, strengthening public-private partnerships, developing a portfolio of green projects, or ensuring institutional and financial sustainability.
- The Caras-Timis functional area focused on developing railway linkages at regional level, including the implementation and financing of urban regeneration of railway assets along its train-tram route.
- The Cluj Metropolitan Area benefited from support to develop its Action Plan for Climate Neutrality, as part of the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, as well as for metropolitan branding, scaling up regeneration projects from the core city, and a metropolitan GIS database, among others.
- In the case of Jiu Valley and Jiu Conurbation functional areas, covering three just transition regions, a few of the highlighted activities were a land suitability analysis for renewable energy investments, supporting community engagement, regeneration of industrial heritage, as well as accessing technical assistance and funding, as the region undergoes the green transition.
- The Oradea Metropolitan Area was able to develop a comprehensive GIS database which was endorsed at national level, a geo-referenced database of private companies to support planning, applications for funding opportunities, as well as to plan and implement urban regeneration of the main railway station and its surrounding area, key for developing metropolitan railway mobility.
- The West Ialomița functional area required support with attracting investors and integrated economic planning, as well as connecting to the metropolitan train system around Bucharest.
- Lastly, Trencin was provided support to prepare for the European Capital of Culture 2026 title, identify EU sources of funding, and promote the functional area to potential investors.
Moreover, the funding mobilised through the project was one of the major benefits for the participating functional areas.

Q&A
Opportunity for participants to seek clarification and to foster active participation and exchange of ideas.
During the Q&A session, the participants thanked the DG Regio and World Bank team, as well as the participating areas in the project for their collaboration. Well-established, and legally secured FAs should be supported at EU level, and the Krakow MA hopes for the continuation of the project. Because of the project, Oradea MA advanced its approach in metropolitan development and was able to raise awareness on the importance of cooperation among municipalities.
The final conference concluded with the final remarks from DG Regio representatives. Janis Krainis (DG Regio) thanked the World Bank team and encouraged functional areas to access the toolkit and other resources developed over the course of two years and to continue to be involved as part of this community.
Gabriel Onaca (DG Regio) reminded participants about capacity building opportunities facilitated by EUI and highlighted that a great achievement of the project is the motivation of FAs to continue this collaboration, possibly through a Peer2Peer community. Moreover, the Portico platform offers a dedicated section to functional areas.
The livestream of the final conference can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/live/NhaN1PnN-JQ?feature=shared
The Final Conference Presentations:

Final Conference Presentation
Insights and Recommendations for Enhanced Territorial Dimension in the EU

Methodological Toolkit
to improve governance, coordination, planning and implementation processes across jurisdictional boundaries

Key Results of the Project
Crossing administrative boundaries for green transition and sustainable development
Date:
May 29, 2024
Time:
09.30 AM (CET time)
Event format:
Online Meeting
Event category:
Final Conference
Organizer:
World Bank
View the recording:
Passcode: K@=H+Tv3