Sustainable Urban Regeneration within the European Union : a case of 'Europeanization'?

There has been a growing interest throughout Europe in the issue of urban regeneration. Since the 1990s, the European Union has played an increasingly important role in influencing member states' urban policy and regeneration practice, through the implementation of the Urban Pilot Projects, the URBAN Community Initiative and the URBACT network. The Urban Acquis, seen as the commonly-approved EU URBAN methodology, supports an integrated approach to regeneration, involving physical, economic, social and environmental initiatives, integrating local residents into inclusive governance and decision-making processes. While this integrated approach was not new in some member states, such as the UK, France and the Netherlands when it was introduced in the 1990s, it has had a profound impact in other EU15 countries, particularly in the southern member states such as Spain, where there had been little tradition of integrated urban regeneration initiatives. This process of 'Europeanization' can also been witnessed in some new member states such as Hungary, which has adopted the EU's approach to integrated urban development planning. The influence of the EU methodology is also set to be extended, given the extensive participation in the URBACT networking program, and its concomitant impact on urban regeneration policy and practice in the future