The EU’s financial and development instruments for cities

City view

Supporting sustainable urban development

During the EU’s cohesion policy period 2021–2027, a minimum of 8 per cent of the ERDF funds of each member state must be invested in focus areas selected by the cities themselves and to promote sustainable urban development. In Finland, this sustainable urban development funding (SUD funding) pursuant to Article 11 of the European Regional Development Fund has been allocated to support cities’ ecosystem agreements, which pursue sustainable urban development through the promotion of innovation activities. The objective of the ecosystem agreements is to strengthen innovation ecosystems; in other words, the development of innovation activities that is based on cooperation networks.

Together the ecosystem agreements form Finland’s national sustainable urban development plan for the sustainable urban development strategy (SUD strategies) in the EU’s Regional and Structural Policy Programme. In the EU context, the cities receiving SUD financing from the ERDF are also referred to as Article 11 cities, and the ecosystem agreement is referred to as the SUD strategy.

Further information: Olli Voutilainen, Senior Specialist, olli.voutilainen(at)gov.fi and Mika Pikkarainen, Special Advisor, mika.pikkarainen(at)gov.fi

The European Urban Initiative (EUI)

The European Urban Initiative (EUI) is funded by the European Commission’s Regional Development Fund, which aims to promote sustainable urban development in Europe. The initiative supports the authorities of cities and urban regions of all sizes in

  1. innovative activities,
  2. development of capabilities (peer assessment and sparring between cities), and
  3. the production and dissemination of urban knowledge (the Portico urban knowledge platform).

A national Urban Contact Point (UCP) has been established in each member state to support the implementation of the initiative. In Finland, the UCP operates under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and is tasked with disseminating information about the funding and development opportunities provided by the EUI and the EU’s other urban development instruments in the national languages. It also works to motivate Finnish cities to join the European urban development.

The activities create an EU-wide network of sustainable urban development, in which European cities can share best practices and learn from each other. 

Further information: Mervi Hemminki

Urban Contact Point, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
mervi.hemminki(at)gov.fi, +358 295 047 096 / +358 50 564 99786

The URBACT programme – European cities exchanging experiences and learning from each other

URBACT IV (2021–2027) is an EU-funded programme for cooperation between regions, which supports the networking of and the exchange of experiences between European cities. The programme’s central operating model is integrated and sustainable urban development carried out around different themes. 

The URBACT programme is open to cities and other public sector organisations in the EU countries, Norway and Switzerland, as well as the countries in the Western Balkans which are in membership negotiations (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia). The national Urban Contact Point of the programme is the Spatia Centre for Regional Research of the University of Eastern Finland. The URBACT programme complements the European Urban Initiative (EUI).

The programme provides funding for three different types of networks:

  1. Action Planning Networks: preparing action plans to find solutions to cities’ own development issues
  2. Transfer Networks: disseminating good practices to the cities included in the network
  3. Innovation Transfer Networks: a network of cities which develops investment plans based on the results produced in the Urban Innovative Actions initiative

Further information: Olli Voutilainen, Senior Specialist, olli.voutilainen(at)gov.fi