News
- “ESPON 2030” Programme
The “ESPON 2030” cooperation programme aims at supporting policymakers and stakeholders at all levels in developing territorial strategies for dealing with the green transition to climate-neutral economies and societies while promoting just living conditions for all people in all places. The activities of the new programme will be bundled in Thematic Action Plans (TAPs) to ensure a coherent approach to research-based evidence production and tailored knowledge development activities for the support of policymakers and stakeholders. The first four TAPs – « Perspective for all people and places », « Climate neutral territories », « Governance of new geographies » and « Resilient places to crises » – were opened for consultation on 30 November 2021. In addition, the ESPON high-level online conference “From ESPON 2020 to ESPON 2030 - Building on 20 years of innovative support for territorial policy making”, which took place on 29 March 2022, provided an opportunity to present and discuss the achievements and the future of the ESPON Programme. Activities under the new programme are planned to start on 1 July 2022.
- ESPON Peer Learning Workshop "How to reach no net land take by 2050"
The ESPON Programme, in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, organised an online workshop on the theme of "How to reach no net land take by 2050" on 9 February 2022. You can find the presentations and the video recording of the workshop on the website of ESPON.
- ESPON Week
The ESPON Week under the Slovenian Presidency of the Council took place online from 29 November to 2 December 2021. On 30 November, an introduction to the new ESPON 2030 Cooperation Programme and the official launch of the consultation process to define the thematic priorities for future ESPON research activities were organised. The second key moment of the week was the ESPON Seminar, which was dedicated to the theme of "Quality of Life for territorial and citizen-centric policies", bringing together the latest research on the topic and relevant policy issues.
- Annual Conference of the ESPON Contact Point in Luxembourg
In cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the ESPON Contact Point (ECP) in Luxembourg organised its Annual Conference on the topic of "Spatial planning for a better quality of life: How can the quality of life in urban and rural areas be strengthened? " on 10 November 2021 online. The objective of the conference was to debate how quality of life can be defined and measured and how spatial planning can improve quality of life in urban and rural areas. It also provided an opportunity to present related ESPON projects, such as " QoL – Quality of Life Measurements and Methodology" and "ACPA - Adapting European Cities to Population Ageing: Policy Challenges and Best Practices". The concluding remarks were made by the Luxembourgish Minister Spatial Planning, Claude Turmes, and the Director of the ESPON EGTC, Wiktor Szydarowski. The presentations and the video of the conference are available on the website of the ECP in Luxembourg.
ESPON Publications
- TerritoriALL No.4 and No.5
In October 2021, the fourth issue of the TerritoriALL magazine was published, in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions, in the context of the European Week of Regions and Cities 2021. In November 2021, the ESPON EGTC published the fifth issue of the magazine dealing with the theme of the territorial dimension of quality of life. This issue also includes an article about the international consultation "Luxembourg in Transition".
- Policy Brief: Cross-border monitoring and observation in Europe
This policy brief covers the key messages from research studies done at the EU level on cross-border monitoring and observation. You can read the policy brief here.
- Policy Brief: Supporting change in territorial governance and spatial planning
The policy brief draws on the findings of a number of relevant ESPON projects on regional strategies for sustainable and inclusive territorial development. The document can be read here.
- Policy Brief: Quality of Life for territorial and citizen-centric policies
This policy brief describes the ESPON approach to quality of life, which covers the personal, socio-economic and ecological spheres. The document is available here.
Spatial planning in Luxembourg
- Luxembourg in Transition
The urban-architectural and landscape consultation entitled Luxembourg in Transition – Spatial visions for the low-carbon and sustainable future of the Luxembourg functional region, which was launched by the Department of Spatial Planning of the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in June 2020, came to a conclusion in January 2022. The objective of the international consultation was to collect strategic spatial planning proposals and ecological transition scenarios for the country and neighbouring border territories towards 2050. More information on the consultation and its results can be found on its dedicated website.
- The Guide « Éco-urbanisme »
Prepared by the Department of Spatial Planning in collaboration with stakeholders, this guide is a tool for public and private actors to promote an “eco-urbanism with a positive impact". Through a list of strategies and measures, the urban actors are invited to develop innovative urban planning concepts and projects at the neighbourhood level. You can find more information about the guide here.
Box „Did you know?“
The ESPON TITAN (Territorial Impacts of Natural Disasters) project highlights that Luxembourg has a very low susceptibility and a very high coping capacity for natural hazards in general (river floods, windstorms, drought, and earthquakes), resulting in a very low vulnerability to them. The country has the 47th lowest vulnerability out of a total of 1395 territories at NUTS 3 analysed in the context of the project.
Vulnerability indicator: Relative position of Luxembourg respect to the total of territories analysed
Source: ESPON-TITAN Territorial Impacts of Natural Disasters (2021). Final Report and Annexes.