METRO - The role and future perspectives of Cohesion Policy in the planning of Metropolitan Areas and Cities. Final report

The METRO project aims at (i) exploring how the EU cohesion policy goals can be integrated in the planning and implementation of policies at metropolitan scale, by investigating governance solutions that connect strategic metropolitan planning to the EU cohesion policy funds and instruments at the regional, national and EU level; (ii) understanding how the EU cohesion policy can help achieving socio-economic and territorial goals at metropolitan scale, by developing area-based approaches and integrated territorial strategies; (iii) analysing how the EU cohesion policy can foster better cooperation and governance dynamics at the metropolitan level. In order to reach these aims, the research activity has been pivoted around three main policy questions: PQ1 | What role do metropolitan areas play in the development, management and implementation of the cohesion policy? PQ2 | What is the added value of the cohesion policy in the planning and implementation of metropolitan policies? PQ3 | What role does the cohesion policy play in consolidating metropolitan governance and cooperation? These questions were answered through the analysis of the metropolitan contexts in which the nine stake-holders involved in the projects are active: Metropolitan City of Turin (CMTo), Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), Brno Metropolitan Area (BMA), Metropolitan Area of Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot (MAG), Metropolitan City of Florence (CMFi), Métropole de Lyon (MdL), Brussels-Capital Region (BCR), Riga Metropolitan Area (RMA). The main focus has been on the stakeholders’ roles, institutional contexts, capabilities and perspectives in the framework of the EU cohesion policy, also in relation to their respective national and regional contexts. Moreover, the project explored the role that metropolitan areas and the EU cohesion policy played in relation to the COVID-19 emergency. The presented results are based on experiences and practices identifiable in the nine territories and have been developed in connection with the stakeholders, to allow to deliver realistic sets of evidence-based policy recommendations. Furthermore, the project improves general understanding on how European metropolitan areas can contribute to achieving cohesion policy objectives through their policies. Finally, it provides meaningful advice on how cohesion policy should take the metropolitan dimension into account during the programming period 2021-27.