Tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic at the Metropolitan Level. Evidence from Europe

Metropolitan areas progressively joined cities as catalysts of European development, putting traditional governance models into crisis and triggering episodes of institutional experimentation. Also the European Union has progressively adapted its cohesion policy to cater to the needs of metropolitan areas, and arguments in this direction have multiplied as a consequence of the role that the latter could play in tackling the pandemic. Aiming at shedding some light on this issue, the contribution draws on the results of the ESPON METRO project, discussing how selected metropolitan areas in Europe have reacted to the pandemic, and to what extent they have been able to use the EU cohesion policy. Overall, whereas metropolitan areas appear well positioned to react to the pandemic and to contribute to plan its aftermath, the collected evidence shows that the scope and magnitude of their activity has been rather limited: a situation that may contribute to threaten European social, economic and territorial cohesion.