European urban policies and the neighbourhood: an overview

This paper provides an overview of the ‘urban policies’ developed to address urban problems in a number of different European countries. Although a ‘conventional wisdom’ has developed about how to address such problems, each country has developed its own particular approach. The paper first of all provides a brief overview of the situation at the European level. The main focus of the paper, however, is on neighbourhood-based policies in Denmark, England, France, and Germany. This illustrates the broadly similar, albeit at times distinctive, approaches each country has developed particularly with regard to the neighbourhood. Finally the paper briefly considers some wider governance issues raised by these neighbourhood-based programmes. The conclusion then identifies and reflects on common themes, conceptualisations and approaches.