The URBAN programme and the European urban policydiscourse: successful instruments to Europeanize the urbanlevel?

摘要

The European Community InitiativeURBAN, explored in this article for seven countries ingeneral and for two individual cities in the Netherlandsin more detail, is a micro example of the ongoingstruggle between European and national policy actorswho contest each others' authority. The programme,aimed at solving social-economic problems in deprivedneighbourhoods in European cities, has acted as acatalyst for new forms of cooperation.Whether it hasdirectly contributed to Europeanization at the local levelseems questionable, but it has certainly helped some cityadministrations to enter the European stage. WhereasEuropean urban policy discourse could not be found atthe Dutch urban level in the mid 1990s, the discourse hasbecome dispersed and is now increasingly used.