Martin Ferry, Sylwia Borkowska-Waszak

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 35 - 50

This article reviews how Poland is implementing Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs) and sustainable urban development (SUD) strategies. Enhancing integrated, partnership-based approaches to the governance of urban development initiatives is seen by policy-makers as an important added value in these initiatives in Poland, as traditions of inter-municipal cooperation are weak and there are few instruments that provide incentives to Polish local authorities to coordinate their investments. The article provides an overview of the current status of these instruments in Poland and how they are being implemented. It compares the cases of two SUD strategies in Katowice and Lublin that have adopted different implementation models, providing detailed examples at local level of the operationalisation of SUD, along with policy recommendations gathered from implementation experience so far.

Martin Ferry, Irene McMaster

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 6 (2018), Issue 1, Page 58 - 67

This article is based on a research carried out for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. The importance of assessing the impact and results of public policy interventions is clear. The Commission expects integrated, place-based strategies and their interventions to be developed with results in mind. For reasons of accountability and efficiency, policy-makers, stakeholders and beneficiaries require knowledge and understanding of the progress and effectiveness of the strategies. It is, therefore, important to gather information with which to better understand the role of the interventions and an evidence base comparable to other interventions. However, measuring effectiveness presents several challenges, related to the specific characteristics of these strategies and to the fact that, at least in some Member States, integrated approaches to territorial and urban development are relatively new. Against this background, this article explores the challenges involved in assessing the achievements of integrated place-based strategies and reviews existing methodological approaches to assessing territorial provisions under Cohesion policy and under urban development. It then explores emerging approaches to the assessment of territorial and urban strategies launched under the territorial provisions set out for 2014-2020. Looking forward, the article then outlines options for developing frameworks for future assessments before presenting conclusions and recommendations on a framework and approach for measuring effectiveness.