The main objective of this Action is to increase the knowledge about the extent to which different forms of sub-national governance, with a particular focus on city-regions, enable the pursuit of economic competitiveness to be reconciled with the goal of social cohesion. The Action thus involves a theoretical dimension to relate governance and policy fi elds in a contextual framework. Such a framework appears essential for studying and understanding the specifi c forms of governance structures in different localities across Europe. A reliable typology for treating forms and capacities of existing governance structures will be developed in order to make specifi c investigations. Finally, the Action contributes to basic research and thus improves the understanding of governance and its relation to social structures in general.
