C10 - Outskirts of European Cities

The primary goal of the Action C10 was to foster the understanding of the processes of “outskirtisation” through case studies in eleven agglomerations and the understanding of the relation between urban growth and urbanization. In all cities urban growth reorganised the geography, the functions and the management of agglomerations. The centre of cities (generally studied in many researches on European cities) decreases in importance and all the functions are redistributed throughout the periphery.

The main concept was the interaction between hubs, nodes, neighbourhoods, infrastructures, green areas in evolving cities. Confronted with this urban explosion, the Action showed new attitudes, new perceptions and new governance which proved the necessity for a change in planning policies. Outskirts found their own identities and shape in the networked urban regions.

The Action showed that a complete rethinking of urban management was necessary, based on coherent strategies and coordination. This form of management requires better information systems in a network based society and a system of evaluation.

The Action results are very well evaluated by the professionals working in this field. However a need for further Europe-wide research, dealing mainly with the social aspects of the urban outskirts, has been recognised and the group of C10 experts is now preparing a project with such focus.