Urban areas are a strategic space to promote the development and social cohesion in Europe. Around 72 per cent of the European population lives in urban areas, and these generate about 80 per cent of European GDP. Urban areas also face the challenges of poverty and social exclusion processes in some neighbourhoods, socio-spatial segregation processes, or environmental problems. Due to this relevance and challenges, since the nineties, the European Union has been shaping a policy area and initiatives to promote cities development and social cohesion. The main objective of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Urban Policies (EUrPol) is to study the add-values of these initiatives. The aims are to contribute to a better knowledge of urban societies and policies in the EU developing teaching, research, training and transfer activities about their foundations, and specifically, about tools to analyse and evaluate them. These and other public activities will try to promote an Europe close to citizens.
The EUrPol Jean Monnet Chair has as previous background a research area on the analysis and evaluation of urban policies from a comparative perspective in the Urban Governance Lab, a research centre focused on these issues at the Pablo de Olavide University. Lab researchers are part of the research team of the EUrPol Jean Monnet Chair.