Territorial Agenda 2020 put in practice : enhancing theefficiency and effectiveness of Cohesion Policy by a place-based approach approach : volume I - synthesis report

Along with the progressive recognition of the concept "territorial cohesion", different initiatives have been trying to draw on its practical implications. An important step is the adoption of the "Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020" in 2011 that provide strategic orientations for territorial development, promoting place-based policy making. Through the illustration of a number of real life examples putting in practice the principles of a place-based approach, the present study contributes to its wider implementation. Evidence collected shed light on advantages but also challenges of such approaches and discusses why, together with its constituting features, it proved to be a key success factor for the initiative considered. The result is a discussion on common keys that can be detected and pointed to as footprint for decision makers. While some elements refer to the usual aspects associated with a place-based approach, namely working in an integrated manner and multilevel dialogue, other key aspects are relatively novel or original and shed light on the fact that place-based approach is a flexible policy choice which can be more successful in delivering the Europe 2020 strategy than traditional approaches, typically single-sector and top-down.