Magazine
Belgian cities turn to EU funds for urban revamp
Towns in the Belgian region of Flanders mostly rely on regional aid but are increasingly using EU money for urban renewal projects aimed at attracting more inhabitants to depopulated inner cities.
Although highly urbanised, the Flemish region only in recent years started to grant funding to spruce up its cities and promote a community spirit in its inhabitants. EU regional aid is also helping, but town halls in the region find it hard to meet all the criteria requested by Brussels.
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"EU funds are much more difficult to gain. You need a lot more input than when you apply for grants from the Flemish region. But the sums are also bigger. When Europe says ok, then you really have an amount that you can do something with," Iris van den Abbeel, a programme director for urban development with the city of Ghent, told this website on the margins of a conference organised last Thursday by the Flemish regional government.
Ghent, with a population of 240,000 and outer commuter zone of 1.2 kilometres, is typical for a city in Flanders, where for decades the tendency was to work in town but live in the greener and more spacious outskirts.
The city decided to reshape the face of the inner city by airing up old quarters such as Brugse Poort, with small, crammed houses and no green spaces.
Several parts were demolished and new parks were created in a bid to make the area more attractive to the middle class. A community centre and playgrounds were also built in a bid to involve the community in the making of the project.
If the local community does not feel that the project belongs to them, said Ms van den Abbeel put it, getting it realised can drag on forever. The social dimension is therefore especially high on the agenda of all these urban renewal projects funded by the Flemish region.
The "Oxygen for Brugse Port" project was co-funded by the city of Ghent (€ 9.9 million), the Flemish region (€ 7 million), the Belgian federal government (€ 4.8 million) and EU structural funds (€ 2.2 million).
The town hall set up a special department for the "strategic management of funds," responsible for following different Belgian and EU funding opportunities.
But apart from the problem of applying for the right funds, smaller towns like the 30,000 strong Deinze had difficulties in drafting eligible projects.
The Flemish region has also developed a funding scheme allowing smaller municipalities to hire experts who can help them refine their initial concepts.
These initiatives are in line with the EU commission's view that the way forward is to develop more flexible aid schemes, adapted to the needs of the municipalities.
"We have to look more at financial engineering, not the classical grant schemes", Johan Magnusson from the commission's regional policy department said at the conference.
Some €10 billion were earmarked in 2007-2013 for urban development, out of the €340 billion envelope for regional and infrastructure aid.