On February 23 Iván Tosics, Olga Müller, and Judit Kálmán from MRI presented the ESPON URDICO project (https://www.espon.eu/projects/urdico-urban-dimension-cohesion-policy-and-other-eu-programmes), which was completed in January, to the National Development Center – TOP Plus Managing Authority and the Ministry of Public Administration and Regional Development. The presentation focused primarily on interesting foreign best practices, such as the operational program targeting metropolitan areas in Italy (NOP Metro), the functioning of integrated territorial investments (ITI) in five countries, functional urban area cooperation examples in Warsaw, Prague and Strasbourg, integrated neighborhood development programs in Ghent, and targeted social development programmes in the southern part of Rotterdam. These examples were of particular interest to the participants, as Hungary will soon be planning its next EU planning cycle, in which proven foreign experiences can be helpful. It is hoped that the foreign best practices and the comments on the distribution and use of cohesion funds in Hungary and Budapest will help in the preparation of Hungary’s programs for the next EU cycle.
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The results of the ESPON URDICO project have been published
The ESPON URDICO project led by MRI was completed in January 2026 after one year of intensive work. The project analysed and compared the implementation of the urban dimension of the EU Cohesion Policy in eight selected stakeholder cities in the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 programming period The final results are available on the project’s website: https://www.espon.eu/projects/urdico-urban-dimension-cohesion-policy-and-other-eu-programmes
The results include the final report of the project which presents the main results in a concise way, and its various annexes which give more insight into the work completed. The annexes include a report on the data collection and quantitative analysis; a policy brief; detailed policy recommendations; separate case study reports about the eight analysed cities: Budapest, Florence, Ghent, Prague, Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Valencia and Warsaw; the comparative case study report; and summary factsheets for the eight cities.
ESPON URDICO project results
The ESPON URDICO project led by MRI (in consortium with Politecnico di Torino and University of Valencia) came to its end after one year of intensive work. The project analysed and compared the implementation of the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy in 8 selected stakeholder cities: Budapest, Florence, Ghent, Prague, Rotterdam, Strasbourg, Valencia and Warsaw, in the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 programming period, through both quantitative and qualitative methods. The project explored the how the selected European cities implement the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy and utilize different EU funds and programmes to promote sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban development. The research compared different governance models, funding synergies, long-term urban development strategies and institutional innovations across the different case study areas to identify both good practices and challenges, that can help to create a more effective multilevel urban governance and serve as potential inputs when planning the next MFF.
The last Steering Committee meeting of the project was held on 13 January in Rome, followed by the final conference of the project called “Understanding and Reinforcing the Urban Dimension in Cohesion Policy”. The speakers of the conference included researchers, representatives of stakeholder cities and municipal associations, representatives of the ESPON EGTC, Eurocities, policymakers, members of the European Commission and the European Parliament. During the keynote session of the conference, Iván Tosics presented the main results and key findings of the URDICO project. He emphasized that the reforms beginning with the 2014-2020 period strengthened the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy with new tools and compulsory involvement of cities through urban earmarking of EU funds. The partnership principle and subsidiarity allowed cities to become active participants in the Cohesion Policy programming and implementation, through specific roles, or implementing the Integrated Territorial Investment tool. Cities appreciated the new possibilities and introduced several institutional innovations. However, these positive developments are now threatened by the Multiannual Financial Framework proposal, which would centralize all decision-making powers to the national level, withdrawing all compulsory regulations which made Cohesion Policy a success for cities thus far. Judit Kálmán gave a presentation about the centralization processes in Hungary and its effects on Budapest during the “Evidence and policy recommendations” session of the conference. She highlighted that despite its economic and demographic weight within Hungary, Budapest operates in a highly centralized national framework compared to other stakeholder cities, and this does not only affect the planning and implementation of Cohesion Policy, but also the public administration and municipal finances of the city. The centralized context, the decline of municipal financial autonomy, the suspension of EU funds for Hungary, and the solidarity contribution resulted in serious financial problems for Budapest during the 2021-2027 programming period. Project reports will be published soon.
More information about the project: https://www.espon.eu/projects/urdico-urban-dimension-cohesion-policy-and-other-eu-programmes
More information about the final conference: https://www.espon.eu/events/understanding-and-reinforcing-urban-dimension-cohesion-policy
HOUSE4ALL publication: MRI proud to contribute
We’re proud to share that the Metropolitan Research Institute contributed several chapters to the newly released European Compendium of Housing Policies, produced as part of the ESPON research project “HOUSE4ALL: Access to affordable and quality housing for all people.”
A big thank you to Zsuzsanna Földi, József Hegedüs, Kata Kepes, Bence Örkény, Eszter Somogyi, and Nóra Teller for their valuable contributions to this important publication!
The Compendium provides a comprehensive and comparative overview of how housing policies are delivered across Europe, providing a rich resource for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working to make housing more inclusive and accessible.
You can learn more about the project and explore the Compendium here:
https://www.espon.eu/sites/default/files/2025-10/european-compendium-of-housing-policies.pdf
Urban Governance Academy second year closing ceremony
The opening ceremony of the third class of the Urban Governance Academy, launched in 2023, took place on October 4, 2025, in the ceremonial hall of Budapest Municipality. As part of the event, the graduation ceremony for the second-year students was also held, attended by Mayor Gergely Karácsony and Iván Tosics, the professional director of the UGA. The photo shows the newly starting third class.
European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC) section on “Unlocking the Power of EU Funds for Cities”
One of the biggest public events of the EU is the EWRC, which is organized every year in October in Brussels, usually attracting 5-6000 people from all over the EU countries, regions and cities.
This year one of the sections of EWRC was titled “Unlocking the Power of EU Funds for Cities”. As opening of the session Kata Tüttő, President of the Committee of the Regions was talking, emphasizing the importance of the Cohesion Policy, which is now threatened by the simplification ideas of the Commission. The keynote presentation of the event was given by Iván Tosics about the results of the ESPON URDICO project, which is led by Metropolitan Research Institute, in cortium with Politecnico Torino and University of Valencia. The keynote was followed by contributions of Mathias De Clercq, President of EUROCITIES and Mayor of Ghent, Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw (on video) and Hugo Sobral, Deputy Director-General of DG REGIO.
