This JRC Working Paper, Strong villages and towns: understanding the determinants of population change in EU settlements, is authored by Mert Kompil, Paola Proietti, Chiara Dorati, Chris Jacobs-Crisoni, and Lewis Dijkstra. The study examines the drivers of population change in EU settlements, focusing on villages and towns, and analyses the influence of local characteristics and […]
LD Books & Studies
Cohesion Policy Capacity Index (CPCI)
What makes EU funding work effectively on the ground? Strong programmes need more than funding: they also depend on the capacity of the authorities managing them. The new Cohesion Policy Capacity Index (CPCI) provides a data-driven framework to assess and compare the administrative capacity of Managing Authorities across the EU. It looks at several dimensions […]
European Local Government Report 2025
The European Local Government Report 2025 provides a comprehensive assessment of local government systems across EU member states. It examines structural data, financial trends, expenditure patterns, revenue sources, and functional responsibilities of municipalities. The report was authored by Thomas Prorok and Sofia Calzola and was published by KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research. The report […]
Flexibility and Simplification in Cohesion Policy under the 2028-2034 MFF Proposals
This study for the REGI Committee of European Parliament assesses the main implications of the European Commission’s 2028-2034 proposals for the future design and implementation of Cohesion Policy, from the perspective of the European Parliament. It examines the likely effects of the proposed new framework on simplification, flexibility, territorial and thematic concentrations, and Interreg, while […]
The new LEADER added value
The transnational LEADER cooperation project “OUR COMMON FUTURE”, involved LAGs from Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Bulgaria together with associated LAGs from Sweden, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Romania. Lead partner was the LEADER-forum Austria. The project set out—building on more than 30 years of successful LEADER/CLLD as a participatory approach to urban and […]
Citizen science contributions to environmental risks assessment and management
Using Citizen Science with local communities to address environmental risk is an approach attracting considerable interest and is expected to be the subject of a webinar in the Autumn 2026. This publication, co-authored by LDnet members Joanna Storie and Ghieth Alkhateeb, is an example of the growing number of research contributions in this field. Citizen […]
Study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments
The European Policies Research Centre (EPRC) is highlighting the outputs from its recent study on Cohesion Policy territorial instruments implemented in 2014-20, including the final report of the study, instrument fiches and country fiches. The five types of territorial instruments covered by the study are: SUD ITI – Sustainable Urban Development Integrated Territorial Investment Non-SUD […]
Roadmaps for Administrative Capacity Building – Design and Implementation
The ‘Study on Roadmaps for Administrative Capacity Building – Design and Implementation’ was carried out by t33 and Spatial Foresight for the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission. The study provides an in-depth analysis of the development and implementation of roadmaps designed to strengthen administrative capacity in fifteen EU Member States. […]
Cohesion Policy on the Rocks?
This EPRC paper by Mendez, C., Bachtler, J., and Wishlade, F. deals in a systematic way with: The state of play of Cohesion Policy The shaping of MFF of the MFF proposals The national perspectives on reform The EU budget proposals for 2028-2034 The Cohesion Policy regulatory proposals for 2028-2034 and closes with a discussion […]
A new urban policy agenda for the EU
This briefing paper by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), authored by Vasilis Margaras and published in October 2025, addresses the current challenges facing the cities in Europe and the EU response through the Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU) so far and potentially in the post-2027 period. The paper covers the the Urban Agenda […]
CLLD in fisheries and coastal communities: Achievements and Lessons
As a follow up to the preliminary report on “What does CLLD bring to coastal and fisheries communities around Europe?” published in December 2024, FAMENET has published a full report “CLLD in fisheries and coastal communities. Achievements and Lessons” which includes quantitative results achieved in the 2014-2020 period as well as qualitative information based on the […]
Resilient coastal communities: a guide for FLAGs
We are highlighting again a practical guide that has attracted considerable interest among participants in the LDnet network. The guide is on “resilient coastal communities” which was published at the final stage of FARNET and which provides systematic guidance across a wide range of topics: social, economic, environmental and more – see Table of Contents […]