About urban environment

Page Last modified 29 Mar 2017
3 min read
Europe is a highly urbanised continent — around 72 % of the population of the EU lives in urban areas. The impacts of urbanisation extend beyond city borders. According to the European Commission, densely populated urban centres host 41 % of Europeans. The other urban areas, mainly town and suburbs, are home to 31 % of the European population.

© Ieva Bruneniece, My City /EEA

© Ieva Bruneniece, My City /EEA

Europeans have adopted urban lifestyles, and they enjoy city amenities such as cultural, educational and health services. Cities are the engines of Europe’s economy and the creators of its wealth. However, they depend heavily on regions outside the city to meet their demand for resources such as energy, water and food, and to dispose of and disperse waste and emissions.

In this context, the main challenge is to find a way to accommodate a greater number of people while reducing impacts on the environment and from climate change and improving the quality of life of city residents. To give citizens a healthy living space and increase the sustainability of urban environment will require a radical transformation of the current model of urban development.

The more sustainable cities should develop people-oriented policies, transform outdated unsustainable urban forms into more compact forms, create the conditions that will increase public good, and offer greater variety and functionality. To achieve these objectives, cities have to be efficient and smartly planned, designed, renovated, managed and governed.

Cities are at the centre of our future environment. City administrations are best placed to take local action to tackle and resolve many of these issues. However, global political challenges will require an international response. The EU seeks to play a key role in promoting sustainable urban development.

EU policies

Given that cities matter so much, EU policy must enable them to manage themselves sustainably. Sustainable cities will be the cornerstone of achieving resource efficiency in Europe. This is an important goal of the Europe 2020 strategy and the Environment Action Programme to 2020 (7th EAP).

Integrating policy between the European and the local levels, and new forms of governance, are key to making the most of urbanisation. European Commission initiatives, such as the European Green Capital Award or the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, in which cities voluntarily cooperate with the EU, mark this new direction in policy. They complement EU policies that target cities, such as the directives on air quality, environmental noise, urban waste water and flood risk. 

The 2016 Urban Agenda for the EU, building on previous documents adopted at Informal Meetings of Ministers responsible for Territorial Cohesion and/or Urban Matters, aims to establish a more integrated and coordinated approach to policies with a potential impact on urban areas. The key objectives are to achieve more effective and coherent implementation of EU policies, to develop more user-friendly sources of funding for urban areas, and to enhance the knowledge base on urban issues.

EEA activities

The EEA regularly assesses the urban environment in Europe — the trends in land take and consumption and environmental quality. The SOER 2015 — The European environment — state and outlook 2015 — provided an overview of urban systems. The EEA has also assessed urban sustainability issues and urban sprawl in Europe. Specific issues such as rivers and lakes in European cities and soil resource efficiency in urbanised areas have also been studied. Another area of essential work is urban adaptation to climate change.

To support the EEA, the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil systems, ETC/ULS, is monitoring urban development in Europe, collecting seamless Europe-wide spatial reference data and developing and analysing land-related indicators.

Outlook

There is an urgent need for European cities to shift towards a more integrated approach to addressing persistent, systemic environmental challenges. We also need to develop a better understanding of the interconnected risks and ecological limits that affect the European urban environment.

This growing understanding is set out in the 7th EAP, ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’. This programme is based on a vision for 2050 that is centred on living within the earth’s ecological limits, a circular economy and a resilient society. One of the priority objectives is to make the EU’s cities more sustainable. The EEA will cooperate with the European Commission to provide indicators and assessments of urban areas, quality of life and the sustainability of cities, to integrate environmental and socio-economic information, and to address resource efficiency issues.

The EEA will also support the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals by EU institutions and EEA countries, which will help to improve the sustainability of cities in Europe.

More about urban environment

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Related publications

Rivers and lakes in European cities Most European cities have at least one river or lake crossing their urban landscape. Urbanisation has come at a cost to rivers and lakes, as they have been heavily degraded to enable development, carry waste, supply drinking water and facilitate transport and industry.
Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe 2016 — Transforming cities in a changing climate This report builds on and complements existing products and initiatives on urban adaptation in Europe. It focuses on the state of actions in the field and progress achieved since the first EEA report in 2012, and it considers this analysis in relation to current challenges: Do existing actions lead to attractive, climate-resilient cities and if not, what needs to be changed? The report aims to broaden perspectives and provide input to a review and subsequent adjustment of urban adaptation to climate change by local governments and by supporting regional, national and European institutions, researchers and other relevant stakeholders.
Urban sprawl in Europe - joint EEA-FOEN report This report provides a comparable measurement of urban sprawl for 32 European countries at three levels (the country level, the NUTS-2 region level and the 1-km2 cell level) and for two years (2006 and 2009). The analysis is based on the Copernicus system which monitors the Earth and collects data by different sources. This data provides information about a number of thematic areas, including land. Under land a pan-European component delivers information about various areas, including the level of sealed soil (imperviousness), through high resolution layers taken from satellite imagery. The analysis uses new urban sprawl metrics taking into account the way built-up areas are laid out and how they are used. It also looks at the factors which contribute to an increase or decrease in urban sprawl. The results confirm the conclusions of earlier EEA reports namely that in many parts of Europe current levels of urban sprawl have contributed to detrimental ecological, economic and social effects. This gives cause for concern and such effects may increase alongside planned urban development.
Soil resource efficiency in urbanised areas - analytical framework and implications for governance In this report, we have explored the notion of soil as an integral part of ecosystems and natural capital, and thus focused on the stock of the soil resource and the flows of valuable goods and services that can be derived from this stock. The concept of natural capital recognises soil as an asset that is of use and benefit to society (also called a 'productive' asset). Putting soil within the framework of the land system allows a connection to be made with governance, including soil resource efficiency.
Urban sustainability issues — Resource-efficient cities: good practice Cities are key players in minimising the use of resources and in developing the circular model. Generally, municipalities provide utilities and control public services for citizens and businesses that influence the majority of resource and energy use and the production of emissions and waste. Local authorities have the capacity to implement responses at multiple scales. This report analyses both the supply and the demand issues. It is divided into two parts: the first is devoted to how to avoid, prevent and reduce the use of resources; the second addresses reuse, recycling and harvesting.
Urban environment - SOER 2010 thematic assessment The global population is congregating in our cities. Eighty per cent of the world’s estimated nine billion people in 2050 are expected to live in urban areas. Our cities and urban areas face many challenges from social to health to environmental. The impacts of cities and urban areas are felt in other regions which supply cities with food, water and energy and absorb pollution and waste. However, the proximity of people, businesses and services associated with the very word ‘city’ means that there are also huge opportunities. Indeed, well designed, well managed urban settings offer a key opportunity for sustainable living.
Ensuring quality of life in Europe's cities and towns In May 2008, the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities captured the concerns and desires of urban policy‑makers and citizens in the title of its new European Urban Charter: Manifesto for a new urbanity. Like numerous other international and European charters, conventions and declarations, the manifesto describes with some apprehension the 'unprecedented environmental, democratic, cultural, social and economic challenges' facing urban centres and their inhabitants. Our report on quality of life in Europe's cities and towns reiterates these concerns but also unravels the many apparent paradoxes of urban development and the sometimes perplexing realities of urban Europe today. The report defines a vision for progress towards a more sustainable, well‑designed urban future.

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