The EU Agenda for Cities through an urban-rural lens

The European Commission presented the EU Agenda for Cities in December 2025. It strengthens political dialogue and cooperation with cities - regular high-level exchanges, technical consultations, a State of European Cities report, an EU Cities portal and platform, and capacity-building through the European Urban Initiative. RURBANIVE's analysis finds that it places strong emphasis on metropolitan challenges but includes limited reference to territorial interdependencies, creating a risk that urban and rural policy streams continue to evolve separately rather than through an integrated territorial perspective.

This concept debate continues the discussion opened at RURBANIVE Forum #1 'Understanding the New EU Agenda for Cities' (3 March 2026, 71 participants).

Questions for the community:

• How should the EU Agenda for Cities evolve after 2027?

• How can it strengthen urban-rural synergies and functional-area approaches?

• How can it support innovation and competitiveness without negative spillover for rural areas?

Sources: RURBANIVE Forum #1 event report (March 2026); AEIDL Policy Brief 'Do we need a new EU Agenda for Cities?' (Zenodo: 10.5281/zenodo.15789110).