Functional Areas in the EU (FAEU)

Under the project, the selected 12 functional areas received targeted support to develop action plans and activities addressing various challenges, such as adopting integrated planning approaches, prioritising projects, identifying additional financing sources, taking steps towards climate neutrality, or strategically attracting private investments. The project also facilitated knowledge exchange events, shared insights and tools, and developed a toolkit for improving coordination and implementation processes across jurisdictions. Furthermore, the project leveraged best practices from these functional areas to facilitate knowledge sharing not only among the participating functional areas but also to over 700 functional areas in the EU.

Moreover, under the project, other 12 functional areas received short-term support, including the Karlovac Larger Urban Area (Croatia), Pula Urban Area (Croatia), Tauragė+ Functional Zone (Lithuania), Białystok, Opole, Rzeszów, Wrocław Functional Areas (Poland), Bucharest Metropolitan Area, Constanța Metropolitan Area, Brașov Metropolitan Area (Romania), and Banská Bystrica Functional Urban Area and Trnava Functional Area (Slovakia). Overall, the support comprised individual discussions, physical visits, virtual seminars, access to all instruments developed under the projects and participation in the knowledge exchange events organised as part of the project.

As such, the project developed a community of functional areas, with its platform serving as a repository for tools created through the initiative, articles detailing best practices, and a space for facilitating access to the knowledge exchange activities organised during the project.