Integrality in the design of urban development plans. Analysis of the initiatives promoted by the EU in Spain

Abstract

Policy integration is a substantive and innovative strategy, used to address complex problems that go beyond the scope of sectoral policies, and require a joint and integrated response. While theoretical advances have been made in the field, there have not been many empirical proposals of a comparative nature. This paper develops a proposal for the analysis of integrality in the domain of urban policies, in which the integrated strategy has become a key component. Following a literature review, three dimensions were defined, referring to the diagnosis, the action strategy, and the project governance, which have allowed us to examine the presence of an integrated strategy in the designs of the projects developed within the framework of the URBAN and URBANA, initiatives implemented in Spain between 1994 and 2013, promoted by the European Union (EU). The results show that, as occurs in other public policies, the extent of the integrated strategy is limited and varies according to the dimensions. Moreover, the differences found between the two initiatives support the idea that policy integration is a gradual and dynamic process, with a certain learning effect, which develops over time and in which the dimensions of integration do not evolve in a coordinated manner.