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How was the reference framework developed?

The definition of the architecture and specifications of this reference framework relied on the support of a pilot group made up of representatives of the Member States, the European Commission, local authority networks and experts on urban development. Two groups were closely involved:

    • A high level group, led by France, made up of representatives of Member States and other European countries, European institutions, representatives of local authority networks and professional associations and of civil society, the so-called MS/I Group.
    • The technical work for preparing the MS/I group meetings and designing the tool was done by a project team supported by the Fench Ministry of Sustainable Development (MEEDDM) A cities working group set up as part of the URBACT II programme and led by the city of Leipzig: LC-FACIL.


    The two groups worked in close coordination, the role of the high level group being to build the reference framework, based mainly on the experiments, reactions and proposals of the “cities” group. The role of the “cities” group was to examine and test existing reference frameworks and proposals submitted by the high level group on specific examples of “test cities”, and to provide a corpus of “good practice” and practitionersr’ recommendations. The role of the LC-Facil group will be more and more important in the 2nd “testing phase”, which it is proposed to launch in the 2nd half of 2010. Other working groups at the level of each MS/I member country have been involved in the process of developing the reference framework. They are the National Support Groups (NSG), set up in each Member State by the MS/I representative. The National Support Groups involve various organisations and institutions, such as central government ministries, national agencies, other national/regional interest groups, experts, and importantly the end customer - the cities. Their structure depends on the national context and stakeholders involved in urban policies, but it has been agreed that every level of governance should be represented in each support group for the Reference framework to be properly used.


    The National Support Groups have contributed to the Reference Framework (RF) project. As they are also supposed to contribute to the next phase of the project (testing phase, 2nd half of 2010/2011), they will continue this process by mobilising the diversity of their knowledge, skills and experience, enriching and adapting the tools to their respective national contexts, thereby helping to promote and implement it at local level.


    The project was organised as follows:
  • Monitoring Committee: Urban Development Group
  • Steering Committee: representatives of the French Ministry of Sustainable Development (MEEDDM), the URBACT Secretariat, the European Commission and EU Presidency countries.
  • Member State/Institutions (MS/I) Group: Member States (FR, DE...) and neighbouring countries (TR) from across Europe, two European networks of local authorities (CEMR, Eurocities), the URBACT Secretariat, the lead partner of the URBACT Cities’ Group and the European Commission. Representatives of countries are typically from one/two of the Ministries responsible for the urban sustainability agenda. This groups meets on a bi-monthly basis.
  • National Support Groups (NSGs): These are set up in the MS by the MS/I representative. They involve central government ministries, national agencies, other national/regional interest groups, experts, and importantly the end customer - cities. Meeting frequencies and agendas are determined by the MS/I member. The role is to mobilise country stakeholders.
  • URBACT Cities Group (“LC-FACIL”) composed of eight pilot cities. This Group provides support and challenges the project. Another specific role is to select and support the piloting process. The pilot cities will take, test, and co-develop the products of the project.The MS/I group and URBACT cities group form the ‘hub’ of the project. The various NSGs form the ‘spokes’. It is through this design that a collaborative open and transparent process has been managed. It is through this process that MS/I members have had fuller knowledge to communicate in their NSG events.
  • Project Team: comprising MEEDDM project manager and team, CERTU research experts, and Capgemini Consulting project management and domain expertise.



Activities, process organisation, setting up the work of tehnical experts and European members for the overall design of the reference framework have been provided by CapGemini Consulting. Research was undertaken by CERTU, a French research body that reports to the French Ministry of Ecology. This included assessing current practices in countries and cities in the field of integrated sustainable urban policy.


More than 70 existing tools from different cities have been studied and 12 of them have been assessed in depth, notably through interviews. This has formed a very robust and structured basis to develop the structure, content and ergonomy of the European reference framework.

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