The Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies (ISUDS) are the result of implementing the Europe 2020 strategy to the field of urban development. With the objective of achieving long-term and sustained improvement of social, environmental and economic conditions in urban areas, ISUDS represents the specification of lines of action that cities of over 20,000 inhabitants must follow to achieve these goals.
In this framework, one billion euros have been allocated for this cause in Spain and in 2018 ISUDS have entered their implementation phase. Based on the strategic analysis for each city, aldermen have reflected on the direction they should take, they have shared their visions with citizens and heard their concerns. The Ministry selected, in three calls for tenders, the most suitable proposals and now is the moment to implement them.
More than 140 municipalities throughout Spain face, for the first time ever, the challenge of managing a significant amount of European funds in a very short period of time to define action lines, draw up projects and contract works. In addition, the complexity of procedures and controls established by the Thematic Objectives (TO) imposed by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) add an additional layer of difficulty to the development which has called for such extensive preliminary work. In addition to all this, these funds are managed in a new fashion, which requires constant monitoring of municipal management units by the Intermediate Body.
Because of these circumstances, the implementation of the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategies is, in most cases, at an inception stage (it is not always easy due to the aforementioned organizational, budgetary or procedural difficulties). This launch will make sense if eventually projects are implemented and if funds are invested fully to provide citizens with more integrated, sustainable and friendly cities, meeting the objectives for which they were conceived.
ISUDS Projects must also have common elements that meet ERDF requirements: equal opportunities and non-discrimination, promoting adaptation to climate change, conservation and protection of the environment, resource efficiency, sustainable transport, labour mobility, social inclusion, the fight against poverty, investment in education and training, improving the institutional capacity of public authorities and administrative efficiency. All this occurs simultaneously with projects that have included several of the objectives set out in Article 8 of Regulation DRC (EU Regulation No. 1303/2013-Common Provisions Regulation).
That is precisely the additional challenge of beneficiary municipalities: approving eligible projects that group objectives impacting several of them at once. This holistic approach may require a multifaceted approach to the project and the subsequent and appropriate generation of indicators. One response from City Councils to this challenge involves grouping lines of action into specific targets. This strategy can be a good management tool if it involves a reconsideration of the pooling of funds to achieve the aforementioned cross-cutting objectives, and it can serve as an benchmark for future European funding programmes through what they call ‘best practices’. This is an additional requirement of the DRC.
everis Ingeniería offers support services to Management Units and Municipal Implementation Units in all activities and studies prior to the commissioning of projects. This allows us to measure and adequately substantiate actions in the fields of energy, water, environment, transport and mobility, ICT and Smart-IoT. From a global and integrated approach, it also allows incorporating all tools and PMOs required under the framework of European funds management.