Sustainable urban development is an approach in which an earmarked part of a programme's funds is directed to functional urban areas – that is, to a core city together with the municipalities that form a natural unit with it in terms of commuting for work, services and schools. The purpose is to plan transport, housing, education and public spaces across cadastral boundaries, because the problems of a city and its hinterland cannot be solved separately. Investments are selected on the basis of a joint strategy approved within the territory, not through individual competition. For municipalities around larger cities, this means a real opportunity to access funding they would not reach on their own, in exchange for a willingness to coordinate plans with their neighbours and the city.
See also: Partnership Council, Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), Revitalisation project.
