Cities are on the uprise and taking advantage of the opportunities offered by an integrating Europe. Simultaneously, cities are also facing serious socio-economic challenges related to growing poverty and inequalities, challenges stemming from environmental degradation and challenges to the quality of life in cities by tourism. While these challenges push city governments and other local actors to develop solutions, their regulatory leeway and ability to protect local interests are inevitably constrained by EU law. 

In academic and public discourse, this vertical relationship between the EU and cities tends to be approached from two opposing narratives. One narrative portrays the EU as a disruptive force to local governance: the economic agenda at the heart of European integration produces negative socio-economic, cultural and ecological consequences to communities, reshaping the places where we live, destabilizing our societies and complicating local government. The alternative narrative focusses instead on the EU’s ability to accommodate local interests and to provide innovative solutions. The use of new regulatory techniques and the disbursement of structural funds have gained prominence as tools that tackle societal problems from a local perspective.

This Dialogue engages with these opposing narratives through three particularly pressing local challenges: platform-driven short-term renting, the rural-urban divide, and social tensions in urban mobility. Exploring the unfolding of the vertical relationship in these areas, the Dialogue assesses the evolution of local regulation in the context of EU legal integration. 

Speakers: Leticia Díez Sánchez (Maastricht University), Dion Kramer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Carlo Colombo (Sciences Po and Maastricht University)

Chair: Yseult Marique (Essex Law School and UC Louvain)