European Wide

The majority of European Union citizens live in urban areas. Across the Union 70 individual URBAN II programmes include some 2.2 million residents. Each programme is able to allocate European Regional Development Fund money to support projects that contribute to the aims of the overall URBAN II Initiative. Therefore, the overall Initiative will support hundreds of projects across the Union.

The European Regional Development Fund may finance up to 75% of the total cost of an individual programme if the urban area is in a region that is lagging behind other European Union regions in terms of economic development (Objective 1). Elsewhere the Initiative is able to finance up to 50% of the total costs of an individual programme.

Associated with the main URBAN II Initiative is the URBACT Initiative. URBACT enables local programmes to join thematic networks that include programmes from across the European Union. The networks allow the individual programmes to research and exchange best practice information.