The European Union is the region with the highest level of urbanisation worldwide. Of course, major urban centres and larger cities are of particular character, differ from each other. They are dynamic economic areas that are exposed to international competition. Besides many other problems, major urban centres and other larger cities are also increasingly facing poverty, criminality and social exclusion or marginalization. This social cleavage finds its spatial expression within many cities, such as neglected city quarters, overused public space and green areas. A phenomenon frequently observed in larger cities is that the sense of solidarity which they formerly enjoyed is being eroded and a gap is opening up between the richer inhabitants of cities and their poorer neighbours.
Against this background, new urban renewal strategies have been developed in many cities that show an increasingly integrative and sustainable approach by improving the environment, restoring run-down areas and city quarters. This approach has been enriched by the tool of neighbourhood management that takes account of the socio-economic situation of the population.
The joint co-operation of the POSEIDON partnership has been formed to reflect existing and develop new neighbourhood management policies, and prepare the introduction of new neighbourhood management policy approaches in areas where these do not yet exist. Within the project's duration this was mainly done
- by reviewing the contents, instruments, structures and practical projects of local neighbourhood management policies
- by jointly exploring problem solutions and approaches that help to further improve existing neighbourhood management policies
- by applying new and innovative solutions in the field of neighbourhood management at local level
The main target groups addressed by POSEIDON were key policy stakeholders, non-public organisations, and individual citizens living in deprived urban neighbourhoods.
