Europe's second tier cities are important growth poles. They play a vital role within the national urban system and often even perform better than their capital cities. The economic crisis has had a major impact on many second tier cities and more than 75% of them experienced a drop in their GDP during 2007-2009. The gap between capitals and second tier cities has begun to widen again.
This workshop will look at how secondary cities in Europe have fared throughout the economic crisis and how they managed to emerge of the economic turmoil. ESPON will present some updated evidence in this respect, while the ESPON Contact Point for Germany will give an overview on the development of the urban system in Germany over the past ten years. A panel of policy makers/practitioners from secondary and capital cities will then discuss ways of reinforcing the momentum of secondary cities' development. The workshop will conclude with an informative part on ESPON tools that can be useful for cities.
