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Dear Colleagues,

First, we would like to wish you a Happy New Year and hope you had a good start into the year 2026!

This communication presents the main achievements of the ESPON 2030 Programme for the year 2025 and provides an outlook for 2026, with an emphasis on the opportunities to participate in and benefit from the programme.

The year 2025 marked the third full year of the programme implementation, with a focus on producing territorial evidence across a broad range of thematic fields and transferring this knowledge to various policy areas at European, national and regional levels, by means of a diverse set of knowledge development activities.   

In this update, you will find:

1. Recalling the ESPON 2030 strategy

2. Key ESPON activities in 2025

3. ESPON perspectives for 2026

4. How to join ESPON activities?

1. Recalling the ESPON 2030 strategy

The mission of ESPON is to provide high-quality expertise to authorities responsible for policies related to cohesion and territorial development. In practice, ESPON’s support goes beyond producing evidence; it also focuses on enabling stakeholders to apply this evidence within their policy context – a process referred to as knowledge development under the programme. Click here to download the full ESPON 2030 programme.

Beyond raising awareness among the general public, ESPON’s activities primarily focus on three key groups:

• Policymakers in the narrow sense, such as elected representatives and decision-makers.

• Policy-enablers such as policy officers and thematic experts in public administrations and other type of public organisations in the field of territorial development.

• Scientists and researchers.

ESPON addresses public actors at all administrative levels – EU, national, regional and local – considering their specific needs and strategies.

Most ESPON activities are organised within Thematic Action Plans (TAPs) – dynamic strategic frameworks designed through extensive consultation –, and adopted by the ESPON Monitoring Committee.

2. Key ESPON activities in 2025

With as many as 8 Thematic Action Plans already up and running, several new territorial research activities were launched, bringing the total number of ongoing or completed projects to 58. In addition, a further 26 are currently in preparation. On the territorial knowledge transfer side, about 80 events have been organised since the start of the programme, including ESPON seminars and policy events at European, transnational and national level.

The following provides an overview of major developments.

Production of territorial evidence

• Completion of 6 European research projects:
  • COBREN - Territorial cooperation for blue renewable energy.

  • TANDEM - Territorial Analysis of Decentralised Energy Markets.

  • HOUSE4ALL - Access to affordable and quality housing for all people.

  • OVERLAP - Overlapping crises (re)shaping the future of regional labour markets.

  • TERRES - Territorialising Resilience: Transforming Europe for an Age of Crisis.

  • NOSTAGEO - Territorial governance of non-standard geographies.

Launch of 4 new European research projects providing a pan-European perspective on territorial development trends and patterns, and advice on how to address them through place-based policies:

• Under the TAP on Climate Neutral Territories - RECOCLIN (Regional contributions to climate neutrality).

• Under the TAP on European Territories in Global Interactions – PROPOLIS (Projecting regional outcomes of policies aimed at industrial sovereignty).

• Under the TAP on Smart Connectivity – TRANSITOR (Territorial outlook on the security and resilience of transport infrastructure and services across European regions).

• Under the TAP on Nature-based Adaptation to Climate Change - TERRBOUND (Rethinking territories within planetary boundaries).

• Completion of 5 targeted analyses:
  • KARPAT - Determinants and opportunities for the socio-economic and spatial development of the Carpathian region.

  • CLEANENERGY4CE - Putting clean energy transition policies into practice in central Europe.

  • ATLANTICMRS - Orientations for the development of an Atlantic Macro-Region.

  • CHANEBO - Challenges at EU’s North-East External Borders.

  • VREPO - Vulnerability, REsilience and REcovery POlicies of the physical living environment).

Launch of 4 new targeted analyses responding to specific policy support needs raised by stakeholders in the EU member states and partner countries:

• Under the TAP on Climate Neutral Territories – ITADZ (Decarbonising zones).

• Under the TAP on Climate Neutral Territories – METROLAND (Metropolitan territories: Land take reduction and net zero development).

• Under the TAP on Governance of New Geographies – SECC (Spill-over effects of European cultural capital on territorial development policies).

• Under the TAP on Living, Working and Travelling across Borders – CROSSSHOP (Cross-border shopping the French-German border region).

• Completion of 4 on-demand territorial studies:
  • HERMES - Methodological framework for a satellite account on material cultural heritage.

  • TERRA-RES - Territorial Exaptive Resilience along EU Eastern Borders.

  • SENPO - Territorial instruments of national policies as a tool for designing territorially sensitive policies.

  • RESH - Territorial Studies: Regional effects of housing shortage in urban areas).

Launch of 4 new territorial studies:

• For Denmark on “Making space for renewable energy transition” under the TAP on Climate Neutral Territories.

• For Malta on “Economic cost of Malta’s insularity” under the TAP on Places Resilient to Crises.

• For Cyprus on “Analysing competitiveness through the lens of cognitive regional distance” under the TAP on European Territories in Global Interactions.

• For Slovakia on “Analysing potential cross-border functional areas on the Slovak borders with Czechia and Poland” Under the TAP on Living, Working and Travelling across Borders.

• Publication of 1 ESPON policy paper prepared together with the EU Council Presidencies:
  • “Territorial Exaptive Resilience” (Poland).

• Preparation of an ESPON stocktaking paper on functional urban areas, requested by the Polish EU Council presidency.

• Establishment of a pool of editors to help develop content for ESPON’s knowledge development campaigns. So far, 4 articles (1 2 3 4) have been published on ESPON’s website, TerritoriALL magazine, various online and offline publications, advertorials, social media, etc.

• Production of 3 podcasts and radio shows (1 2 3) that use the recent ESPON evidence to address issues that are high on the agendas of citizens and policymakers, such as depopulation, energy poverty, urban development and more.

• Conducting 2 territorial impact assessments to support European-level institutions in providing reviews of EU legislative proposals – on the EU Anti-poverty Strategy and the European Commission’s Water Resilience Strategy.

Transfer of territorial knowledge

• Organisation of 2 ESPON Seminars dedicated to debating ESPON research feeding the territorial cohesion priorities of the respective EU Council Presidencies:
  • In Poland: “Exaptive resilience in border regions.”

  • In Denmark on “Making space for the renewable energy transition.”

• Organisation of almost 30 European, transnational and national knowledge transfer events arranged by ESPON EGTC or ESPON Contact Points to present and discuss policy implications of the latest ESPON research and adapt them to specific policy contexts at EU, national, regional and local levels. Topics cover the role of territories in boosting social and economic resilience, housing affordability, digital tools for planning, circular economy, sustainable urbanisation, and climate change, just to name a few.

• Running and updating of the ESPON website and the ESPON Data and Knowledge Portal.

• Publication of 3 issues of the well-established ESPON TerritoriALL magazine.

3. ESPON perspectives for 2026

The main activities foreseen in 2026 are:

• Organisation of 2 ESPON seminars dedicated to territorial cohesion priorities of the respective EU Council Presidencies, focusing onCompetitiveness of regions (Larnaca, Cyprus) and The role of the green energy transition in realising economic opportunities and balanced regional development (Cork, Ireland).

• Completion of 6 European research projects initiated in 2024 and the launch of the 4 new projects:
  • Under the TAP on Climate Neutral Territories - Green-Stock (Green Transition Stocktake).

  • Under the TAP on Perspectives for All People and Places – RuMODeS (Rural development models in Europe).

  • Under the TAP on Governance of New Geographies - WATER (Governing water-resilient territories).

  • Under the TAP on Places Resilient to Crises ARISE (Activating Resilience through Integrated Strategies and Evidence).

• Launching of up to 6 new targeted analyses, based on proposals submitted by the fifth cut-off date in November 2025.

• Implementation of further on-demand territorial studies for the ESPON Member States and Partner countries.

• Arrangement of new knowledge transfer events by ESPON EGTC and ESPON Contact Points.

• Launch of the ESPON FUTERR project (A Foresight Framework for Europe’s Evolving Territory) to prepare territorial support evidence on request of the Ministers responsible for Cohesion, Territorial Cohesion and Urban Matters, asarticulated in their Declaration adopted in Warsaw in May 2025.

• Contribution to specific European policy processes and events, such as:
  • Discussions on the future of Cohesion Policy and the renewal of the Territorial Agenda 2030.

  • The European Week of Regions and Cities.

More details will be given in due time on the ESPON website (www.espon.eu).

4. How to join ESPON activities?

The success of the ESPON 2030 Programme relies on the active participation of stakeholders, as well as users and producers of ESPON evidence. There are several ways you can engage with and benefit from the programme:

For Policy Makers

• Request tailored analyses to support your policy processes.

• Use materials and insights available on ESPON’s media channels.

• Contribute to ESPON events and discussions.

Find detailed information on participation opportunities on the ESPON website (www.espon.eu).

For Researchers and Service Providers

• Take part in public procurement processes for producing evidence and delivering services.

• Opportunities are published on:
  • The Official Journal of the EU – TED (Tenders Electronic Daily, http://www.ted.europa.eu).

  • The Luxembourg Public Procurement Portal (http://www.marches.public.lu).

• All calls for tender are also announced on the ESPON website (www.espon.eu).

ESPON EGTC, as the Single Beneficiary, is responsible for implementing ESPON activities and serves as your main point of contact for any inquiries.

We look forward to your active participation in the ESPON 2030 Programme and thank you for your interest and cooperation.

Best regards,

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