Is there still a European city model?

What unites European cities?

What unites European cities is primarily a historical dimension linked to the strength of trade and commerce, the first municipalities and early capitalism. We should also mention the legacy of the Church, since monasteries played a role in the organisation of certain cities, as well as the role of the state.

In the Middle Ages, cities became a political and social space that differed from the main model of the time, which was feudalism. A certain political autonomy was at work locally, negotiated with the Church, the nobility or the State, and the role of the mayor, merchant guilds and corporations became very important. This heritage can still be seen today.

The map of cities has remained remarkably stable since the 14^th century, although it has been modified in part by the Industrial Revolution and wars. European cities represent a fairly unique urban form, with a political centre, a religious centre and a public space. If my students want to organise a demonstration in Stockholm or Padua, they know where to go: there will be a square in front of the town hall or the church. In Los Angeles, they would have to block the motorway. It’s not the same urban world at all.

Another characteristic of European cities is their size. There is a very high density of cities with between 300,000 and 3 million inhabitants, which reflects the political and commercial geography of the Middle Ages, and few megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants except London, Paris and, outside the European Union, Moscow and Istanbul.

In the 1980s, some researchers believed that the American or Chinese model of the global city would become dominant and that European cities would become obsolete. However, the European city model has remained strong, even if it is in decline in Eastern Europe, where smaller cities are shrinking. At the same time, London and Paris have also grown significantly, meaning that global cities are also present in Europe.

What are the main challenges facing European cities?

Suburbanisation, an ageing population and growing inequality are challenging the traditional model of the European city, as are the financialisation of capitalism and the development of very large transnational companies, particularly those linked to data, platforms and, in the future, AI. The question is: what are we putting in place now, and what will happen in the next 20 or 30 years?

We can imagine several tests, starting with the response to the climate crisis. Will European cities be able to develop collective actions to adapt more effectively than in other parts of the world? This is already somewhat the case today, with significant investment in this area.

A second test concerns the forms of social order and urban governance that limit the use of violence, whether it be violence perpetrated by mafia groups or by the state.

A third test concerns growing inequality: will Europe maintain relatively more egalitarian models than the rest of the world?

A fourth test will be to see whether European cities manage to maintain high-quality services such as transport, healthcare and education. A fifth and final test could be financialisation, i.e. the financing of infrastructure (water, energy, etc.) by large international companies. Will we see private companies deciding on housing construction, for example, or will municipal governance preserve models that involve residents in decisions that affect them?

What role does technology play in the development and life of European cities? 

In platform capitalism, there is both a financial and a technological aspect. A platform such as Airbnb can help optimise the use of housing. The problem arises when a group of actors organises the production of housing for tourism and drives out residents. If you only have Airbnb properties in city centres, you have fewer children in school, fewer public services and less capacity to organise community life for residents. This can lead to urban decline.

On the technology side, we can also talk about data and the failure of Cisco and IBM’s Smart City initiative, which wanted to centralise all data via a single operator. But many services, such as water and energy management, are now optimised thanks to data. We are currently seeing experiments with generative artificial intelligence, which can be done in a very authoritarian or more democratic way.

There has always been a public-private partnership in European cities. Europeans now need to come up with a city model that optimises a range of services through data while maintaining autonomy and developed forms of democracy.

How do you see European cities positioning themselves in the face of international competition?

It depends on what we mean by competition. European cities are doing very well in tourism. Living conditions are good, but in terms of economic development and innovation, Europe has fallen behind China and the United States. Inequalities are growing and the ability to integrate migrants is being called into question. The recentralisation of states, particularly in financial terms, is limiting investment capacity. The risk is that we will end up with a fairly comfortable ageing population, lacking dynamism and the ability to integrate the most vulnerable.

European cities will therefore have to integrate technological and social innovations in the coming years. Reflecting on the circular economy and the integration of immigrants are some of the issues currently at stake in European cities, and these are interesting to observe. Will they have enough autonomy, governance capacity and political projects supported by coalitions to renew an urban world that is unique on a global scale?