The Covid-19 pandemic and the dramatically changed geopolitical relations with Russia currently highlight existing issues that need to be addressed to preserve our livelihood. These crises exposed the interdependence of global value chains and the importance of a well-functioning European single market. Europe's drive to become self-sufficient and more economically robust implies reducing dependence on other countries’ raw materials and developing its own markets, relocating production, diversification of supply sources, and services to boost competitiveness while ensuring sustainability.

Crises can worsen the territorial divide, contributing to the aggravation of the social divide and exposing part of the population to food and energy precarity. Rebalancing the territorial divide is thus necessary and requires, on the one hand, a paradigm shift towards a place-based approach that is flexible and recognises differences in territories. On the other hand, a renewed assessment of urban-territorial linkages should help foster food security systems, agricultural and energy production while diminishing the environmental impacts of urban-rural convergences.

This Policy Lab does not intend to discuss these crises but rather bring to the fore existing problems that have been exacerbated by them, and shift our perspective to a more long-term approach. It will address questions such as: 

Where do we currently stand?  What future scenarios can we expect in the long-term run?

·How to reassess urban-territorial linkages in the context of the EU becoming less dependent on foreign energy and food to ensure territories remain resilient?

·How to optimise multi-level governance to better plan for the future? 

 
Overall, the Policy Lab will provide a platform to discuss and formulate most adequate questions to be addressed by Directors General for urban and territorial matters, for them to seize the potential of strengthened urban-territorial linkages.