Développement régional, urbain et rural

STRING is a political cross-border organisation spanning five cities (the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo) and eight regions (Schleswig-Holstein, Region of Southern Denmark, Region Zealand, Capital Region of Denmark, Region Skåne, Region Halland, Västra Götalandsregionen and Viken County) across Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Home to around 14 million inhabitants, STRING has good potential to become a leading European megaregion and an internationally acknowledged Green Hub if governments 'think big' and work together beyond their own boundaries. Building on its green expertise and high levels of innovation and quality of life, STRING could take advantage of current opportunities such as the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link to reap the benefits of agglomeration economies and establish itself as a sustainable megaregion. However, time is of the essence. Seizing the political momentum of the coming decade, including the momentum to support a green recovery from COVID-19, will be critical to advance STRING’s green vision and shape a future-proof economic model.

The region of Southern Denmark shows strong performance towards attaining most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is expected to further increase its efforts through its regional development strategy Southern Denmark of the Future 2020-2023, embracing the SDGs. With low poverty rates and inequality, high satisfaction with the regional government’s efforts, as well as signs of strong innovative potential, the region appears well equipped to tackle environmental challenges, such as reducing air pollution and cleaning up historically polluted sites. A Territorial Approach to the SDGs will help to progress the well-being and quality of life in Southern Denmark and support municipalities to use the SDGs to improve their local development strategies and actions, scale up initiatives that involve schools and civil society in the SDGs and further develop the potential for public-private partnerships.

The report provides a comprehensive picture of well-being in the major Danish cities, by looking at a wide range of dimensions that shape people’s lives.  It contains both objective and subjective indicators meant to help policy makers, citizens and other stakeholders to better understand living conditions not only among cities but also among the different neighbourhoods within cities. This information can help policy makers build a development strategy based on well-being metrics, and choose the courses of action that will make the most difference in people’s lives.