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In a context marked by rapid urbanisation, growing housing demand and the worsening impacts of climate change, national governments play a vital role in delivering environmentally sustainable cities with adequate and affordable housing. This paper reviews national housing policy instruments from around the world, analysing their impacts on compact urban development and housing affordability. First, the paper proposes a framework to better understand the housing market in cities by outlining drivers of housing supply and demand as well as the constitution of the housing market and its segments: homeowners and renters, single- and multi-family homes, market and below-market price segments. Next, the paper analyses a range of policy options available to national governments, which are summarised and evaluated according to their impacts on compactness and affordability. Last, the paper provides short-, medium- and long-term policy recommendations to align national housing policies with the goal of delivering more sustainable and inclusive cities. The paper is one of the first attempts to consider the intersection of physical urban form and housing affordability from a national policy perspective.

The design of intergovernmental fiscal relations can help to ensure that tax and spending powers are assigned in a way to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Decentralisation can enable sub-central governments to provide better public services for households and firms, while it can also make intergovernmental frameworks more complex, harming equity. The challenges of fiscal federalism are multi-faceted and involve difficult trade-offs. This synthesis paper consolidates much of the OECD’s work on fiscal federalism over the past 15 years, with a particular focus on OECD Economic Surveys. The paper identifies a range of good practices on the design of country policies and institutions related strengthening fiscal capacity delineating responsibilities across evels of government and improving intergovernmental co-ordination.

This report aims to support the city of Umeå in becoming the leader in the circular economy as stated in its strategic plan for 2016-2028. Umeå’s population doubled over the last 50 years, making it one of Europe’s fastest growing cities in a sparsely populated region (Northern Sweden). By 2050, the city is expected to reach a population of 200 000 inhabitants, with consequences on housing, use of natural resources and waste production. As such, the local government is developing a model integrating environmental, social and economic aspects within a circular economy approach. This is in line with the Swedish Government’s objective to strengthen society’s transition to a resource-efficient, circular and bio-based economy.

The City of Groningen is the biggest urban centre of a prevalently rural region and hosts the youngest population in the Netherlands. The presence of renowned universities, the high number of students and a fast growing start-up scene alongside a vibrant business and innovation environment, make Groningen a knowledge hub for the region. Since the Dutch national cabinet decided to phase out natural gas production by 2022, Groningen has intensified its regional leading role in the energy transition aiming to become energy neutral by 2035, according to which the energy demand is met entirely by renewables. In 2018, the Municipal Council took the unanimous decision of making the circular economy a priority for the city, identifying three priority areas: public procurement, waste and knowledge. This case study presents the state of the art of the circular economy in Groningen, the main challenges for designing a circular economy strategy and the ways forward for the city’s circular transition.

The transition to the circular economy for the city of Valladolid, Spain represents an opportunity for greater attractiveness and competitiveness, while providing responses to environmental challenges. The city of Valladolid aims to be a reference as a sustainable city, reducing waste, lowering the use of raw materials and increasing the use of renewable energy while stimulating economic growth and social well-being. This report aims to support Valladolid in developing a coherent circular economy strategy, on the basis of various initiatives already in place to finance circular economy projects, raise awareness and promote an entrepreneurial culture on the circular economy.

This policy brief on youth entrepreneurship was produced by the OECD and the European Commission. It explores the scale and nature of entrepreneurship activities undertaken by youth, and describes the main barriers faced. The brief provides an overview of the main policy actions that can be used to support youth entrepreneurship, including awareness-raising activities (e.g. role models, business competitions), entrepreneurship education and training, coaching and mentoring, improving access to finance, and entrepreneurship network development.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Estonian policy ecosystem in place for social innovation, social entrepreneurship and social enterprises. It identifies the country’s key strengths and challenges and provides policy recommendations to support the development of a stronger policy ecosystem for social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in the country. Key policy issues analysed include: building a culture of social innovation and social entrepreneurship (Section 2); supporting social entrepreneurship through institutional and legal frameworks (Section 3); improving access to finance and to markets to boost social entrepreneurship (Section 4 and 5); and supporting the development of social entrepreneurial skills and capacity (Section 6).

This report provides an analysis of the state of play for tourism in Romania and examines opportunities and challenges for destination development at the subnational level. In addition, it includes an operating manual providing practical guidance for tourism practitioners, setting out the steps required to establish and operate an effective DMO. It has been produced to help public and private sector stakeholders in Romania to work in partnership to plan, develop, manage and market their destinations. The aim is to strengthen tourism structures at local, regional and national levels, so that Romania is able to compete effectively in international markets, in a way that will bring maximum benefit to the country and its destinations. Examples of international best practices, and recommendations to develop an effective and self-sustaining network of regional DMOs are also presented.