Context / background of project :At the start of the project, air traffic was growing at an unprecedented rate, and airports and their neighbouring territories continued to keep on growing, benefiting from these undeniable engines of growth and jobs.At the same time, we analyse high levels of unemployment among local populations, mainly young people, while many airports faced difficulties in meeting the needs of the many businesses located on their platforms. For example, on Paris CDG, Brussels and Barcelona, the airport is located in areas with a high rate of unemployment nearby and a lower level of qualifications than the regional or national average.European airports had to face a gap between the expected skills and those of the local population, as well as the problem of attracting employees to the places and positions offered. All this is accentuated with the emergence of new expected skills and new jobs due to new uses and the increasing use of new technologies.It is clear that employment at airports has been, and will continue to be, a source of growth, development and economic impact. Thus, it is essential for local actors to anticipate changes in jobs and skills and to innovate in order to solve these problems.Objectives :1. Deploy a transnational partnership between European airports with common problems ;2. Confront the approaches, tools and practices for promotion and employment inside their territories and disseminate the results ;3. Collect analyses on employment trends in these territories and define the main causes of mismatch between the local job offer and the local population ;4. Formulate territorial recommendations based on these initial exchanges of experience, and go further by facilitating the emergence of one or more ambitious projects.Number and profile of participants :The partnership consists of 8 partners from 5 different countries:- 1 city : Beek (Maastricht, the Netherlands) ; - 1 local government : The Ajuntament of El Prat, (Barcelona, Spain) ; - 3 local stakeholders operating in the field of employment and training in airport areas : the GIP Emploi Roissy (Paris, France), Aviato, formerly called the Brussels Airport House (Brussels, Belgium) and Orly International (Orly, France); -1 Economic Development Agency, the “Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft Dahme-Spreewald mbH” (Berling, Germany) ;- 1 regional government: Regional Authority FrankfurtRheinMain ;- 1 European association of regional and local authorities, the Airport Regions Conference (Brussels, Belgium).Results and impact : The project resulted in : - Developing a strong collaboration between 7 European airports areas and increasing their capacity for joint action at transnational level:- Creating tools for analysing employment contexts and good practices which were developed;- Obtaining a concrete overview of the tools and best practices of the airport areas in terms of employment and training, and to compare them in order to study their transferability;- Gathering our knowledge on the evolution of jobs in European airport areas and identify the main causes of mismatch between the local job offer and the population. Specific work has been done on the impact of COVID-19 on these highly exposed territories;- Disseminating the results, through a guide of best practices, to other airports and European local authorities;- Exploring ways for future collaboration among members. Longer term benefits : We consider this project as the first phase of more global projects : - The dissemination of our exchanges of experience and our workshops will make possible to transmit an accurate diagnosis and recommendations applicable to other European airport areas and local communities;- Other bilateral and multilateral projects may be developed in a near future . It will develop innovative solutions in order to facilitate the attractiveness of jobs in airport areas and to build a long-lasting and qualitative match between local populations and employment opportunities.

Mutually beneficial relations along rural – peri-urban – urban trajectories can contribute substantially to Europe’s smart, sustainable and inclusive growth agenda. Success in creating synergies is largely determined by decisions made at local and regional levels. Well-designed governance arrangements can be conducive to decisions that strengthen beneficial relations between rural and urban areas. Central to ROBUST is a place-based case study approach in which the case studies focus on thematic functional linkages cutting across rural-urban areas. The content and governance of these functional linkages are analyzed in diverse case study areas that represent the main types of rural – peri-urban – urban settings across Europe. ROBUST will identify and strengthen policies, governance systems and practices that can contribute more effectively to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Particular attention will be paid to the capacities of municipal and regional governments, the related administrations and other stakeholders to deliver and enhance mutually beneficial relations. ROBUST aims to provide practice-oriented information about successful governance models applicable to different settings as well as related communication and training material. In ROBUST, the questions and research needs of practice partners will guide the research process. Researchers will support the related multi-actor consultations through data collection and analysis, by providing suitable platforms and through facilitation. The insights co-generated by research and practice partners and stakeholders will be translated into tools, including scenario development, as well as training materials and capacity building measures. ROBUST will in this way contribute to a better understanding of rural-urban interactions, and it will at the same time enhance the capacity of relevant actors and institutions to foster mutually beneficial relations along rural – peri-urban – urban trajectories.