Deliverable 2.4 Synthesis report: socioeconomic inequalities in different urban contexts

The current Synthesis report is the final deliverable of work package (WP) 2 of the UPLIFT project, which aims to synthetize the main outcomes of the urban reports that described the policy environment around vulnerable individuals in the fields of education, employment and housing in 16 functional urban areas (FUA) of the EU. The 16 urban areas were selected from a broad variety of regions and countries of Europe, representing different levels of economic development, welfare provision, governance and policy approaches, and cultures of participation. Their juxtaposition demonstrates the differences in the scale and dimensions of inequality in the different urban regions, but also point out similar trends, and link these to various urban types. The selected urban areas are: (in alphabetical order) Amadora (Portugal), Amesterdam (The Netherlands), Barakaldo (Spain), Belfast (United Kingdom), Bologna (Italy), Borlänge (Sweden), Bratislava (Slovakia), Chemnitz (Germany), Corby (United Kingdom), Leuven (Belgium), Łódź (Poland), Lom (Bulgaria), Mulhouse (France), Pécs (Hungary), Sfântu Gheorghe (Romania), and Tallinn (Estonia). The research was guided by some main questions in mind, such as: i) which are the main socio-economic processes and welfare policies at the local level influencing social inequality; ii) how have they evolved during the post-2008 crisis, the subsequent years of recovery, and the Covid-19 pandemic; and iii) what is the causal relation between the economic position of localities and the nature of social inequalities mitigated by local welfare policies?