Compact Cities Partnership endorsed: highlights from the EU Directors-General on Urban Matters meeting

The EU Directors-General Responsible for Urban Matters (DGUM) met on 5 December 2025, to discuss strengthening the strategic vision for urban development, regulatory frameworks, and improving investment conditions to better support cities across Europe. The meeting also provided an opportunity to review progress on ongoing initiatives under the Urban Agenda for the EU (UAEU). Following this meeting, the Compact Cities Partnership was formally endorsed via a written procedure and is expected to begin its activities in January 2026.

The relevance of the Compact Cities approach was further confirmed by the strong response to the call for a new Thematic Partnership, which closed on 1 October 2025. The high number of applications from cities and stakeholders across Europe highlights the growing importance of compact, efficient, and liveable urban models in a wide range of territorial contexts. In total, 99 applications were submitted from nearly all EU Member States, demonstrating strong and sustained engagement with the Compact Cities agenda.

Partnership focus area

The thematic area “Compact Cities – Sustainable Urban Planning and Sprawl Mitigation” addresses the persistent challenge of urban sprawl across Europe by promoting dense, efficient, and sustainable urban development. Urban sprawl, characterised by low-density, car-dependent, and fragmented land use, leads to significant environmental, economic, and social impacts, including biodiversity loss, increased greenhouse gas emissions, higher infrastructure costs, and transport poverty.

As an alternative, the compact city model promotes integrated spatial planning approaches that prioritise limiting greenfield development (containment), optimising the use of existing urban areas (densification), and regenerating under-used or degraded spaces (regeneration).

Partnership composition

The Compact Cities Partnership brings together more than 30 partners from across Europe. By strengthening collaboration across sectors and levels of governance, the Partnership aims to close knowledge gaps, improve implementation capacity, and support the development of a shared European approach to compact and sustainable urban development.

With partners representing Member States, regions, metropolitan areas, cities, and expert networks, the Partnership reflects the increasingly cross-cutting nature of urban planning. Urban development is no longer a strictly local issue: European cities are at the forefront of implementing EU policies that shape land use, mobility, housing, energy systems, and nature protection. The new Thematic Partnership on Compact Cities seeks to support these efforts by promoting compact urban development as a strategic response to ongoing urban sprawl.

A complete list of the members is available on the Compact Cities webpage.

What's next

Following its endorsement, the Compact Cities Partnership will begin its activities in early 2026. A first online Partnership meeting is envisaged for January 2026 to launch the collaboration and align partners on the overall scope and approach. This will be followed by a first in-person meeting in Spring 2026, offering an opportunity to deepen cooperation and set the course for the Partnership’s work under the Urban Agenda for the EU.

The Compact Cities Partnership (together with some of the other UAEU Partnerships) has the potential to create synergies and become an active support for some related EU urban policies, such as the European Affordable Housing Plan (launched on 16 of December 2025).

Stay tuned to the Compact Cities webpage for updates!