Sustainable Urban Development strategies and governance: Veneto and Emilia-Romagna compared

This thesis examines the implementation of Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) within European Union cohesion policy, focusing on how place-based and multi-level governance principles are translated into regional policy practices. It is grounded in a theoretical framework that highlights the shift from redistributive approaches to territorially embedded and participatory development models and in an analysis of the progressive institutionalization of SUD across successive programming periods. Adopting a qualitative and comparative case study approach, the research analyzes the 2021 - 2027 period in the Italian regions of Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. Through the systematic examination of regulatory documents, programme guidelines and administrative procedures, it reconstructs governance structures, strategic orientations, programming processes and implementation arrangements in both regional contexts. The comparative analysis shows that differences in SUD implementation are mainly related to the timing and institutional configuration of local involvement within the policy cycle rather than to formal levels of decentralization. While Veneto emphasizes decentralized implementation within a centralized control framework, Emilia-Romagna prioritizes early strategic coordination and negotiated forms of governance. The findings suggest that integrated urban strategies depends on the alignment between governance design, administrative capacity and territorial context. By focusing on institutional and procedural dimensions, this study contributes to the literature on cohesion policy and territorial governance and offers policy-relevant insights for strengthening place-based development in the European Union.