Integrated territorial investments as a tool of building the capability of functional areas – illustrated with an example of Poland

Abstract

A new tool of EU cohesion policy, proposed for 2014-2020, that is, integrated territorial investments (ITI) was presented in the article. This tool, supporting sustainable development of urban areas, is supposed to encourage self-government units to cooperate more closely, above all, to motivate them to solve problems together. The goal of the article was to identify fundamental changes in approach to programming and financing the development in the years 2014-2020, present mechanisms and instruments of urban policy supported from the EU funds. The article systematizes knowledge concerning integrated territorial investments and new approaches to solve developmental problems of the cities and urban regions. Literature research was applied in this analysis and EU and domestic legal regulations concerning integrated territorial investments were reviewed. The implementation of integrated territorial investments in Polish functional areas was also identified.

Keywords

• integrated territorial investments (ITI)
• integrated territorial development
• territorial cohesion