On 24 June 2016 the Council of Ministers of the European Union met in Brussels and discussed the result of the Brexit referendum the day before. Amidst the astonishment about the choice of the British voters, and the soul searching exercises about the future of the EU, the ministers also had to take care of the scheduled business, although most of their decisions that day went unnoticed. One of these decisions was the adoption of an Urban Agenda for the European Union with the formal endorsement of the Pact of Amsterdam. The Pact had been agreed at the Informal Meeting of EU ministers responsible for Urban Matters on 30 May in Amsterdam, during the Dutch presidency. Since then, the European Union has officially had an Urban Agenda.

This was the occasion to ask both Amsterdam academics and practitioners to share their views of the city and to compile this collection of essays to reflect the complexity of the roles, functions and problems of cities to address in the urban agenda. The aim of the volume is to contribute to the much needed public debate about the future of European cities. After decades of discussion, the role of cities in European politics has been formally acknowledged, but it is certainly not the conclusion of urban politics but on the contrary a stimulus for further deliberations. The sharing of knowledge and research insights about what makes cities what they are and how they function (and sometimes not) is in this context a fundamental step towards better cities.

Europe: A continent of cities

A large majority of Europe's citizens live in an urban area – 70% if we include cities, towns and suburbs – and this share continues to grow. Europe is a continent of cities, and is one of the most urbanised areas in the world. Cities are the engines of economy and social innovation and play an important role in many of the most pressing social and environmental challenges Europe faces: unemployment, social exclusion, integration, energy transition etc.