The European Union is the result of political processes at national and international levels in which national states agree to relinquish power and influence to the Union. The consequences of European integration can however mostly be seen and felt at the regional and local levels. Because the European population is highly urbanised, this is especially true of the cities and towns. About three out of four Europeans currently live in cities and towns, and in the Netherlands and Belgium this figure is actually more than nine out of ten. In the cities, one might say, the consequences of European integration can be seen under a magnifying glass.

The influence of European integration on the urban environment is exerted directly through policy and regulation – one good example is the internationalisation of cities resulting from free mobility of capital and labour. But we can also identify an important indirect influence in the form of the dominant freemarket ideology that steers the process of integration: an ideology that is shared at the national levels and that trickles down to, and has an effect on, the urban environment. In the case of the Netherlands we see this, for instance, in the growth of the private housing market as compared to the social housing sector, or in the influence of increasing – ideologically tolerated – income disparities on the urban environment and residential segregation.

Urban culture is formed historically and often has local roots, certainly in a country like the Netherlands where the urban population has been in the majority for almost four hundred years. But urban culture is increasingly subject to international influences. To an increasing extent, the urban environment reflects the political spirit and policymaking at European level. As a result, the social sustainability of our cities and towns is increasingly at stake. Social sustainability refers to the ongoing viability of urban society as formed in a historical-geographic context. The concept of social sustainability forces one to reflect on the nature of urban society as desired (at a local level), and about democratic urban policy.

This should not necessarily be understood as a criticism of European integration. There are many arguments in favour of its major political significance. Moreover, European integration can provide a major economic stimulus for certain cities and regions. But this can be at the expense of other towns, cities and regions.