and regeneration approaches developed. It is present in all of them, being especially relevant in the Norwegian case, where cities are considered as a living lab for testing out new tools, concepts and technologies. This dynamic conception pursues the adaptation of the methodologies to new challenges.
their methods of integration. Political culture (at international, national and local levels), institutional architecture and governance combine to provide an important context against which aspirations toward connected integration may or may not be achieved. From this perspective, even if the differences are remarkable, it is relevant to point out that all the countries have developed initiatives that aim to tackle urban depravation from a holistic perspective, integrating social, economic, environmental and management dimensions (even if the social and environmental dimension are promoted in some of them). The integrated approach seems to be understood as a relevant factor in achieving sustainable scenarios at city or neighbourhood level in all the national contexts, despite the potential for multi-level barriers to the integration of sectoral policies (institutional architecture, political culture, inertia towards change, etc.).
The different approaches share as well some significant problems. These have to be overcome if urban regeneration initiatives are to deliver adaptive urban capacity and build upon the work achieved so far. For example in the Spanish and British contexts questions remain around the coherence of the strategic framework linking urban regeneration, particularly over the last decade, in providing continuity to the initiatives and to create a clear link between funding and need4 . The comparison of the four programmes points toward the importance of being able to describe correct and measurable goals, as well as the need for robust scientific but also accessible decisionmaking tools for urban regeneration projects. In particular, there seems to be a lack of design and assessment tools in practice which really address the synergies and conflicts between quality of life, of built surroundings, and of environment.
Another common element of the approaches and initiatives developed is the integration of mechanisms to transform local governance. In fact, all of them strive to involve stakeholders, citizens and decision-makers in partnerships or collaborative processes of participation in the context of different planning instruments. From this perspective all of them value the role of the communities in their respective regeneration programmes as a means to make a difference to the performance of cities and their adaptive capacity (through the integration of the nonexpert knowledge in the urban strategies, the commitment of the community to the projects, the identification of the citizens with their neighbourhoods, the mobilization of local resources, etc.).
³ UDCs were essentially private planning bodies with the power to grant local planning permissions, compulsory purchase land for development, and to manage the land as necessary for their objectives. Whilst this was deemed necessary at the time to attract private investment UDCs were not strategic plan-making bodies and were also not bound by the strategic plans of local authorities. The partnership approach adopted both in Urban Renaissance and Neighbourhood Renewal policies a decade later sought to address this.
The exchange of knowledge and the capitalization of knowledge are common issues as well. In fact, all the initiatives mentioned promote the creation of networks and partnerships for the exchange of experience between the participant cities in order to provide them the capacity to envisage innovative ways to face urban depravation.
4. Final remarks The observation of the different strategies implemented in the four national contexts reveals that, even if many of the individual methods, tools and concepts described are in principle transferable to other cities and countries, the reality where urban regeneration is
Innovation is a central factor of the revitalization
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