Ms Alessandra de Renzis (p), Mr Fabiano Compagnucci, Prof Alessandra Faggian, Mr Davide Lunardon, Prof Paolo Veneri

The aftermath of Covid-19 and persistent territorial marginalisation have profoundly reshaped daily mobility patterns, necessitating innovative approaches to territorial delineation that capture evolving spatial relations and well-being dynamics. This contribution proposes a multidimensional framework for defining "Daily Life Systems" (DLS)—supra-municipal units that integrate scope (diverse activities), space (hierarchical centers), and time (travel constraints)—to better inform cohesion policies in post-pandemic contexts.
Objectives: The primary aim is to overcome limitations of traditional representations which focus narrowly on work-commuting (only 32% of trips per Audimob data) and inadequately cover peripheral territories. By mapping citizens' full circadian cycles—including family management (37.2%), leisure (26.2%), education, and services—the framework seeks to maximise local self-containment, reveal service-demand mismatches, and support adaptive governance for enhanced life satisfaction particularly to capture also the specificities of small and remote systems in peripheral and marginal areas that traditional classifications overlook.
Methodology: Grounded in central place theory and time-geography, the approach operationalises DLS via isochrones ( travel-time budget invariant) around pivot municipalities hosting hierarchical functions. It leverages empirical socio-economic data, presence and location analysis of public services, amenities, and infrastructures to ensure full territorial coverage.
Originality: Unlike single-flow models, this work innovates by centering citizen well-being through temporal invariants and multi-activity flows, enabling scalable applications (e.g., SNAI inner areas, health districts). It offers a people-centered approach to define a hierarchy of centralities and new daily life perimeters at national scale, providing policymakers with precise tools to adapt boundaries to transformed daily geographies, fostering equitable, place-based responses to pandemic-induced spatial shifts.

Dr. Justyna Danielewicz (p)

In the Polish legal and administrative framework, Functional Urban Areas (FUAs, known as MOF - Miejskie Obszary Funkcjonalne) often suffer from institutional fragmentation. While the core cities and their suburban rings are economically and socially intertwined, transport planning has historically been conducted in silos. The lack of a comprehensive metropolitan law (with the sole exception of the Upper Silesian Metropolis) has left Polish FUAs reliant on "soft" cooperation tools.
The rapid adoption of SUMPs in Poland is inextricably linked to the Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI) mechanism. For the 2021 - 2027 financial perspective, the Polish government and the European Commission made the possession of a certified SUMP a prerequisite for FUAs to access structural funds.
The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the role of SUMPs in enhancing the governance of Polish FUAs. The research focuses on two dimensions:
1. How SUMPs harmonise the conflicting interests of core cities (limiting car traffic) and suburban municipalities (demanding better accessibility).
2. Whether the process of creating a SUMP has led to the creation of permanent metropolitan cooperation platforms.
The methodology is based on comparative desk research and qualitative policy analysis. The study examines a representative sample of SUMP documents from selected Polish metropolitan areas. The analysis focuses on the "Governance" and "Integration" chapters of these documents, comparing them against the National Urban Policy 2030 (NUP 2030) guidelines.
Preliminary analysis suggests that SUMPs are indeed "forcing" a level of cooperation that was previously absent. Key expected insights include:
• From roads to mobility: A visible shift in suburban municipalities from prioritising road expansion to supporting multimodal hubs and "Park & Ride" systems.
• The "ITI effect”: The Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) mechanism acts as a powerful incentive, making SUMP the first document where local mayors must agree on shared transport priorities.
• Implementation barriers: Despite high-quality strategic planning, the lack of a "metropolitan budget" remains a significant hurdle for the long-term execution of these plans.
This research contributes to the debate on metropolitan governance in post-socialist transition countries. It demonstrates how "soft" EU-driven planning tools can compensate for "hard" legislative gaps. For policymakers, the study provides a roadmap for utilising mobility planning as a gateway to broader spatial and economic integration within functional regions.

Prof. José Manuel Gómez Giménez (p)

Functional areas are increasingly recognised as key arenas for place-based policy intervention, particularly in contexts characterised by demographic decline, territorial inequalities and fragmented governance. In Spain, large rural territories face persistent population loss and limited access to essential services, revealing a mismatch between administrative boundaries and real functional dynamics. This paper proposes a nationwide delimitation of rural functional areas based on effective accessibility to education and healthcare services, providing a new territorial framework to support cohesion-oriented policies.

The methodology builds upon central place theory, reinterpreted through an equity-oriented perspective. Two core principles are operationalised: a 30-minute maximum travel time to essential services and the minimum population thresholds required to sustain key facilities. The analysis considers more than 36,000 population nuclei, identifying functional centres based on the presence of hospitals, secondary schools, primary schools and health centres. Using network-based travel time calculations over the national road infrastructure, areas of influence are delineated and subsequently adjusted to account for low-density gaps and polycentric configurations.

The resulting system of approximately 600 functional areas reflects actual spatial interdependencies more accurately than conventional municipal or provincial units. This approach allows for the identification of territories with structural accessibility deficits and provides an operational scale for coordinating service provision, strengthening inter-municipal cooperation and guiding territorial investment strategies.

Beyond methodological innovation, the paper discusses how accessibility-based functional delimitation can enhance the effectiveness of cohesion policy instruments in rural and peripheral contexts. By aligning policy intervention with real service areas rather than administrative fragmentation, the proposed framework supports place-based governance, improves resource allocation and contributes to more equitable territorial development in times of demographic change. The paper also critically examines the institutional, legal and administrative barriers that hinder the adoption of functional approaches in Spain, including rigid sectoral planning structures, fragmented competences across levels of government, and the persistence of funding mechanisms anchored in conventional administrative units.