Framework summary

Name of the Framework
METREX

Brief description of the framework and tools within it
Metrex is a registered association, with members of 120 or so recognised metropolitan regions and areas. The Practice Benchmark 1999 was produced by METREX - The Network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas. Two key purposes of the network :
• The exchange of knowledge on metropolitan spatial planning development issues
• The contribution of the metropolitan dimension to planning at the European level.
The InterMETREX project is intended to support capacity building at the local level by collecting and disseminating good practice through an exchange of experience. The Practice Benchmark focuses on how to achieve a higher level of performance in the delivery of the core tasks required for effective metropolitan planning.

The practice benchmark focuses on how to achieve a higher level of performance in the delivery of certain core tasks, having a focus on "benchmarking", which implies learning from others, to improve your own operations and the identification of appropriate indicators. The main tools in use are indicators and benchmarks. These have been selected heading for the idea to deal with the less quantifiable aspects of metropolitan strategic planning, as it is considered that non-quantifiable indicators can be more valuable in the identification of the scope for further improvement.

The project discussions identified the following three main themes for the identification of indicators:
• COMPETENCE the ability to make effective decisions
• CAPABILITY the ability to make informed decisions
• PROCESS the ability to achieve accepted decisions.
Several indicators are attributed to these three themes (further information on the web-page).

The intention will be to progressively extend the application of the benchmarks across the wider Europe of the European Union and former central and eastern European countries, the New member states.

Specific topic focussed on by framework
Evaluation procedure for strategic planning activities. METREX is a Network of practitioners - that is, politicians, officials and their advisers with a common interest in spatial planning and development at the metropolitan level.

Web link
http://www.eurometrex.org

How are the tools organised within the framework?
A list, including several benchmarks is available, aiming at an evaluation of the current planning practice of metropolitan areas. Benchmarking focuses on effectiveness, capability, processes and participation.

The partners in METREX see the benchmark as operating primarily as a self-assessment tool, but do not regard the process as implying the application of an absolute standard. The benchmarks are regarded as indicators rather than precise measures.

Links to the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP):
The ESDP recognises that many of the policy options requiring co-operation at the European and trans-national levels are dependent on complementary implementation at the regional level. It is at that level of spatial planning, the functional urban region, that the application of the goals of the ESDP can be implemented most effectively e.g. through land-use transportation planning.

It is in this context that METREX has produced this initial practice benchmark for metropolitan spatial planning and development. It can be used as a starting point from which to move towards a recognised European standard of good practice at this level of spatial planning. METREX is progressing the objectives from relevant European activities (e.g. the Porto Metropolitan Magna Carta) through the European Commission's Interreg programme.

Sector/s covered by framework

Waste	Energy	Water	Transport	Green/Blue	Building & land use
0	0	0	1	0	M

What language/s is the framework available in?
Information and proceedings are currently carried out in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish according to requests.

What organisation developed the framework and in what country?
The framework has been established by different partner countries across Europe.
METREX was founded at the Metropolitan Regions Conference in Glasgow in April 1996 by representatives from many of the 120 or so recognised metropolitan regions and areas of Europe. The Conference was supported by the European Commission and other European organisations with an interest in spatial planning and development at the metropolitan level. METREX has been developed through a network of municipalities. The METREX Network includes some 40 of Europe's metropolitan regions and areas who are involved in formulating and implementing spatial planning and development strategies, policies, programmes and projects at the metropolitan level. In effect, those involved with the metropolitan dimension.

The challenge for the partner countries was to create a benchmark that was applicable to a wide range of planning regimes and was simple, but useful.

Where is the framework available from?
http://www.eurometrex.org/
"practice benchmarks" are available as pdf-file to be downloaded from the web in several European languages (en, de, es, fr, it, pt).

METREX secretariat, Nye Bevan House, 20 India Street, G2 4PF GLASGOW, UK.
Tel: +44 1292 317074, Fax: +44 1292 317074
Email: secretariat@eurometrex.org

What are the strengths of the framework?
The benchmark was designed with a view to improving metropolitan spatial planning competence, capability and process. It was launched to validate the Porto Benchmark against a wide range of practical experience to ensure its credibility and value to authorities seeking to use it as part of the process of continuous improvement.

Some questions were expressed in broad terms and left the judgement on effectiveness of the activities to those involved in benchmarking. It was considered that it is essential to have some indicators of effectiveness built into the benchmarking process. To allow the practice benchmark to provide guidance on relative effectiveness, and at the same time to allow for the role of self-assessment, it is proposed to express relative effectiveness in terms of the following three situations:
1. Are you achieving even a baseline of effectiveness? (a minimum baseline)
2. Are you achieving more than the baseline, but can improve? (an improving position)
3. Are you achieving what might be considered the most effective practice in terms of the particular criteria? (the maximum level)

What are the weaknesses of the framework?
The involvement in the networks association requires to sign in and afford certain expenditures for being a member. The partner network in METREX relates to cities of a certain size, of about 500,000 inhabitants.

What other interesting information is available about the framework?
METREX was founded at the Metropolitan Regions Conference held in Glasgow in 1996. METREX is a Network drawn from the 120 or so recognised metropolitan regions and areas (urban areas and their hinterlands with populations of about 500,000 or more) in the wider Europe of the European Union (EU) and the former central and eastern European countries.