The preliminary evaluation developed by Lucianno Vettoretto in 2009 on Best and Good Practices Approach in European Spatial Planning and Policy-making is a useful frame to further evaluate the role and opportunities of the URBACT Programme in social innovation and the renewal of urban and multi-level governance in contemporary European cities.

Originally conceived as tool to contribute to the capitalization of the experiences and knowledge being developed in the URBAN programme, the URBACT programme has managed to consolidate as one of the flagship opportunities for European cities to collaborate and collectively learn and experience on integrated urban development, contributing to debates on collaborative urban and multi-level governance. Its history, however has not been flat, showing continuous upgrading an adaptation to take advantage of their developed experiences and to be able to tackle new urban and methodological challenges arising in the process.

Methodologically, this paper aims at elaborating on and expanding such preliminary evaluation of the URBACT I programme in comparison with other best practice programmes implemented in the European Union in the last decades (Interact and the European observatory) elaborated by Luciano Vettoretto in 2009. His specific focus on the actors involved and the decision-making processes applied in each of the programmes already offers great opportunities to reflect on the role and evolution of Best Practice approach in the European Union. Therefore, after a brief introduction of the programme itself, this paper will extend the evaluation to further stages of the programme (calls URBACT II and ongoing URBACT III) under the same framework. To achieve this, the paper will both mobilize novel documental references and experiences related by the URBACT organization and the experiences shared by Spanish cities’ and the Spanish URBACT point in different forums attended by the author, like the Forum of the Cities in June 2018 and the Conama Congress in November 2018.

All in all, this evaluation will allow to reflect on the influence of the URBACT programme in the promotion of social innovation to upgrade urban and multi-level governance in contemporary cities as well as to draw further conclusions and identify challenges that can help the programme reinventing itself in the post-2020 forthcoming context.