Germany (NRW): the "Hagen Pact" — a 10-year state-city deal to clear problem properties

North Rhine-Westphalia's CDU-led ministry struck a decade-long pact with Hagen, a struggling post-industrial city, to demolish surplus derelict housing, tackle slum-landlord "problem properties," pilot crime-prevention measures, and anchor regeneration around a new "Europacenter" — a bilateral ten-year contract rather than a competitive grant pot.

The mirror image of the UK's levelling-up problem: the ten-year pact model contrasts with Britain's short-cycle competitive bidding (Levelling Up Fund rounds), which councils universally dislike.