The Pioneering Quantitative Model for TIA: TEQUILA

The request for building an operational model for the ex ante assessment of the territorial impact of EU policies, projects and regulations was addressed directly to the author by the ESPON managing authority. A rationale and definition of what could be intended as TIA was proposed, a prototype model and the connected software was built and applied to the TEN (Trans-European Network) program in 2004–2006. The convincing results achieved were followed by subsequent new and deeper studies, where the model was improved, simplified and implemented on EU transport and agricultural policies and to some EU directives in the environmental fields. TEQUILA is a multi-criteria model working on a quantitative base on Nuts3 regions in the EU; however, it integrates in a statistically consistent way qualitative judgements by experts, when necessary. The criteria refer to the main dimensions of territorial cohesion – territorial efficiency, territorial quality and territorial identity – and their sub-dimensions/criteria, measurable by multiple indicators. Particularly the goal of territorial identity captured the interest and favour of policy makers. Impact maps on concrete applications, illustrated here, were used in official reports of the European Commission.