| Summary: | Since the 1990s, the EU has promoted urban integrated programmes in vulnerable urban areas, combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to select the target areas. The bottom-up approach refers to selecting disadvantaged areas by municipalities, and the top-down approach deals with the eligibility criteria established by programmes. However, the level of compliance with these criteria among the areas selected is not usually evaluated. This study proposes a research strategy and analyses the URBAN and URBANA Initiatives in Spain (1994–2013). The objective is to evaluate the adequacy of selected areas through a methodology (effect size analysis) that assesses the level of vulnerability of urban areas defined in each city according to the criteria specified by the calls for proposals of the different urban regeneration programmes. According to the existing literature on the subject, a good selection of territorial targets is a fundamental element in the success of area-based interventions. The principal findings are that selected areas meet eligibility criteria, especially as regards urban fabric and unemployment. This article’s main contribution is to show that effect size analysis is an easy method to evaluate target selection in area-based policies from a methodological perspective. Together with centred measures of eligibility criteria (indicators), this methodological approach allows for comparisons between and within programmes and can be helpful to both practitioners or policy analysis scholars.
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