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Projects, Programmes, and Initiatives
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European Union and Sustainable Cities The European Union comprises of about 400 million people of which 80% live in urban areas. Many of the cities in Europe have rich historical and cultural heritage, which have adapted to the social and economic needs of its inhabitants. It is only recently (over the last thirty to forty years) that the environment has figured in cities' development plans. In the United Kingdom this was a response to public anxiety over high levels of air pollution in the form of 'smog' which contributed to excess numbers of deaths in the London in the 1950s. The 1972 Stockholm Conference and subsequent Brundtland Commission enforced EU recognition of the need to protect the environment. More recently following the Rio Conference in 1992, sustainable development which includes a mix social, environment and economic development is considered to be the optimal path attainable for future generations. The EU sees cities as "As places to live, work and play, as centres of economic, commercial and administrative activity, as focal points of culture and education, and as tourist sites, many - often conflicting - demands are placed on Europe's cities. Europe has no one centre". The EU supports the development of sustainable cities through support of activities under the fifth framework programme e.g. Cities of Tomorrow. For further information on EU Policies Visit the European Urban Forum (http://www.inforegio.cec.eu.int/urban/forum/src/frame3.htm) International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI): http://www.iclei.org The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) is an association of local Governments dedicated to the prevention and solution of local, regional, and global environmental problems through local action. Over 300 cities, towns, counties, and associations from around the world are Members of the Council. ICLEI was launched in 1990 as the international environmental agency for local governments under the sponsorship of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), and the Centre for Innovative Diplomacy. Icel.'s mission is to build and support a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental conditions through the cumulative impact of local actions. European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign: http://euronet.uwe.ac.uk/eurosustcit/campaign.htm European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign was launched by the EU Environment Commissioner at the First European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns in Aalborg, Denmark on 27 May 1994, and initiated by 80 European local authorities signing the Charter of European Cities & Towns Towards Sustainability (Aalborg Charter). The objective of the Campaign is to encourage and support cities, towns, and counties in working towards sustainability and to promote development towards sustainability at the local level through Local Agenda 21 Processes in accordance with the mandate given to local authorities by Agenda 21 as agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Sustainable Cities Project: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/urban/home_en.htm The aims of the Sustainable Cities Project are to: promote new ideas on sustainability in European urban settings; foster a wide exchange of experience; disseminate good practices on sustainability at the urban level; formulate recommendations for the EU institutions, national, regional and local authorities to assist the implementation of the Community's Fifth Environmental Action Programme. Another concern of the European Sustainable Cities Project is the development of new policy approaches to urban sustainability transferring policy to action. The project widest dissemination of the key messages of this work at both political and technical levels, raising awareness and developing new skills of sustainable urban management. The "The Aalborg Charter": http://cities21.om/europe/echarter.htm The major European initiative aimed at the sustainable development of cities is the "The Aalborg Charter" which was launched in Denmark on 27 May 1994. Entitled the Charter of European Cities and Towns Towards Sustainability, the so-called Aalborg Charter had the aim of building consensus by its member's cities (and towns) by agreeing on the following 14 sustainability issues. 1. The Role of European Cities and Towns A second major activity involves a campaign of recruitment, awards, information collection, local and EU policy support and a final objective to engaging in the Local Agenda 21 processes. URBAN FORUMS IN THE EU Göteborg Action Plan On Employment, Environment and the City: http://cities21.com/europractice/action_p.htm The purpose of the urban forums are to provide a set of recommendations to the European Commission and to outline concrete actions, including local actor partnerships, to be taken within local communities. The activities involved include:
EMAS (the EC Eco-Management and Audit Scheme): http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emas EMAS is a voluntary European Commission scheme to register sites e.g. waste disposal which have established an environmental management system (such as ISO 14001, the international standard) and produced an independently verified public statement about the site's environmental performance. EMAS enables participating sites to take a systematic and comprehensive approach to their environmental impacts, and offers consequent savings on energy and raw materials, as well as marketplace advantages through the environmental statement and the site's inclusion on a Europe wide register. European Academy of the Urban Environment: http://www.eaue.de European Academy of the Urban Environment is aiming to encourage exchange of experience amongst local government decision makers in all spheres of sustainable urban development by means of conferences, seminars and workshops, publications, SURBAN (http://www.eaue.de/winuwd/default.htm), the database on good practice in urban development, supporting the CEM-network of Central European Metropolises. European Sustainable Cities Report: http://citiesnet.uwe.ac.uk/library/escrep.htm This report was published in 1996 by the EU DG XI Expert Group on the Urban Environment and set out the agenda for further research and actions points to be adopted by member states. EUROCITIES: http://www.eurocities.org Eurocities is the association of European metropolitan cities. It currently represents 90 cities from 26 European countries and 17 associated members and, through its thematic subnetworks, many more large, medium-sized and small cities in Europe and beyond. It has set up various initiatives including Cat Free Cities and Telecities (http://www.edc.eu.int/telecities/about.html) /Digital Cities. European Good Practice Information Service "Local Sustainability": http://cities21.com/coldfus/citylist.dbm and http://cities21.com/eqpis/index.htm (case studies) Funded by the EU, this service is for disseminating and making accessible the good practice experiences of European cities, towns, counties and their associations, national and regional governments, research and educational institutions, and Directorate Generals of the European Commission. |
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Stockholm Environment Institute's Projects Development Alternatives's Projects EU Programmes and Initiatives |
    
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