Irish Regions Office Website

July 02, 2009

Sustainable Cities Framework

The EUROCITIES network has been appointed to help EU Member States and the European Commission develop a set of criteria for actions by which a ''sustainable city'' may be defined. Following the adoption of the Leipzig Charter for Sustainable Cities two years ago, Member States expressed an ambition to develop a tool to be used to implement the Charter's principles. While remaining adaptable to local circumstances, this attempt to agree on a common practical vision of the concept is intended to provide all EU cities with a reference point and a means by which to facilitate exchanges on effective ways of achieving sustainability.

The three main elements involved in the framework are:
- guiding cities in developing and/or assessing their own sustainability frameworks;
- good practice from cities having developed effective sustainable strategies; and
- qualitative and quantitative indicators to allow for a concrete assessment of cities' performances.

Concrete results of this work should be ready by 2011. A set of cities under the URBACT sustainable urban development exchange programme will test the outcomes in practice. The LC-FACIL working group will review the current status of implementation related to integrated sustainable urban development in terms of social (including integration, labour market, skills development); economical (including mobility); and environmental (including physical renewal) aspects. A common understanding about necessary tools for integrated urban development according to Leipzig will be established over the coming years. Membership remains open to cities with a definite interest in this area.

Framework
Working Group

Posted by iroronan at July 2, 2009 04:42 PM