News and Publications

News

• The final URBAN MATRIX thematic workshop, held in Stockholm on 25 November 2009, hosted a discussion on the future priorities of “sustainable cities”. Gathering the opinions of European, national and local stakeholders, this seminar focused on the outcomes of the URBAN MATRIX Recommendations, the future of EU funding for urban research and innovative approaches to knowledge exchange on Sustainable Urban Development. Read the report here.
• Following the Marseilles Statement of November 25, 2008,the European Minister responsible for urban development commissioned France and the French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development to elaborate and monitor, from January 2009, a high level European working group to develop, with and for the cities, a reference Framework for European Sustainable Cities. See the website here.
• European cities are taking the lead in fighting climate change, according to a new report ranking the continent's financial capitals according to their green credentials. Read more.
• URBAN-NET on LinkedIn.com, URBAN-NET is now also presented on networking website LinkedIn.com. Click here to sign up to the group. We aim to bring together professionals in the field of urban sustainability research.
• Call for Interests for two City of Vienna Visiting Professorship 2010 vacancies: Urban culture , public space and the state – Politics and planning’ (TU Vienna, SKuOR), The Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space (SKuOR) at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning of Vienna University of Technology, Austria, has recently launched a Call for Interests regarding two short-term City of Vienna Visiting Professorship vacancies offered to deal with the annual topic 2010 ’Urban culture, public space and the state – Politics and planning’ in Vienna. Interest must be expressed by 2 September 2009. For more information click here.
• ISOCARP-IFHP-INTA-Nicis International, ISOCARP, IFHP, INTA and Nicis International signed on Friday 20th February 2009 a Letter of Intent to intensify cooperation between the four organisations providing joint responses to the challenges to the urban community worldwide. The Letter is signed by the Presidents of IFHP (Francesc Ventura), ISOCARP (Pierre Laconte) and INTA (Budiarsa Sastrawinata) and the General Director of Nicis (Gerard Schouw). For more information click here.
• Results of the meeting of the ministers for urban development, On 25 November, the European urban development ministers met for the whole day to discuss the "sustainable and inclusive city". The discussions were presided over by Christine Boutin, the French Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hubert Falco, the French Minister of State for Town and Country Planning and Fadela Amara, the French Minister of State for Urban Affairs. The results of the meeting have been published here.
• Sustainable Development: A Challenge for European Research, In early 2009 the Commission will launch a monitoring system that will link all currently funded FP7 projects to the priorities of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. Background information and tender are available here. There will also be a Commission conference "Sustainable Development: A Challenge for European Research" on 26-28 May 2009, in Brussels. A call for papers is open until January 2009.
• A glossary of research programme management terminology, with some terms specific to URBAN-NET, is now available. If you would like to suggest more entries, please contact info@urban-net.org .
• Sustainable Cities - European Commission Policy Summaries; "The climate change imperative has put the spotlight on Europe's cities, which are home to 80% of Europeans and consume a disproportionate share of natural resources relative to their surface area". Read more here.
• UN-HABITAT have launched a new website for their Global Report on Human Settlements (GRHS) series. The website contains downloadable copies of all issues of the GRHS since 1986, most of which are also searchable.
• Scotland influences European urban research priorities. This article about URBAN-NET appeared in the Summer issue of the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum newsletter.
• In December 2007, Research*eu, the magazine of the European Research Area featured a special report on Urban Research. You can read the report here.
• PUCA (France) Call for Research Proposals , L'intercommunalite a l'epreuve des faits. Please note that this document is in French and all proposals must be made in French.
• Visit the Biofuel Cities online events centre to keep up to date with the many conferences, workshops and seminars on Biofuels taking place across Europe.
• The BiodivERsA "Pan-European call for international research projects on biodiversity: linking scientific advancement to policy and practice " has been published on the project website. For more information, visit the BiodivERsA website at http://www.eurobiodiversa.org

Publications

• Ensuring Quality of Life in Europe’s Cities and Towns - Tackling the Environmental Challenges driven by European and Global Change, This report, written jointly by the European Environment Agency, different European city-networks and other stakeholders, this report aims to raise awareness and to provide more clarity about the various perspectives and perceptions of quality of life and its consequences for the life of other people and generations. Describing the complex local-European interlinkages, the report provides ideas on integrated, multi-level action towards a balanced concept for quality of life for all citizens and future generations. You will find a flyer here, which will soon be also available in French, Spanish and Italian. You can download the whole report or order a hard copy here.
• The discussion document, Future Reasearch Areas in the field of Urban Sustainability, that underpins the National urban research stakeholder consultation is availble to download here. The associated PowerPoint presentation is also available here.
• The recently published 'State of European Cities Report' can now be downloaded from the Europa website.
• The Academy for Sustainable Communities has recently published Mind the Skills Gap, a report which assesses the gaps in the skills required to deliver the UK Sustainable Communities Programme.
• 'Europe's environment - The fourth assessment' is the latest in a series of reports published over the last 15 years by the European Environment Agency.
• 'Towards a new culture for urban mobility' is the European Commission's new Green Paper on urban transport which was adopted on 25 September 2007. Citizens and stakeholders are invited to share their views on the Green Paper with the Commission until 15 March 2008.
• The LEIPZIG CHARTER on Sustainable European Cities, English
• The European Research Area: New Perspectives, English