The City Council of Kiel has resolved that Agenda 21 should become a part of municipal policy. But how this should be done in detail was initially unclear. How can a city the size of Kiel, closely linked to the economic and administrative system, create a situation where ecological, social and economic interests are no longer permanently opposing forces? How can it be achieved that the people, who are the "cornerstones" of Agenda 21, come together and in fact agree on a plan of action for the future?

This kind of comprehensive undertaking conceals the potential danger that the people expected to implement it will be quickly overloaded. To persuade people to engage themselves in a long-term development, the issues of greatest importance to their life situation must be identified. People can more easily identify with clear and practical ideas than with programmatic and abstract statements. Furthermore, to win over to the process as many social groups as possible it is important to pursue those ideas which are apparently suitable to be carried out by different population groups.

Requirements, including the call for clear ideas as well as the call for relatively undisputed themes are regarded by the City Council as met most easily by the implementation of projects. Therefore, there will not be general image-creating discussions and large forums devoted to general objectives that determine the Agenda 21 process in Kiel but from the start as many projects and activities as possible.

The projects and activities, to be clearly understood as "components" of the Kiel local Agenda 21, should demonstrate the following characteristics:

• be strongly oriented to action and implementation
  
• the integration of ecological, social and economic objectives
  
• participation by all the people affected by the projects