Based on the Brundland Report from 1986, the Rio Conference in 1992 and the Aalborg Charter from 1994, the City of Aalborg has initiated a centre for sustainable development "LINDHOLM 21". The centre was established in 1996 as an association sponsored by the European Commission URBAN-Programme.

The aim of Lindholm 21 is to discover and examine the possibilities for a new, more sustainable development in the local community. This means pushing the development in a "green" direction together with elected partners in trade and industry, authorities, institutions and individual citizens. Through specific activities the centre influences the continuous changes and development of the partners and manages them towards sustainability.

Indeed, the concept of `sustainability' itself is extremely broad and not only deals with `hard-core' environmental problems or complex technical correlation. Also `soft' values such as human relations, social development and health problems fall under the concept. The Aalborg Charter for instance mentions sustainability as a tripartite concept, consisting of environmental, socio-cultural and economic sustainability.

The target group includes all kinds of people as well as industry and trade, and not only those who already have adopted the green idea. In 1998 the centre worked on a wide range of tasks, including: development tasks in relation to business community, environmental management, analyse, advising citizens - green guide, eco-tourism, urban ecology, international network and projects and general urban renewal.