European Platform for Urban Sustainability

The second meeting of the European Platform of networks working on urban sustainability was organised 10 October 2000 in Brussels. The intention with the Platform is to create basis for better cooperation between European networks and possibly to help the networks to reach common positions in European policy issues. In the first two meetings, altogether 24 European organisations have participated, including the European Commission DG Environment and representatives from the Environment Committee of the European Parliament.

Since the Aalborg Conference 1994, a central forum for European level cooperation on local sustainable development has been the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign, and one of the ideas with the platform is to provide input for further development of the Campaign. UBC has been closely co-operating with the Campaign since the Turku Conference 1998, and the UBC has been represented at the meetings by UBC Environmental Co-ordinator Risto Veivo.

The discussions at the meeting demonstrated a great interest in large scale co-operation between the 24 organisations participating so far. Both the European Commission and the European Parliament take great interest in this development, particularly as the European Commission will provide financial support from 2001 through its envisaged "Community Framework for cooperation to promote sustainable urban development". In connection with this Community Framework proposal, the UBC has been mentioned as one of the networks suitable for carrying out implementation projects.