(Barcelona City Council) Activities - The European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign

The European Sustainable
Cities & Towns Campaign

The European cities signatories of the Aalborg Charter committed themselves to work together for sustainable development within a learning process based on the experience and successes obtained at local level, and to give each other mutual encouragement for the establishment of long-term local action plans (Agendas 21), reinforcing co-operation between local authorities and integrating this process into European Union initiatives concerned with the urban environment.

To this end, the European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign was launched with the specific aim of encouraging cities and offering support in their work towards sustainability.

To co-ordinate the activities of the Campaign, a Co-ordinating Committee (COCOM) was set up, composed of representatives from the large networks of European local authorities. This governing body is made up of the following members:

EUROCITIES: Eleni Marianou; Anthony Van de Ven
CEMR. Council of European Municipalities & Regions: Doron Frischmann
ICLEI. International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives: Konrad Otto-Zimmermann; Karen Buchanan
WHO-Healthy Cities Project: Dr. Charles Price; Agis Touris
UTO - United Towns Organisation: Fulvia Cugini
EUROPEAN COMMISSION DG XI: Rita Langer; Eric den Hamer; Prudencio Perera; Pierre Van Enk
CAMPAIGN OFFICE: Anthony Payne, Campaign Co-ordinator; Piedad Rivas, Assistant Campaign Co-ordinator

Political Representatives:

City of Barcelona
City of Aalborg: Mayor Kaj Kjaer
City of Lisboa: Vice Mayor Rui Godinho
City of Bologna: invited by Eurocities, Councillor Silvia Zamboni
Northfolk County Council: invited by CEMR, Councillor Cecilia M. Cameron; Jane Morris, Local Government Management Board (LGMB)
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council: invited by WHO-Healthy Cities Project, Kevin O'Sullivan, County Manager
City of Hannover: invited by ICLEI.

The principal activities of the Campaign are as follows:

To facilitate mutual assistance amongst European cities for the conception, development and application of policies aimed at sustainability.
To gather and disseminate information about successful experiences at the local level.
To promote the principle of sustainability amongst other local authorities.
To seek new signatories to the Charter.
To organise an annual "sustainable city prize".
To put forward policy recommendations to the European Commission.
To contribute to reports on sustainable cities by the group of urban environment experts.
To give support for local decision-making over the application of appropriate European Union legislation and recommendations.
To publish a bulletin informing about the Campaign.