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“One of the shortcomings in much of governance research, not just urban governance, is that it has been too much concerned with the cast of actors and the configuration of collaboration.” Being interviewed is Jon Pierre, author of The Politics of Urban Governance. “I have always worked on several projects at once and have also tried to be active in more than one research field. In some ways, the book is reflective of that work strategy as it incorporates not just urban politics and urban social theory but also institutional theory, public management, and globalization analysis.”

During a conference in New York on February 15 2012, organized by UN-HABITAT and the MIT Center for Civic Media, academics, professionals, researchers and students teamed up to find innovative plans on how social media can improve city life. During several presentations and subsequent brainstorm sessions, the participants investigated possible social media solutions for urban challenges on numerous issues.

The population of the European Union (EU) is becoming steadily older. In the publication ‘Active ageing and solidarity between generations. A statistical portrait of the European Union 2012’, published on January 13th 2012, Eurostat provides statistical data from throughout the EU to investigate the current situation regarding ageing. The purpose of the publication is to inform governments how to tackle the issues at hand.

Hosted by the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission's Regional Policy DG each year, the European Week of Regions and Cities, known as OPEN DAYS, is an opportunity for representatives from Europe’s cities and regions to gather together, share views and exchange best practice on regional and urban development.

People should always remain at the heart of policy when dealing with deprived urban neighbourhoods. This is the main point of the study ‘Dynamics of deprived neighbourhoods in the URBACT cities’ that the French General Secretariat for urban and social development (SGCIV) published on January 25th, 2012. In it, the SGCIV examines the outputs of 5 URBACT projects in several European cities.

Refugees can often be highly qualified professionals, yet they frequently struggle to find a job in their host country. By tackling the issues that are holding them back, giving them additional training in a personal way and in their own language, the Birmingham City Council has successfully helped 600 refugees to move towards employment.

A significant goal of the International City/County Management Association’s (ICMA) funded international technical assistance projects is to leave in place professional municipal staff, standard operating procedures, and streamlined management systems that will enable local participants to sustain improvements in governance and service delivery after the project ends.

From the Spanish Department of Architecture, Housing and Land Development a new tool for urban analysis has been developed, namely the ‘Atlas of Urban Vulnerability in Spain’. This dynamic online mapping application allows users to analyse the multiple dimensions of urban vulnerability in all municipalities in Spain. It has been designed from the Census of Population and Housing 2001 and is expected to be updated once data from the new Census 2011 is available. The Atlas is available in Castilian and English.

For the past decade, the value of investing in the rights and well-being of women and girls has been making headlines. The centrality of gender equality to the Millennium Development Goals, recent commitments by various governments and foundations to fund women and girls, and the creation of UN Women in 2010 reinforce some of the encouraging, concrete results that have emerged from the conversation about the importance of investing in women and girls. How are European foundations engaging in this conversation? To what extent are European foundations providing funding to women and girls? In which areas? What approaches are they taking? Effective philanthropy depends on informed decision-making. Yet to date, there has been very little data to bring to bear on these questions. In this spirit, Mama Cash, the world’s oldest international women’s fund based in the Netherlands, commissioned the research study titled ‘Untapped Potential – European Foundation Funding for Women and Girls’ to understand the nature of European foundation support for women and girls and bridge the critical data gap in this area.

Parenting determines the development and well-being of a child and therefore is an important factor in shaping our future generations. Local authorities and NGOs play a vital role in developing youth and family policies. But how can local actors adjust their services to the needs of families and which interventions should be introduced to ensure proper parenting? Eurochild’s report “The role of local authorities in parenting support” proposes several policy recommendations that could enhance the accessibility of family services and finds opportunities for breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty. These recommendations resulted from Eurochild’s Family and Parenting Support Thematic Working Group Round Table hosted in the City of Eindhoven and the Netherlands Youth Institute.

Governments can simultaneously reduce income inequality and stimulate economic growth. This is one of the main points of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in ‘Reducing income inequality while boosting economic growth. Can it be done?’, a recently published chapter from the forthcoming report ‘Economic Policy Reforms 2012. Going for Growth’. The chapter offers several concrete suggestions for policy in which the two objectives are both likely met as well as measures that will more likely result in a tradeoff between the two.

Even though the number of women with supplementary pensions has risen over the last decade, the difference with their male peers is still considerable. The Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics, which examined the situation in the Netherlands, concludes so in a recent study. Women’s pensions are, on the whole, also lower.

The main point of focus of the European Commission (EC) for 2012 will be fighting the Euro crisis and its consequences. The commission announced this in its recently published Work Programme 2012. Apart from stating many other policy measures, the Work Programme puts most emphasis on fighting the Euro crisis. They do however place this in a broader economic perspective.

EU cities and regions are putting a big effort in trying to do their part in realizing the Europe 2020 strategy. The recently published Monitoring Report on Europe 2020 by the Committee of Regions (CoR) provides plenty examples. There are also points for improvement though, especially in the area of cooperation and partnership between layers of government.

People with university degrees have suffered far fewer job losses during the global economic crisis than those who left school without qualifications, according to the latest edition of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s annual ‘Education at a Glance’. Good education and skills are crucial to improving a person’s economic and social prospects.

In 2012, Guimarães (Portugal) will be hosting a major gathering of creators and creations: music, cinema, photography, fine arts, architecture, literature, thought, theatre, dance, and street art. In Guimarães, the artistic products imagined and created by its residents will merge with those coming to the city from all over Europe. Over the course of one year, the city will be the promoter of Europe’s cultural diversity, revealing its creations and welcoming those from other countries.

Demographic issues continue to constitute a serious challenge to strong economic growth and the European social model. The current recession has aggravated these problems, pushing people out of the labour market and further increasing the dependency ratio. Eurofound’s research on ‘Restructuring in recession and labour force participation’ explored the age management practices of companies in light of restructuring undergone during recession. The study looked at policy in relation to the retention of older workers (aged 50+) in employment at national and establishment levels in 9 European Union (EU) Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia. The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Being interviewed is Chris van Stolk, researcher of the ‘Impact of the recession on age management polices’. “In 2040, those over the age of 65 will represent more than 45% of the working age population aged 15-64 in the EU27. The reality is that people will have to work longer in the future, regardless of whether they want to or not. It’s inescapable.”

Through its economic development surveys, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has been tracking the use of economic development strategies among local municipalities every five years since 1994. The timing of the 2009 economic development survey allows ICMA to see the affects of the economic crisis when compared to the 2004 survey results.

For many people today it seems difficult to live without the internet, however a decreasing, but still non-negligible, part of the EU population has never used it. In the EU27, almost three quarters of households had access to the internet in the first quarter of 2011, compared with almost half in the first quarter of 2006. The share of households with broadband internet connections more than doubled between 2006 and 2011, to reach 68% in 2011 compared with 30% in 2006. During the same period, the share of individuals aged 16-74 in the EU27 who had never used the internet decreased from 42% to 24%.

The good practice guide “Delivering Better Places-Learning from broader experience” supports public, private and community stakeholders in creating better places. Scotland is facing several challenges when it comes to spatial planning since there is a great need to balance the peripheral expansion of existing towns and cities with the development of new ones. Eight practices from across Europe are presented in this guide illustrating sustainable strategies and plans for real estate development. The case studies provide new insights in ‘creating a new place’ and can deliver a common framework for action to enhance the place value in Scotland.

The London Parks and Green Spaces Forum’s mission is: “To promote a network of accessible quality green space, as a major contribution towards a healthier and more sustainable world city.” The Forum was established in response to an increased awareness of the importance of green space among those responsible for making and delivering national, regional and local policy. The objective is to maximise the opportunity that now presents itself and to make sure that London secures its fair share of resources that are being directed towards green space – now and in the future.

Three years have passed since the Regions for Sustainable Change (RSC) partnership was launched, and in that time considerable experience and knowledge have been gathered, new materials have been produced, and many lessons have been learned by the partners and the project team. The final RSC output Building a Low-Carbon Economy: A handbook for European regions summarises the work of the 12 partners, providing regions with comprehensive information and guidance for moving towards low-carbon development.

People live longer but birth-rates are declining. The majority of European citizens are able to lead an active, participatory and healthy live into an old age. This brings opportunities to innovative firms through the new demand for goods and services. However the combination of ageing societies and declining birth-rates brings economic budgetary and social challenges with it.

The structure of the society is changing. Family structures are changing; there are more ‘older workers’, elderly people, fewer children and young adults of working age. The bridges between the various stages of life are increasing and have become more complex.

Young people without a basic qualification come considerably more often in contact with the police than peers who have had at least basic vocational training. A recent study by the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics compared the 2 groups in the Netherlands. As it turns out, especially unemployed drop outs come relatively often in contact with the authorities.

Europe is facing and undergoing great demographic changes. The natural population increased in Europe with a marginal 0.04% per annum, new Member States are faced with falling populations, immigration is in many countries vital to ensure population growth and the fertility rate is below the threshold needed to renew the population.

Internet safety differs significantly between EU countries. In a recently published study, based on figures by Eurostat, the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics investigated the use of internet security software and the number of victims of spam and computer viruses in the EU.

In the year 2030 every third person in the European Union will be older than 60 years. People live longer but birth-rates are declining. The majority of European citizens are able to lead an active, participatory and healthy live into an old age.

The European population is ageing, this is also the fact in Spain. About 31% of Terra Chá’s area – primarily the council of Vilalba – is older than 65. For an active inclusion of the elderly and to overcome the bridge between the various stages of life, Vilalba and surrounding areas have carried out intergenerational solidarity activities in the form of ICT training.

The majority of European citizens are able to lead an active, participatory and healthy live into an old age. This brings opportunities to innovative firms. In Germany the elderly are with the ‘Freiwilligendienste aller Generationen’ encouraged to volunteer in various areas. For instance, with the caring for people with a disability or helping out in nurseries.

Knowsley Borough Council, a local authority on Merseyside (Liverpool city region) is looking for partners for a project under the Crime Prevention Programme (ISEC). It is a project committed to the rehabilitation of offenders and reducing repetition. Being interviewed about this programme is James Sharples from the Merseyside Brussels Office, which is a liaison point between public and voluntary organisations in Merseyside on the one hand and the EU institutions and other European regions on the other. “One of our main roles is to help Merseyside organisations to engage with EU funding opportunities. One of the EU funds we have targeted over the years has been the Crime Prevention Programme, which is administered by DG HOME in the European Commission (EC). A couple of years ago we helped Merseyside Police to bid successfully for a grant under this programme and we're now trying to do the same for Knowsley, which is planning a bid around offender rehabilitation.”

UN-Habitat and Dubai Municipality offer you an opportunity for global recognition through the Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.

Custom made measures are to be applied to offenders, in order to prevent reoffending. This is one of the main points of ‘Breaking the Cycle: Government Response’, which was presented to the UK’s Parliament in June 2011. The UK’s National Offender Management Service has developed such an approach to reduce reoffending, with attention for the individual causes of recidivism.

Every year the Commission expresses its commitment to a certain social European challenge. The year 2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Active ageing is defined by the World Health Organisation as the process of optimising opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.

Following a visit to the United Kingdom in 2011, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro published recommendations to the government on improving anti-trafficking action and the protection of human rights of trafficked persons, together with the UK official response, on 18 January 2012.

Crime keeps decreasing throughout the EU, but at a less steady pace than in recent years. This is one of the main conclusions of the recently published Eurostat report ‘Crime and Criminal Justice, 2006-2009’, in which statistics on various types of crime in the different Member States are monitored and analyzed. Though the trend of a decreasing crime rate is significant, notable differences between countries and types of crime remain.

Economic, social and medical progress give people the opportunity to live a long life in comfort and security. On the other side is this also a major challenge that the European Union will have to face in the years to come.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, on a visit to Geneva from 18 to 20 January 2012, emphasized the need to further develop partnerships between international organizations in maintaining peace and security and effectively tackling current and emerging threats.

On the 8th and 9th of December 2011 the EUKN annual conference took place in Warsaw in which the following topic was emphasized: “The Urban Dimension of Cohesion Policy: lessons learnt from integrated urban projects”. The conference elaborated on the results of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union and looked forward to the new Structural Funds Programming Period. Additionally, the conference reflected upon what we have learnt and what we already know about cohesion policy and what cities should take into account in the future.

The European union has a clear focus on unemployment and social exclusion. In the fight against these problems two European policy programmes are interesting to explore.

On in the five people in the European Union is at risk of poverty or social exclusion and 40 million people are in a condition of severe deprivation. The recent economic crisis has worsened the situation. The Social Protection Committee (SPC) its mandate to monitor the social situation and development of social protection policies in the European Union.

The Roma population suffer in a large extent of social exclusion and poverty. The Roma people have to deal with barriers on the labour and housing market which makes cultural and social adjustment difficult. The Roma are for this reason an important target group in European policies against social exclusion and poverty. Member States play an important role in this fight against social exclusion and poverty. In this document are frequently asked questions for national Roma strategies described and answered.

Combating social exclusion, promoting social justice and fundamental rights have long been core objectives of the European Union, which is based on the values of respect for human dignity and solidarity. A significant part of immigrants and ethnic minorities in the Member States suffer from social exclusion, discrimination, unemployment and poverty.

The research project ‘UP2YOUTH- Youth: actor of social change’ is a European project which presents a collection policies for young people in Europe. The idea behind this collection is to indicate how current practices and policies relate to young people as active agents in shaping their lives.

There have been made many efforts by local, national and European level to include the Roma population. Despite these efforts the Roma people still face high levels of social exclusion.

The Spanish Ministry of Public Works establishes, among others, the Directorate-General of Land and Urban Policies, which recently published a research on the current situation of areas or sectors with particular edifying potential included in the Urban Information System (UIS). The publication pays special attention to the main areas or residential sectors listed in the Spanish UIS database. Firstly, in order to highlight the potential of homes that are derived from the current planning. And second, to provide basic data fields and sectors such as those related to development and construction process.

Being interviewed is Mayor Arnold Klingeis about his ambitious plan within the Romanian municipality of Avrig. “I am 33 years old and Mayor of Avrig for 3,5 years. When I started my mandate I was asking myself what will be an issue which a small community as Avrig can address and at the same time, be relevant for many others, and how this issue can reposition a local economy in a sustainable way. A report published by the US National Intelligence Council ‘Global Trends 2025’ caught my attention to the energy sector and, very shortly afterwards, I got myself committed to work and act as a politician for a cleaner and healthier environment. That was the beginning, 3 years ago, and now I am convinced that communities must have an integrated approach for waste, energy and resource management for a better future.”

The kick-off meeting in Sofia on 17-18 November marked an important moment for the URBAN-NEXUS project, shifting attention from the start-up phase towards the projects’ true content: the promotion of sustainable urban development and the creation of long lasting partnerships between key stakeholders.

As a city near the water, Hamburg has a great chance for the revitalisation of former harbour areas. A prominent example is the new urban district HafenCity near the inner city along the Norderelbe. Less well-known is the development of the inland harbour of Harburg and the Castle Island of Harburg, which is no longer part of the port area only since the beginning of 2011, a jewel along the Süderelbe. Since the middle of the 1990’s, the inland harbour and the Castle Island are being developed into an urban district with mixed land uses with approximately 1000 new dwellings and a continuously increasing number of office buildings.

Groundwork London (GL) works alongside local communities, public bodies, private companies and other voluntary sector organisations to support communities in need. GL helps people and organisations make changes in order to create better neighbourhoods, build skills and job prospects and live and work in a greener way.

From the September onwards the EU funded FP7 project URBAN-NEXUS is underway! URBAN-NEXUS will hold its first Dialogue Café on the topic of “Urban Climate Resilience – Partnership Approaches” on the 29th-30th May 2012 in Glasgow. An accompanying Synthesis Report will help inform the Dialogue Café debates and discussions.

Participation in the labour market is an important condition for a successful integration process. Access to employment is for the members of the Roma community is often not self-evident. With the programme ‘Fight against Discrimination’, 13 Spanish regions and more than 40 city councils support the access to the labour market for the, namely unemployed and unskilled young, Roma.

Immigrants and ethnic minorities in old and new EU Member States face various risks of labour market and social exclusion. The integration of immigrants an ethnic minorities in society depends for a large part on the participation in the labour market. This integration in the labour market should be supported and provided by the Member States.

The integration of ethnic minorities on the social and labour market in the European Union is still a major political, societal and economic challenge. What is the view and experience of ethnic minorities, their representatives and stakeholders, themselves in the this on-going integration process of ethnic minorities? Most of the available research do not focus and neglect the opinion of the involved in the integration process.

The term ‘integration’ is understood as the process of inclusion of immigrants in the institutions and relationships of the host society. The national responsibility exists of formulating policies, creating legal and administrative frameworks and collecting and disseminating statistical data. The question of integrating immigrants is primarily framed at the level of nation state.

Each year, since 1983, the European Parliament and the Council have focused attention on different specific annual themes. The year of 2010, was the European year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion designed to promote an inclusive Europe. This inclusive growth is an important element of the EU 2020 strategy which aims to realise a smart, sustainable and inclusive European economy.

The higher the youth unemployment rate in Europe rises, the more companies offer young graduates un(der)paid internships. They say ‘yes’ because they are desperate. Therefore the European Youth Forum (YFJ) has taken up an initiative with other partners to improve the situation of internships in Europe. Internships should provide a learning experience for young people to facilitate successful integration into the labour market; however, there has been an increased prevalence of internships serving as precarious employment for young people—a cheap way to substitute workforce. In addition, young interns are performing tasks that do not contribute to professional development. This is described in the YFJ publication titled ‘Interns Revealed’ by author Inger Dyrnes.

The Danube Foundation is a network of young Europeans that aims to contribute to the exchange of ideas between people in Central, East and Western Europe. We talked to Sophie Bloemen about the vision and mission of the Danube Foundation.

Currently it is very hard for Spanish youth to find a job. We asked the Youth Employment Bureau for the region Catalunya, based in Barcelona, what they do to help these young people to find a job. Do they notice more young people leave the country to find a job abroad and what is it they do to stimulate them to remain in Catalunya?

Brussels, 20 December 2011 – Against the backdrop of Europe's persistent jobless youth rate of 21%, the Commission is pleading for Member States, workers' representatives and business to join forces and take decisive action to tackle youth unemployment. The new 'Youth Opportunities Initiative', adopted by the Commission, calls on Member State to work on preventing early school leaving; helping youngsters develop skills relevant to the labour market; ensuring work experience and on-the-job training and helping young people find a first good job. The Commission is also urging Member States to make better use of the European Social Fund which still has €30 billion of funding uncommitted to projects. In addition, the Commission has put forward a set of concrete actions to be financed directly by EU funds.

During the EMI Public Lecture both Professor Wikström and the Mayor of The Hague, Mr. Van Aartsen gave a key-note speech on juvenile crime prevention. In addition, the participants got the opportunity to discuss the negative and positive aspects of crime prevention policy among youths. The participants came from a variety of cities: Stuttgart, Zagreb, Birmingham, Kaunas, Brussels, Amsterdam and The Hague. A true mix of researchers, policymakers and fieldworkers was present.

Talking Cityzen is a blog written by citizens of European cities. It is a platform for citizens to give their personal views and to share their knowledge on urban topics. In this way policy makers and researchers can gain insights into what really matters to the inhabitants of a city. Our first ´Talking Cityzen´ is Ayse Taspinar, second year student Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Sabanci University in Turkey. She gives her personal view on the development of Istanbul.

Annette Moron was selected as one of the Dutch UN Youth Representatives in 2011. Her campaign around the impact of HIV/AIDS on the youth is based on the idea to “be the difference you would like to see in the world”. For the joint EUKN-EMI newsletter she wrote a blog about her campaign.

EUKN has developed its 2011 Key Publication on the Urban Dimension on Cohesion Policy in cooperation with the Polish Presidency. The negotiations for the new programming period are in full swing, and will continue over 2012 and 2013. Cohesion Policy can play a vital role in moderating the contradictions between opportunities and challenges that cities need to work on, and now is the time for cities to gain ground in getting local efforts recognised in the new regulations for the 2014 – 2020 Regulations.

Enhancing accessibility is of great importance for regional economies. The European transport policy promotes sustainable, efficient and environmental friendly urban transport systems. Smartcards can be of influence in reaching this goal. Interoperability between public transport schemes can be established with the use of smartcards.

Social cohesion and participation in social life are determined with a growing demand for accessibility. Everyone is expected to be mobile and it is taken for grant that everybody is mobile. In practice many people are disadvantaged when it comes to opportunities for mobility.

On the 24th of November the second lecture as part of the EMI Public Lecture Series was held in Brussels. The aim of the lecture was to discuss elements of effective approaches towards juvenile crime prevention in European cities. A variety of people were present: policy officers from the European Commission, policy makers from municipalities, social workers, police officers, EU representatives of European cities and researchers. The lecture consisted of 2 interesting key-note speeches and an interactive session. Of course there was also the possibility to network.

Representatives of 16 European cities as well as research institutions and the city network Climate Alliance came together in Dublin to launch the TURaS (Transitioning towards Urban Resilience and Sustainability) project which aims to enable European cities and the surrounding rural areas to build resilience in the face of significant sustainability challenges.

“Good design and planning should not necessarily cost more. If anything it should save money in the long run.” Being interviewed is Matthew Carmona, Professor of Planning and Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Planning, UCL and Lead Expert of URBACT’s HOPUS project. For example during a visit to Rome Carmona visited a suburban extension dominated by roads and parking. “All in all there was a lack of vitality and the sorts of social spaces that you expect in an Italian city. But all of those things can be provided by just thinking differently about the reorientation of buildings, how to integrate the highways within the plan and so forth. This does not cost more to deliver, it just requires a different way of thinking and designing. It’s about having a place based view of the outcomes.”

The Shelter project aims to map the structure of project teams that are employed by Social Housing Organisations in the energy upgrading of existing housing schemes. The intention is to identify the optimum team structure in the expectation that using the optimum team will lead to significant improvements in the final energy performance of the projects to which it is applied. This is akin to investigating models of integrated project delivery.

EMI introduces something new: a blog written by citizens of European cities. EMI offers individual inhabitants a platform to give their personal views and to share their knowledge on urban topics. Policy makers and researchers can gain insights into what really matters to the inhabitants of a city. Our first ´Talking Cityzen´ is Alexandru Ghita, urban planner in Bucharest. He gives his personal view on the development of Bucharest over the past 20 years.

The IMISCOE Research Network functions not only as a framework for developing research on international migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe, but also provides training to PhD students working within these themes. Yearly IMISCOE awards the Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award to applicants with the best dissertation in the field of migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe. Justus Uitermark is the winner of this year’s award for his dissertation titled ‘Dynamics of Power in Dutch Integration’.

Young people have been found less willing to buy a house in recent months. For middle-aged people willingness to buy is relatively stable, but it is lower than before the economic crisis of 2009.

From September 2011 onwards the EU funded Framework Programme 7 (FP7) project, URBAN-NEXUS, is in progress. A diverse group of research and knowledge dissemination institutes from across Europe have joined forces in order to promote sustainable urban development and to create long lasting partnerships between stakeholders. On 17 and 18 November a kick-off meeting was organised in Sofia, Bulgaria. The consortium will be led by Nicis Institute and brings together 13 other leading knowledge institutes, research organisations and governmental agencies from 9 EU-countries. EMI and EUKN both assist Nicis in this consortium.

In October 2011, the Dutch Planning Bureau for Living (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, PBL) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released for the fourth time the regional population and household forecast. The prognosis seeks the most likely future development to reflect the population and the number of households in the period 2011-2040. With the regional population and household projections PBL and CBS try to outline the most probable future based on current knowledge and understanding.

Which forms of transport are on a daily base used by European citizens? Is there support for ‘pay-as- you- drive’ policies among the EU population? Are people ready to buy a ‘cleaner’ vehicle instead of the traditional one? What are reasons for not making use of public transport and what can stimulate this use? The answer of these questions are of importance for establishing a sustainable, efficient and environmental friendly urban transport policy.

The high traffic rates in European cities have a great impact on environmental and economic damages. Air pollution, noise and greenhouse gas emission, delays and traffic accidents are good for a 100 billion euros each year, corresponding to about 1% of the EU’s GDP.

“We started off in Zhengzhou. We thought that it would be interesting to write an article about this city. What we saw over there was so interesting and worth telling, that we decided to write a book and include more cities.” Being interviewed is Michiel Hulshof, a Dutch journalist. Four years ago he decided to move to the country where everything seems to be happening at the moment, namely China. He worked as a correspondent and discovered that he was interested in topics that other people don’t write about. “We often hear about the coastal cities of China, Shanghai and Beijing to name a few, but what happens within China is often untold.” At a party in China, Hulshof met a Dutch architect named Daan Roggeveen. He also had an interest in cities. “So we decided to start a research on how the cities in the hinterland of China look like, how they are built, the urban design, the people living within the cities and the story behind them and their city.” This resulted in the book ‘How the city moved to Mr. Sun – China’s new megacities’.

Multiculturalism can refer to a demographic fact, a particular set of philosophical ideas, or a specific orientation by government or institutions toward a diverse population. Much of the contemporary debate over the value of multiculturalism centres on whether public multiculturalism — that which finds expression in concrete policies, laws, and regulations — is the appropriate way to deal with diversity and immigrant integration. Conceptual differences over the meaning of multiculturalism often lead to confusion and outright misunderstanding when people debate its challenges and benefits. This topic is discussed in Irene Bloemraad´s article titled “The Debate Over Multiculturalism: Philosophy, Politics, and Policy”.

European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) 2011 has flourished across European municipalities and towns in the recent weeks. An increasing number of cities and towns have organised this year thousands of events, meetings, competitions, exhibitions and lectures, mostly focused on “Human Rights” issues, the leading theme of the current edition of the week.

In March 2012, UN-HABITAT will present the DIA Award for Best Practices for the ninth time. The DIA Award is the oldest prize for innovative urban programmes. It was launched in 1996 in the run-up to the UN Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II Conference), and since then has been sponsored by Dubai.

Since the beginning of 2011, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has released the results of a comparative research partnership with the European University Institute (EUI) aimed at identifying ways in which Europe and the United States can address major immigration challenges facing policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cities are confronted with challenges of moving towards a sustainable urban mobility, where issues such as congestion, air quality, urban sprawl, CO2 emissions, the social meaning of mobility, demographic changes and road safety in urban areas deserve special attention. Cities are the appropriate actor to establish a sustainable and high quality of urban transport but also to combat problems of congestion, accidents and pollution. Over the years, this focus also became clear in the European policy. In March 2011 the Commission published the ‘White Paper Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area - Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system’.

Most European citizens live in urban areas, over 60% in areas who count more than 10.000 inhabitants. Their daily lives occur in the same place and the same infrastructure has to be shared. European cities are confronted with problems caused by transport and traffic. They are standing for a challenge to enhance mobility, ensure accessibility of people and create high quality, efficient transport services. At the same time they need to minimize and reduce congestion, accidents, pollution and preserving quality of life. Cities are the appropriate actor to establish a high degree of urban transport but also to combat these problems of congestion, accidents and pollution. Over the years, this urban focus also became clear in the European policy.

The cities of Bydgoszcz (Poland), Zaragoza (Spain) and Rotterdam (the Netherlands) are the winners of the EUROCITIES awards 2011. The awards recognise outstanding achievements by city councils in pioneering urban regeneration projects with a focus on ‘people’ as much as on ‘place’. The awards ceremony was held during the EUROCITIES annual conference, which ran until the 5th of November in Genoa, Italy.

A growing number of Polish immigrants get psychiatric and psychological help in the Netherlands. In the past 2 years 700 new cases were encountered at the Dutch Mental and Health Organisation (GGZ), where Polish-speaking employees work and are better able to communicate with Polish immigrant workers with mental issues. In general it can be said that they suffer from loneliness, bad housing and discrimination.

Yuri Kazepov is Professor of Urban Sociology and Compared Welfare Systems at the University of Urbino in Italy. He is a founding member of the Network for European Social Policy Analysis and the president of RC21, the research committee on urban and regional development of the international sociological association. In this interview he was asked a few questions about creating effective social cohesion policies. He gave a lot of useful examples of practices in cities.

Each year the city of Hamburg recruits over 600 people for training towards jobs in areas such as the city administration, taxation, police and fire services. Annual monitoring of the city’s vital signs – from economic data to demographic profiles – also made it clear to city officials that their recruits did not represent the diversity of the city’s population. Young people of migrant origin were underrepresented with the city administration and services.

Ghent, like many cities, deals with disorder caused by young people on its public transport system. As well as being an inconvenience for public transport employees and fellow passengers, Ghent faced significant financial implications due to vandalism of the network. Problems included graffiti, damage to vehicles including torn seats and broken windows, and anti-social behaviour by young people.

The 6th International Conference on Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics (PED) will be held from June 6th to June 8th 2012 at the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ). This is a call for both papers and posters presenting research on the topics listed on the homepage or related areas.

Commissioner Hahn received 2 EUROCITIES reports on Monday, 24 October 2012 during a Polish presidency conference in Warsaw. Tomasz Kayser, Deputy Mayor of Poznan, presented ‘Cities cooperating beyond their boundaries’ and Henk Kool, Deputy Mayor of The Hague, presented ‘A practitioner’s view on neighbourhood regeneration’.

Cities are major players on the global migration stage. Local governments are waking up to the impact of immigration, building inclusion into public policy while responding to new opportunities for business development and infrastructure design.

At the start of a new millennium, Europe is faced with major challenges, most of them resulting mainly from the globalisation process. The issues at stake cover a wide range of policy domains, the main ones being economic competitiveness and regeneration, social cohesion, demographic change, environmental sustainability, cultural development and democratic renewal. These challenges are linked, so answers to one of the challenges can even create problems regarding another. The policy of Europe 2020 reflects the urgency to meet some of the overriding challenges at all levels. The success in meeting these challenges will depend on the ability of Europeans to innovate, to accept new concepts and values, in other words new solutions to problems and new lifestyles.

Starting point for this report was a core group of 6 cities of the Working group of Urban Regeneration of EUROCITIES started 1,5 year ago a unique project in which practitioners working daily in deprived neighbourhoods, exchanged experiences and tested the mainstream ideas of urban regeneration against practical experiences.

Massive alcohol consumption by young people in public spaces, often referred to as “binge drinking”, is a growing phenomenon in most European cities. It has therefore become a focus of attention and is now mentioned frequently as a priority of local policy. This type of consumption must be taken into account on three levels: sanitary risks, potential anti-social behaviour and an increased risk of victimisation. Being interviewed is Mark Burton Page, who works for the European Forum for Urban Security (EFUS) on the project “Safer Drinking Scenes”: The Binge Drinking phenomenon (2011 – 2013). “This research will focus on the culture behind binge or heavy drinking within 10 European cities. We want to look into prevention but also look at repression of heavy alcohol consumption within Europe.”

Migration and development have become a pressing policy priority on the global agenda over the past decade, surfacing in high-level policy discussions in the Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. During this time, evolution of the conventional wisdom has yielded innovative — albeit in many cases yet unproven — policies and programs. In “Migration and Development Policy: What Have We Learned?”, Kathleen Newland, who directs the Migration Policy Institute’s (MPI) Migrants, Migration, and Development program, examines recent approaches to migration and development, and offers recommendations and insight within this policy arena.

Bordeaux Metropole is one of the largest urban areas in France, home to around 720,000 people and serving a large metropolitan area of 1.1 million citizens. Like any modern city, Bordeaux faces the challenge of providing an efficient and accessible public transport system to ferry its inhabitants – and the many tourists who flock to the city every year – back and forth. Bordeaux has grown swiftly over the past decade. The city was faced with an influx of traffic and identified the need to develop an alternative mode of transport.

Almost 450 resources are now available on the archive website of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship (DRC Citizenship), Participation and Accountability. DRC Citizenship was an experiment in global research. In 2001, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded a coordinating team, based at the Institute of Development Studies, to assemble a research consortium to investigate how citizens hold institutions to account and claim their rights.

Article 175 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union provided the legal basis for the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council of 5 July 2006 on a European grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC) (the EGTC Regulation), which entered into force on 1 August 2006 and has been fully applicable since 1 August 2007. It opened a new perspective in the domain of cooperation and enabled the creation of a new European instrument providing a legal structure for better cooperation between national, regional and local authorities and other public law bodies in different countries, especially in the context of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) Objective of Cohesion Policy.

European buildings are responsible for a considerable part of the EU energy consumption (40%) and CO2 emissions (36%). In order to meet the Kyoto climate change commitments and the EU Climate & Energy objectives, energy efficiency of the built environment must be improved. Because of the low European replacement rate of the building stock (1% per year), retrofitting existing buildings provides the solution. This sustainable renovation shows more complexities than new eco-constructions, namely because new eco-constructions already incorporate more recent technical solutions, while existing buildings require different solutions adjusted to specific needs.

“You can’t enjoy liberty until you have security.” Europol director Rob Wainwright was quoted saying to Public Service Europe. He stresses that because some problems are international, Europol has to work outside of the EU with Interpol, the American FBI and others. Wainwright stresses that cybercrime, terrorism and money laundering ask for a more integrated approach where several policing agencies work together in order to fight global crime and terrorism.

The Dutch Safety Effect Report (Veiligheidseffectrapportage, VER) identifies safety risks in spatial planning and building plans. Before construction actually starts, a risk assessment is performed and safety measures are proposed. The VER is an initiative by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, BZK). The instrument was developed in collaboration with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten, VNG) and representatives of the welfare services.

The creation of a barometer to measure objective and subjective security in Germany is being researched. Because ‘security’ is a complex, emotional, and normatively charged term, the BaSiD (Barometer of Security in Germany) will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to study its various layers. Representatives from the academic disciplines of sociology, criminology, media and communication studies, psychology, law and ethics will participate in the project.

Camera surveillance was initiated in 2 areas in Amsterdam as off 2004. The reason for this was the widespread drug-related nuisance and the increasing burden of partying public. The areas under surveillance are popular within the city, which means that safety is of top priority to attract foreigners, entrepreneurs and residents. The goal of installing the cameras in these neighbourhoods was to prevent crime, to increase objective and subjective safety, to detect crime and to improve emergency aid within the areas.

“I think there is often a tendency in security technology procurement – and military procurement too – where the thinking starts with, ‘we’ve got this amazing new technology, what can we use it for?’. And certainly in the early days, people were commenting upon CCTV as ‘a cure looking for an illness’. Instead, I think we’ve got to begin with an effective problem analysis. What problems are our priorities and how can we go about solving them?” Being interviewed is Professor of Criminology and Public Policy at the University of Brighton (UK), Peter Squires. “As far as CCTV goes, I think the introduction of it in town centres was very much influenced by major retail, banking and insurance priorities, who were only too pleased to take the CCTV subsidies paid by the British government to promote safer town centres – effectively ‘safer shopping, safer consumerism’. So it was also a question of urban reinvestment and renewal, but the policy was often dressed up as crime control but it’s always much more than that.”

“Universities in Europe are highly regarded in some parts of societies but are increasingly looked at with suspicion by others and within politics. This has resulted in more supervision by the government and also in less finance. That in itself is a downward spiral because it leaves universities with less possibilities to do well and to improve their educational system. In the end it will be the graduates from universities which will be the driving force behind future economic growth but also social cohesion.” Being interviewed is Jo Ritzen, author of ‘A Chance for European Universities’. Europe’s universities are very well represented among the world’s top 200 universities, but almost absent in the top 50. They are economically, culturally and socially underexploited. There is an urgent need to alter the context for European universities to strengthen the European competitive position through economic innovation, increased social cohesion and a more vibrant cultural dynamism. The unbalanced demographics in the world – with a virtually constant supply of graduates in the developed West and a potentially fast increase in the number of graduates in developing countries – pose both new threats and new opportunities for European universities.

The EUROCITIES awards recognise outstanding achievement by EUROCITIES members in the delivery of local activities or practices which improve the quality of life for citizens. From over 50 entries this year too the jury have selected 3 shortlisted entries for the categories - innovation, cooperation and participation.

Sometimes the public expects the government to see the future. Good decisions are to be expected while bad decisions — judged with the benefit of hindsight — are derided. Some help is on the way. IBM is betting that software can give cities a better look into their future.

In Berlin-Hellersdorf, the completion of a large new developing area was usedto expand and develop the large housing estate profoundly with regard to urbandevelopment and in a highly ecological way.

Now in its third year, the Urban Youth Fund established by UN-HABITAT with funding from the Government of Norway has supported several thousand young people across the world to improve their lives and their urban communities. UN-HABITAT recognizes the rapidly growing youth population in cities of the developing world as potential partners in sustainable urban development.

The call for proposals of the Smart City and Communities Initiative was launched on 20 July and will end 1st December 2011. Application is open for consortiums of at least 3 cities of 3 different countries that are facing common challenges. For a successful application, it is important that all cities of a consortium cooperate on common challenges. The added value generated by the cooperation has to be higher than the administrative burden.

“The lifestyle in Europe and the urban culture influence youth’s behaviour in particular in the developing countries. Among Ecofund’s registered users, there are users from Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Burundi and the Ivory Coast. They aspire to the same level of development as their European counterparts. But what kind of development? And at what price for our natural environment?”. Being interviewed is Markus Faschina, co-founder of Ecofund, a platform that allows people to fund or initiate an ecoproject and discuss our biodiversity for a greener world. “When we started, we thought of only supporting the Casamance Ecoparc in Senegal. But as we went on with the idea, other projects approached us for support. So we opted for a platform where people can interact, and “invest” in green projects instead of creating a website for a single project.”

TrainRebuild is targeting owners of buildings in the private sector who are reluctant to undertake energy upgrading of their buildings because of a phenomenon known as the “split-incentive” in which it is unclear that the person who invests in upgrading works will financially benefit from the resulting improvements.

On 1 July 2011, the European Commission launched a new 146 million euro fund aimed at supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Europe. The European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF) aims at providing market-based financing for commercially viable projects that can contribute to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, particularly in urban settings.

LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental and nature conservation projects throughout the EU, as well as in some candidate, acceding and neighbouring countries. LIFE support for agricultural communities comes in many forms, including studies that identify practical options to help farmers find economically viable ways of mitigating climate change.

The European Research Area network BiodivERsA is now in its second phase. The aims of this ERA-Net are to coordinate national research programmes on biodiversity across Europe and to organise international funding for research projects in this field.

The European Green Capital award, created by the European Commission, each year recognises a city which has a consistent record of high environmental standards and continues to strive for further environmental improvement. These cities act as role models for others hoping to achieve similar green credentials. This year the award was given to Hamburg for its ‘Train of Ideas’.

European cities face many significant challenges, including the current economic crisis, urban sprawl, and the longer-term implications of climate change and resource scarcity. Cities themselves currently account for around 70% of global emissions and are major contributors to the overall ecological footprint. In order for cities to effectively face these challenges, it is essential for all concerned stakeholders to collaborate. The EU funded Framework Programme 7 (FP7) project, URBAN-NEXUS, will, amongst other things, facilitate the process of bringing these stakeholders together, in view of reducing the overall ecological footprint of cities.

Illegal uses of buildings and homes can put a strain on the local living environment. The The Hague Residence Brigade focuses on the quality and use of the housing stock in deprived neighbourhoods. Its goal is to combine the knowledge, experience ánd manpower of different organisations involved in maintaining the housing stock, in order to be able to increase livability and decrease illegal practices.

With figures out today showing some households are continuing to struggle to pay their mortgage, English Housing Minister Grant Shapps has urged anyone who thinks that they may be at risk of losing their home to take action immediately. This was stated in a press release issued on August 11th, 2011.

The Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) is involved in a European Research Project called OPEN HOUSE. The objective of this project is to create an open-source, web-based sustainability assessment tool for all buildings.

“If you look at the food market, you will notice that it is capable of providing an amazing variety of products, with a great range in costs, from the cheapest to the most expensive. All have one thing in common: their quality is guaranteed, which means that if you eat them your health will be safe. Furthermore, as a potential buyer you are given access to a lot of information, like where the meat was processed, where the fish was caught or where the vegetables were grown. As a consumer, you are empowered to use these information to decide what you will buy, clearly also in relation to your budget.” Being interviewed is Dr. Federico De Matteis, an architect teaching architectural design at "Sapienza" University of Rome since 2006. “The housing market, in my opinion, is not less important than the food market, but you have nowhere as many choices as you have in that case. On the contrary, if your budget is constrained, you may not have any choice at all: like going to a supermarket where all is sold is one type of bread.”

In a research called ‘Measuring Socially Sustainable Urban Regeneration in Europe’ by Andrea Colantonio and Tim Dixon et. al. it is argued that previous research on sustainability has been mainly limited to environmental and economic concerns. However in recent years social sustainability has gained increased recognition as a fundamental component of sustainable development, beginning to receive political and institutional endorsement within the sustainable development agenda, and the sustainable urban regeneration discourse.

Over the last few decades waiting lists for social housing in the United Kingdom have grown to record proportions. At the same time a deepening sense of unfairness has grown about how this fundamental publicly-funded asset is used.

EUROCITIES believes that a more active role of cities in the future cohesion policy is the only way to reach Europe’s 2020 objectives of ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’. This will not be achieved without smart, sustainable and inclusive cities. Cities account for 75% of our population, 80% of energy use and 85% of Europe's GDP.

Integrated Urban Governance is an essential pre-requisite in order to face the many challenges with which today cities all over the world are confronted. Integration is, however, a challenging task to put into practice.

The Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (GPH), have come together at their 7th Global Forum in Zadar, Croatia, from 18 to 20 May 2011, to take stock of their work and to deal with the challenges of the future. The focus of the forum was the joint discussion and search for solutions for the challenges relating to the impact of climate change on coastal cities and the role of Parliamentarians as drivers of change. This exchange of experiences has enabled GPH to develop common approaches at global level, which can be used to fashion and strengthen initiatives within national legislative bodies.

To get citizens out of their cars and onto a newly-opened public trolley system, the city of Murcia, Spain recently embarked on a rather radical campaign: it offered people lifetime trolley passes in exchange for permanently relinquishing their cars.

Didier Ruedin and Gianni D'Amato from the Swiss Forum of Migration and Population Studies wrote a research report on Social Cohesion Challenges in Europe. To do so they looked at the European (EU) and American (US) Immigration Systems of 2011. The rationale for this project is to identify the ways in which EU and US immigration systems can be substantially improved in order to address the major challenges policymakers face on both sides of the Atlantic, both in the context of the current economic crisis, and in the longer term.

In a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs and higher education titled 'Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation' the major conclusions are that there are fewer women than men in STEM jobs and attaining degrees in STEM fields. But interestingly, that’s true despite the fact that the wage premium for women in STEM jobs is higher than that for men and that there’s greater income parity between genders in STEM fields than there is in the employment market as a whole.

Following a successful bid to the European Commission, EUROCITIES is taking the lead on a new project - NiCE (Networking intelligent Cities for Energy Efficiency), which will kick off in September 2011.

The 17th of May 2011 was a special day for The Netherlands as it was the first European country to present their Digital Agenda. The 32 largest cities in the Netherlands also introduced their own digital agendas. This agenda outlines the ICT policy for 2011-2015. The focus is on the contribution that ICT can make to economic growth in the Netherlands. The agenda is an extension of the Digital Agenda by EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

In a Focus Paper by the UITP, the International Association of Public Transport, different Combined Mobility services are presented, showing the economic and ecological advantages of partnerships, highlighting areas where coordination is mutually beneficial and giving advice on how best to collaborate. The aim of the paper is to convince public transport authorities and operators of the benefits of Combined Mobility services and to show them what services are missing in their product portfolio in order to become real mobility providers.

Barcelona City Council has identified prejudices and stereotypes that are commonly associated with the local migrant community. The city is now implementing an initiative to educate its citizens and combat negative perceptions of migrant groups.

As the United States moves through an extended period of economic difficulty, characterized by high rates of unemployment and “involuntary” part-time employment, enforcement of labour laws has become an even more critical concern. The presence of vulnerable workers, including those without immigration status, influences labour standards compliance, as does the necessity of many businesses to cut costs. Yet budgetary limitations — at both federal and state levels — constrain the ability of enforcement agencies to carry out their mandates. These are some of the findings in the research titled ‘Labor standards enforcement and low-wage immigrants: creating an effective enforcement system’ by Donald M. Kerwin and Kristen McCabe.

In the first six months of 2011 the Cities for Active Inclusion partners have focussed their research activities on the topic of active inclusion of young people. 9 city reports on the main trends, good practices and challenges for municipalities in integrating disadvantaged youths are now available.

“We need to make clear the significance of the topic, namely housing and architecture, throughout society. And it is not only about money. Getting young and old together is a social and political concern. We need to care for each other, helping in informal ways and in different kind of communities. Remember: architecture can support but not solve social problems.” Being interviewed are Eckhard Feddersen and Insa Lüdtke, authors of ‘A Design Manual, Living for the Elderly’. “The big change is still to come, the process is irreversible. The number of elderly will grow, but that does not mean, they all are alike and have the same needs. This will make the difference.”

The city of Düsseldorf has reported regular acts of violence that have been witnessed by passers-by who did not intervene. It seems that many people don’t know how to intervene efficiently without putting themselves in danger. However, a small gesture such as making an emergency call or alerting other passers-by can often have an important impact. Stakeholders agree that only a long-term plan could actually change behaviours. Therefore the city initiated the project “Get Involved!” (Flagge zeigen!).

Diversity in Europe was the subject of a debate hosted on 27 May 2011 during the 22nd European Foundation Centre (EFC)’s Annual General Assembly (AGA) and Conference in Cascais, Portugal.

UNESCO and the FC Barcelona signed a project partnership called ‘Youth voices against racism’ which affirms their joint commitment to raise public awareness on the role of education and sport in the development and wellbeing of children and youth and in promoting dialogue, mutual understanding and social cohesion.

On 20 July 2011 the European Commission (EC) adopted a European Agenda for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals, a contribution to the debate on how to understand and better support integration in European countries.

It’s no secret that people who live in the city – particularly those raised in one – have higher risk for anxiety and mood disorders than country folk. Studies upon studies have found this, and any city dweller could probably attest to this reality. But a new study in the journal Nature by author Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg finds that these behavioral differences can actually be seen in MRI scans of the brain itself. Knowing the psychological “risks” of the city, how do we counteract them?

“Even when democracy is custom made in accordance with the national cultural characteristics, differences in level of good governance will occur between countries within Europe. These differences are related, among others, to the level of wealth and political historic tracks.” Being interviewed is Dr. Oberon Nauta, criminologist and independent social scientist specialist in the public administration of Caribbean part of the Dutch Kingdom. In the latter capacity Nauta was assigned in 2006 by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdomrelations to carry out a research project on good governance in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. This resulted in a PhD dissertation titled ‘Good Governance in ‘The West’ – Institutional and social constraints of good governance in the Caribbean parts of the Dutch Kingdom’. “Despite similarities between the Dutch and the Caribbean system of checks-and-balances there is a huge difference in governance within the Dutch Kingdom. The Netherlands is known as one of the best, whereas the Caribbean counterparts perform far worst.”

Youth on the Move is a collective term for initiatives that focus on the improvement of training and education of young people all over Europe. It is part of the Europe2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. 20 percent (almost 100 million people) of all EU inhabitants are aged under 30, and are therefore pivotal to the European economy. At the same time, more than 20 percent of all youngsters are currently unemployed.

In the European Union (EU), currently 73 percent of the population lives in urban areas of over 20.000 inhabitants. Apart from the 2 mega-poles of London and Paris, Europe is characterised by a unique polycentric structure of large, midsize and small cities. However, population is a relative criterion- and sustainable urban development within Cohesion Policy is not only about big cities. A small town in a sparsely populated area plays a significant role in the regional economy. The EU needs cities of all sizes to succeed in the ambitions for smart, sustainable and socially inclusive growth objectives which have been set in the Europe 2020 strategy. The EU will be most successful in pursuing this agenda if all regions, especially those with the greatest potential for higher productivity and employment are able to play their part.

Although officials have extensively praised Italian e-government services, it turns out that the Italian public is largely unaware of the availability of online governmental services. E-government, that has been under construction since the 2000 Lisbon Strategy, is called a public ghost. Also, its user friendliness is disputed. Although some call the services easy to access and clear, the few people that actually made the effort to use the services experienced all kinds of discouraging trouble.

Throughout the holidays, subway stations in Warsaw (Poland) will be closed one after another in order to equip platform edges with safety “bubbles” and reflective stripes.

There is an increased need for the involvement of civil-society organizations (CSO’s) in agenda-setting and policy implementation in the context of European migration policy. CSO’s form a crucial link between governments and societies, and can provide for more effectivity and greater legitimacy of policy. Governments acknowledge this, and emphasize the need for CSO’s involvement, but appear to lack the know-how to establish effective cooperation. In the paper The Role of Civil Society in EU Migration Policy: Perspectives on the European Union’s Engagement in its Neighborhood Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan identifies 7 preconditions that can facilitate successful engagement.

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has launched a public consultation in order to put forward recommendations for the future post-2013 European programme “Europe for citizens”.

“You will often hear professionals say: I have reached my goals, my project has affected many young people (or another target group). But do neighbourhoods benefit from this kind of attitude? The fact that you are doing well on a project does not mean that you are doing the right things.” Being interviewed are Erik van Marissing (Verwey-Jonker Institute) and Inge van der Beijl (TNO Research Institute), both researchers in the project area of neighbourhood safety. By doing research within this area the researchers would like to develop a method for municipalities to get residents involved for a long term in neighbourhood safety. The pilot in the neighbourhood Transvaal in The Hague, the Netherlands, is almost completed. In this interview the researchers explain how the pilot has worked up to now.

The European Forum for Urban Security (Efus) is planning to submit a project in the framework of the call for proposals ‘Preparatory action in the field of sport 2011’. The aim of the project will be to develop a specific network to prevent and fight violence in football, at professional and amateur levels.

John Laub of the National Institute of Justice, USA, and Robert Sampson of Harvard University, USA, were awarded the 2011 Stockholm Prize in Criminology in a ceremony at Stockholm City Hall on the evening of June 14. The Queen of Sweden presented the prize to the winners for their research showing why and how criminals stop offending.

According to the European Commission (EC) EU countries must do much more to reduce their energy consumption. At the current rate the EU 2020 goals to consume at least 20 percent less energy by then will not be met. The existing measures will only lead to half of the EU 2020 target. On Wednesday 22nd of June 2011 the EC proposed legislation with which to oblige Member States to do more.

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam has hosted the Best Dutch Book Designs for nearly 80 years. This year too the museum is presenting this annual exhibition, featuring the best-designed books of 2010.

This initiative, entitled “Fairness brings more”, consists in training teachers as school mediators, and students as peer mediators. One interesting aspect of this programme is that it is based on a public-private partnership with local companies.

In both Europe and the United States the volume of global travel is putting ever more pressure on border management. Terrorist attacks, human trafficking and illegal immigration pose further challenges to the effective management of state borders. The paper Emerging Transatlantic Security Dilemmas in Border Management offers a number of recommendations for the consideration of policymakers.

This year EUROCITIES celebrates 25 years of successful work to promote the urban agenda in Europe. As part of the anniversary activities, EUROCITIES is marking the occasion by publishing a photo book, 'my city - my view', showing how young people in our member cities between 15 and 25 view their city today

The French ‘Les Compagnons du voyage’ (the transportation companion), created in 1993, offers an aid service in public transportation for children, elderly- or disabled people. The idea behind this practice is that it helps to acquire or maintain independence.

On Monday, May 16 2011, the new House of Europe (Huis van Europa) was opened by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and vice president of the European Parliament Stavros Lambrinidis in The Hague. Also present at the launching event was Queen Beatrix of the House of Orange, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and euro commissioner Neelie Kroes.

In 1999 the European Union signed the Treaty of Rome, bringing asylum policy within the competence of the European Commission (EC). Subsequently, the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) was created, aimed at the regulation of European refugee protection. The research paper ‘The European Union and the Challenges of Forced Migration: From Economic Crisis to Protection Crisis?’ argues that the effects of the current economic crisis may negatively affect the protection of refugees, because Member States tend to install restrictive asylum policies in times of economic downturn. Now that the CEAS has reached its consolidation phase, the paper seeks to reassess its 4 main strategic pillars against the background of the economic crisis. The paper’s main conclusions per pillar are highlighted below.

Sheffield, Skopje, Charlerois, Lublin, Graz and Chartres; they are all interesting European cities but they are not really well known amongst the greater public according to Flemish-Dutch cultural platform De Buren (The Neighbours). With this idea in mind the platform has chosen to invite artists from around the world to visit a number of ‘less-known’ European cities and write their personal story about their experience and life in the city in City Books.

Since the program ‘Do it in Barcelona’ started in 2009, its successes are numerous. Over 1300 participants attended program presentations, one third of all foreign entrepreneurs used its Barcelona Activa’s Entrepreneurship Centre, and the program succeeded in bringing together 15 public and private partners. The urgency to draw talent to the city is widely felt. Barcelona’s choice is to focus on the individual.

The European Metropolitan network Istitute (EMI) was launched in 2010. Read about EMI's achievements and activities in the annual report 2010.

All over Europe, cities are investing in knowledge hotspots. By doing so they hope to attract knowledge and creativity, which enhances their competitiveness. Centers of knowledge used to be mostly situated in suburban areas. Today, however, they are increasingly being integrated in urban areas. The paper ‘Urban Hotspot 2.0’ by Willem van Winden, Lead Expert of the REDIS project, highlights some of the challenges that cities face in the need to sustainably integrate these newly emerging hotspots in existing urban environments.

On 19 May the ministers adopted conclusions on "An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020", inviting the member states to pursue goals in the fields of education, employment, healthcare and housing, so as to close the gaps between marginalised Roma communities and the general population.

The Dutch municipality Westland is one of the major agricultural and horticultural areas in the Netherlands, hence the world. The majority of Polish workers has only recently moved to this area to work. They usually find work through an agency. Polish immigrants have worked in Hillegom and Katwijk, the dune and bulb region, for a longer time. Half the workers in Westland and a quarter of the workers in Hillegom and Katwijk intend to stay only briefly (at most 1 or 2 years) in the Netherlands. This appears from the research by the Erasmus University Rotterdam in collaboration with Nicis Institute about the living conditions and labor market position of Polish workers in the municipalities of Westland, Hillegom and Katwijk.

“In Hungary there is a big problem concerning demographic change. To solve this we have to think about what we can do at local level. Sometimes the solution to help for example elderly people is quite simple.” Being interviewed is Dr Péter Szaló, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior in Hungary. From January until June 2011 Hungary is EU President. On May 2nd 2011 the Budapest Communiqué was made public during the Directors General meeting. The focus of this document is on demographic and climate challenges. “For Hungary it was a practical choice to focus on these issues. But we know that they play a big role in other European cities as well.”

The Global Alliance for EcoMobility will officially launch the EcoMobility SHIFT project on 19 May 2011 – a project which started in June 2010 and aims to recognize local governments’ achievements in promoting sustainable and diversified mobility.

Economic growth is often at the expense of the environment. Not only are natural resources like minerals, oil, water, fish and timber scarce, the environment is also polluted with harmful substances. In the past 20 years, the pressure on the environment has increased less rapidly than economic growth, but natural resources are still affected. The absolute pressure on the environment will continue, so the quality of our environment remains at stake.

While the economic crisis has a short term effect on the demand for most labor, in the long run labor immigrants will be much needed to keep the European economy running. Within 10 years Europe will be confronted with an enormously increased demand for all types of labor. 73 million retirees will have to be substituted, whereas transformation of European economies will create 7 million new jobs. Immigration can help meet this increasing demand for labor, and sustain high levels of social welfare.

The latest report by EUROCITIES is called ‘Cities and active inclusion: quality of social services and the social economy’. The report provides an analytical overview of trends, challenges and innovative practices on active inclusion at local level in 10 cities throughout the European Union. It is based on 10 research reports produced by 10 cities. 5 cities looked at the issue of providing quality social services (Barcelona, Birmingham, Brno, Copenhagen, and Sofia), and 5 cities focused on the role of the social economy in supporting active inclusion (Bologna, Krakow, Lille Métropole-Roubaix, Rotterdam and Stockholm).

In course of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the attention was drawn to some of the most pressing global challenges of urban areas. Having cross-border influence, demographic and climate challenges can only be tackled with international cooperation adjusting to the principles of sustainability. That is what the Budapest Communiqué on European Urban Areas Facing Demographic and Climate Challenges stands for. The document was accepted on 2nd May 2011 by the Directors General of the Member States responsible for urban development.

In an age where global challenges will significantly influence the life of each city, the Hungarian EU Presidency pays special attention to sustainable development of cities and towns. The Presidency aims to contribute to European urban policy thinking by focusing on climate change, a major challenge that our cities face. The ‘CLIMATE-FRIENDLY CITIES, A Handbook on the Tasks and Possibilities of European Cities in Relation to Climate Change’ supports European cities and towns in their combat against climate change by widening the European knowledge base.

Demographic change is one of the most serious challenges Europe will face in the upcoming decades. The aim of this report is to give a broad overview of the complexity of the problems, paying special attention to their territorial dimension and to the question of what the urban level can do to influence demographic change in a favourable way, or to at least accommodate its consequences.

The Lee Yuan Kew City Prize is a biennial international award to recognise individuals and organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the creation of vibrant, liveable and sustainable urban communities around the world.

During a conference, confrontationally entitled ‘Non-City?’, organized by the European Forum for Architectural Policies (EFAP) and the Urban Intergroup on February 9th2011, the future of European urban development was discussed. The blunt title captured the open spirit of the conference, in which a wide variety of different professionals, ranging from architects to policymakers and even the odd philosopher, expressed their views on the challenges and solutions for European Cities. Do we need European urban policy? How do we avoid depressing suburban areas which nonetheless cost us our nature and rural areas (urban sprawl)? And what are the consequences of the omnipresent theme of greenness for architecture?

"It is quite remarkable that when restructuring neighborhoods native Dutch people are much more likely to move from the neighborhood being tackled to a ‘non-concentrated’ area where there is lots of diversity. Non-natives/immigrants also benefit, but natives gain more. " Being interviewed is Wenda Doff, who got her PhD on October 19, 2010 for her thesis on ‘Puzzling neighborhood effects’. In her study she shows how social inequality is maintained or created on the housing market.

“The Heart of Budapest” programme aims to revitalise the urban space by restricting traffic in its historic centre. Budapest has experienced a significant increase in amount of traffic in the past 20 years. Now the area is reallocated primarily to pedestrians and cyclists. With this urban renewal programme the attractiveness of the city centre is regained for its local residents.

In Hollands Diep magazine Joris van Casteren has written a series for the New Town Institute (INTI) called ‘Droomsteden’ meaning City of Dreams. Some of the new towns which he has described in this series are Gropiusstadt in Berlin, the Polish Nowa Huta and Danish Albertslund. In his last article he described new town, Stevenage which is near London. Citizens of Stevenage were promised a town which the whole world would look at as an example of a successful new town. The opinion on the outcome varies however.

New ideas that create value for society are called public sector innovation in the new book by Christian Bason. He argues however that these innovations are not actually new. Public leaders around the world are demonstrating how a significantly more conscious and systematic approach to creating innovative solutions can effectively address some of our most pressing societal challenges. In ‘Leading Public Sector Innovation – Co-creating for a better society’ it is argued that, in spite of significant barriers, it is possible to systematically apply the practices and tools of innovation that are embodied by organisations to create radical new value for society.

Climate street parties, energy boxes, model homes: these are just some of the examples of city projects aimed at saving energy in existing homes. There are much more examples which are mainly aimed at informing people and at raising awareness. However, these initiatives alone are not sufficient. Chairman, Mirjam de Rijk, alderman in Utrecht (the Netherlands), together with the advisory board Sustainable City Development of Nicis Institute, have formulated some recommendations for fellow city officials and the Dutch government about saving energy in existing houses.

Local and regional authorities are key actors in combating the challenges of climate change. For this, cities and regions need to develop integrative instruments and climate strategies. However, adjusting their existing policies turns out to be more difficult than expected. The CHAMP project supports European local actors in implementing climate-friendly policies by promoting and providing trainings in implementing Integrated Management System (IMS) for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

An integrated approach of sustainability in cities. That is where the Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities (RFSC) aims at. The RFSC is an online tool that helps cities to prioritise the actions needed to meet their objectives regarding sustainable development. On 15 and 16 March 2011 Nicis Institute assisted in the organisation of the launching event for the Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities (RFSC).

Social networks are utilized every day throughout the world by family, friends, community members, businesses, organizations, government agencies, and a wide range of others. But not all social networks are created equal. Migrant social networks are quite different from others in terms of their composition, how they are used, and the effect they have on the lives of millions of people currently living and working away from home. While the notion that social networks play a role in one’s life may seem quite obvious, the importance of migrant networks in affecting outcomes for migrants, their families, and their communities cannot be overstated.

Women who immigrate to Europe in the 21st century come in search of economic opportunity, to join family members, or as asylum seekers and refugees. They arrive through legal channels or can be unauthorized; they migrate voluntarily or can be forced to migrate; and some are victims of human trafficking or other forms of exploitation.

Residential development at the urban fringe raises the cost of trips to open space. In the discussion paper ‘A Taste for Trips out of Town: Urban Sprawl and Access to Open Space’ by Wouter Vermeulen and Jan Rouwendal from the VU University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands a simple expression is derived for the tax that internalises this effect of sprawl in a monocentric city. It is applied using survey data on recreational activity.

Dutch Minister Ivo Opstelten of Security and Justice, Belgian Minister Stefaan De Clerck of Justice and the Luxembourg Minister of Justice, François Biltgen, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Maastricht for cooperation in the field of Cyber Security. With the MoU, the 3 countries emphasise the importance of close cooperation between government, industry and science. Therefore, within the Benelux initiatives to exchange information and expertise are designed, best practices are shared and public-private partnerships are further improved. Also, the ministers have agreed to talk regularly about Cyber Security. Representatives from industry and science within the Benelux region were also present at the conference.

“I chose the topic of open green spaces because I believe that the theme of urban parks is a vital issue for the quality of the urban environment. Therefore I come with a simple question: “What would New York city be without Central Park?””. Isabella M. Mambretti describes this by means of landscape visualisation in her book ‘Urban Parks between Safety and Aesthetics’. “I started a PhD research at the ETH Zürich in collaboration with the Greenspace Project research (European Commission 5th Framework Programme and BBW). The focus of my dissertation was to deepen the knowledge in data based on high detailed visualisation for landscape planning.”

Every year thousands of young people take part in European activities like school debates, exchanges and internships abroad. The effect is often invisible. This is unfortunate according to Europe4me. Young people often think more positive about Europe than is assumed.

Climate Change causes new threats to cities, urban decision-makers and city officials therefore need to adapt their policies and strategies. The Committee of the Regions published in the beginning of 2011 the report “Adaptation to Climate Change: Policy instruments for adaptation to climate change in big European cities and metropolitan areas”. To ensure adaptation local and regional authorities must be recognised as key actors. Many urban policy makers are already anticipating and to maximise effectiveness good practices must be shared. The study offers innovative tools and guidance by evaluating existing best practices from 20 European cities.

The Europan 11 competition is taking place in conditions marked by a strong commitment amongst European cities to very stringent environmental objectives. This year’s topic is ‘resonance between territories and ways of life’. Europan 11 is a European federation of national organisations, which manages architectural competitions followed by building or study projects, launched simultaneously by several countries on common theme, objectives and rules. The open competitions are anonymous and public calls for ideas on a European scale.

The situation of Central and Eastern European migrant workers in West Brabant municipalities Breda, Moerdijk and Zundert is quite different. This applies to the living situation, employment situation and future prospects. This is evident from the recent research by the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The integration of non-western immigrants in the Netherlands is going well on most fronts. This is apparent from the Annual Report 2010 on Integration from CBS. More foreigners are enrolled in higher education. In the report 4 ethnic groups are central: Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antillean migrants. In addition, newer immigrant groups such as Poles and Bulgarians are also covered. The report shows developments in various aspects associated with the process of integration.

China is booming: literally. The Chinese are planning one new town after another. Urbanisation is seen as the driver of economic development. In Shanghai several dozen of new towns have been planned that will accommodate an average of 800.000 inhabitants by 2020. In these new towns, numerous buildings, roads and services therefore need to be developed. Dutch urban planner Harry den Hartog visits China on a regular basis to study the country’s enthusiasm for construction. His book ‘Shanghai New Towns’ has just been released, in which he investigates the new towns around Shanghai. These new towns are often based on Western models. Could we learn something about what is happening in Shanghai’s new towns in Europe as well?

Does sustainability only make you think about solar energy, reducing green house gases and recycling? Then think again, because according to the international DESIS network (Design for Social Innovation & Sustainability), sustainability is much more than those well-known examples. DESIS – consisting of (design)schools, institutions, companies and non-profit organizations interested in design for social innovation and sustainability – supports creative bottom-up innovations that contribute to more sustainable and happier lives for people around the world.

“I am trying to find the factors leading to drop out and I also make recommendations for prevention and support for young people in these situations.” Maryse Esterle is a Sociology Professor at the University of Artois. She teaches at l’Institut universitaire de formation des maîtres (IUFM) d’Arras (IUFM is now part of the University of Artois). “I teach part time and I am researcher the other part of my time. My teaching is primarily to train future teachers - who work with children from 3 to 12 years in primary school and sometimes secondary school pupils. My research focuses on school dropouts and student absenteeism/truancy. My last research has focused on prevention of truancy and school dropout in general and vocational high schools and colleges in Paris. My previous researches took place in Northern France.”

Urban areas face many different challenges on a daily basis. To help you get answers to these questions in a simple and fast manner, the European Metropolitan network Institute (EMI) has set up a new knowledge exchange tool for urban areas: Ask-Your-Urban-Neighbour. Learn from the experiences of other cities and share your specific experiences with other urban areas. Let EMI do the work for you: submit your questions and be assured of a reply within a few weeks.

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) has updated their forecast for skills sup[ply and demand in Europe in order to review the impact of the recent recession. In general, the crisis seems to have speeded up the shift from employment in primary and manufacturing sectors towards the service industries.

According to the Structural Fund guidelines, culture is not expected to help economic development underway. Its likely contribution to the promotion of creativity and innovation is not pointed out, and its relationship with the knowledge economy is not mentioned either. An overall vision for a coherent and systematic contribution from the sector to issues addressed by Cohesion policy appears to be absent. The subsequent analysis, however, examines the actual contributions of culture-based interventions against the whole range of Structural Fund objectives and reveals a different story.

In these times of high unemployment due to the crisis, the issue of impending labour and skill shortages seems farfetched. However, the retirement of the baby boom generation over the coming 20 years is expected to cause scarcities in areas that are crucial for economic development. As a result of retirements, vacancies caused by replacement needs could be double the number due to economic growth. So what can be done to encourage mature workers to remain in the labour force, and to share their knowledge and experiences?

The European Commission has developed an Energy Efficiency Plan to meet its objective to reduce EU energy consumption by 20% in 2020. The plan complements the Europe 2020 Strategy and encourages efficient use of all energy sources to guarantee environmental protection. The year 2020 is approaching and it is necessary to act fast to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to secure energy supply. Therefore, all EU institutions, Member States and involved stakeholders should take further steps towards energy efficiency.

A Think Tank on “Financing the Resilient City” composed of 20 experts was convened by ICLEI in Bonn/Germany from 10-12 February 2011. Participants brought to the table expertise from local governments, city networks, private financial services, development banks, development agencies, United Nations agencies, and foundations.

“Our aim was to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of the ‘state of play’ of subnational democracy in the 27 member states of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. We also wished to advance reflection on the theory of democracy itself as this is practiced at the subnational level.” Being interviewed is Professor John Loughlin about his newest book (also edited by Frank Hendriks and Anders Lidström). The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe. “I think we have succeeded in doing this and the book is a unique text both theoretically and in the wealth of data it contains.”

ICLEI has taken part in the UN CSD Intergovernmental Preparatory meeting in New York and has made the case for local governments.

Taking into account the context of globalization, glocalization and political rescaling, the research by Ernesto d’Albergo takes stock of the ways urban issues are processed in the political agendas of Western European cities. In the research titled ‘Urban issues in nation-state agendas: a comparison in Western Europe’ 4 case studies (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are used. A typology of ‘national urban policies’ is proposed, based on their explicit versus implicit focus on issues spatially defined as urban ones as well as the direct versus indirect character.

In ‘Capitalization of Central Government Grants into Local House Prices – Panel Data Evidence from England’ the impact of central government grants on local house prices in England using a panel data set of local authorities (LAs) from 2001 to 2008 is explored. Electoral targeting of grants to LAs by the incumbent national government provides an exogenous source of variation in grants that are exploited to identify their causal effect on house prices.

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, calls is it a real scandal. Euro commissioner, Viviane Reding, says that the situation has to be different by 2012 otherwise new laws will be installed which will be met by sanctions if they are not carried out properly. Both women are at the top of their industries which is why they are so disappointed that even today in 2011 there are still too little women in top management positions in major European companies.

In the UK approximately 9.2 million people do not use or have access to computers or the internet. The UK online centres network encourages individuals and communities to get online. Especially those who live in disadvantaged social and financial circumstances. At the moment there are 3800 online centres of which more than a half are located in UK’s deprived areas. These centres are mostly situated in public buildings such as schools, libraries, housing associations and community centres. The main aim of the network is not only to teach individuals ICT skills, but also to build up communities and to generate social inclusion.

Population ageing affects most regions in the world, and in Europe this development is picking up speed. Today, the most important force causing population change in Europe is international migration, while the traditional importance of natural population growth has diminished. The report presents the outcomes of the ESPON 2013 project ‘Demographic and Migratory Flows affecting European Regions and cities (DEMIFER)’. Key objectives of this project were to assess the variable economic and social effects of demographic trends and the influence of migration flows on European regions and cities.

It has already been five years since the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions came into force. The good practice guide "Mapping cultural diversity" examines the implementation of the UNESCO Convention by collecting 39 practices from around the globe. "Mapping cultural diversity" illustrates innovative and sustainable projects from cities and regions which promote the diversity of cultural expressions. It also outlines the interaction between policies and practices in reaching the objectives of the UNESCO Convention. All actors on local, regional, national and international level are involved and stimulate cultural activities in the fields of media, education, creative industries and research.

Video surveillance is on the rise, ever since the events of September 11th 2001 prioritised Security as a core issue on many agenda’s. Now that the initial emotions have lessened, cities have begun to question themselves as so the pertinence this technology in preventive actions, its effectiveness and also the advantages and disadvantages ensuing from its use. The project ‘Citizens, Cities and Video Surveillance’ considers these questions, and identifies good practices.

The European Union Institute and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) have announced a partnership project. The first in a series of research studies will identify ways in which the United States and Europe can address major immigration challenges policymakers are facing on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Turkish group Sokak Savasa Karsi started, in 4 cities around Turkey, a street based animation to fight terrorism and war. Silhouettes of soldiers were cut into pieces and then attached to the walls of several districts.

UN-HABITAT and the University of Peace (UPEACE) have signed an agreement offering a new course in urban governance. The programme is designed for post-graduate students keen to contribute to a better urban future.

There are relatively many incidents within companies with ICT security. Problems such as the failure of ICT services, external attacks, destruction of data by viruses and disclosure of confidential data from theft, phishing and pharming. In 2009, 25 percent of large enterprises (250 and more employees) in the EU were affected.

As city populations are growing rapidly, the need for sustainable and practicable urban planning becomes more important. The project New Medina focuses on the creation of new towns in four Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Italy and France. Through the exchange of experiences and know-how, the network aims to facilitate local authorities and communities in seeking sustainable solutions for urban planning challenges. The project is part of the CIUDAD programme, launched by the European Commission.

In 2009, nearly 12.5 billion euros were spent to prevent and combat crime, degradation and pollution in the Netherlands. That is 4% more than in 2008. Expenditure in 2009 represent 2.2 percent of gross domestic product.

The Immigrant Council of Ireland has implemented a mentoring programme for immigrants in order to promote their integration into the Irish society. The ICI emphasises the link between immigration and integration and has
developed a number of programmes which promote the economic, political and social participation of people who have migrated to Ireland. The evaluation of their mentoring programme contains valuable lessons learned and general pointers for developing a mentoring programme in other societies.

Which European city can claim to be the ideal capital of the European Union of today and tomorrow, given the possibilities for future enlargements? Based on four different indicators, this article considers several alternative locations. Is there a chance that such a movement will take place?

Active Inclusion is an EU strategy which aims to promote the social inclusion and social protection of those furthest from the labour market by tackling issues of minimum income, access to quality services and inclusive labour markets in an integrated way. This report outlines the main points raised by cities on active inclusion strategies

The success of cities is linked to their efficiency, in reducing transaction costs and providing services. However, in order to maintain this success, cities have reinvented themselves many times through history. Today, Information Technologies are doomed to be the key driver of a new wave of innovation in cities that will lead, one more time, to their reinvention.

Soil is the earth's living skin and provides us with essential services for life in our planet: production of food; infiltration and cleansing of water and protection against flooding; habitat for plants; areas for recreation and mental health; micro climate regulation, etc. It is such a crucial resource that it can't be ignored. However, particularly in urban areas, soil is being sealed off with increasing housing and infrastructure.

While economists continue to disagree about the costs and benefits of less-skilled immigrants, as well as the policies that govern their admission to the United States, a review of the research literature by Georgetown Public Policy Institute Professor Harry Holzer makes clear there should be significant reform of the immigration system to better harness the benefits of low-skilled immigration and mitigate its costs.

In the fall of 2009/2010, about 30 percent of the school dropouts of 2004/2005 had returned back to school or had obtained the minimum level of education to turn to higher education (a so-called ‘starting qualification’) in the Netherlands. This was more the case for women than it was for men.

After London School of Economics’ (LSE) revisions to the last London plan, London: Bigger and Better? (2006), things have changed. Four years after the publication, there is a new draft plan, a new Mayor with potentially greater powers and serious economic uncertainty, which raises considerable questions about continuing growth. Public spending cuts could jeopardize some of the programmes that address both existing and new needs.

For the three-quarters of Europe’s population that live in cities and towns, a good urban environment is a precondition for a good quality of life. It seems, in part, that over the last decade, attitudes to living in cities have been changing. People are no longer moving away from cities (or have returned to them), residential sprawl has slowed and, in a third of cities, the population is concentrating in city centres. These are some of the findings in the report: Urban environment – SOER 2010 thematic assessment.

Homelessness constitutes a major challenge for policy-makers throughout Europe. Many localities have been able to realise important improvements in their services for homeless people, and this guide provides an overview of all the priorities and components that successful strategies contain. An integrated and pragmatic approach to the issue is of central importance: to be effective, strategies must be adapted to fit the realities of local contexts. The strategies must be backed up by policies relating to housing, employment, health and education.

The Brussels-Capital Region is the largest employment area in Belgium and provides employment for 650,000 people. Less than half of these jobs are held by people living in the Brussels Region, a situation that results in serious mobility challenges. This study explores the modal shift potential of ‘free’ public transport for commuters in Brussels. However, this analysis can structure the way in which other cities are considering their mobility projections.

“Do you expect me to be proud because somebody from Tampa knows where Bilbao is because of the Guggenheim Museum?”. She’s a proud Basque, Arantxa Rodriguez says of herself, but it also becomes apparent during her presentation at the Urbact Multilevel Urban Governance Conference in Liege, Belgium. Rodriguez tells a room full of participants about the real Guggenheim effect and how it cannot be accredited fully for the success that is Bilbao. She explains that Bilbao used to be very rich then there was a crisis and then there was the Guggenheim, according to many. Not Rodriguez. “Bilbao, beautiful and attractive! But for who?” is the name of her presentation. “What I have been arguing for the last 15 years is that urban regeneration in Bilbao is a multidimensional process involving a series of dynamics at various scales (not necessarily always strategically coordinated or integrated) that extend well beyond the simplistic reduction of “the Guggenheim effect””.

On December 15th 2010 the research and education network ‘Heritage and Space’ (Erfgoed en Ruimte) has been launched in the Netherlands. 3 chairs will boost scientific research and higher education at the crossroads of cultural heritage, spatial design and spatial planning and to update its performance practice.

For 5 years City Mine(d) has been connecting urban gardeners to cyclists, DIY-ers to urban planners, and kitchen chefs to IT-ers through projects in public space. What these people have in common is the use of their creativity to make daily life in cities more fun and more fair.

Europe is now an essentially urban society, with 4 out of 5 Europeans living in towns and cities. Most of the environmental challenges facing our society originate from urban areas, but it is also these urban areas that bring together the commitment and innovation needed to resolve them.

In July 2010 London has launched a bike hire scheme with the goal of 50,000 journeys per day. Barclay’s Cycle Superhighways ran 2 successful pilots in which it was suggested that residents were prepared to consider cycling to work or for leisure, as long as it's made safe and easy for them.

As a professional working in one of the main urban areas in Europe, you understand as no one else that urban areas face many different challenges on a daily basis. How to create an effective and efficient civil service for your inhabitants? How to profile your urban area as creative? How to stimulate employment rates? How to implement sustainable public transport? How to set up a child playground according to EU-regulations?

In Turkey, the need for improving quality of spatial life in urban settlements, strengthening economic and social structure, and restructuring the spatial planning system has been gradually increasing. Therefore, an ‘Urban Development Strategy and Action Plan’ had to be created.

New Towns and satellite cities are created by governments based on a master plan approach to solve problems linked to rapid urbanization, demographic growth (i.e., housing needs) and rapid development. In Europe, New Towns refer to towns created after World War II to meet housing needs and to alleviate traffic congestions around the main capital cities. Pascaline Gaborit makes an in depth comparative analysis of European New Towns in her book ‘European New Towns – Image, Identities, Future Perspectives’.

This Discussion Paper has been prepared by INTERACT as an input to the consultation process that the European Commission has initiated based on the 5th Cohesion Report. It discusses the way in which ETC can contribute to Territorial Cohesion, the new goal of Cohesion Policy – and the ways in which Territorial Cooperation can be aligned with strategic EU2020 goals.

The European Commission has just launched an online public consultation to gather views on the next financial instrument for the environment, to succeed LIFE+ in the period 2014-2020. Your opinion is welcome on its objectives, priorities and support modalities. This online consultation is one part of a wider public consultation, whose responses will be taken into account in the European Commission's proposal for a new instrument.

This first Annual Growth Survey marks the start of a new cycle of economic governance in the EU and the first European semester of economic policy coordination. According to the latest forecasts, there are signs of economic recovery albeit still uneven. The rise in unemployment is perceived as a central problem for policy action.

CEMR (The Council of European Municipalities ) has published recently its position paper on the 5th cohesion report. The report provides key messages and recommendations in order to foster the development and territorial potential of all EU regions. In the paper CEMR stresses the importance of local and regional authorities in implementing EU policies and achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion.

Integration is all about inclusion: social, political, economic as well as cultural. Through a local mentoring programme, immigrants were helped to face any obstacles they might come across in realising their participation in society. At the same time, the mentors gained an enriching insight in another culture and a migration experience. This guide provides support and practical tips for organisations who wish to undertake a similar programme in their communities.

Three houses in the Dutch neighbourhood ‘Korrewegwijk’ in Groningen have been transformed into temporary bed-and-breakfasts. This area is one of the Vogelaarwijken (deprived areas in the Netherlands), and Stee-in-Stad (which literally means ‘a bed in Groningen’) contributes to positive developments in the neighbourhood. Local artists and inhabitants have jointly decorated the nine rooms in these houses. In addition, day-to-day management of the facility is in the hands of persons with a low employability who can gain crucial working experience by working there.

Public parks are not a frill, but essential to the idea of community and, even more. In his book ‘Public Parks: The Key to Livable Communities’, planner Alexander Garvin explains how parks came to be, how they are quite literally the common ground our culture seeks, and how the design of public parks can affect urban well-being.

The UK department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) carried out a study on population churn in five of London’s boroughs (Newham, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich) hosting the Olympics. The main aim of the study is to examine the social-economic impact of population turnover and the potential effects of the 2012 Olympics on these boroughs.

Can the idea of the typical Dutch woonerf be translated to the 21st century? The small-scale, pedestrian friendly neighborhood from the late 1960s, had in fact already been dismissed by city planners. Will this woonerf now get a second life? In the publication ‘Het Woonerf leeft’ (The Woonerf lives) the architects of Delft Architectural Studies on Housing (DASH) seek new applications for these residential areas built and dismissed some 40 years ago.

MOVISIE has been conducting the research ‘Combating Youth Homelessness’ with grants from Europe and the Ministry of Health. This is a 3 year, comparative research on young homeless people in Europe. The research was done in partnership with the youngsters. Partners in this research are 3 universities in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Portugal. For the first time the perspective of young homeless people is examined at European level, partly by themselves, which is what makes this research so unique according to MOVISIE. In this first research description the goals, conditions and cooperation between researcher and co-researcher are given. The results will be shared at the end of the project which will be in May 2011.

Right after arriving in Amsterdam and before giving a presentation at the COST TUD Exploratory Workshop on Urban Development and Mobility I get the opportunity to interview Antonio Borghi. At local level Borghi is a practicing architect in Milan, Italy. At a European level he is engaged with the Architects Council of Europe (ACE). “In the last 6 years I have been coordinating the Work Group Urban Issues of ACE, which is why I am invited at this COST TUD conference. My task within ACE is to track the developments of European urban policies and to try to promote the physical dimension, meaning the morphological and design aspect, as the creative synthesis between the complexity of a context and a building programme. Sustainable urban development includes economic, social and environmental issues but we should not forget the physical presence of urban fabrics and buildings, their cultural identity, how they affect interpersonal relationships, which are crucial to building a sustainable community.”

The Commission has initiated a Consultation Procedure in order to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the redefinition of Cohesion Policy. In this light the Assembly of European Regions (AER) has published a White Paper on the future of this Policy. The Assembly emphasises the importance of regions in realising EU agendas and recommends that new indicators -apart from GDP- should be introduced in order to allow a more refined definition of eligible regions.

In December 2010 URBACT has published the final report on the impact of the economic crisis on its partner cities. The survey addresses cities’ responses and actions developed by URBACT cities. Also, the publication presents a series of in-depth case studies and describes the main lessons learned from these practices.

Greenspace is an essential part of the urban environment. It forms a determining element of the character, quality and functional value of towns and cities. This guide has been prepared to assist those involved in greenspace planning to share and better understand best practice in developing a co-ordinated approach to greenspace provision.

In many cities, there are areas where residential and business development was underway, but where activity has been put on hold due to economic circumstances: so-called stalled spaces. These spaces frequently become true eyesores, detrimental to the quality of a city. This scoping research by Greenspace Scotland looks at the potential to develop positive functions in temporary greenspaces, and to deliver environmental and community benefits.

In a global economy, cities compete to attract talent, investors, events and tourists. To meet this challenge, cities are engaging in marketing and branding to improve their image and position themselves on the international scene. As city branding has become a key urban development tool, several questions emerge: What is a city brand? How should it be developed? This guide can constitute a useful resource for cities engaging in the process of city branding.

The second-largest solar heating facility in Europe is in the municipality of Kungälv in Sweden. The plant delivers an average of 4 GWh of heat annually to the municipal district heating network. This has resulted in the replacement of fossil energy use by bio-energy, and in significant CO2 nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide emission reductions. This solar heating project is a good example of the energy switch, where solar energy replaces fossil fuels.

In an ageing society, the support function of public facilities, among which public transport, are increasingly important for senior citizens to live and move around independently. In the Dutch provinces of Zeeland, Brabant and Gelderland, several projects were carried out in order to bring about a positive and efficient development of public transport for senior citizens in an ageing society.

Education and training are central to the EU2020 agenda for growth, as jobs are disappearing, while new ones often require different and higher level skills. This report focuses on the degree to which member states are realising the objectives in relation to education. A competence based approach and the modernisation of higher education are described as key to a successful emergence from the crisis.

Bristol and South Gloucestershire have teamed up to encourage cycling through better infrastructure, training and promotion. In the light of sustainability and energy efficiency this modal shift can contribute not only to a better air quality, but also to less congestion, safer roads, improved health and well-being and a fresh perspective on the city. Through the Greater Bristol Cycling City Delivery Strategy 2008-2011 a transfer from car to bicycle use is being stimulated.

Dutch cities, as well as many other cities throughout Europe, will need to deal with severe demographic changes. In the Dutch province of Gelderland, 5 pilot projects have been implemented with the aim of enabling elder people to retain an independent living situation as long as possible. As shrinking is accompanying the expected demographic changes, building new homes is not an option: the focus is on the adaptation of the existing housing stock.

Being interviewed is Mirjam de Rijk, alderman for Environment and Sustainability, Economic Affairs (EZ), Finance, Public and Green Space in the city of Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Dutch government will make use of its political, administrative and journalistic experience to make a success of the policies within the portfolio of the alderman of Utrecht. In October 2010 the city published the "Draft Sustainability Plan Utrecht”. The emphasis is on clean energy and CO2 reduction.

The year 2010 is the European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion. The Dutch statistics office (CBS) published an overview of children and poverty in the Netherlands. Some of the most important results are that 10 percent of the Dutch children can be considered ‘poor’. Furthermore, in comparison to the situation of poor adults, 3,7 percent of all Dutch children live in a situation of long-term poverty. This problem threats most of all single parent families: 1 out of 4 single parent families with young children live beneath the low income threshold.

During the 3rd World Congress of UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) in Mexico City on the 17th of November 2010, the Executive Committee has approved a Policy statement on Culture as the Fourth Pilar of Sustainable Development. The document is an important milestone in embracing sustainable development into local cultural policies.

Built in the 50s and 60s as a fast solution to the housing shortage and characterized by high-rise apartment buildings, postwar suburbs like the French banlieues face various problems nowadays. Although the construction of those neighbourhoods was planned by architects, sociologists and social geographers, the social problems in the banlieues became a major issue in French urban policy. For the project ‘Grand Paris’ 10 international teams presented their ideas about the future of the sustainable ‘post-Kyoto’ metropolis.

Dutch cities Leiden and Landgraaf, the municipal web TYPO3Gem and the municipalities Haarlem and Haarlemmermeer are all nominated for the Best Stolen Prize 2010 which is awarded by the Quality Institute of Dutch Municipalities (KING). With this award KING rewards cities and municipalities that have taken over ideas from other cities and municipalities and have applied these best in their own towns ("stolen" ideas but in the good sense).

The VoorleesExpress introduces low-literate families to reading books with each other. This service stimulates children to learn to enjoy reading. Simultaneously, the language development is enhanced within families. In each participating family, a reader visits and reads books to and with the children. A good way to get to know each other.

In 2010, EUROCITIES, the network of major European cities, produced a short film highlighting cities’ responses to the problems of poverty and social exclusion. As well as examples from cities on how they deal with these issues. Also some of the leading figures from the network give their views on how best to tackle social problems in urban areas. This film was produced as part of the European Year 2010 for combating poverty and social exclusion.

Virtually all countries of the European Union have decided against a longer maternity leave for mothers and a two weeks leave for fathers during a general meeting on the 6th of December, 2010. The Netherlands and some other countries expressed strong criticism about the proposal of the European Parliament.

This Dutch VROM Council Advice presents a perspective on urbanisation that accommodates current challenges within the context of sustainable urban development. Though this advice has been developed within the Dutch planning environment, its recommendations can be equally applicable in other countries.

The European Commission has published the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, which aims to reduce the obstacles people with disabilities face when wishing to participate in society. As the population in all European countries is ageing, an increasingly large proportion of citizens will suffer some form of restriction. Implementing this strategy can thus benefit the quality of life of a growing segment of urban and regional society.

The DSSW-Plattform (German Seminar for Urban Development and Economy) develops for municipalities and local economy innovative concepts to strengthen and maintain inner cities. As a competence centre the platform offers the following services: transfer of knowledge, exchange of experience and realisation of expert events and projects. The main aim is to bring together public and private stakeholders with their different interests. The DSSW platform is working in a network of competent partners in the field of urban/ regional development, municipal head organisations and an association of the retail industry.

UNECE’s Working Group on Ageing held its third annual meeting on November 22nd and 23rd to discuss issues surrounding ageing in the region. Delegates gave their support to the continued work of UNECE in capacity building, indicator development, production of policy briefs, and analysis of intergenerational relationships via a growing series of surveys in the Generations and Gender Programme.

A key policy issue in a national and European context is where does and should public money go and how can it be best used to influence the geography of growth? For the project ‘Secondary cities in Europe: Performance, Policies and Prospects’ the key question to answer is:

‘Are the benefits of a centralised urban system with resources focussed upon the capital city greater because of agglomeration economies, than those of a more decentralised urban system where growth and resources are spread across a range of different sized cities in a wider territory?’

The cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona and Eindhoven are the winners of the EUROCITIES awards 2010. The awards recognise the success of city councils in creating and sustaining leading cities. The award ceremony was held at the EUROCITIES Annual Conference, which will run until 6 November in Zaragoza.

In the report ‘Active Intermediaries for Effective Knowledge Exchange: Populating the ‘Missing Middle’ by the Centre for Sustainable Urban & Regional Futures (SURF, University of Salford) it is recognized that we live in a ‘knowledge economy’. Knowledge is seen as central to economic and social development, competitive success and the wealth and health of the nation. A ‘missing middle’ exists in effective knowledge exchange, composed of the unarticulated and unrealistic expectations placed upon all stakeholders in the research process, without a mutual understanding being developed.

The European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union (EU) have failed to reach an agreement on the EU budget for 2011. After unsuccessful mediation attempts on Monday the 15th of November 2010 in Brussels, the European Commission (EC) will be forced to make up a new budget, which could mean that decision-making on this new plan can take months.

“Diaspora entrepreneurs are people with a foot in two countries but by definition they live outside of the country of their origin, at least part of the time.” Being interviewed is Kathleen Newland, one of the two founders of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in Washington DC which was set up in 2001 in response to a tremendously growing interest in migration policy all over the world. MPI is a non profit, independent think tank without association with any government. “We deal with global issues, not only US issues. My own focus is on the relationship between migration and development, as well as refugee and asylum policy. MPI has had a grant from US Agency for International Development to carry out 6 studies on different forms of diaspora engagement with their countries of origin. One of these forms was diaspora entrepreneurship.”

EDUMIGROM aims to study how ethnic differences in education contribute to the diverging prospects for minority ethnic youth and their peers in urban settings. The project focuses on groups of second-generation migrants in Western Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom) as well as Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia).

Just a few days after the European Commission adopted its communication on the EU budget review, the Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget, Janusz Lewandowski, took part in an exercise in "structured dialogue" with the political representatives of associations of local and regional authorities at the Committee of the Regions building in Brussels. On the agenda were issues such as cohesion policy, partnership contracts, the CAP, the added value of the European budget and own resources. The meeting, which was convened and chaired by CoR president Mercedes Bresso, provided an opportunity to address local and regional authority expectations.

EUKN is asked by the recently established European Metropolitan network Institute (EMI) to do the following request: EMI is looking for (policy) papers and research in view of the development of its first knowledge and research agenda on economic vitality. Based on the challenges confronting Europe’s metropolitan regions, EMI is currently developing several knowledge and research agendas. The aim of these agendas is to identify interesting so-called ‘lessons learned’ and best practices from metropolitan regions around Europe.

Brå, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention works to reduce crime and improve levels of safety in society by producing data and disseminating knowledge on crime and crime prevention work and the justice system’s responses to crime. In their recent survey ‘Crime victims’ contacts with the justice system - An augmentative study based on the Swedish Crime Survey 2006–2008 and focus group interviews’ earlier studies have revealed deficiencies in the way victims are dealt with in the criminal justice process, and a large number of measures have been introduced since the turn of the millennium in order to improve this situation.

“Crime in which ICT plays a role is known as cybercrime. We do not know the exact amount of cybercrime victims and national research on cybercrime and its victims has not been done in The Netherlands. In order to tackle this phenomenon we need to learn more about cybercrime. For this reason the police Haaglanden (The Hague area and surroundings) have decided to research the occurrence of cybercrime within the region on the basis of a survey.” René Hesseling, senior researcher at the police Haaglanden explains that this research is based on the research by E.R. Leukfeldt, M.M.L. Domenie en W.Ph Stol, ‘Verkenning Cybercrime in Nederland 2009’ (reconnaissance of cybercrime in the Netherlands in 2009). “According to these authors, the current image in the media and in policy documents relating to cybercrime is that of a high-tech cyber criminal operating from abroad in organized groups making large-scale casualties. Although this is part of the reality, research based on the analysis of 655 police dossiers, has shown that in The Netherlands cybercrimes are mainly characterised by ‘small’ crimes committed by everyday suspects acting as individuals .”

The ‘International Report Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Trends and Perspectives’ states that on the basis of the analysis, two key findings emerged. In 2010, crime prevention policies are no longer limited to reducing crime rates, but also aim to improve the quality of community life and our ability to live together. And although there has been considerable progress in the development of prevention policies, they are still marginalised within the broader scope of public safety policies.

A personal advice on intrusion in residences has proven to be successful in Belgium. Research amongst 1200 citizens show that the intrusion prevention advice given by the municipality and the police has seen to it that participating citizens have adopted specific measurements against burglary at their homes.

Someone who is addicted to lighting fires, someone who finds intense enjoyment from the sight of damage from his/her arson. These are typical characteristics of a pyromaniac. Theoretical research is more careful in defining a pyromaniac as someone (usually a young man) who has problems organising his own life, drinks a lot of alcohol and shows heavy emotions. However arsonists who have more than one crime on their records do not fit the standard descriptions.

"The basic idea of upward social mobility is that it should not be a phenomenon for a restricted group of people, who can already afford it. In fact, the governments should focus on creating the right opportunities for the weakest members of society to upgrade their status. It is certainly more important to allow the lowest socio-economic classes to move one step upward than allow already wealthy middle-classes to do the same." This according to Alessandra Faggian, Associate Professor in Economic Geography University of Southampton School of Geography in the United Kingdom and Visiting Associate Professor at the Economics Department of The Ohio State University in the United States of America. She adds that "factors such as increasing access to economic opportunities and improving occupational and geographical mobility create better chances for upward mobility."

The Luxembourg Reception and Integration Agency (Office Luxembourgeois d’Accueil et d’Intégration – OLAI) has set up an innovative and voluntary tool to facilitate active integration in Luxembourg while respecting the needs and socio-cultural origins of foreign citizens.

EMI gives you the opportunity to win one of 3 copies of the book ‘Smart City Dynamics’ (€19,50). Read all insights and views of experts from, amongst others, the European Commission, IBM, Stockholm Sea Port and Sustainable Glasgow. In return we ask you to share information on a project in your city which you feel can be typified as a Smart City project.

In Finland and Sweden a large proportion of homicides take place between intoxicated, male acquaintances, while in the Netherlands, they take place in a criminal milieu to a greater extent. These are some results of a unique study comparing lethal violence in the 3 countries.

When you get an email about the Communist Manifesto signed with V. you are directly drawn to it. In the days following I learned more about German political scientist, Volker Eick, who is currently working on the German version of the comic book of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. “What we wanted to do is to bring this historical text into the context of current capitalism. We want to bring back a text that has been all but forgotten but that has played a significant role in the development of human history. Some right-wingers have already started to claim that we are heading for a new round of Stalinism but that's just crude nonsense. There is and has been no need to hide our names or our intentions for this comic book version of the Manifesto.”

In 2000, culture was not yet recognised as a crucial component of development. The last decade however, the conceptual debate on the link between culture and development has changed, which has led to the setting up of several European and worldwide conventions and charters. This new approach to development seeks to achieve a better understanding of local cultural dynamics and to make aid more effective. The World secretariat of the UCLG comments on these changes.

The LearnInc project, financed by the Lifelong Learning Programme (Leonardo da Vinci programme) involved a mixed partnership made up by municipalities, consultancy companies and development agencies covering 7 European countries. The project aimed at setting up pilot “Learning Incubators” in 7 different European cities developing, in this way, a brand new solution of business creation. As a result, it helps European countries to cope with the common challenge of sustainable urban economic revitalisation. In this context, “Learning Incubators” can be defined as a planning process which develops, manages and promotes a net of businesses. For this, partners work in clusters by exchanging knowledge.

Health inequalities relate to a wide range of causes but also to the health dimension of social inclusion, which has been decisive in getting the issue of health inequalities into the Europe 2020 agenda. It can be assumed that the current crisis will affect the health status of citizens on health care budgets negatively, underscoring the need to develop a health equity approach.

The Council of the European Union and the Social protection Committee have produced a joint report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion in 2010. The human costs of the economic crisis are still unfolding, and cities and regions will need to develop different types of policies in order to mitigate its effects.

The EU2020 strategy promotes inclusive growth, but how can developments in this area be monitored? A Social Impact Assessment, a tool and process to estimate likely future impacts of policy proposals, can play an instrumental role, but its implementation is still in its infancy in most European countries.

ESPON supports policy development related to EU Cohesion Policy. The report is the first in a series of three ESPON Synthesis Reports which all aim to communicate major ESPON results on numerous ongoing research themes relevant for integrated, place-based policy considerations.

Migration can no longer be regarded as a passing phenomenon, but is a structural trend that needs to be managed in a knowledgeable manner. Migrants might face several difficulties in accessing and using public health-care services. This article discusses two example projects that have improved health care access of migrants, and disseminates solutions and good practices.

This report discusses the innovations that a local or regional authority should consider when developing an energy efficiency finance programme. This document gives hands and feet to the emission reduction targets and targets for using energy from renewable sources that countries have committed themselves to – and which must be realised in a local or regional context.

The Lisbon Treaty has added territorial cohesion to the goals of economic and social cohesion. As a result, it is necessary to address this objective in new programmes, with particular emphasis on the role of cities, functional geographies, areas facing specific geographical or demographic problems and macro-regional strategies. The Commission's 5th Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion ‘Investing in Europe’s Future’ shows that the EU's cohesion policy has made a significant contribution to growth and prosperity and promoting balanced development across the Union. However, as a result of the economic crisis, the policy now needs to adapt to address new challenges.

This document is a guide for government officials, energy utility managers and community stakeholders to designing and financing a clean energy program. Many local and regional governments have committed themselves to targets for CO2 reduction and the increase of the share of renewable energy resources. This text describes how to develop, implement and finance clean energy programs with those aims. It also provides advantages and challenges of existing models, and additional resources to consult when developing a clean energy strategy.

EUROCITIES strongly supports the approach of the European Commission to organize an early discussion on EU priorities before any negotiation on future financial perspectives. EUROCITIES encourages the European Commission to establish a long term budget that is based on the real and practical challenges facing the EU. The impact of these challenges on Europe‟s territories will be different in scope and nature. EU spending should reflect this by targeting funds to help those territories to face the most severe impacts and by supporting efforts already made.

Climate change and economic recovery are at the centre of current high-level political discussions. This has caused energy efficiency to become a top priority for all levels of government, with special emphasis on integrating ecological policy with economic development and social change. This report presents simple overview scorecards on the best policies implemented by governments that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have other environmental benefits and, at the same time, are good for the economy. It also presents worst policies through which governments increase emissions and incur a cost to the economy.

This code of good practice lays out the rationale, the framework and the means for enhanced civil participation. The code is based on actual experiences from NGOs across Europe sharing their good practices and valid methods for engaging with public authorities. It offers all actors in the democratic process guidelines stemming from concrete practical experience of dialogue and
co-operation between NGOs and public authorities.

The benefits of energy efficiency are many: well designed energy efficiency programs can delay the need for new power plants, expanded transmission and distribution capacities, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most importantly, these benefit scan be realized cost-effectively. Yet despite these advantages, efficiency faces barriers. Investments in efficiency cost more up-front than less-efficient technologies, and financing could increase the number of investments, which in their turn help to bring about the emission reductions.

On the 18th of October, the European Commission has published the Eurobarometer report on EU citizens' awareness and perceptions about EU Regional policy. This Eurobarometer is part of a trend series; the previous report was published in February 2008. The current report presents comparative data between the two surveys.

This paper reviews the role of urban planning in ensuring the provision of adequate affordable housing through the method of ‘inclusionary housing’, and considers its potential as a tool in the prevention and solution of homelessness. The approach was first developed in the United States, and requires that a given share of new housing has to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

This report outlines a number of initiatives taken by the Cavan and Kildare County Councils in Ireland to enhance service delivery for people from Black, minority ethnic and Traveller communities. The main aim of the project was to develop systems and practices that promote equality, take account of and adjust for diversity and prevent and combat discrimination. The reports demonstrates that an improved customer satisfaction with governmental services can be achieved, even at a time of limited resources.

The Intercultural Cities Newsletter is an electronic newsletter concerning the policies and the strategies of several pilot cities in Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Ukraine, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Greece and Serbia in order to meet the challenges of a world in motion.

Innovation as described in the Innovation Union plan means change that speeds up and improves the way we develop, produce and access new products, industrial processes and services. This memo answers 47 questions which might be asked in relation to this Union as proposed in the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innovation Union.

The “Innovation Union” is one of the seven flagship initiatives announced in the Europe 2020 Strategy. It addresses the challenges and opportunities facing Europe in key areas where sustained innovative efforts are required, and aims to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation. The document describes the key European, national and regional initiatives needed to create the Innovation Union, making this Communication from the European Commission highly relevant in regional policy development.

This paper focuses on the processes underpinning the drafting of the Portuguese homeless strategy’s drafting: identification of probable key-drivers, the emergence of the initiative, the main actors involved and their respective roles, the actual dynamics of the collaborative process and the challenges faced. It provides other countries with an opportunity to reflect on and analyse their national processes of framing and implementing new policy instruments.

The Nova Scotia Senior’s Secretariat, a Canadian provincial government agency responsible for seniors, has published a strategy for managing an ageing society. This document provides a wealth of guiding principles for developing policies or programmes tailored to the needs of senior citizens.

What can be done at EU level to help national and local policy makers to implement policies for adaptation to ageing? The European Liaison Committee for Social Housing(CECODHAS) report ‘Housing and Ageing in the European Union 2010’ describes the current developments in social and cooperative housing. Case-studies illustrate the answers to the needs of an ageing population. Furthermore, the report proposes policy recommendations for the EU to deal with the contemporary demographic changes.

The Leefbarometer (Lifebarometer), developed by the ministry of VROM in The Netherlands, is an instrument with which the livability in districts and neighborhoods can be measured objectively. Livability is defined as ‘the degree in which the environment in the neighborhood connects to the conditions and needs of the inhabitants. Safety, social cohesion, facilities, integration and other such subjects are of importance for the livability in neighborhoods’. Researcher Frank Wassenberg of Nicis Institute argues however that with this definition there are many sides to livability which makes it a challenge to find boundaries to the application of it. What can we do to keep districts and neighborhoods livable? And how can we determine whether the livability in neighborhoods is good or bad?

For more then a decade, Irish towns have been competing against each other in improving their own local environment. The annual TidyTowns competition encourages towns to make their area a better place to live, work and visit. Thousands of people have already participated, and an average of 700 towns a year to subscribe is not unusual. The Irish towns combined contribute to a significant transformation of the country’s landscape.

Public libraries, municipalities and NGOs in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden have been cooperating since October 2008 in the framework of the EU project “Libraries for All” to make local libraries aware of their potential for promoting the social integration of immigrants.

Mayors and Cities has just launched a new online international magazine called ‘Mayors & Cities: The Worldwide Municpalities Magazine’. Mayors & Cities is a magazine dedicated to exploring cities, their leaders, residents and businesses.

To achieve the eGovernment goals agreed by the EU, research in the field must be done. The EU Framework Programmes (FP’s) are the main programmes in research to provide answers and workable solutions.

Improved governance in the Netherlands would go a long way to achieve the goals stated in the Delta-program and the Randstad urgency program (stimulating strong clusters instead of lagging regions). With plans like these the Netherlands is successfully transforming the way it manages specific areas of the country.

The relationship between science and the economy is central to policy frameworks for competitiveness and development at European, national and regional levels. This research offers a comparative analysis of approaches for building ‘science regions’ in order to understand the dynamic interaction between science, economy and governance. Within these ‘science regions’, science and industry are being linked and the power of science as a driver for wealth creation and economic growth is being harnessed.

Good governance for digital policies can be found in the case of Spain’s ‘Plan Avanza’. In this report a large-scale information society agenda addressing the need for international and inter-regional convergence in ICT access and use has been created. Also a greater integration of citizens, businesses and the public administration into the information society is stressed.

Until the beginning of the 16th UN Climate Summit at November 29th children all over Europe are ZOOMing in and get into action for climate protection. Primary school and kindergarten children in ten European countries are collecting Green Footprints for their Joint Climate Voyage around the One World.

With around €5.69 billion of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the INTERREG Community Initiative generated significant results between 2000 and 2006. This is the conclusion reached by the European Commission after finalising the evaluation of INTERREG III, covering the programme's three strands – cross-border, trans-national and inter-regional cooperation – as well as the related ESPON and INTERACT programmes. Key findings show that the added value of INTERREG goes far beyond mutual learning: INTERREG supported around 5 800 business start-ups, created or safeguarded 115 000 jobs and created some 12 000 networks and cooperation structures.

URBAN II, the Community Initiative for boosting depressed urban areas, has made a positive contribution to tackling the challenges of neighbourhoods in crisis. This was one of the key findings of the evaluation carried out by the European Commission. Between 2000 and 2006, URBAN II enabled converting and renovating 2314,000 m² of buildings, the creation of 3,238,000 m² of

In virtually every major European city, long-established locals and artists are fighting against the gentrification of their neighbourhoods. But the arty types are falling out of favour, observes the author Tanja Dückers. No longer hailed as the rebellious vanguard, they are actually bent on joining the establishment.