Europe’s towns and cities present a paradox. On the one and they are the motors of growth in an increasingly global economy, concentrating wealth, knowledge and technical capacity. They are also centres for the provision of public services, such as education, healthcare and transport. At the same time however, many of the worst problems facing society today are concentrated in urban areas, including economic and social exclusion, degradation of the natural and built environment, congestion, crime, intolerance and racism, and the loss of local identity.