News

31.08.2007
61 per cent of urban Europeans experience noise pollution at home
Most Europeans living in metropolitan areas (61 per cent) report substantial noise annoyance at home in their residential area. 32 per cent feel very or extremely annoyed. This is one of the first results of a European wide online survey on noise ann...read more

27.08.2007
Cost of energy efficient building highly overestimated by construction sector
Property professionals highly overestimate the cost of constructing energy-efficient buildings, by up to 300 per cent. A recent survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD ) amongst 1,400 individuals active in the property...read more

23.08.2007
Portuguese parliament approves “National Spatial Policy Programme”
On 5 July, the Portuguese parliament has approved Portugal's “National Spatial Policy Programme” (PNPOT). This legal instrument for spatial planning and territorial management was defined in 1998 by the last legal planning framework, the Urban and Sp...read more

21.08.2007
European Commission publishes communication on regional competitiveness and innovation
The European Commission (EC) has published a communication outlining the European financial instruments available to regions to strengthen the knowledge economy. The Communication shows the synergies between the funding the European research, innovat...read more

15.08.2007
EU highlights role of families in curbing demographic change and building social cohesion
As a result of demographic change, family-friendliness is becoming an increasingly important element of European Union policies. The compatibility of family and career will play an important role in Europe’s future economic and social development. In...read more

13.08.2007
LIFE+ first call for proposals
LIFE+, the new Financial Instrument for the Environment, has entered into force. The programme will run in the 2007-2013 period. With a budget of over 2 billion euros, LIFE+ is a substantial but focused funding instrument. It provides specific suppor...read more

13.08.2007
“Debate on housing in relation to integration often too simplistic”
“There is often an overly simplistic thinking on such matters as the concentration of immigrants and ‘ghettoisation’, among supporters and opponents alike. The discussion frequently lacks nuance and is not driven by empirical data and research result...read more

24.07.2007
'Carfree areas seeking municipalities' - Call for applications
European municipalities are invited to express interest in co-operating to realise carfree model settlements in their area. Three of the responding municipalities will be selected by a jury to participate in the international “Carfree Area Pilot Proj...read more

20.07.2007
Portuguese EU Presidency follows up on 'Leipzig'
The Portuguese EU Presidency is to hold an informal ministerial meeting on spatial planning and regional development in the Azores on 23 and 24 November. This was announced by the Portuguese Minister for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Regional...read more

18.07.2007
New Master’s programme in European spatial planning
Starting from this autumn, the University of Luxembourg offers a new two years master's program in European Sustainable Spatial Development and Analysis focusing on regional development in Europe. The main objective of this Master is to offer a high ...read more

16.07.2007
Stricter public procurement rules likely to be forthcoming
The European Parliament has adopted a new version of the regulation on the Energy Star programme on 10 July. It requires the Member States to apply demanding energy efficiency criteria in the public procurement of office equipment. This marks the fir...read more

12.07.2007
Discrimination - Does it matter? Participate in online EU consultation
The European Commission (EC) has launched an online consultation on combating discrimination in the Member States and at EU level. The public consultation aims to help the Commission plan new measures to tackle discrimination on the basis of gender, ...read more

11.07.2007
New president for European Forum for Urban Safety
The three hundred members of the European Forum for Urban Safety (EFUS). elected a new board at their general assembly on Friday 6 July in Rome. EFUS is a network specialised in questions of security and crime prevention. Juan Alberto Belloch Julbe, ...read more

11.07.2007
Fourteen million euros funding to help manage illegal immigration
The European Commission has launched two calls for proposals to funding short-term actions to address EU Member States' difficulties with illegal immigration. One call covers actions to provide adequate reception conditions for illegal immigrants. Th...read more

09.07.2007
CoE needs participants for the Intercultural Cities Programme
The Council of Europe (CoE) is inviting applications from local authorities to join their Intercultural Cities Programme. The aim of the programme is to help cities and town across Europe manage cultural diversity as a resource for the development, c...read more

09.07.2007
“Culture-led regeneration can not resolve structural problems on its own”
Liverpool has been named European Capital of Culture 2008. The Liverpool City Council has instituted a longitudinal research programme to assess the impacts of this event. Dr Beatriz Garcia is the director of this programme – IMPACTS 08. She comments...read more

09.07.2007
European employers embrace single market initiatives
On 28 June 2007, the Employers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) met to support efforts to relaunch the Single Market. The meeting was attended by representatives from the European Commission, BusinessEurope, EuroCommerce an...read more

09.07.2007
OECD: Migration is part of the solution for labour shortages and population ageing
Migration to OECD countries continues to rise, according to the latest edition of the OECD’s annual report on migration movements and policies, International Migration Outlook 2007 (IMO 2007). About four million new immigrants entered OECD countries ...read more

09.07.2007
US demographic core moving to the south
The demographic core of the United States is moving to the south of the country. Nearly a century ago, in 1910, each of the 10 largest US cities was within roughly 500 miles of the Canadian border. The 2006 estimates show that seven of the top 10 - a...read more

06.07.2007
EC adopts Green paper on climate change
The European Commission has adopted a green paper on how to adapt to the impacts of climate change, on 29 June 2007. The green paper sets out options for EU action to help the process of adaptation to climate change.across Europe. Adaptation means ta...read more