News

14.11.2006
Valuable data available in new Eurostat regional statistiscal yearbook
The 2006 edition of "Regions: Statistical yearbook" is now available online at Eurostat. The yearbook covers the 254 regions of the 25 EU Member States, defined by level 2 of the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2003), and the 1...read more

08.11.2006
European Parliament “goes local” with Citizens' Forums
This autumn, the European Parliament (EP) is hearing the opinions of European citizens on where they think the EU should be heading in future. The European Parliament's "Citizens' forums" discussion groups continue around the EU. Seven countries will...read more

08.11.2006
Cities awarded for communication on energy efficiency
Bristol (UK), Brasov (Romania) and Lille (France) have won the 2006 awards for the best municipal communication campaigns in the field of energy efficiency. The three cities have created campaigns to raise the awareness of public building users of en...read more

08.11.2006
EC allocates 375 million euros to “Regions for Economic Change” networks
“Regions for Economic Change” is the name of a new initiative to be adopted by the European Commission on 8 November. The network should help regions, towns and cities with modernising their economies and improving competitiveness between regions. It...read more

07.11.2006
ASC publishes “Skills for the Future” research report
Skills for the Future examines the European skills issue around sustainable place making and explores solutions to the skills gap that exists. The research report will be discussed at the upcoming European Skills for Sustainable Communities Symposium...read more

06.11.2006
German government sets EU Presidency priorities
The German government has set its priorities for its EU Presidency. The German EU Presidency will have as its motto: "Gemeinsam gelingt Europa" (" Together Europe can succeed"). Energy security as well as the fight against climate change will be the ...read more

03.11.2006
Award and prize money for innovative housing projects
The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) is currently seeking entries for the World Habitat Awards 2007 competition. Projects that provide practical and innovative solutions to current housing needs and problems are eligible to enter the con...read more

01.11.2006
European Commission opens “innovation portal”
The Community Research and Development Information Service, CORDIS, runs the new information portal on European innovation policy. The Innovation Portal presents a selection of information that originates from different sources: European institutions...read more

01.11.2006
ASC launches national Awards for Sustainable Communities
The national ‘Creating the Future - the ASC Awards for Sustainable Communities' will celebrate achievement in in the public, private and third sectors, covering projects, individuals and organisations in cities, towns and villages in England. The awa...read more

27.10.2006
URBACT publishes study on the URBAN I & II programmes
On 20 October the URBACT programme presented “The European URBAN Experience – Seen from the Academic Perspective”. This study synthesises and discusses recent and current academic research on the implementation of the URBAN I and II programmes in dif...read more

27.10.2006
LIFE programme publishes overview of urban environmental projects
The European LIFE Programme published “LIFE in the City”, the latest edition in the LIFE-Focus series. The publication looks specifically at the urban environment. It presents 24 recent projects co-financed by the EC’s Financial Instrument for the En...read more

25.10.2006
EU Presidency stresses importance of urban areas for competitiveness
The Finnish Presidency has organised a civil servant meeting on urban policy at senior official level in Lappeenranta on 24 and 25 October 2006. Aim is to improve cooperation in strengthening the competitiveness of urban regions, as well as cooperati...read more

24.10.2006
51 Cities and regions compete for European Enterprise Awards
Out of 400 applicants, 51 cities and regions are selected to participate in the European Enterprise Awards. The competition will be an annual event, aimed at rewarding public initiatives to support entrepreneurship. The winners of this year’s edition...read more

20.10.2006
Commission seeks to drastically cut energy use – cities to play their part
On 19 October, the European Commission presented its action plan to cut Europe's energy consumption by twenty percent in the next fourteen years. If successful, the EU could save more than 100 billion euros annually. The plan would also contribute to...read more

20.10.2006
Ten most polluted cities of the world
According to a report released by a US environmental organisation, three of the most polluted cities in the world are in Russia. The Blacksmith Institute released the results of an investigation into the ten most polluted places on earth on Wednesday...read more

19.10.2006
‘Critical’ air pollution levels in large European cities
Only three out twenty-six large European cities are fully in compliance with EU air-quality standards. This can be concluded from the 2006 Urban Ecosystem Europe Survey, drawn up for Belgian bank Dexia by research institute Ambiente Italia. The surve...read more

18.10.2006
Call for ideas on the intercultural dialogue
The European Commission is launching a "Call for ideas" for promoting intercultural dialogue in Europe.read more

17.10.2006
Society and Future research programme – 2nd call for proposals
"Society and Future" is a social sciences research programme. The programme aims to increase the knowledge needed for decision-making at the Belgian federal level.read more

17.10.2006
URBACT to offer expert support to individual cities
The URBACT Secretariat has recently launched the Support for Cities project. It is a new project under the URBACT Programme to offer support to European cities (mainly those from the new Member States) looking for assistance to develop integrated urb...read more

13.10.2006
Commission wants more public-private partnerships in regional development
The 350 billion euro budget for 2007-2013 for developing Europe’s regions will be insufficient unless more private capital is made available. Public-private partnerships will not only result in the availability of more funds, it will also allow the p...read more