The informal meeting of the ministers for housing, urban development, planning and social cohesion, taking place on 24, 25 and 26 November in Marseilles, brings together the different ministries on an important subject: the search for an integrated approach towards making European cities and territories more sustainable and inclusive.

On 25 November, the urban development ministers met for the whole day to discuss the "sustainable and inclusive city". The discussions were presided over by Christine Boutin, the French Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hubert Falco, the French Minister of State for Town and Country Planning and Fadela Amara, the French Minister of State for Urban Affairs, who felt the meeting was a success: the different policies which contribute to harmonious urban development were debated and the barriers between sectoral policies overcome.

The ministers first took stock of the implementation of the Leipzig Charter, devoted to integrated urban development and distressed areas. The Urban Development Group, bringing together European representatives of urban development ministries, which worked on tools enabling the principles laid out in the Leipzig charter to be transposed into State policies, proposed that the ministers build a "reference framework" for sustainable and inclusive cities which would be both a methodological thesaurus and a tool for exchanging experiences. Its aim would be to associate all actors, break down barriers between sectoral policies and create links between national, regional and local policies.

The ministers agreed to involve the local authorities in these talks as they are primarily responsible for implementing urban policies in practice. On this occasion, the mayor of Curitiba (Brazil), Carlos Alberto Richa presented, as an example, the policy conducted in his city for over 20 years with regard to sustainable development - Curitiba has been a model of sustainable development since the start of the seventies.

The European Commission presented its analysis of the urban dimension of the cohesion policy for the 2007-2013 period, in particular the actions for urban development selected by the heads of the operational programmes that direct the use of EU funds under the European Union's regional policy. The work of the 'JESSICA' group (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) and the provision established under the auspices of the Union for the Mediterranean were used to present the instruments for financing urban development.

The afternoon session took the form of themed workshops illustrating several aspects of the sustainable and inclusive city: urban forms and climate change, distressed areas, and urban mobility.

At the end of the meeting, while emphasising the importance of voluntary action, even more essential in the context of the current crisis in Europe, the urban development ministers adopted a joint statement devoted mainly to the reference framework for the implementation of the Leipzig Charter, sustainable and inclusive urban development policy, and considering climate change in cities.

This meeting of urban development ministers will be followed by an urban forum ('Forum des villes') on 2 and 3 December 2008 in Montpellier, during which local authorities will, in turn, have an opportunity to discuss the implementation of the Leipzig Charter.