RAISE Citizens Conference Concept

These must be carefully designed, being clear that these questions are the key factor of success for the project.

The questions must be centred on the concept of “urban sustainable development” – in line with the EU Sustainable Development Strategy issued at the Gothenborg Council – and they shall be related to a portfolio of concrete options (not only “one” option) that appear to be offered by some of the 5th Framework City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage Key Action research projects, as well as by some projects on urban sustainability funded under the 6th Framework Programme.

A preliminary overview of the City of Tomorrow projects, undertaken for the purposes of RAISE, will be available soon on this web-site. However, citizens must be confronted first with a realistic “vision” of what the European city of tomorrow might be if the research options for urban sustainable development are implemented.

So, before discussing concrete options (“how” questions), a diagnosis shall be done with the panel of 25 citizens of the “why” and “what” questions related to urban sustainability.

In this regard, the diagnosis may be concentrated in the first meeting with the panel on developing the panel’s vision of what “urban sustainable development” is, taking the ten Bellagio Principles for gauging progress towards sustainable development as a reference , and adapting them to the urban context as follows:

What is meant by urban sustainable development should be clearly defined.
Sustainability should be viewed in a holistic sense, including economic, social and environmental components.
Notions of equity should be included in any perspective of urban sustainable development. This includes access to resources as well as human rights and other “non-market” activities that contribute to human and social well-being.
Time horizon should span both human and ecosystem time scales, and the spatial scale should include non only local but also long-distance impacts on people and ecosystems.
Progress towards urban sustainable development should be based on the measurement of a limited number of indicators based on standardised measurement.
Methods and data employed for assessment of progress should be open and accessible to all.
Progress should be effectively communicated to all
Broad participation is required.
Allowance should be made for repeated measurement in order to determine trends and incorporate the results of experience.
Institutional capacity in order to monitor progress towards urban sustainable development needs to be assured.

The discussion with the panel will be facilitated by presenting in simple terms – having non-specialists in mind – the features and stakes of “urban sustainable development” as they result mainly from the City of Tomorrow projects, 6th Framework or other state of the art research, and by letting the citizens to go through their own judgement of how the 10 principles above can be substantiated according to their experience, values and beliefs (however, not all the 10 points need to be developed in detail).

A second step will move from the diagnosis of “why and what” is required for achieving urban sustainable development in Europe to the evaluation – in a second workshop with the panel – of what possible “answers” (the “how”) are provided by the current EU research on the matter. The assessment will focus on the most concrete and potentially useful options. The options submitted to the panel will need to comply with some criteria of convenience, such as:

Examples of options/projects suitable for being considered are (obviously these are by no means complete):

By working with the panel of citizens, scientific concepts and results must be translated into “visible” impacts on the quality of life of the individuals, by letting emerge what perception they have of the potential implications either of the “urban sustainable development” vision (in the first meeting) and of “specific options for the city of tomorrow” (in the second meeting) on their lifestyles and daily activities.

Impacts on daily life shall be substantiated in qualitative terms but as far precise as possible, in terms of:

The panel’s screening of the urban sustainable development visions and the possible implications of adopting new “city of tomorrow’s options” against their individual habits and beliefs should help to find consensus views. There could be also more than one – and even contrasting – views, due to the variety of social and cultural backgrounds of participants. All in all, this should develop in the panel a kind of “collective intelligence” of the matter . Based on the latter, the panel will be invited in the third workshop (shortly before the final Conference in Brussels) to issue a “Citizens Declaration on the European City of Tomorrow” (or “sustainable city”) that will include the panel’s recommendations on what should be done to achieve urban sustainable development by whom is concerned (politicians, stakeholders, the citizens themselves).