Why?

The title of the symposium "URBAN LANDSCAPES: Common Challenges - Shared Strategies" suggests the reason for the symposium: across Europe towns and cites are increasingly recognising the importance of an attractive and healthy urban environment. They wish to provide a high quality of life for their citizens, attract investment, and reduce their negative impact on their surroundings. The potential for improving the situation is high and many good examples of innovative approaches exist, but the problems are also not to be underestimated. The problems do however have much in common and therefore a European approach to seeking solutions has much to offer. There is already much good practice to be exchanged, but the real potential for finding new and better solutions will only be realised when can begin to work together on a Europe-wide basis. The European Urban Landscape Partnership aims to provide both the opportunities and the tools with which to achieve this. More than 30 countries have signed and 20 have already also ratified the European Landscape Convention. But while the Convention is signed at the national level, it has to be implemented largely at the local level. This is particularly true with regard to urban areas, when the vast majority of Europe's population live, but these are the vary areas where the landscape concept has been least explored and applied. The European Urban Landscape Partnership will seek to remedy this deficit and develop new practical approaches to the planning and management of the urban landscape based on sound theoretical principles.