Urban Futures 2.0

[b][i]Conference on Urban Partnership and Urban Governance[/i][/b] May 3-5 2006, Stockholm. "Since the Swedish Presidency in the European Union, we have supported efforts to establish more structured ways for sharing experiences and knowledge at European or international level involving member countries and cities as well as researchers and practitioners" The distinguished character of Europe is its cities. No other continent has such an urban character where cities throughout history have played such a decisive role in the development of democracy and prosperity. As in the past, Europe cannot successfully meet its future challenges without a strong partnership between the different spheres of governance - the European, the national, the regional and local. The conclusions from the informal ministerial meeting on urban policy in Rotterdam in 2004 aim at remedy the discrepancies between the insight of the need for a close partnership and today's reality. Sweden roposed at that meeting to arrange a conference on urban partnership and urban governance as a follow up on the Urban Futures conference during the Swedish presidency 2001. The conference is an integrated part of the Swedish national metropolitan policy in aim to create international platforms for exchange of ractical experience and knowledge of urban policies. The conference will be organized in co-operation between the Swedish government and the City of Stockholm. [i]Goals[/i] - Explore ways were the different spheres of governance together can achieve the goals of the Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas. - Explore ways to create an every day dialogue across all areas with an urban impact between the different spheres of governance on European, national, regional and local level. - Promote the exchange of knowledge and practical experience of urban policies between cities, regions, member states and European institutions. - Use an integrated approach - pooling resources, cross fertilise sectors, co-operate on equal footing between the different spheres of governance covering different political areas - when implementing the Rotterdam conclusions. After the European Conference on Urban Partnership in Stockholm 2006, the participants should have a further knowledge of how to proceed in order to achieve the Rotterdam conclusions facing future challenges. For further information: http://www2.stockholm.se/