Essay

Urban Governance and Sustainable Development : The Leipzig CHarter

The growth and the dynamism of urban areas, due to the rapid urbanization of the 20th century, has recently raised new questions linked to the good governance of cities, in the context of environmental change, for example. As cities grow, this governance dilemma develops, and urban management assumes an increasing importance. The fact that cities are important engines for economic and social development offering housing, employment, and services, and being essential centres of productivity has made them one of one of the first priorities for the nations. Indeed, « for better or for worse, the development of contemporary societies will depend largely on understanding and managing the growth of cities; the city will increasingly become the test bed for the adequacy of political institutions, for the performance of government agencies and for the effectiveness of programme to combat social exclusion and to promote economic development »[1]. In that context, the notion of « sustainable city », which puts the emphasis on environmental and urbanistic issues among other things, appears to be a crucial priority for the future. As new challenges such as climate change, energy efficiency and environmental inequality, but also an increasing social between the have and the have–nots, are to be faced, a system of governance that can bring the needs and desires of the inhabitants and the different policy-making actors together, in order to promote a more sustainable living environment, is necessary. Under the circumstances, during Germany’s Presidency of the EU in 2007, an informal meeting of European ministers responsible for urban and spatial development has been hosted in order to draw common principles for urban development, focusing on helping cities tackle problems of social exclusion, climate change and mobility. The main results and the conclusions have been summarized in two policy