The Council of Ministers has authorised, at its meeting today, the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Ministry of the Environment, through the Directorate General for Environmental Quality and Assessment, and the Barcelona Urban Ecology Agency for the preparation of a project on the National Strategy for the Urban Environment. The total of the aforementioned agreement amounts to a maximum amount of 178,000 euros, distributed in two annuities: 2005, 30,000 euros and 2006, 148,000 euros.

The Barcelona Urban Ecology Agency, dependent on the Barcelona Environment Agency, is a public entity, whose aims and objectives include the implementation of advisory and diagnostic activities and urban planning, research, training, promotion and dissemination of the functions of urban systems in the process towards sustainability.

The proposal has its reference in the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled “Towards a thematic strategy on the urban environment”, which establishes that a clear vision, a global strategy, as well as an action plan are needed to contribute to the sustainable development of cities and guarantee a high standard of living for European citizens.

Currently, the planning and decision-making processes linked to the different areas that affect urban life (whether at the state, regional or local level) require the manipulation and elaboration of large amounts of information. It is necessary to have a network of participation that, based on powerful information management systems, serves as a support for decision-making, incorporating the methodological criteria, measurement instruments and indicators necessary for the monitoring of certain interventions, as well as the virtual testing of proposals or the projection of alternative scenarios.