Das Projekt "System fuer die Planung und Forschung in Staedten bezueglich urbaner Nachhaltigkeit" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Dortmund, Institut für Raumplanung durchgeführt. Objective: To develop and apply a comprehensive analytical modelling framework in order to formulate and evaluate long term strategies for sustainable urban development, especially in Europe. General Information/Objectives: To develop and apply a comprehensive analytical modelling framework in order to formulate and evaluate long term strategies for sustainable urban development, especially in Europe. DESCRIPTION: The project focuses on the interactions between transport, land use, economy, the environment, and social factors. Existing methodology for modelling their interactions serves as the starting point. This is developed further to assess and predict the environmental and social sustainability implications of different policies to be tested taking their economic effects into account. The policies may consist of regulatory and pricing measures and investments. The first year of the project is dedicated to the model-building and programming while the pilot tests take place during the second. Both environmental and social sustainability indicators are developed. In the pilot tests, the indicator values are compared against targets, taking into account the economic consequences of achieving the targets as well as distributional issues. This information is then presented to the analyst/decision-maker allowing for an iterative policy building process. The work is based on existing urban models. The northern Helsinki Metropolitan Area, the Italian city of Naples and the industrial conurbation of Bilbao in Spain are selected as representing very different urban forms and environments. An important feature of the approach is the inclusion of Client-Partners in the project. They represent local, regional or national authorities, and they help to shape and to test the methodological framework and to advise on sustainability initiatives and practical sustainability targets in each of the local applications. In order to gather the most recent experiences on urban sustainability and to ensure that the model reflect the policy goals deemed important, relevant experts in local, national and European institutions are interviewed. The positive and negative effects of each policy are described and tested through environmental, social, land use, transport and economic indicators. The reasons for inter-city differences are analyzed and policy levers classified. Common policy actions that are economically, environmentally and socially sound and could be used successfully in different types of cities within the Union are specified. General recommendations are formulated concerning sustainable urban policies. Prime Contractor: LT Consultant Ltd. Helsinki; Finland.