International co-operation

(the text below is based on the chapter International co-operation published in yearbooks Prague Environment 2006, Prague Environment 2005 and Prague Environment 2004)

 

In its Concept of the Foreign Policy Development, Prague declares further and deeper international co-operation and integration of the City into international structures, within the European Union in particular. At present Prague is already a member of a group of several organisations of the European Union associating cities for purposes of joint solving of certain issues. These are, for example, associations of EUROCITIES (association of over 100 large European cities, Prague has been a member thereof since 1993, www.eurocities.org), UCEU (Union of the Capitals of the European Union), METREX (association for information and experience exchange in spatial planning of metropolitan regions), OWHC (Organisation of World Heritage of Culture), POLIS (association focused on transport issues), and others. In 2000 Prague became an active member of the organisation of TELECITIES, which has been transformed in the Eurocities Knowledge Society Forum – TeleCities (www.eurocities.org/telecities) since the end of 2004. Prague has also been maintaining bilateral relations with numerous foreign cities.

In the area of environmental informatics Prague has been creating conditions for its international co-operation for many years. In 1992, the first Yearbook was also published in the English version. In the further years contacts were made, the systematic distribution of the outputs from the System IOŽIP to foreign partners of the City, and the System was also presented internationally. It received important award and was published among „pilot models“ (Good/Best Practices) at various occasions (the publications of ENWAP and CAPE issued within the framework of activities of the European Commission, DG Information Society, the database HABITAT Best Practices Hub, etc.). In June 2003 the ENVIS Server was awarded the third place in the international competition of environmental web pages (UNEP/GRID).

Since 1999 Prague has been participating in the project CEROI (Cities Environment Reports on the Internet, see www.ceroi.net, or http://ceroi.net, respectively, UNEP Programme, coordinated by GRID, Arendal). Prague, along with other cities, developed a pilot presentation according to the established methodology. In 2000–2002 Prague participated in EU projects on environmental informatics of INTERACT (Interactive Services and Management Support for Environment Impact Assessment and Permitting Procedures) a HEAVEN (Healthier Environment through Abatement of Vehicle Emission and Noise, http://heaven.rec.org). Both the projects were solved as a part of the 5^th Framework Programme, partial programme IST – technology of information society. The projects were described in more detail in the previous Yearbooks.

In the last two years Prague participated in co-operation with other EU cities in preparatory works of other projects in the fields of informatics, environment, land-use planning, transport, etc. (Air For Europe, CITEAIR, INTELCITY, INSPIRE, SURE, BOOCLA, for instance). The first two project, which were successfully started in 2004, are dealt with in detail here below.

In recent years a number of international conferences and workshops on environmental and sustainability issues of were held in Prague in which the City representatives participated in. For instance the meeting of Eurocities Environment Committee (X/2003, detail information in Czech), conference "Sustainable Urban Management – From Policy to Practice" (VII/2004), organised by European Commission (DG Research) in cooperation with the Prague City Hall, furthermore the conference on noise issues INTERNOISE (VIII/2004), and others.

The co-operation with the Eurocities Environment Committee (EEC), which was in the end of 2004 transformed into the Eurocities Environment Forum in relation to the overall new concept of the organisation, has been developing further. It is provided by the Department of Enviromental Protection of Prague City Hall. The current activities of this group of representatives of several tens of European cities have been concentrating, inter alia, on the cooperation and exchange of experience in the creation of conceptual documents of cities in the fields of the environment and sustainability, including the utilisation of indicators for these fields, in the implementation of concepts, providing for cooperation of various stakeholders, including experts and the public, and others. The City of Prague participation in this group is important not concerning experience exchange yet also the City involvement in joint projects.

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Projects CITEAIR and AIR4EU

Both the projects were created in 2003–2004 as a follow-up to the Project HEAVEN. They are focused on he issues of air quality in cities. A similar group of cities (Leicester, Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, Rome, or others) contributed to their preparatory works. The participation of the City of Prague in both the projects’ preparatory works was approved by the decision of Prague City Hall No. 1431 of 30. 9. 2003. Both the projects were successful in the bidding for funding from appropriate EU programmes and their delivery was launched, which on the side of the City of Prague has been provided by the Útvar rozvoje hl. m. Prahy.

 

CITEAIR – Common Information to European Air. The project is delivered within the Programme of interregional co-operation INTERREG IIIC. The Project objective is, among others, to build up a network for dissemination of experience gained in the Project HEAVEN, to create environment for information sharing as well as for the evaluation of air quality and noise in urban environment and to plan sustainable transport modes and to increase the level the population is informed.

Major partners here are the cities Leicester, Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, and Rome joined by other partners of Munich, Bratislava, Brussels, Coventry, The Hague, and the Emiglia Romana Region. The participation in the Project CITEAIR was approved by the Decision of the Council of the City of Prague No. 1431 of 30 September 2003. In Prague the Project solution coordinator is the City Development Authority of Prague, the cooperating institution is the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI). Detailed information can be found at http://citeair.rec.org.

In the course of the year 2005 partial tasks were developed as follows:

• the building of a network enabling on-line exchange of information on air quality in between the Project participating parties. This network shall be, following its verification in pilot regime, made accessible to other interested from among European cities and regions;
• the developing of a proposal for a uniform air quality index, which would be common for all the Project participants and potentially to other cities and EU regions and which would enable air quality could be compared in real time across the whole EU;
• the developing of a Common Operational Website – COW where air quality data in respective European cities and regions should be displayed – comparable in real time;
• preparations of the common guidance on population informing on air quality and preparations on the handbook for practical carrying out of air quality assessment in urban environment and planning for sustainable transport. Then the conceptual intention and concrete solutions for real-time assessment of transport impacts on air quality achieved in the region of Paris/Ille-de-France shall be transferred into the region of Peruggia/Emilia Romagna and a guidance how further activities should be transferred onto other cities and regions should be developed.

 

Tab. - Proposal of uniform air quality index within the project CITEAIR

Index	Class	Main pollutants [µg.m-3]			Additional pollutants [µg.m-3]
		NO2	O3	PM10	CO	SO2
Very low	0	0	0	0	0	0
	25	50	60	25	5 000	50
Low	25	50	60	25	5 000	50
	50	100	120	50	7 500	100
Medium	50	100	120	50	7 500	100
	75	200	180	75	10 000	300
High	75	200	180	75	10 000	300
	100	400	240	100	20 000	500
Very high	> 100	> 400	> 240	> 100	> 20 000	> 500

NO₂, O₃, SO₂ – max. hourly value
PM₁₀ – max. hourly value or daily average value or daily maximum
CO – 8 hours moving average maximal value

 

AIR4EU – Air Quality Assessment for Europe: from Local to Continental Scale. The Project was initiated by a group of European universities and scientific workplaces lead by the NILU Oslo, Norway in co-operation with the aforementioned cities. The Project is delivered within the 6^th Framework Programme, Research and Development: Policy – Oriented Research. The Project AIR4EU is focused on the comparison of reliability of results of various models of air quality and pollution dispersion at local, regional, and European scale. The cities which participated in the Project HEAVEN shall provide input data on territories, weather conditions, and air pollution sources depending on their respective local conditions. Detail information may be obtained at www.air4eu.nl.