The initial impetus of the Campaign was maintained at the 2nd European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns, held in Lisbon, Portugal in October 1996, which attracted over 1,000 participants from 39 countries, 65% of whom represented 228 local and regional authorities.

The conference was also well attended by representatives from a number of different Directorate Generals of the European Commission; as well as by NGOs, academics and others with an interest in local sustainable development. An opportunity was provided to further translate the principles of the Aalborg Charter into more practical measures, and resulted in the adoption of the Lisbon Action Plan, which identifies a number of mechanisms through which sustainable development can be best achieved. As such, both the Aalborg Charter and the Lisbon Action Plan provide a basic framework to support local and regional authorities striving for sustainable development.

The conference was organised by the City of Lisbon together with ICLEI and the other networks on the Campaign’s co-ordinating committee. As a financial supporter of the conference, DG Environment was also involved in the conference preparations, as was the host of the Campaign’s first European conference, the City of Aalborg.

Thematic Workshops with more than 100 presentations, a Partner Forum and a Market Place were organised as part of this large-scale event, which culminated in presentations of the European Sustainable City Award for 1996 to the cities of Leicester (UK), Dunkerque (France), Albertslund (Denmark), Graz (Austria) and The Hague (Netherlands).

Download the Lisbon Action Plan