TOWARDS ISTANBUL +5

The more than 400 submissions and 70 updates received for 1998 allow us, despite their uneven geographic coverage, to discern some trends in terms of the efforts being made by people, communities and organisations of all types around the world. The first discernible trend is that while in 1996 a majority of submissions dealt with issues of shelter, a significant proportion of the 1998 submissions address the issues of urban sustainability or of Local Agenda 21.

There has also been a noticeable shift towards submissions received from cities and local authorities as one of the principal partners involved, most often in collaboration with non-governmental and community-based organisations. This ‘trend’ affirms, in part, one of the key recommendations of the Habitat Agenda, namely that local authorities and civil society need to play prominent roles in meeting the challenge of sustainable human and settlement development, and must be empowered to do so.

Yet another observation is the increasing complexity of the practices being described. A significant number of the 1998 submissions represent integrated approaches and responses to social, economic and environmental issues. This trend, should it continue in future rounds, will necessitate more careful analysis, more feedback to submitters and requests for additional information, including the use of indicators and benchmarking.

Last but not least, the improvements to the reporting format have proven to an effective means of bringing to the fore information on the processes underlying the implementation of these practices and initiatives. The value-added in terms of knowledge, know-how and expertise warrants a much more serious effort at ensuring that the lessons learned are widely disseminated. We can only encourage the BLP to broaden its network and for governments and their national committees and all other partner associations to work with each other to mainstream the continuous identification, documentation and exchange of best practice knowledge, expertise and know-how.


Acknowledgement
The 1998 Technical Advisory Committee would like to warmly thank the City of Vienna for its support and hospitality, allowing the TAC to concentrate entirely on its substantive task. The TAC also extends its appreciation to the staff of the Bruno Kreisky Centre. They offered us hospitality during the long days and running, on the last day, into the early morning, providing us with support far beyond their normal call of duty.