The quarterly Informed Cities Update with the latest news on making research work for local sustainability is now online. The update contains details about free support available to evaluate and benchmark sustainability processes, as well as a recap of the first Informed Cities Forum that brought together local leaders and researchers from all over Europe.

Other news includes a look back at both the Informed Cities Forum in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and the 6th Sustainable Cities and Towns Conference in Dunkerque (France). Over 110 participants from 24 countries took part in the Forum, a key European event linking research and local policy-making for sustainable development, hosted by Northumbria University. At Dunkerque 2010, the Informed Cities session was organised by ICLEI, with the city of Turku and Åbo Akademi (Finland), demonstrating how close cooperation between a city and its local universities can accelerate local sustainable development. Advancity, a French urban innovation pole, proved that excellent solutions can be developed by public, private and academic sectors together.

In the next nine months Informed Cities experts will visit 12 European countries, inviting interested local authorities to discuss the methodology and practice behind measuring and benchmarking local sustainability. We want you to be part of this discussion!

To read the update, click here.