From Turin to Lappeenranta, cities in the spotlight

On October 20th and 21st, the Euro Mediation working group met in Turin for its final conference. On the agenda: "[b]resolving conflict through mediation[/b]". Today, mediation offers a promising way of recreating social links in increasingly fragmented urban societies. The Finnish Presidency chose Lappeenranta in Karelia as the location in which to hold its Senior Officials¹ meeting on Urban Policy, at which participants considered innovation as a factor for urban development. The growing recognition of the role played by cities has resulted in them being given more and more responsibilities. This must have consequences in terms of the delegation of competencies, governance and financing. The meeting in Lappeenranta gave the Commission the opportunity to review the progress of the national strategic reference frameworks (NSRF).