ASSET (Action to Strengthen Small European Towns)
Project Description

ANNEX C: Quotations that support and enhance ECOVAST’s views

(i) from the resolution of the NORTHERN PERIPHERY PROGRAMME Small Towns Network Conference 4-5 September 2006 in Jyväskylä, Finland.
http://www.smalltownnetworks.com/library.asp

‘Small towns are home to one-fifth (***) of Europe’s population and many of its most creative businesses/service-providers as well as being a rich repository of our collective heritage and local history’.

‘In some areas, small towns have been absorbed by the city or overwhelmed by modern development, environmental dilapidation and have suffered from prolonged under-investment.’

‘There is a serious policy gap at European and local levels. The confidence and wellbeing of small towns are being undermined by exclusion from Europe’s existing cities’ and rural development programmes.  This is short-sighted and ultimately dysfunctional for communities of all kinds.  In the long run, the performance of Europe’s city-regions and deep rural areas alike is highly dependent on sustaining the constellation of small towns and the villages in their hinterlands, which underpin and anchor these regions.’ 

‘Maintaining territorial cohesion via balanced regional development and creating opportunities for all of Europe’s people are fundamental principles of the Union.  Better ways of supporting small towns (throughout Europe) must be urgently identified’.

(***) Small towns could represent HALF
ESPON 1.4.1  The Role of Small and Medium-Sized Towns (SMESTO)  Final Report June 2006