The conference aims to address the many inter-related aspects of the urban environment from transport and mobility to social exclusion and crime prevention. It is hoped that the meeting will build on the contributions made in previous conferences, which successfully managed to provide an international view of the problems facing modern cities and their solutions.

Urban areas produce a series of environmental problems arising from the consumption of natural resources and the consequent generation of waste and pollution. These problems contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances. All these problems, that continue to grow in our society, require the development of new solutions.

As defined at The Sustainable City Conference in Rio (2000):

"The concept of sustainability as applied to a city is the ability of the urban area and its region to continue to function at levels of quality of life desired by the community, without restricting the options available to the present and future generations and without causing adverse impacts inside and outside the urban boundary".