Science and Research for Better Air in European Cities
In October 1990, a proposal for a new COST Programme "Science and Research for better air in European cities" was submitted to the COST-Committee of Senior Officials by the Swiss delegation. After an international preparatory workshop in Lucerne in October 1991, the Programme has been approved by the COST Senior Officials Committee in January and April 1992. Approval was given to following four actions: - COST 615 "Database, Monitoring and Modelling of Urban Air Pollution"; - COST 616 "Mobile Sources of Air Pollution in Urban Areas"; - COST 617 "Stationary Sources of Air Pollution in Urban Areas"; COST 618 "Institution Building and Information Policy in the Field of Urban Air Quality". The CITAIR programme demonstrates that it is not air pollution in general which is to be examined, but local initiatives and abatement strategies. The COST CITAIR programme can be characterized by the following specific features: - It is dedicated to air pollution in urban areas; - Its attempted revitalization of domestic potential in the less advanced European regions as well as cooperation with advanced countries in the North and West of Europe (assistance for self-reliance and for self-help); - Search for consensus within the scientific community as the goal of cooperation between advanced countries in the North and West of Europe. All four COST-CITAIR actions began in May 1993, when Denmark, Greece, France, Switzerland and United Kingdom signed the Memorandum of Understanding.