CITY LEADERS throughout Europe have been urged not to panic as a result of the global financial crisis, but to be "brave rather than fearful in these difficult, dangerous and dark times".
Prof Michael Parkinson, who advises the British government on urban policy, told a conference in Dublin yesterday that civic leadership was more vital than ever "now that the private sector is sitting on its hands" and waiting for the crisis to come to an end.
Addressing the annual assembly of the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, he said mayors and city administrators should concentrate on principles that were important in good times because they would become "even more important in bad times".
Prof Parkinson, who is preparing a report to the British government on the impact of the banking crisis for cities, said it would now be up to the public sector to keep capacity going in an economic recession. "We've been here before - life will go on," he added.
Former attorney general and EU commissioner Peter Sutherland emphasised the importance of investing in higher education. He noted that Europe was lagging behind the US in this area, with only two of its universities (Oxford and Cambridge) among the world's top 20.
Dr John Sweeney, of NUI Maynooth, warned that many European capitals in coastal locations were at risk of serious flooding as a result of climate change. "Changes in flood frequency will be very significant and we will have to rewrite rules for risk and vulnerability".
He said the railway line on Dublin Bay, which had already been moved twice in the past century, "will inevitably have to be moved again" because of the storm surges and coastal erosion. There would also be "challenges" in finding new water supplies for the Dublin area.
Former minister of state Liz O'Donnell stressed the need to "maintain solidarity with the poorest countries in Africa at a time when governments are trying to navigate the choppy waters of this financial calamity, which these countries had nothing to do with causing".
Warning that they could now be victims because of a falling off of development aid, she called on European cities to twin with cities in Africa and share their expertise in such vital areas as housing, water and sanitation - "programmes that would help to save lives".
Property developer Niall Mellon recounted the extraordinary success of the charitable trust he established six years ago in building houses for poor people living in shacks on the fringes of Cape Town and Johannesburg, in South Africa.
From 150 new homes in its first year to 6,000 this year, the Niall Mellon Trust has a target of building 10,000 homes in 2010. The number of volunteers from Ireland had soared, and several jumbo jets would take 2,000 people out there next month.
Mr Mellon noted that children in particular had benefited from the initiative and he appealed to civic leaders from all over Europe to join the effort, saying they could be sending "100 people, 1,000 people, even 10,000 on a mission of mercy to help the poor".
Dublin city manager John Tierney said the city council's newly established international section is hoping to work with an African city. He also welcomed the Creative Dublin Alliance, which brings together city leaders, universities and the business sector.
In a video message, Bob Geldof said urbanisation throughout Africa was "one of the great problems of our time" and Europe had to help.
Civic leaders needed to "look beyond the present crisis to the future - at this moment when anxiety and fear grip us, to be bold".
Keshav Varma, a director of the World Bank, sent a message apologising for the fact that he was unable to attend the conference because he was detained in Washington at meetings to deal with the banking crisis.
