Background The European Union is amongst the world’s the most densely populated areas with a population density of 147 people per square kilometre. The urban environment in particular is characterised by increasing volumes of waste, growing traffic density and continuous growth in use of natural space for building. The Lake Constance Region is an international region with a population density more than three times the EU average. The lake is a large reservoir of drinking water for 4.5 million people. Municipalities have a key role in planning the further development of this region in all key areas of environmental relevance. An integrated municipal approach is required to cope with trends in water and soil protection, air quality, local climate change, transport demands, waste management, and protection of natural habitats. Objectives ECO-LUP aims to introduce an environmental management system for four municipalities in the Lake Constance region (Constance, Überlingen, Wolfurt, Dornbirn). This is expected to result in a continuous improvement of environmental quality standards in municipal development planning in terms of: • reduction of land use by 5% in each municipality on average • increase in reclaimed natural space in each municipality • reduced intensity in usage of space • sustainable development of urban green zones • reduced energy consumption due to promotion of low-energy housing • increased use of regenerative energy • improved networking between urban biotopes • preservation and networking of natural habitats in municipal property • reduction of secondary effects versus nature protection zones • improved flood protection. The project will perform a detailed analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for each municipality through a series of local and regional workshops. The workshops will address all municipal (and regional) activity areas of relevance and will be based on consensus. These activities will be closely linked to Local Agenda 21 initiatives. Finally, ECO-LUP will undertake a trial certification of municipal development planning processes according to European environmental management standards (EMAS II). A handbook and supporting software for 'Environmental Management for Municipal Development Planning' will be developed and published for use in municipalities across Europe. Europe-wide transfer of results will be supported by national and international organisations. A final evaluation report will document all environmental, economic and social effects of the project. The long-term goal of the project is to establish environmental management as a standard feature in any municipal development planning process. Results As a part of the ECOLUP LIFE project, the EMAS system was applied for the first time in a systematic fashion to communal urban land use planning processes. This is a field of great environmental relevance. Naturally, not all questions that arose could be answered within the context of a pilot project. Indeed, it is imperative that other communities participate in ECOLUP in order to make its implementation of EMAS even more efficient and to increase environmental and community benefits. However, ECOLUP has provided valuable results that can be transferred to other communities. The fundamental purpose of the entire procedure is to promote environmental education. It makes the environmental impact of planning processes more transparent and includes in the environmental team representatives of the community and its citizens, who can disseminate the knowledge they gain through their participation. As a part of this process, all possible environmental goals and measures for each relevant environmental aspect are discussed in detail and with passion. The fact that specialised departments and offices, and representatives of economic interest groups and of private nature conservation all participate "spices up" the process and contributes to the formulation of more ambitious goals and measures. External expert speakers or representatives of other communities can provide impetus and recommendations for goals and measures that have not yet been undertaken. Continual environmental improvement can only be measured in the long term in most of the relevant environmental aspects. During the ECOLUP project, it was discovered that communal urban land use planning sometimes does not go far enough to protect the environment, due to the fact that urban land use planning has very few opportunities to influence particular aspects such as energy or transportation. "Urban development" as an object of environmental management would create greater potential for codification of goals and measures. The procedures for implementing an EMS described in the ECOLUP guidance can be applied to all planning processes within the context of urban development. According to a report compiled by the LIFE external monitoring team in 2005, the project successfully demonstrated that it was possible to apply an environmental management system to a community’s planning processes. In October 2004, the City of Überlingen gained the first EMAS (the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme of the European Commission) - certified communal land-use planning in the EU. For further information,see: www.ecolup.info. This project has been selected as one of the 24 "Best" LIFE Environment projects in 2004-2005