LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES

The United Nations Conference for Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 did emphasise that the future technological progress will surely have on the one side the intended wanted effects, because of developing and using new technological applications, but on the other side unintended undesired negative effects could appear. Discussions began already at that time on scientific, political and social levels in order to fmd appropriate solutions. These solutions should be applicable to different countries by considering general requirements, but with respect to regional differences. The concept of sustainable development was recognized at that time as being the possible solution for the global complex ecological, economic and social problems, its implementation being connected to the development of certain strategies on a local level. Gaining sustainability strategies on local level means actually developing strategies for the urban sustainability in cities. The vision of having in the future sustainable cities, by taking into account regional differences, is currently worldwide a pretty discussed topic. The example of the Romanian city, Alba Julia will be presented, which has a Development Strategy that aims to acknowledge the urban mechanisms as a positive force in improving the housing standards, the equity and sustainability standards. It will be emphasised that nowadays there is no agreement regarding a general definition for sustainable city or there is no complete agreement yet upon the components which should be included in this concept. Connected to this idea, developing a kind of a "general methodology" to be applied for real concrete situations by taking into consideration regional differences would represent a major progress in this field. The desire is to fmd appropriate ways to establish strategies for sustainable urban development in order to get the general profile of a sustainable city.