17. Calls on the authorities to promote ways to reduce the demand for transport by enhancing the use of teleworking and ICT tools and to be aware of the figures of the Eurobarometer survey that show that EU citizens are concerned about the negative impact of increased traffic in cities, considering traffic congestion (76 %), air quality (81 %) and accident rates (73 %) to be the most serious problems; calls on the Commission to monitor the new forms of mobility related to transport (e.g. self-drive vehicles), to carry out, in cooperation with the Member States, an analysis of all available measures helping to minimise the number of inju ...[+++]ries and deaths, in particular of pedestrians and cyclists, and to promote the use of bicycles in cities, along with investment in cycling lanes and measures to raise awareness among road users regarding safety for cyclists; points out that cycling plays an important role in contemporary planning of sustainable urban mobility and that it is part of the solution for preventing congestion; stresses that segregated cycle/pedestrian paths should be included as a matter of course when building or restoring roads; reiterates in this respect that the increased use of bicycles in cities enhances traffic flow, improves public health and reduces the carbon footprint; stresses that an increased use of bicycles in cities could contribute to the Europe 2020 objectives; asks the Member States to continue building ring roads in order to minimise the number of vehicles going unnecessarily through cities, and calls on the Commission to find ways to support these projects financially; stresses that more efforts need to be undertaken in order to reduce the number of cars in the city; calls on local authorities to promote policies to encourage green transport by providing facilities, reducing taxes and establishing green certificates;

It is not the economy versus ecology; it is the economy and ecology.

The greatest potential for innovation lies in knowledge sectors involving: ICT (information and communications technology) and medicine, ICT and energy, ICT and business, ICT and logistics, environment and energy, environment and chemicals (REACH), environment and land planning, new materials and energy, new materials and medicine, etc.

Radioecology (or radiation ecology): branch of ecology which studies relationships between living species and the radioactivity of their environment.

17. Notes, with particular reference to the promotion of renovation work in historical town centres, that care must be taken to ensure that such projects are carried out on the basis of restoration and renovation programmes which are in line with the objective of making old town centres multifunctional or, rather, by preserving residential areas and the infrastructure needed to maintain habitability and by promoting the revival and development of the commercial, craft, tourist, social and cultural activities associated with a town's historical tradition so as to restore the vitality thereof, thus re-enhancing the artistic and architectural heritage and making services modern and viable ...[+++]; stresses the need to avoid the danger that towns may become museums which are no longer suitable for living in;

15. With particular reference to the promotion of renovation work in historic town centres,it must be ensured that such projects are carried out on the basis of restoration and renovation programmes which are in line with the objective of making old town centres multi-functional or, rather, preserving residential areas and the infrastructure needed to maintain habitability; by promoting the revival and development of the commercial, craft, tourist, social and cultural activities associated with a town's historical tradition so as to restore the vitality thereof, thus re-enhancing the artistic and architectural heritage and making services modern and viable. Stresses ...[+++] the need to avoid the danger that towns may become museums which are no longer suitable for living in;