Search
315 items matching your search terms.
...And action! Building for the Future
Municipalities in European mountain regions can act as pioneers for sustainable building, as shown by the short film "Building for the Future".
News
Alpine Convention: new Secretary-General takes office
Markus Reiterer began his new job on 1 July 2013 as Secretary-General of the Alpine Convention at the "Goldenes Dachl" in Innsbruck. The new head of the Permanent Secretariat talks about his aims.
News
Sustainable Buildings: contribute to the EU consultation!
Sustainable construction means not only energy efficiency but takes environmental, social and economic aspects into account on a long-term vision.
News
Boost for the macro-region Alps
The European Union is publishing its first analysis of existing macro-regions - encouraging news for current developments in the Alpine space.
News
Macro-region: Europe goes a step further
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on a macro-regional strategy, while the Alpine Space Programme submitted an expert report to the European Union.
News
CIPRA's point of view: Shaping the macro-region Alps according to the Alpine Convention - but better
Many people in the Alps are afraid of being marginalised by the surrounding metropolitan areas. But the expansion of the sphere of action and influence also offers numerous opportunities - if we rise to the challenge, CIPRA believes.
News
New strategy for the Alpine Space Programme
What does the future hold for the Alps? Which projects should the European Union co-finance? A study now provides answers and establishes a framework for the new funding period for the European Alpine Space Programme.
News
“The Climalp excursion was a breakthrough”
The local authority in Saint-Jean-d’Arvey decided to use local timber to construct an energy-efficient multipurpose building. In an interview with the Mayor Jean-Claude Monin, we learn how the idea was inspired by a CIPRA visit to Vorarlberg.
News
CIPRA's point of view: The Alps are far too valuable for the Olympics
The result of the vote held on 3 March 2013 in Graubünden is clear: 52.7% are against the Winter Olympics being held there in 2022. This example shows that there is no desire for gigantism in the Alps.
News
Climate protection: Switzerland offers Alps-wide architecture prize
Building with sense and sensitivity: Switzerland is offering a prize of 50,000 euros for sustainable renovated and new buildings in the Alps. A brief description of the international architecture prize.
News
Study suggests roads do not ensure development in the Alps
An investigation conducted throughout the Alps for the first time compares the accessibility of regions with their economic growth. Should a road be just wide enough to allow progress in?
News
Next generation to bear risk of Winter Olympics
The Swiss canton of Graubünden wants to hold a "sustainable" Winter Olympics in 2022. While the many open questions regarding the candidacy have stirred passions in Switzerland, Munich's candidacy is not quite so controversial. But time is pressing.
News
CIPRA's point of view:Italian French Summit: modal shift gets red light
The summit meeting last week between Italian leader Mario Monti and French president François Hollande covered plenty of ground - except for a rapid and effective modal shift from road to rail.
News
An Alpine "arms race": the desire for fun and games
Europe's highest suspension bridge is being opened in Switzerland, while an Austrian peak is getting a four-armed cross that is accessible to visitors - unbelievable adventures in the Alps.
News
MountEE Project starts: sustainable public construction in Europe
Municipalities have a duty to act as models, especially as regards construction and renovation work. The MountEE Project makes it possible for municipalities in five European mountain regions to optimise their construction and renovation strategies.
News
Olympic candidacy - a questionable venture?
Forecasts estimate that the 2022 Winter Olympics in Switzerland will cost 4.5 billion Swiss francs - or, as experience shows, even more. Is it worth it? In March 2013 the citizens of Graubünden will go to the polls to decide.
News
CIPRA's point of view: Torino 2006: a hard lesson - but nothing learned
The Olympic Winter Games 2006 have left a burdensome legacy. The idea is thus to close the loss-making bobsleigh and replace it with an indoor ski slope. Is Turin simply throwing good money after bad?
News
The future of farming in the mountains
The European Union is negotiating the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). If the "Alliance for Agriculture and Nature Protection in the Alpine Regions" has its way, farming in the mountains will be given particular consideration. The alliance has now submitted its catalogue of demands.
News
In summer cool, in winter warm
The European Union Directive on the energy performance of buildings takes effect from July. Low-energy buildings will be mandatory as from 2021. The community centre of Saint-Jean-d'Arvey already meets these criteria. The building, made of regional wood, will open at the end of June - a first.
News
CIPRA's point of view: New solidarity between the Alps and metropolitan areas
Various political actors are pushing for the development of a macro-region for the Alps. CIPRA also says yes to an Alpine macro-region - but only within a clear framework. This offers the opportunity to make the rest of Europe aware of the issues facing its Alpine regions.
News
Swiss want to see fewer second homes
Most Swiss people have approved the "Stop the never-ending building of second homes" initiative, providing mountain communities with more protection for landscapes. But the building moratorium is not universally popular.
News
The Alpine Region as a macro-region?
The EU already has a macro-region strategy for the Danube Region and the Baltic Sea. So why not also for the Alpine Region? At the beginning of July, the Arge Alp Working Group advocated a resolution calling for a "macro-region for the Alps".
News
Alpine Convention: Sense and Sensuality
Climate change mitigation in construction and renovation is tantamount to providing for the future; it also makes economic sense. Better still, the Konstruktiv architecture award shows how sustainable construction can also become a sight for sore eyes. CIPRA co-initiated the award in order to publicise exemplary solutions. Imitations expressly permitted!
News
Climalp/“Alliance in the Alps”: Infected with good ideas
Ideas spread like viruses. They infect someone, who in turn infects someone else, and if they are good and strong, they spread like an epidemic. Energy-efficient construction is one such viral idea. On 14 September 2009 one could observe how it leapt from Vorarlberg to the French department of Savoie. Austria’s westernmost federal province is widely regarded as a centre for innovative timber construction. Concentrated here are a strikingly large number of architects, sawmills and carpenters who use wood as a traditional building material but in an ecologically advanced way – a large-scale workshop for creating a forest-sourced living environment.
News
Sustainable Alps: Architecture Prize Awarded
Constructive, the Alpine-wide architecture award for sustainable construction and renovation has been presented to three architects and developers. Three further projects are euqally to be commended.
News
Publication: The Alps in 2010
The new publication titled The Alps by the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention provides a comprehensive overview of the Alps, including a wealth of cartographic material. For over a thousand years the Alpine landscape has been used as a cultural landscape.
News
Publication: land management in mountain areas
The current issue of the bilingual Journal of alpine research is running a feature on land management. It is a subject on which scientific research is sparse, even though it is of increasing concern for Alpine local authorities.
News
Natural hazards: an incalculable risk for road and rail?
Time and time again avalanches, debris-flows and rock falls result in roads being blocked and railway tracks being swept away, causing fatalities. The Alpine Space Project PARAmount is looking to bridge the gap between society's demands on transportation routes and the outline conditions defined by nature.
News
Conference on demographic change in the Alpine region
The Alpine Space Forum, to be held in Innsbruck/A from 22 to 23 February 2011, focuses on coping with demographic change in the Alpine region. The Alps are particularly affected as settlement areas are limited and many Alpine communities are located in the peripheries.
News
ForumAlpinum 2010: proceedings now online
The 9th edition of the ForumAlpinum was held in Munich/D in early October. Titled Metropolises and "their" Alps it explored from scientific and political angles the relationship between the Alps and large cities along the Alpine Arc Further on the plenary talks and workshops focused on the relations between large cities and climate change, biodiversity, geo risks, and the European macro-region "Alpine Space".