C-CHANGE aims to achieve a 'sea-change' in attitudes. behaviours and practical responses to the challenges that climate change raises for city regions by: 1. Empowering politicians. planners. practitioners. communities. and in particular young people. to champion these approaches. 2. Developing creative solutions to the sustainable management of open space. 3. Climate-proofing regional spatial plans and strategies. The objectives of C-CHANGE are to use transnational Actions and Investments to question. develop. test and demonstrate the following issues: 1. Building stronger communities – how can stakeholders from different social. demographic and economic strata be engaged in joint practical activities addressing climate change? 2. Demonstrating practical responses to climate change – how can the potential of multi-functional urban open space be developed for practical responses to urban living in a changing climate? 3. Adapting spatial planning strategies – how well do they prepare city regions economically. socially and environmentally to adapt to climate change and mitigate their contribution? Achievements: These Messages for Europe are distilled from a much larger set of conclusions and recommendations, underpinned by an evidence base consisting of case studies and enquiries that have been considered by four ‘Expert Joint Planning Groups’ (EJPGs) whose members were drawn from all the participating partners’ regions. The detailed results and recommendations and full report are available to download from; http://www.cchangeproject.org/resourcesClimate Change will inevitably affect the ways we live in Europe’s city regions; but we can reduce and adapt to the impacts now by realising our existing capacity to respond. All three sectors – public, private and voluntary – have key roles to play, by working together.1. All citizens are stakeholders in any response to threats to the future of their planet and their quality of life. Consulting them is not enough. They must be empowered to act by encouraging more inclusive, democratic, flexible and informal structures for managing public life to meet society’s needs in the 21st century.2. The liveability of city regions in future will depend increasingly on the retention, provision, design and management of open spaces of all kinds, including those within the built urban fabric itself. In our predominantly post-industrial, socially diverse era these spaces offer a unique resource for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change in city regions.3. City regions’ spatial planning strategies can provide the formal, statutory frameworks for integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation requirements into all aspects of economic, social and environmental policies and programmes; but long term plans also depend on the active engagement of all sectors for their implementation