H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES:

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I am delighted to see that, since I came to Bologna in 1992 to open the first "Vision of Europe" exhibition, that vision has spread a little wider.

I am particularly encouraged that this second exhibition and publication bring together a larger number, and a higher quality, of contribution than even the first impressive exhibition. Since 1992 we have also seen a similar exhibition and conference in the United States on "The Art of Building Cities", which was further testimony to the genuinely international nature of this movement back to sanity in planning and architecture. In London my Institute of Architecture has opened its doors, and my Urban Design Task Force has carried out projects in four European cities. The first stage of The Duchy of Cornwall's development at Poundbury, planned with the priceless help of that visionary architect, Leon Krier, is now complete and proving a considerable success. There is, however, a long way to go before we can be confident that the way of looking at towns and cities represented by this exhibition and publication is accepted as normal. Recent attempts to reopen the debate on Paternoster Square in London, which featured in the first Vision of Europe exhibition, show once again how deeply embedded in the psyches of the commercial and construction worlds is the notion of futurism, and how alien the idea of cultural continuity appears to be.

The restoration of Central and Eastern Europe to their rightful and historical place in the heart of European culture has reinforced the importance and enormity of the task still in front of us. Many of their cities are racked with decay. Most are ringed with soulless concrete wastelands. The pressures of development on these cities are bound to increase over the next decade, with the accompanying danger that the recent errors of the West will be endlessly repeated. A great deal of Western advice and expertise has found its way East over the last six years, not all of it by any means guaranteed to improve the quality of life. My own efforts in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly through my business leaders Forum, have been directed towards keeping civic and community values to the fore. But there remains so much to do, which is why it is important that exhibitions and publications such as those emanating from Bologna continue to uphold an alternative vision of what enlightened city authorities can achieve, given the right advice and real vision, in contrast to that which puts commercial considerations before public and civic ones; which revels in new technology and new materials for their own sake, rather than for the support they can give to community life, and which embraces a fractured and alienating view of planning. When the next "Vision of Europe" Number 3 takes place in a few years' time, I hope that by then we shall have taken these civilizing ideals even further and that the new Millennium will usher in a new Renaissance in the way our cities are viewed, and provide an opportunity for the vision we share to be realized.