PART II CONCEPTS
6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS 6.3 BUILDING THE EUROPEAN DIAGONAL
Besides political leaders, active participation of innovative businesses and learning establishments is required t o mobilise l arge scale and often high risk projects. Most important is the engagement of civil society, a dynamic force needed to anchor such projects in the public domain and obtain lasting support. The active participation o f c ivil s ociety i s p articularly v ital i n establishing 'soft' connections based on long standing cultural bonds which can create powerful synergies with 'hard' connections between the cities and regions of the Diagonal.
of water, forest fires, coastal erosion, flooding, pollution, natural and man-made disasters, inmigration, lack of inward investment and presently the collapse of t he re al estate s ector and t he potentially harsh consequences of the deep economic c risis c ould b enefit f rom s trategic cooperation at the Diagonal scale.
The Diagonal f aces severe common problems permeating many cities and city regions. They would stand a better chance of being resolved by pooling t he k nowledge b ase a nd re sources throughout the Diagonal to the advantage of the mega-region as a whole. De-industrialisation is widespread in the Diagonal where local and regional economies are in need of restructuring which is affecting the macro-economic dimension of the region as a whole. Moreover, the Diagonal is Europe's g ateway of s outh - n orth c limate change and migration. Desertification, scarcity
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On the positive side, the Diagonal mega-region possesses rich assets on which to build a prosperous f uture. It s hares a c ommon h istory, a southern climate and an open mentality.The influx of a young population boosts urban growth, stimulates its economy and provides ties with regions outside Europe. Building on its cultural affinities and high level of education the Diagonal could gain considerably from establishing synergies between its constituent parts and develop technological and institutional innovations to solve common challenges within the Diagonal. Such communal undertakings have also great potential for technology transfer and 'capability exports' to a much larger area which shares its problems. An innovative trend of the Diagonal is to translate regional spatial development objectives into land-