In March, 1998, the Moscow government, the Fund Programme Management Brunch UNEP, the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), and the Centre for International Projects (CIP) signed an agreement on carrying out the Moscow sustainable cities project in 1998-99 in the framework of the world Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP).

Deterioration of the urban environment today negatively influences the public health and life quality and diminishes the ability of big cities to favour the economic growth.

In the current ecological situation the world Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) is a very important tool of the UN in the implementation of Agenda 21 and Agenda Habitat. The programme is aimed at sustainable development of the cities by the support of city authorities and their partners in the state, private, and non-commercial sectors of the municipal infrastructure to facilitate improvement of the urban planning the and management.

Moscow sustainable cities project is aimed at conducting municipal, national and international activities in the framework of the SCP, preparing and publishing the local options of Habitat agenda for Moscow and other cities of Russia and CIS. Urban Environment Forum "People and Sustainable Cities in the XXI Century" and the annual meeting of the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP-98) were the first steps in the project implementation. They were held in June 1998, just before the World Environment Day celebrated in Moscow on the June 5, 1998.

Execution of the Moscow project should facilitate social and economic development of the city-members. It will allow efficient and accurate use of natural resources, diminish environmental risks, provide social equity, improvement urban planning and management in order to get friendly environment, and encourage the growth of environmental mentality.

Information exchange in the framework of the Moscow project must demonstrate the leading role of Moscow in the project implementation and achievement of the results in other Russian cities.

The main steps of Moscow participation in the SCP are as following:

1. Conducting International Congress "People and Sustainable Cities in the XXI Century" and the World Environment Day in Moscow in June 1998.
2. Creating Internet page of the state of the environment in Moscow.
3. Preparing and publishing Moscow environment profile.
4. Conducting consultations on the rational management of urban environment.
5. Organisation of working groups for the elaboration of the strategy and executive plan to improve the urban environment.
6. Working through the process of planning and management of urban infrastructure to improve the environment.
7. Replication of Moscow experience in other cities of Russia and CIS.

Therefore, preparation of the Moscow environment profile constitutes a key stage in the implementation of the Moscow sustainable cities project.

Antropogenic influence in big cities resulted in specific urban environment that has an adverse effect on human health, both physical and mental.

The desire of people to live in a big city is naturally determined. The higher life quality and better communication links can be achieved in cities. Despite the high population density, a man is more independent there and has more opportunities for self-realisation. It is the life in cities that determines the level of modern civilisation. The share of urban population keeps on growing, though social contrasts and environment problems are becoming more and more acute.

Urban policy, called for the sustainable development of a city, must be oriented on the citizens’ needs. It is supposed to cover all directions of urban management such as economic growth, land planning, architecture and construction, industry, transport, energy sector, housing and communal services. Special attention should be paid to the role of private sector as well as to the market and economic mechanisms.

To implement the decision of sustainable development, the Moscow authorities together with federal, municipal and self-government institutions should accurately distribute all the powers and responsibilities.

While elaborating and implementing the principles of sustainable city’s development special attention should be paid to the following problems:

• a profile of sustainable development (for example, city as a centre of tourism or culture or services) is not obvious and always constitutes an arguable issue for discussions;

• a choice of activities to be considered during the elaboration of the concept of sustainable development (industry, transport, non-commercial organisations, energy, recreation) may have a lot of variations;
• a choice and definition of different indicators (social and economic, spaced, environment) are connected with a great degree of uncertainty;
• the way from the measurement of indicators and description of the critical state of urban environment to the elaboration and implementation of the real projects of sustainable development policy is quite complicated;
• transformations in the planning and land use policies including the change of different activities, cause a lot of discussions and disputes concerning the consequences of these changes in terms of economic, social and environment effect;
• city budget substantially limits the freedom and flexibility of launching new urban environment programs;
• small local but real improvements in the environment quality are often more appreciated than the strategic improvements that are aimed at long-term improvements and do not bring momentary results;
• the development of the city transport network results in many external problems which are difficult to fault with;
• the realisation of urban environment complex management policy (the concept of management from the source to flow) requires great efforts on its implementation.

Moscow as well as many other big cities and in particular capitals is constantly growing and occupying greater territories. Within the concept of sustainable development it is a natural process that requires scientific basis for environmentally sound urban development, sustainable use of natural resources and normalisation of economic situation. Since the market forces independently cannot solve environment problems, the principles of sustainable development must include long-term planning of urban infrastructure and system approach to the urban environment problems solving.