Sarah Billens-Smith from Global Reporting Initiative has written an interesting article on sustainable cities.

“In an era where more than half of the world’s population is living in urban areas (UN State of World Population 2007), it is clear that, for sustainable development to take root globally, cities have a crucial role to play. Aside from the sheer numbers of urban-dwellers, other factors such as climate change, food and oil shortages and an economic-slump are proving to be a worrying combination of world events affecting urban areas. It is apparent that cities are going to have to become increasingly innovative to deal with these problems.

So how are municipalities and international groups tackling economic, environmental and social issues at hand? As the concept of sustainable development gains awareness amongst the wider community, a number of ‘sustainable city’ initiatives have arisen across the globe, such as ICLEI, UN HABITAT Sustainable Cities Programme, Connected Urban Development, PLUS (Partners in Long-term Urban Sustainability) Network, and many in-country initiatives such as the Sustainable Cities Research Institute in the UK.  These initiatives originate from a mix of government, corporate, NGO and community-based organizations as well as many collaborative efforts.”

Click here to read the full article …

C40 Cities (originally C20 Cities), also known as the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, is a group of cities committed to the reduction of urban carbon emissions and adapting to climate change. The group believes it has an important rule to play as cities contain around 50% of the world’s population, consume three quarters of the world’s energy, and produce 80% per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions.In October 2005, representatives of 18 leading world cities met in London to discuss joining forces to tackle global warming and climate change. The representatives saw the need for action and cooperation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pledged to work together towards achieving that goal. At the end of the conference, a communiqué was signed which recognised the need for cities to take action and to cooperate on reducing climate emissions. The cities also promised a number of action points, including most notably the creation of procurement policies and alliances to accelerate the uptake of climate-friendly technologies and influence the market place.

In August 2006 the initiative signed a partnership agreement with the William J. Clinton Foundation, headed by former US President Bill Clinton. The Clinton Climate Initiative has agreed to service the C40 by working with cities on carbon-reduction programmes.

On C40 Cities’ website you will find a lot of solutions and best practices concerning different city issues like buildings, energy, lighting, ports, renewables, transport, waste, water. When you click through these points, you will find a lot of examples that we have also reported on (for instance, when it comes to buildings we also reported on Dongtan, China as the world’s first carbon neutral sustainable city).

40 large cities are participating in the C40 including New York, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. There are also 12 affiliate cities.

The Large Cities Climate Leadership Group held their 2nd summit in New York in 2007. The next conference will be held on 9 - 11 July 2008 in Rotterdam.

(Source: PerfectCity)

Arup, a professional services firm providing engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment, and Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporate, as a client, have planned the world’s first purpose-built eco-city. Dongtan, located on the island of Chongming, near Shanghai, China, is designed not only to be environmentally sustainable, but also socially, economically and culturally sustainable.

Its goal is to be as close to carbon neutral as possible, with city vehicles that produce no carbon or particulate emissions and highly efficient water and energy systems. Dongtan will generate all of its energy needs from renewable sources including bio-fuels, wind farms and photovoltaic panels. A majority of Dongtan’s waste will be reused as biofuel for additional energy production and organic waste will be composted. Even human sewage will be composted and processed for energy and composting, greatly reducing or entirely eliminating landfill waste sites.

Here are some ways Dongtan plans to do that:

• All housing will be built within a seven minute walk of public transportation.
• Vehicles will be battery or fuel-cell powered.
• Nearby farmland will use organic methods to grow food for the city’s population.
• A heat and power plant will supply energy by running on biomass in the form of rice husks, a waste product from local rice mills.
• Waste will be considered a resource.
• The city won’t have a landfill and human sewage will be processed for energy recovery and composting.
• Buildings will have green roofs to improve insulation.
• Public transportation will include solar powered water taxis and hydrogen fuel-cell buses.

Dongtan is planned to open, with accommodation for 50,000, by the time the Expo 2010 opens in Shanghai. By 2040, the city is slated to be one-third the size of Manhattan with a total eventual population of 500,000. It has fallen way behind schedule and ARUPs Architect expects only a tenth of these to be there by 2010.

Here you can find a fact sheet on this project including all important informations.

(Source: www.perfectcity.net)

e-Dialogue Series on Urban Sustainability

Topic: Emerging Trends in Regional Governance

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008, 9 -11 a.m. PST

The Sustainable Cities: PLUS Network and Royal Roads University are collaborating on a series of e-Dialogues that will bring thought leaders together on a number of issues related to urban sustainability and long-term planning.

Join us for our real time e-Dialogue with experts from around the world on Emerging Trends in Regional Governance.

Moderated by Dr. Ann Dale, Canada Research Chair on Sustainable Community Development, panelists include well known researchers and practitioners:

• Ken Cameron, CEO of the Homeowner Protection Office of BC
• Alfonso Iracheta, Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Urban and Environmental Studies (Colegio Mexiquense in Toluca) and Coordinator of the Mexican Sustainable Cities Network
• Luis Fragomeni, Vertrag Consultancy in Curitiba, Brazil

Participate in the e-Dialogue and make a difference now to the sustainable future of cities. All participants must register in advance to participate in the e-Dialogue. Please go to http://www.e-dialogues.ca to register in the e-audience and ‘listen’ to the expert dialogue, and ask questions of the e-panel. The e-audience will remain open for 24 hours to allow you to ask questions and add your comments. We look forward to your participation in this critical public policy issue.