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.
These initiatives provide an international forum for idea-sharing amongst city councils, the community and other concerned parties about what constitutes a ‘sustainable city’. Whilst early sustainable city programs tended to focus primarily on environmental concerns, the scope is now broadening to encompass economic and social concerns as well. These initiatives have led to programs in cities such as: improved recycling capabilities; urban renewal to stem unsustainable suburban sprawl; setting local greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets; education and employment initiatives with measurable targets; raising the percentage of affordable or social housing available; allowing free access to the internet for all; improving infrastructure for pedestrians, public transport, and bicycles; amongst other creative solutions. Some city authorities have also adopted sustainability reporting practices, to guide their organizational changes and allow progress to be monitored clearly, year on year.
These ‘sustainable city’ initiatives are helping to drive the paradigm shift required for the global economy, environment and society to become sustainable now and into the future. As the ancient Greek word polis implies, the people are the city, and with most of the people on the planet now living in cities, what better place to plant the sustainability seed?
The latter half of 2008 calendar sees several gatherings occurring on the topic of sustainable cities and urban environments, including in Amsterdam, home to the GRI Secretariat. In keeping with this theme, the GRI online gallery is featuring images of Curitiba, Brazil – a city well known for its innovative urban planning and sustainability initiatives - by photographer Roberta Valerio.
This topic was discussed in depth at the GRI Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency earlier this year, during a forum involving panelists from ICLEI, the City of Amsterdam, the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning (ISR) in Berlin, Instituto Ethos from Brazil and AVINA from Colombia. Listen to the podcast recording of the forum here.
Bookmark with: What is this?