To build cities of the future, which provide good quality of life, improved economic robustness, and harmony with nature, India needs unique solutions that are not only efficient but also offer services and benefits to all segments of society. It has chosen to leverage data in creating these solutions by facilitating the real-time sharing of data among stakeholders through an open, neutral, and secure platform, the India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX). IUDX is all about the use of data for public good and enabling data providers to create innovative services and generate value.
Category: Urban renewal
Green Urban Development: learning from inspiring examples of implementation
How do we promote climate neutral urban development?
The world must drastically reduce its CO2 emissions by 2050 to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Globally, we are seeing an influx into cities over the past 30 years and, cities are one of the main spaces where CO2 emissions are directly caused. Emissions in urban areas stem from construction projects, traffic flows, increasing energy consumption from a growing population, production of waste and other factors. “However, the urban space is also the solution space for the climate change,” said one of the participants in the working groups on Green Urban Development. This sentiment was also reflected in a study conducted by the German Advisory Council on Global Change, among other studies carried out globally.
Urban solutions include, for example, the use of new mobility formats such as traffic-calmed urban spaces, roll-out of innovative of e-mobility and bike lane solutions, the reduction of pollution from resource intensive economic sectors, more sustainable building and renovation practices based on circularity, development of urban spaces to promote local economic cycles and community activities and, decentralized energy supply and waste concepts.
Aim of the working groups on Green Urban Development
The COVID-19 program “Green Urban Development” was implemented in cooperation with the consulting company Mesopartner and the Wuppertal Institute. The program included three working groups, each with 3 to 4 cities and their representatives, mostly partners from local city governments or local research institutions. The objective was to promote the implementation of concrete projects that promote climate neutral city efforts
The three working groups had the following focus areas:
- Working Group 1: Mobility solutions in cities
- Working group 2: The transformation of urban spaces and reuse of “urban space” through new community formats and mobility solutions
- Working Group 3: A mixed group linking urban energy, mobility and spatial approaches
From the formation of the working groups, it became clear that solution approaches often overlap or, that different solutions can approaches create synergies. This also enabled an exchange of experiences between the working groups. The participating cities in the program were Bhuj/Ahmedabad, Belo Horizonte, Kochi, Lalitpur, Dortmund, Buenos Aires, Quito, Montevideo, Hamburg, Kigali, Kisumu and Bremen.
First, second and third process steps: From ideas to concrete project proposals
In a first step, project ideas were developed in the respective working group:
- Creation of a bicycle traffic concept using the example of the bicycle paths in Lalitpur
- Creation of a child-friendly environmental zone in the neighborhood and the design of speed-reduced recreation areas
- Greening of roofs to create a sustainable and green urban environment and combining it with renewable energy solutions and urban gardening activities
- Municipal bio-waste management at the neighborhood level in collaboration with local citizens
- Promotion of traffic-calming zones in Kigali
- Increasing green, retention and infiltration areas in cities.
- Application of sensor technologies to analyze neighborhoods and places with high Co2 emissions.
- Planning pop-up bike lanes and building safe bike lanes.
- Last-mile connectivity solutions and electro-based logistics solutions in the center of cities.
In bilateral meetings the topics of interest were explored, and the cities exchange on their experiences.
In a second step of the project, larger network meetings were organized in each working group. Here, the cities in the respective working group exchanged their experiences and presented inspiring implementation approaches. A variety of solution approaches and experience reports were exchanged here, including the creation of a pollution mapping and the e-mobility concept of Kigali, first last mile connectivity approaches in Buenos Aires, the development of the e-mobility hub in Quito, pop-up lanes in Berlin, environmental zones and bike lanes approaches in Belo Horizonte, the development of first bike lanes and app sharing concepts in Lalitpur, etc.
Based on this concrete exchange across the working groups, further bilateral experience exchange meetings were initiated to further develop initial ideas of prototypes. The prototypes included:
- Delivery/unloading areas and electronic transport via hubs in the old city of Buenos Aires
- Child-friendly and traffic-calming spaces in Bhuj
- Scaling up bicycle infrastructure projects and app-sharing solutions in Lalitpur.
Based on these prototypes, concrete project proposals were developed with the objective to start fund raising for the implementation of the initiatives. In the Urban Space working group, Bhuj will implement the project “Safe access to schools for children through child-friendly and traffic-calmed zones.” The mobility-urban space-energy working group developed a project for Belo Horizonte, the establishment of an urban ecology laboratory. The exchanges in the Mobility Working Group eventually led to the project “Applied Technology for Loading and Unloading Public Zones in Buenos Aires”.
Implementation of Green City Pioneer of Change Events
In addition to the internal network exchange in the working groups, other stakeholders from cities around the world were involved in the reflection process for new climate-neutral city solutions. For this purpose, two large “Green City Pioneer of Change” workshops were organized, where in each of them more than 50 international participants were presented. The events had the objective to share good practices as well as to reflect jointly on key success factors and challenges.
Detailed information
A variety of input speeches, video presentations, presentations, workshop results and good practices can be found on the Connective Cities website from various documented events:
Connective Cities Lab- Expert Input
with Climate City Expert Prof. Oliver Lah (Wuppertal Institut), 11. November 2021: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/968
Participation of the three working groups in Design Thinking Workshops (15-17.11 2021):
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/959
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/960
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/961
Working group meeting with exchange of good practices in the working group „Mobility“
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1102
Working group meeting with exchange of good practices in the working group Urban Space, Mobility, Energy (03.12.21)
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1095
First large Green City Pioneers of Change Event (19.01.2022)
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1111
Second Green City Pioneers of Change Event (25.02.22)
The 15-Minute City: A Feminist Utopia?
To realize the positive intersection of feminism and the 15-minute city, concrete and inclusive land-use and mobility policies are necessary.
In many cases, a lack of clear social policies and guardrails to ensure the accessibility and maintenance of social and rental housing, allow for meaningful mixed-use zoning, and provision of well-integrated and diverse transportation networks, such investments have often resulted in gentrification, often pushing out those who would benefit most from a walkable, cyclable community. This is particularly true for women living alone, single mothers, and those from marginalized communities. Therefore, in order for there to be a positive intersection between feminism and the 15-minute city concept, a truly inclusive and equitable approach, coupled with concrete policies, needs to be adopted.
Municipal Energy Efficiency Projects Workshop in MENA
The international community of practice for sustainable urban development, Connective Cities in the MENA region, organized a virtual projects workshop under the topic “Municipal Energy Efficiency Projects in the MENA Region” on the 14 and 15 September 2021. The workshop was preceded by a day on financial advisory services for municipal energy efficiency projects in the MENA region.
The workshop has been a follow-up to the dialogue event held virtually in May 2021. This project workshop aimed at facilitating exchange of know-how and experience through peer learning among urban practitioners in MENA and Germany, supporting the project owners to define a roadmap and appropriate measures to progress with the development of the project ideas into bankable project proposals (technical advisory), as well as supporting consensus building among different stakeholders engaged in the planning and implementation of the project ideas, and determining future support needed to implement project ideas, which includes support from the Connective Cities network and German municipalities.
Nine Municipalities from Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Tunisia presented their project ideas and had a chance to further develop them in the fields of: improving energy efficiency in municipal buildings, energy efficiency via reduction of fuel consumption in waste management and energy efficient street lighting.
Tianjin Daqiuzhuang Eco-City: green, ecological and low carbon
Daqiuzhuang has traditionally been an important industrial site, especially for the steel industry.
The Sino-German Tianjin Daqiuzhuang Eco-City has developed an overarching indicator system with 20 ecological indicators, 50 percent of which are from the areas of energy saving and emission reduction. Modern concepts and technologies from Germany serve as a reference and the Energy and Climate Protection Management System (EKM) of the German Energy Agency (DENA) as a basis. The modern indicator systems for regional development of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, the Xiong’an New District and the Beijing Municipal Administrative Centre are also used as a basis. The Eco-City indicator system is divided into three areas: green ecology, liveable life and innovative production; of which 11 are control indicators and 9 are leading indicators. The indicator system thus guides the construction and development of the Eco-City throughout its life cycle.
Capacity building for gender equality at the local level
Local governments and their local government associations play a large role in advancing gender equality at the local level through policy and programming. Local government associations also play a core role in awareness raising on and implementation of gender equality measures
The study aims to provide an overview and an inventory, highlighted by concrete cases, of what is happening in the field of promoting gender equality in the international work of the UCLG membership.
With this publication the CIB Working Group Secretariat explored how UCLG’s political gender strategy can be included in the many of projects and programmes. At the same time, it provides instruments and tools that will help UCLG members to implement gender strategies in their work. The brochure consist of guidelines, technical tools as well as twelve case studies, composed to demonstrate how local government development cooperation projects can concretely improve gender equality at both the local and regional level.
Space-blind strategies don’t work for COVID-19
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently analysed how cities have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Soo-Jin Kim, Head of the OECD’s Urban Policies and Reviews Unit, calls for locally-adapted solutions now and for the post-COVID era.
Since March 2020, local health authorities have often dominated the headlines. Citizens’ trust in local politicians has significantly increased. Which role have municipalities played so far in responding to the COVID 19 crisis?
Soo-Jin Kim: Since the very beginning of the pandemic, municipalities have not waited for national governments to tell them what to do – they started to act immediately. They have deployed a range of measures to inform the public about necessary measures, ensure that people comply with social distancing and lockdown rules, support the shift to tele-working and take care of the most vulnerable such as the elderly and the poor. They have also worked to keep basic public services running, including the health system, and help the local economy survive the crisis. So I would describe municipalities as ‘essential workers’.
In addition, regardless of the crisis, we should not forget that municipalities are always key public actors. Subnational governments are responsible for an average of 40 per cent of all public spending across OECD countries. In federal states such as Germany or Switzerland, it’s even 50 to 60 per cent!
Sustainable Urban Energy Planning in Southeast Europe
Approximately 90 experts and urban practitioners from more than 30 municipalities within 9 countries of Southeast Europe, gathered to discuss major opportunities and challenges convoked by the shift towards greener energy consumption around the world. As major countries of the world come out with bod statements of reaching climate neutrality by 2050, all of us need to keep up the pace and start acting on the promised shift. The Dialogue event held during the week of 17-21 May focused on discussions of energy efficient solutions, innovative renewable energy sources as well as on getting some new insights into the EU Green Deal.
This event offered a virtual platform to discuss these challenges and supported municipalities in developing locally adapted solutions for climate challenges, specifically those related to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
During these 5 days of asynchronous and synchronous digital meetings participants listened to inspiring Keynote presentations from leading European scientists and shared insights with peers.
The project has built a Network, an exchange platform of urban players, which provides a systematic access to practice-oriented solutions for sustainable urban development by facilitating change and providing mutual support.
Promoting Energy Efficiency through innovative city-led projects
Within the ambit of the learning process on municipal energy efficiency projects in MENA, the virtual dialogue event was held on the 18th – 20th May 2021. The dialogue event aimed at promoting the exchange of expertise on good practices for planning and implementing energy efficiency projects. As part of the build up towards the dialogue event, several activities were conducted. This included a virtual session conducted on the 23rd March 2021 focusing on developing project proposals for funding of energy efficiency projects as well as a session on energy audits and showcasing of regional good practices (from Hebron and Bizerte) held on the 12th April 2021. Furthermore and as part of the outreach to regional actors, a number of municipalities of Connective Cities network have participated in the workshop of BUILD_ME phase II of the IKI project “Accelerating 0-emission building sector ambitions in the MENA region” held on the 11th of March 2021 to showcase the BEP tool for energy simulation in the building development phase.
Streets for all – Glasgow’s new avenues
The pandemic has fundamentally changed all our daily lives. Instead of meeting indoors, we meet outside and instead of taking the bus or train, we use the bicycle or sometimes the car. Cities need to respond to this change in population behavior. Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, whose central streets have long been reserved for car traffic, has met this challenge by taking extensive measures to create more space for cyclists and pedestrians and new central green spaces.
During the pandemic, space for cyclists and pedestrians in Glasgow was provisionally separated from the streets with plastic elements, giving them more space. By doing so, the city successfully responded to the new needs of its residents.
But in the long term the streetscapes suffer from the unsightly plastic elements. However, for the quality of life in a city and the well-being of its residents not only the functionality but also the beauty of the city is important. That’s why the long-term avenue strategy in Glasgow’s city center calls for the creation of 21 streets with continuous bicycle and pedestrian paths in combination with extensive greening by 2027. The new avenues will link central locations and better connect adjacent neighborhoods. The greening will beautify the streets, which were often completely concreted before, and more space for pedestrians and cyclists will significantly reduce motorized traffic.
Thus, not only does the functionality of the street adapt to the new needs of the population, but the new avenues are also visually much more attractive. This increases the attractiveness of the location for retailers and the quality of stay in the public space. Combined with new technologies, such as individually controllable LED lighting, the center of Glasgow is thus made fit for the future.
More Information
Glasgows Avenue Strategy & the Role of Beauty in Public Spaces (PDF)
Event Recording (Presentation on Glasgow starts min. 78): COVID-19 – A chance for urban green recovery? (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)
Contact:
Jamie Shields, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK jamie.shields@glasgow.gov.uk
Paola Pasino, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK paola.pasino@glasgow.gov.uk