February2016

In eight months, tens of thousands of international delegates, local authorities, stakeholders and urbanists are expected to descend on Ecuador’s capital for the U.N.’s major urbanization conference.
Seventeenth-century churches will be transformed into public forums discussing the latest innovations in housing and urbanism. The largest-ever gathering of mayors and local leaders will give cities a voice on the international stage. Some 40,000 people, among them grass-roots activists, business leaders and curious citizens alike, will stroll through neighbourhoods transformed. One by one, world leaders will commit to a new urban agenda for the next 20 years on this increasingly urbanized planet.

http://citiscope.org//habitatIII/news/2016/02/how-quito-preparing-habitat-iii

Urban innovation to implement the SDGs

Following the productive discussions at the Roundtable on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) & Urban Innovation held within the framework of the UCLG World Council in Paris, a new publication by the Urban Innovation Community entitled "Telling City Success Stories" is now available. The publication compiles the insightful ideas and visions that were shared at the roundtable as well as exploring tools, expertise and knowledge in urban innovation.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/urban-innovation-implement-sdgs

The Changing Geography of Disadvantage

The 2000s brought significant changes to the demographic and economic fabric of the United States. The country has grown increasingly diverse in recent years, driven by a combination of immigration, declining births and increasing deaths among whites, and a boom in minority births.
The economic makeup of the country has changed as well. After a decade marked by two recessions that limped into slow and uneven economic recoveries, the number of people living below the federal poverty line ($23,492 for a family of four in 2012) rose to record levels. By 2012, 46.5 million people—15 percent of the population— lived in poverty, and more than one-third of the country (107.5 million) lived below twice the poverty line (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 2013).

http://penniur.upenn.edu/publications/urban-and-suburban-poverty-the-changing-geography-of-disadvantage

Young mayors remake struggling U.S. cities

Across the United States, economically depressed cities are betting on youthful mayors to infuse new energy into their municipalities.
ABC News reports that at just 24 years old, Jasiel Correia, is the nation’s youngest city leader. He is the newly minted mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts, a struggling mill city of nearly 89,000 in the southeastern portion of the state. It’s the largest metropolis to be helmed by a person in his or her twenties.
Correia, the son of immigrants who was raised in a tenement there, has big ambitions for his hometown. He was elected on a platform that calls for urban reinvestment and incentives to attract more small business owners and new residents, the article says.

http://citiscope.org/citisignals/2016/young-mayors-remake-struggling-us-cities

Cities Build Up Innovation to Tackle Breakdown in Urban Infrastructure

The unfolding water contamination issue in Flint, Mich., which led to the declaration of a federal emergency, is the latest example of the challenges we are seeing across many of our nation’s cities when it comes to aging infrastructure. From transportation and stormwater to broadband and energy efficiency, cities are juggling limited resources to build and maintain vital capital assets to meet even the most basic needs of residents, especially in low-income communities. It is estimated that the growing demand for infrastructure improvements totals more than $60 trillion nationally. Increasingly, cities and states have to cover these costs on their own, requiring enormous coordination and new financing mechanisms to address that large and growing need.

http://www.governing.com/cityaccelerator/blog/launching-cohort-3.html

Improving the quality of life of people through sustainability

The phrase belongs to Elkin Velasquez, UN-Habitat´s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, during the signing of the agreement between the UN agency and the government of Risaralda (Colombia). Pact for Sustainability and Competitiveness is a document that includes actions for development in 14 municipalities through the implementation of a State Organizational Plan. “It is important that cities generate joint strategies to deal with the reception of people in rural areas, ensuring better living conditions,” said Velasquez.

http://unhabitat.org/improving-the-quality-of-life-of-people-through-sustainability/

Copenhagen plans to divest from fossil fuels

The mayor of Copenhagen has announced the city will withdraw the city’s £700m investment fund out of coal, oil and gas holdings. This new direction is in line with the city’s pursuit of a green profile, as Copenhagen is currently at the forefront of world cities in the green transition, and working hard to become the world’s first CO2 neutral capital in 2025. Read the full article by Arthur Nelson for The Guardian about the Copenhagen mayor’s plans to divest the city’s 6.9bn kroner (£700m) investment fund of all holdings in coal, oil and gas here.

https://citiesintransition.eu/publication/copenhagen-plans-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels

Africa’s big cities offer investors hope in hard times

Africa's biggest economies have been hammered by the collapse in commodity prices over the past 18 months but there are still investment bright spots to be found.
In cities such as Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, Kinshasa and Johannesburg, growth remains robust and investors are prospering in the retail, financial services, technology and construction sectors.
This means investors can now re-adjust their strategy for Africa. Instead of taking a view on the continent as a whole, or choosing one country over another, they can seize opportunities city by city. Sub-Saharan Africa is urbanizing faster than anywhere else in the world and city dwellers have more money to spend.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/16-Feb-2016/africa-s-big-cities-offer-investors-hope-in-hard-times

EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling: The Covenant of Mayors as a tool to support local authorities

Yesterday, the European Commission released the first ever dedicated Communication on the EU Strategy on Heating and Cooling aiming at a "smarter and more sustainable use of heating and cooling".
Although the heating and cooling sector is moving to clean low-carbon energy, 75% of the fuel it uses still comes from fossil fuels (nearly half from gas). While this strategy will contribute to reducing import dependency, the European Commission affirms that security of supply remains a priority, especially in Member States that rely on a single supplier.

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=713

How Much Do Startup Accelerators Help Cities?

Accelerators are growing rapidly across the U.S. But does that mean governments should get involved?
Cities have long sought to bolster their innovative and entrepreneurial capacities. In an effort to spur startup activity, many U.S. urban areas have developed tech centers and innovation districts, lured venture capital funds, and launched incubator programs and facilities.
The latest trend in the tech startup economy is the creation of so-called “accelerators,” which act like a Shark Tank school for startups, providing access to mentors and peers along with space and venture funding. Perhaps the best-known accelerator is Y Combinator—established by Paul Graham in 2005 and based in the Silicon Valley—which has launched some 940 companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, and Reddit. Yet another popular example is Techstars—founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado—which now sponsors 21 accelerators across the world.

http://www.citylab.com/tech/2016/02/startup-accelerators-economy-geography/463368/

Fight to Preserve Historic Preservation Tools for Cities

Republican lawmakers want to amend the state’s 1970 Local Historic Districts Act to require two-thirds approval by property owners before any potential historic district is designated, and then also put the designation up for a vote before the city or township. Local governments, rather than state preservation boards, would navigate any appeals. And if a designation does make it through, it would “sunset” after 10 years — and the cumbersome process would have to start all over again if a historically significant block or neighborhood is to be spared whatever development trend is fashionable at the moment.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/michigan-historic-preservation-historic-districts-act

City to City Barcelona FAD Award 2016 is now open to proposals.

True to the aim of researching and higlighting positive urban transformation processes, this year we introduce changes. The award will be themed from now on, and now we seek "learning initiatives in the city". Already developed projects of any city in the world except Barcelona, in the intersections between city and education. Urban initiatives that produce collective knowledge and generate learning processes.
As you remember, the nomination system is fully open. Therefore, we encourage you to submit any proposal you may have. If you know one or more initiatives of cities eligible for the prize, you can invite them to submit applications until April 12 or do it yourself by filling in the form found on our website: www.fad.cat/citytocity. The system is fast, easy and does not take more than two minutes.

http://fad.cat/citytocity/6/#/

Urban farming takes on more important role

The idea of growing fruit trees on the top of buildings, or producing fruit and vegetables inside multi-storey buildings using artificial light, might have been viewed as a fanciful idea once, but not any more. From Beijing to Sydney and Tokyo to Singapore, urban farming is becoming an integral part of the city landscape, not only in Asia but throughout the world. Chris Williams, lecturer in urban horticulture at the University of Melbourne's Burnley campus, said urban farming, in all its forms, was the new reality in a world where more than half the population is now urbanised.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/urban-farming-takes-more-important-role-worldwidematter-survival

When Height's Not Right for Urban Planning

We don't always have to build up to fit more people into a city. Vancouver and Seattle offer alternative solutions.
Kitsilano, a lovely old neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, looks much the same as it did a century ago when it was designed around a streetcar line. It still has enormous homes perched on lawns with alleys in the back, all within sight of downtown’s shimmering skyscrapers.
But unlike in 1930, when the neighborhood was home to a population of about 28,000, a lot more people live in Kitsilano now. By 2011, about 41,000 were living there. With family sizes smaller, the number of residences has increased by an even larger percentage. But just where are these new people and their homes if Kitsilano looks largely unchanged?
They are tucked away, here and there. The big old houses have been split up at first illegally and then in recent years with the city’s encouragement. Developers and architects have gotten good at swelling these homes with additional rooms and floors without much altering their curb appearance. Along back alleys, new freestanding homes, locally called “laneway houses,” have been added.

http://www.governing.com/columns/eco-engines/gov-urban-planning-vancouver-seattle.html

IoT Smart Cities Market Worth $147.5 Billion

According to a new market research report published by Marketsand Markets, the market size of IoT in Smart Cities is estimated to reach $147.51 Billion by 2020, at an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.2% during the next five years.
The report “Internet of things (IoT) in smart cities market by Solutions (Remote Monitoring, Data Management) Platform (Application & Device Management) Application (Building Automation, Energy Management, Transportation) – Global Forecast to 2020”, says that the increasing adoption of IoT is driving this market; the IoT platforms segment is expected to grow higher than the IoT solutions segment during the forecast period. Presently, North America is the largest market for IoT in smart cities platform.

http://www.citiesofthefuture.eu/iot-smart-cities-market-worth-147-5-billion/

The True Value of Mobility

In 1919 the head of the planning department of the “Free and Hanseatic City” of Hamburg, Fritz Schumacher, published a Scheme of the natural development of the organism Hamburg. It reached out far beyond the political borders of the city, what would now be characterized as the “metropolitan area”. The scheme consisted of axes starting in the city centre with the backbones of the axes primarily consisting of existing and planned respectively lines of the urban and regional railways[1], as evidenced in Figure 1.
At the beginning of the reconstruction of the German cities after the Second World War the head of the engineering department of Hamburg was convinced that his big chance has come for realizing an automobile-oriented development of the metropolitan area.
In 1953, even though the number of cars and trucks had not yet reached the amount before the war, he declared a nonetheless severely critical state of the mobility in the city. His proposal: a network of 140km “City Autobahns” with six lanes and a width of 40m[2]. Though this approach completely corresponded with the ideology of most traffic planners in Germany at that time it was, remarkably, not accepted by the city government and its planning department.

http://thinkingcities.com/the-true-value-of-mobility/

Which Cities Are Adding Walkable Housing the Fastest?

As more Americans look for walkable places to live, cities are struggling to deliver, and a lot of neighborhoods are becoming less affordable. A new analysis by Kasey Klimes of Copenhagen’s Gehl Studio illustrates how major metro areas have let their supply of walkable housing shrink over the years, contributing to today’s housing crunch.
In this chart, Klimes shows how much walkable neighborhoods, which he defines as places with 10 or more housing units per acre, have grown or declined as a share of total housing in the nation’s 51 largest regions, from 1970 through 2010.

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2016/02/04/which-cities-are-adding-walkable-housing-the-fastest/

The Not-So-Secret Secret About Growing a Healthy City

It may not have as much placemaking pizzazz as a new bike-share or downtown arts district, but unless a city prioritizes basic service, people will not want to build roots in it. From safe drinking water to solid public schools, brass-tacks urbanism is the not-so-secret secret about growing a healthy city.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/detroit-rust-belt-economic-development-growing-healthy-city

Moving Toward Active Transportation: How Policies Can Encourage Walking and Bicycling

Active Living Research has published a brand new ALR product titled Moving Toward Active Transportation: How Policies Can Encourage Walking and Bicycling. The research review summarizes current research on the health benefits and safety of active travel, and examines policies and programs that can help to increase walking and biking rates.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1029/45/Moving-Toward-Active-Transportation-How-Policies-Can-Encourage-Walking-and-Bicycling

Building Children Out of Our Cities

Last fall, the City of Oakland, Ca. launched a planning process to shape the future of its downtown. SPUR, a regional planning nonprofit, published a report titled, A Downtown for Everyone: Shaping the Future of Downtown Oakland. In it, the authors lay out bold recommendations focused on making Downtown more developer, transit, and business friendly.
As I read the report, one oversight really hit a nerve: there is nary a reference to making downtown more family friendly.

http://www.rooflines.org/4366/building_children_out_of_our_cities/

Want to build sustainable, resilient cities? Start with quality infrastructure

Rapid urbanization has put considerable pressure on developing countries to deliver more infrastructure - and, preferably, to deliver it fast and in a cost-effective way. But this sense of urgency should not lead cities to compromise on quality, or to focus only on the upfront cost of building infrastructure rather than to consider the full cost of construction, operation and maintenance over the entire lifecycle of a project.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/want-build-sustainable-resilient-cities-start-quality-infrastructure

Drowning in rubbish, Lima sends out the vultures with GoPros

Kitted out with video cameras and satellite trackers, 10 vultures have been set loose over the capital of Peru to draw attention to the megacity’s overwhelming trash problem – though not necessarily to clean it up

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/29/drowning-rubbish-lima-vultures-gopro-video-cameras

Urban innovation to implement the SDGs

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/urban-innovation-implement-sdgs

The Future of the Urban Food Market

Back in November, Borough Market and Nesta joined forces to explore the future of the urban food market. As many of us flock to food markets around the country this week to find good food for Christmas, it seems like a good time to revisit the ideas we explored at the event. Chefs, designers, policy makers, academics and market-goers met in the market hall to explore ideas about what the market of the future might look like. We designed future objects (using the excellent Thing from the Future as a prompt). We created a map of the future market, (which will be on public display in the Market in January), and mused on what some future food labels might show.

http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/future-urban-food-market

What The World's Best Cities Will Look Like In 2030

Two mega-trends - the rapid urbanization of the world's population and the aging of that same population - will soon collide. By 2030, more than 1 billion people (one in eight) will be aged 65 or older, and by 2050, nearly two-thirds of the world's population will live in urban areas. What's needed between now and then, according to a new report from McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute, is new thinking about how to create "age-friendly cities."
Creating an age-friendly city might be harder than it sounds. We still think of major cities - New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles - as the playgrounds of the young and ambitious - places where recent graduates can establish a name for themselves in business or entertainment, work for innovative start-ups or take advantage of the latest hipster creations. As they become older, these same individuals traditionally head to the suburbs, leaving the city behind. As a result, we don't think about the graying of the world's cities.

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/what-the-worlds-best-cities-will-look-like-in-2030-1267736

ICLEI to Accelerate City-Business Engagement at Metropolitan Solutions 2016

For the fourth time ICLEI will partner with the Deutsche Messe AG to foster city-business engagement for sustainable urban development at Metropolitan Solutions 2016.
Taking place from 31 May to 2 June at the CityCube in Berlin, Germany, the Metropolitan Solutions combined conference and exhibition platform will once again bring together actors from local governments and the private sector around the latest approaches and solutions in the field of sustainable urban development.

http://www.iclei.org/details/article/iclei-to-foster-city-business-engagement-at-metropolitan-solutions-2016.html

How Ljubljana turned itself into Europe's ‘green capital’

Along the narrow streets on the banks of the Ljubljanica River, the only sounds you’re likely to hear are the patter of shoes on cobblestones, the voices of people out walking and the clanking of glasses at sidewalk cafes.
It’s much changed from ten years ago, when these streets were clogged with traffic. There was little room for pedestrians then. Those who dared to walk had to dodge cars and buses and breathe fumes from their tailpipes.

http://citiscope.org/story/2016/how-ljubljana-turned-itself-europes-green-capital

Good urban planning can reduce drunken violence

Tragically, another young life has been lost in an alleged one-punch assault, this time in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
These assaults are frightening occurrences in themselves, but also they pose much deeper questions regarding our approach to some very complex societal problems.
So far, debate has centred on state liquor law reform but that’s only half the story.
Queensland MPs may also draw some lessons from a recent project by the Designing Out Crime research centre that aimed to tackle similar problems in Sydney’s Kings Cross district.

https://theconversation.com/designer-nights-out-good-urban-planning-can-reduce-drunken-violence-52768

Impact of diesel ‘severely underestimated’ across Europe

Researchers in London have found that diesel contributes up to half of the total of hazardous air pollutants in the English capital.
The worrying findings mean that the UK’s emissions inventory - a database that lists the amount of air pollutants in the atmosphere during a given time period by source – is severely underestimated.
The underestimations are significant because national emissions estimates drive national policy.

http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/impact-diesel-severely-underestimated-across-europe

How Citizens Can Have a Genuine Voice in Policymaking

"This is America. We want to make it easier for people to participate." So said President Obama in his final State of the Union address. Beyond the partisan divides around some of the president's policy proposals lies a compelling thought: Regardless of the policy outcome, give ordinary people genuine, effective access to the process. That is an achievable goal -- as demonstrated by the many local governments that have taken positive steps to make it so.
For too long, government has made unrealistic demands of citizens when it comes to their participation in the process. The only choice many citizens have had was to speak for no more than three minutes at a podium -- often on live television, after hours of waiting, minutes before a vote. At one city council meeting in Texas, a speaker at a public hearing asked, in a nearly empty chamber at 11 o'clock at night, "Will there be an opportunity to weigh in on this issue? "I believe you're doing so now," replied the mayor. "With any power?" she asked, to applause from fellow citizens.

http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-public-participation-policymaking-process.html

European cities to involve ‘smart citizens’ in digital technology trial projects

Drawing on €25 million in EU funding, six major European cities have teamed up with EUROCITIES to design and implement a series of new pilot projects to demonstrate how innovative uses of digital technology can improve urban environments and the lives of their residents.
Under the European Commission’s Smart Cities and Communities large-scale demonstration (‘lighthouse’) programme, London, Lisbon and Milan will seek to design and implement ground-breaking technology-based services and initiatives to benefit their inhabitants and eventually to be adopted by other interested cities and communities. Bordeaux, Burgas and Warsaw will be ‘follower cities’ collecting experience.

http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/European-cities-to-involve-smart-citizens-in-digital-technology-trial-projects-WSPO-A6DFB5

A 'Night Mayor' Is Transforming Amsterdam After Dark

The Dutch capital’s concept is already spreading to other major cities.
Do big cities need a “Chinatown for night culture”? This is a concept currently being explored in Amsterdam by former club promoter Mirik Milan. By creating special districts for after-dark businesses, the 35-year-old Milan suggests, cities like his hometown could balance many local desires for a lively night life with the wishes of others for peace and quiet.

http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2016/01/night-mayor-amsterdam-mirik-milan/433893/

COBE designs master plan for new urban centre in Berlin

Collaborating with Man Made Land, Knippers Helbig and Mafeu Architektur Consulting, COBE Berlin has received the first prize in an international competition to design Berlin’s ‘Urbane Mitte am Gleisdreieck’, a master plan located at the gateway to Gleisdreieck Park in Berlin, Germany.
The proposal integrates the neighbouring structures, including entrances and thresholds, taking advantage of the synergies present in the area and fostering their spatial relationships. The new centre has an urban, metropolitan appeal and incorporates Berlin archetypes, such as the iron truss structures of transit stations and typical Berlin blocks and high-rises. The master plan will open to the park nearby, and offer Berliners and visitors a wide range of uses.

http://www.urbannewsdigest.in/?p=16778

Teeny house, big lie: Why so many proponents of the tiny-house movement have decided to upsize

As we were packing up our cottage last summer, my 14-year-old casually observed: “It’s good we’re leaving, while we still like each other.”
For 10 weeks of the year, my husband and I, along with our two sons, live blissfully in Nova Scotia in a two-room A-frame that measures roughly 320 square feet, accounting for the sloped roof. We sleep in the loft upstairs, which adds about 80 square feet. This puts our cottage within “tiny home” range, making us part-time members of a high-minded, green-friendly, cost-saving movement to live small in a world of super-sized mansions.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/teeny-house-big-lie-why-so-many-proponents-of-the-tiny-house-movement-have-decided-to-upsize/article28035056/

Are road diets the next big thing for US cities?

Like so many new concepts in urban planning, road diets seem like a great idea at first. And, like so many concepts in urban planning, they tend to generate a lot more criticism once they’re put into place.
The idea of a road diet is simple: to pinpoint streets that have excess capacity and could be narrowed down without significant car congestion, so providing space for other uses, such as sidewalks and bike paths.

http://www.citymetric.com/transport/are-road-diets-next-big-thing-us-cities-1757

Cities and Migrants: Implementing and Integrating Cities Charter

In many cities the funding of local integration policies is largely dependent on the budget lines of the national or regional authorities. In some cases national funding for local integration policies decreased and European Integration Funds managed at the national level often do no reach the city council.
The Integration Cities Charter identifies the responsibility and opportunities of European cities as policy makers, service providers, employers, and buyers of goods and services to provide equal opportunities for all residents, to integrate migrants, and to embrace the diversity of their populations.

http://www.eukn.eu/news/detail/cities-and-migrants-implementing-and-integrating-cities-charter/

Building cities that thrive: A need for a comprehensive urban policy

According to a World Bank report published in January 2015, Malaysia has 19 urban areas with more than 100,000 people: one urban area of more than five million people (Kuala Lumpur), two between one and five million (George Town and Johor Baru), five of 500,000 to one million, and 11 urban areas of between 100,000 and 500,000 people.
As of 2010, the Kuala Lumpur urban area was the eighth largest in the region, larger than some megacity urban areas like Jakarta, Manila, and Seoul despite its smaller population. However, what is lacking is a comprehensive national urbanisation policy that takes into account the needs and wants of each urban cluster.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/building-cities-thrive-need-comprehensive-urban-policy

A green public procurement guide to help cities buy sustainably

Green procurement forms a pillar for ever more municipalities seeking to take climate action. Local authorities with green public procurement strategies favour goods, services and works with reduced environmental impacts throughout their life cycles.
To support them in this task, a new guide on incorporating green public procurement into municipal planning has been published in the framework of the EU-funded Green ProcA project. The guide is especially tailored to municipalities elaborating their Sustainable Energy Action Plans as required by the Covenant of Mayors.

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=702

EUSEW 2016 call for contributions now open!

The 2016 EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW 2016) call for contributions is now officially open. EUSEW's annual Policy Conference brings together public authorities, private companies, NGOs and consumers to promote initiatives to save energy and move towards renewables for clean, secure and efficient power.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1027/45/EUSEW-2016-call-for-contributions-now-open-33

Sustainable and innovative energy solutions for cities, at the CEPPI project website

The CEPPI project website – www.ceppi.eu – has been launched to showcase the sustainable energy solutions lead by the five participating cities – Birmingham (UK), Budapest (Hungary), Castelló and Valencia (Spain), and Wroclaw (Poland) – and supported by the 4 expert partners. By using a pro-innovation procurement approach, the cities aim to achieve energy savings of 33GWh per year.

http://www.ceppi.eu/home/

Paris hopes €1bn revamp of Les Halles can become city's 'beating heart'

French capital to unveil reworked site crowned with one of the most ambitious architectural projects of the decade
For 40 years, Paris has carried the shame of an incredible act of architectural self-sabotage. The heart of the city has never fully recovered from the brazen 1970s bulldozing of the magnificent, 19th-century wrought-iron market pavilions at Les Halles and the creation, in their place, of an airless underground transport and shopping complex seen as a monstrous, mirror-glassed carbuncle.
But after decades of cultural spats, protests and political handwringing, the city is finally attempting to make amends. Later this spring, Paris will unveil an entirely reworked Les Halles crowned with one of the most ambitious architectural projects of the decade – a giant, undulating glass roof spanning 2.5 hectares, which hopes to literally put a lid on the problem.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/01/paris-hopes-1bn-revamp-of-les-halles-can-become-citys-beating-heart

Electric car sales in France up by 64%

The French Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (CCFA) has reported that the number of new electric vehicles registered in 2015 was up by 64 per cent, bringing the share of EVs in the overall market close to the symbolic threshold of 1 per cent.
A total of 17 266 new electric vehicles (EVs) were registered last year in France out of a total 1.91 million vehicles, according to statistics released by the CCFA earlier this month.
That’s equivalent to a market share of 0.9 per cent, compared to 0.59 per cent in 2014 when 10 561 new EVs were put on the roads.

http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/electric-car-sales-france-64

Paris hopes €1bn revamp of Les Halles can become city's 'beating heart'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/01/paris-hopes-1bn-revamp-of-les-halles-can-become-citys-beating-heart

Electric car sales in France up by 64%

http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/electric-car-sales-france-64

We need to make our cities inclusive, sustainable and safe

Cities matter, now more than ever. They’re the engines that drive our economy. They’re hubs of innovation and creativity. They’re where we connect with each other—and with the world. In other words, it’s our cities that move Canada forward.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/we-need-make-our-cities-inclusive-sustainable-and-safe

Why our future depends on cities

It is hard to know with certainty where and why cities will falter and fail in the 21st century. It is even more difficult to predict which cities are going to thrive and survive. What is more certain is that unprecedented urbanization will play a defining role in their success or failure. To put it in crude terms: the fight for future security and development will be won or lost in the metropole.

http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/why-our-future-depends-on-cities/

INFINITE Solutions; helpies cities find the most suitable financing option

The INFINITE Solutions project, developed and led by Energy Cities, supports local authorities in their energy transition by helping them identify the most suitable financing option for their projects.
In the framework of INFINITE Solutions, 10 European local authorities are sharing experience, testing and implementing innovative financing schemes.
In Stuttgart, private home owners can enjoy ’care-free’ energy renovation package. Frederikshavn (Denmark) is mobilising savings ‘sleeping’ on citizens’ bank accounts and Croatia’s first local energy revolving fund was created by the city of Koprivnica.

http://www.energy-cities.eu/INFINITE-Solutions-Helping-cities?pmv_nid=2

Vietnam to boost energy efficiency of urban buildings

Vietnam has announced a concerted effort to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings and apartments in major cities.
Viet Nam News reports that large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi will participate in the program. The scheme was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the article says.
The four-year project will cost US$22 million, with more than US$3 million to be contributed by the United Nations Development Programme. The goal is to remove nearly 240 tons of carbon emissions — a major contributor to climate change — from the atmosphere, the news agency reports.

http://citiscope.org/citisignals/2016/vietnam-boost-energy-efficiency-urban-buildings

Socio-Economic Segregation in EU Capital Cities

Part 1 of EUKN’s monthly interview with Mr. Tiit Tammaru, Professor of Urban and Population Geography and Head of the Centre for Migration and Urban Research at the Department of Geography of the University of Tartu, about his co-written book “Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital Cities.”

http://www.eukn.eu/news/detail/eukn-urban-review-socio-economic-segregation-in-eu-capital-cities/

The Urban Design Lesson Hidden in Blizzard 2016

Recent winter storm Jonas dumped epic amounts of snow on the East Coast. Parts of New York City found themselves under 30 inches of snow. Washington, DC got hit with 18 inches, Philly with 22, and Baltimore with a record-setting 29, according to the Weather Channel.
All that snow’s done a fair bit of damage to the region’s transportation networks, closing down subways, slowing car traffic, and canceling more than 13,000 flights. But this kind of blizzard also delivers an unexpected bonus for everyone who advocates urban design that values pedestrians over cars. The natural path of snowplows in the storm’s aftermath has created a network of what some call “sneckdowns”—a somewhat natural version of an urban design feature that proponents say can make city streets safer and more pleasant.

http://www.wired.com/2016/01/sneckdowns-the-hidden-urban-design-lesson-in-winter-storm-jonas/

How California Cities Can Capitalize on El Nino’s Rains

With January more than half over and the much-hyped dousing of southern California by El Nino-related storms nowhere to be seen, weather experts are urging patience.
In other words, the wettest is yet to come.
That’s good news for California’s drought-parched cities, but it’s also a challenge. El Nino storms are remarkable less for their intensity than for their persistence. Once the rains start, storms might keep coming, one after another.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/california-cities-drought-water-el-nino-rains

Tell the world about innovative projects in your city!

The Metropolis Policy Transfer Platform, which is run by Berlin, has been online for one year now. To celebrate its anniversary, we invite your city to join this great hub of information about more than 100 case studies concerning pioneering, prize-winning projects all over the world.
The platform presents projects that may be transferred from city to city, whether we are talking about micro-gardens in Dakar, social programmes for informal settlements in Buenos Aires or the Sandokdoro Renaissance Project in Busan.

http://www.metropolis.org/news/2015/10/28/2523

Cities will be on the front lines of implementing the global goals

Everyone has a connection to the place they call home, be it a large metropolis or a small town. It’s where we raise our families, start a small business and connect with each other—and the world.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/cities-will-be-front-lines-implementing-global-goals

How Your Neighborhood Affects Your Sense of Financial Security

The typical low-income household in a high-poverty neighborhood has only $800 in accumulated wealth. A household with a similar income in a wealthier neighborhood has $35,000 in accumulated wealth — more than 40 times that amount. The latter’s also more likely to be a homeowner and have checking and education savings accounts, according to new Pew data released last week.
The report illustrates that not only does neighborhood poverty correlate with unemployment, lower-performing schools and increased violence, but it also affects financial security, regardless of income.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/neighborhood-poverty-savings-inequality

Amsterdam car-sharing platform posts record growth

A peer-to-peer car-sharing platform operating in Amsterdam has surged in popularity over the past year, according to figures released by the company earlier this month.
In 2015 Snappcar, a service launched Amsterdam in 2011, attracted 7 500 new registrations, including 900 car owners.
The rise means that over 18 000 people are now registered to use the service, sharing between them 2 400 cars.
The number of bookings also increased sharply, with 10 000 in 2015, a rise of 39 per cent compared to 2014.

http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/amsterdam-car-sharing-platform-posts-record-growth-netherlands

How Edmonton Made Winter Great Again

In Edmonton, Alberta, it snows 52 days out of the year. On winter nights, the temperature often dips down to about 5° Fahrenheit.
Once, this was something that the residents of the Canadian city preferred to ignore. When the massive West Edmonton Mall—one of the largest in the world—opened its doors in 1981, it created, as the urban planner Simon O’Byrne puts it, “a big bunker for the winter.”
“That was 1970s, 1980s thinking,” he tells CityLab. “It was all about minimizing the distance from the car to the indoors; nobody wanted to be outside in the winter.”
Edmonton officials decided that was a problem.

http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2016/01/how-edmonton-is-making-winter-great-again/424146/

Why Historic Preservation Districts Should Be a Thing of the Past

GOP lawmakers in Midwestern states say such neighborhood designations infringe on homeowners’ rights. But really they stand in the way of affordable housing.
Historic preservation is a handy tool. Sometimes it’s the scalpel: a precise instrument for safeguarding the long-term cultural legacy of the built environment against the temporary whims of private interests. But other times it’s the ax: a melee weapon for defending the interests of homeowners. There’s one scenario in which historic preservation almost always serves as the latter.

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/01/why-historic-preservation-districts-should-be-a-thing-of-the-past/431598/

Farming greens in the city

Why should we go to the outskirts to let grow our crops when there is already many available spaces in the city itself? Urban farm project Dublin initiated certain urban agricultural projects by using simple organic techniques. All those actions contribute to rethink agricultural innovation reshaping urban public spaces.

https://citiesintransition.eu/cityreport/farming-greens-in-the-city/

ETSC releases video clip on Intelligent Speed Assistance

Speed is a crucial factor causing road deaths and serious injuries. A new film from European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) makes the case for making overridable Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) a standard feature on all new vehicles in Europe.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1031/45/ETSC-releases-video-clip-on-Intelligent-Speed-Assistance

What It Means to Be a 'Smart City'

Like self-driving cars, "smart cities" are getting a lot of attention these days. And rightfully so, considering their broad range of potential benefits, from more sustainable use of resources and enhanced resilience to improved citizen engagement, urban mobility and public safety. Realizing significant improvements in even a few of these would make building out a smart city a worthwhile goal.
The infrastructure of a smart city is fairly easy to describe. It is created through the deployment of digital information and communications technologies and built on high-speed broadband. It incorporates intelligent infrastructure in its many variations: smart grids for energy and water, virtual environments for health care and education, and intelligent systems for transportation and buildings.
However, no master design exists for a model smart city and, even if there were, strong arguments support shaping one from the ground up based on unique local needs and resources.

http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-smart-city-linking-environmental-sustainability-economic-growth.html

Charrette: A social innovation lab

When you think social innovation, you might think micro loans in developing countries, or hand-ups to help people in from the fringes here at home. Or a wide range of ways to build social capital or how charitable institutions backstop community with philanthropy. But for those of you who are working in the city planning trenches every day, using collaborative design workshops to engage the people, you’re really running a form of social innovation lab.

http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/hazel-borys/21899/charrette-social-innovation-lab

How Cities Are Learning to Think More Like Startups

Tech and innovation have tested cities and urban planners in various ways, from Google’s buses and the specter of inequality, to the infrastructure challenge posed by driverless cars. But the 158 finalists for the Knight Foundation Cities Challenge, announced last week, show that ideas from the tech world are impacting urban planning in a much deeper way—and for the better.
“There’s a lot of interest in trying things,” says Carol Coletta, vice president at the Knight Foundation. “We don’t have to plan forever, we don’t have to have the biggest idea. Let’s try something and see if it works.”

http://fortune.com/2016/01/21/cities-are-learning-to-think-like-startups/

ICLEI Launches Smart Cities Conference and Invites Input

Despite the plethora of existing Smart Cities conferences, few of them put the often technology-focused interpretation of the concept into a holistic context. ICLEI’s new Smart Cities conference will go beyond win-win romanticism and synthesize sustainable “smartness” through critical debate.

http://www.iclei.org/details/article/iclei-launches-smart-cities-conference-and-invites-input.html

Urbanisation, deforestation fuelling spread of Zika

Environmental destruction both caused the horrific Zika virus to infect humans and is fuelling its explosive spread through the Americas, experts believe felling forests brought people into contact with it, and the growth of cities and even an increase in rubbish are factors behind its rapid proliferation. Zika has reached 23 countries and territories since the first Brazilian cases were reported last year.
Professor Amy Vittor, an expert in insect-borne diseases at the Emerging Pathogens Institute of the University of Florida, said the emergence and spread of the virus was "absolutely" likely to be connected with environmental degradation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/Urbanisation-deforestation-fuelling-spread-of-Zika-Experts/articleshow/50803346.cms

Where are the world's newest cities … and why do they all look the same?

Thousands of new cities are needed to house the increasing global population – projected to reach 10bn by 2060. From China’s planned Jing-Jin-Ji hypercity to African techno hubs and sprawling refugee camps, Adam Greenfield explores what the future holds

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/28/where-world-newest-cities-look-same

Is Los Angeles The Next Great Walkable City?

Los Angeles, city of bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic, could be an up-and-coming city for pedestrian-oriented development, according to a new report ranking walkable urban areas in the U.S.
The report was done by LOCUS, a coalition of developers and investors who partner with Smart Growth America, and researchers at George Washington University. They surveyed walkability in the 30 top metropolitan areas in the country. Car-friendly L.A., it turns out, ranked 18th on measures of walkable urbanism. Only 16% of its office and retail space is in an areas that's considered "walkable." Yet 45% of that pedestrian-friendly space exists in the suburbs—so despite its sprawl, L.A. has potential to become a hub for walkable development.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3032098/slicker-city/is-los-angeles-the-next-great-walkable-city

Launch of the project “Just & Safer Cities for All”

Through the project “Just & Safer Cities for All”, which is co-financed by the European Union’s Directorate General Justice, the European Forum for Urban Security is renewing its commitment to work against all forms of racist violence and discrimination. Of duration of 24 months, the project starts this month of January.

http://efus.eu/en/topics/efus/10591/

Why Copenhagen is building parks that can turn into ponds

At first glance, the square known as Tåsinge Plads doesn’t look much different from other parks in Copenhagen. A young couple lounges on a small hill surrounded by newly planted trees and wildflowers. Children laugh and play. Old women sit chatting on benches under the shade of tall sculptures shaped like upside-down umbrellas.
But there are hidden features that make Tåsinge Plads part of this seaside city’s plan to survive the effects of climate change.
During heavy rains, the flowerbeds fill with water and wait to drain until the storm runoff subsides. The upside-down umbrellas collect water to be used later to nourish the plantings. And clever landscaping directs stormwater down into large underground water storage tanks. Above those tanks are bouncy floor panels that children love to jump on — when they do, the energy from their feet pumps water through the pipes below.

http://citiscope.org/story/2016/why-copenhagen-building-parks-can-turn-ponds

Energy-efficient renovation in buildings: New financing toolkits

Three new toolkits on financing solutions for energy-efficient renovations in buildings have recently been developed by the CITYnvest project. CITYnvest materials aimed at helping local authorities identify and implement the most suitable financing solutions so that they can support the implementation of energy efficiency projects developed in the framework of their Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=706

Even Copenhagen Makes Mistakes

Long touted as the model of modern urbanism, the city’s biggest economic and environmental challenges are still ahead.
“If someone comes up to you every day for eight years and says, ‘My god — you’re gorgeous!’ it’s going to affect you. You’re going to start thinking you don’t need to invest in new clothes.”
So says Mikael Colville-Andersen about his hometown of Copenhagen, a place habitually swooned over as the international poster child for sustainable, thriving cities. We’re sitting outside the offices of Colville-Andersen’s urban design company, Copenhagenize, in the city’s harbor, and I’m taking in the view. Graceful new bike bridges loom half-built over the waterfront, while a stunning modern opera house overlooks a warehouse filled with street food stalls and a shipping channel clean enough to farm oysters in. We pick up coffees from a wood cabin owned by local avant-garde fashion designer Henrik Vibskov, looking across the dock at historic goods depots as large and grand as palaces. Cars are absent and everyone is on bikes, even people in full business get-up. Quiet but salubrious docklands stretch off into the distance, slated for a reinvention that should still maintain their gaggle of delightfully improbable old naval and port buildings. From all vantages, Copenhagen looks like a fantasy doodle of a forward-looking city. If, as Colville-Andersen suggests, the Danish capital can sometimes be a little smug and complacent, then it has its reasons.

https://nextcity.org/features/view/copenhagen-affordable-housing-sustainable-cities-model

How mobile is the smart city?

Polis has issued a policy paper emphasising the role of transport in Smart City strategies.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/uploads/Modules/PublicDocuments/2016-polis-smart-city-policy-paper.pdf

New Photovoltaic Farm Comes Online Bringing 300 MW to Bordeaux

The new plant near Bordeaux could supply the entire domestic consumption needs for the entire population of the city.
Neoen, a leading French company in renewable energies, has launched Europe’s largest photovoltaic farm, located in Cestas (near Bordeaux, France).
The photovoltaic farm in Cestas has a total peak capacity of 300 MW and can generate enough energy in one year to service the domestic consumption needs of the entire population of Bordeaux. Generating electricity that is sold on at €105 per megawatt hour, the farm at Cestas is very competitive. That apart, its cutting-edge design is in itself the height of innovation: this farm generates three times as much electricity per hectare as most other farms built in France and Europe. It is proof of how photovoltaics can achieve the best possible efficiency in any given area.

http://www.citiesofthefuture.eu/new-photovoltaic-farm-comes-online-bringing-300-mw-to-bordeaux/

Cities: The Unsung Heroes at COP-21

We arrived back in St. Paul, Minnesota on a cold December afternoon, after spending a week enjoying the comparatively mild weather of Paris, France. In Paris, we joined tens of thousands of people, including around 150 world leaders, who convened on the quiet Parisian suburb of Le Bourget as part of The United Nation’s 21st Conference of the Parties, or COP-21, to negotiate an international climate agreement to fight global warming. We didn’t know it then, but what would become known as the Paris Agreement was finally worked out and ratified on December 12, 2015, one week after we got back to St. Paul.
I had the opportunity to attend this COP negotiation to conduct research with my university, Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. At COP, I was interested in finding the “unsung heroes” of climate action. I was looking for those people or organizations quietly working behind the scenes and below the formalities of the international delegations to advance action against global warming.
It wasn’t long before I found what I was looking for: cities.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/cities-unsung-heroes-cop-21

CIVITAS Insight 06 is now available

The CIVITAS Insight 06 called "Access regulations to facilitate cleaner and better transport" is now available and online on the CIVITAS Website, in the key publications section.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1022/45/CIVITAS-Insight-06-is-now-available

What 5 Cities Are Doing to Change the Way America Eats

America’s food system is making us sick and deepening inequalities: Federal crop subsidies make junk food cheap; poor communities are often stranded in food deserts labor laws allow low wages for farm and food service workers.
To combat these challenges, cities are experimenting with new ways to promote public health and economic opportunity by transforming the way food is grown, distributed and consumed.
This week, the Union of Concerned Scientists highlighted five such programs in five cities around the country. The new report, “Fixing Food,” applauds Oakland, Memphis, Louisville, Baltimore and Minneapolis for their efforts to decrease food insecurity and increase healthy options.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/five-cities-food-justice-american-food-deserts-solutions

CITYnvest publishes a guide to help towns and regions to fund the renovation of buildings

Does your city or town want to invest in the renovation of public buildings but lack the necessary funds (either coming from the banking sector or European funds)?
CITYnvest publishes a first guide with examples of financial instruments and action plans to help you succeed in your energy efficiency goals.

http://www.citynvest.eu/content/review-local-authority-innovative-large-scale-retrofit-financing-and-operational-models

Parking hysteria is the norm, and that ain't right

I was in Southwestern Michigan recently where I encountered an odd idea about parking on the street. In many of the residential neighborhoods you cannot park overnight on the public street. I asked if this was to facilitate snow removal during Winter months. I was told that the ordinance is in effect all year. Maybe there was a freak blizzard in July in years long past and that event lead folks to want to err on the side of caution.
Parking is a volatile subject. Anyone who has ever be frustrated trying to find a place to park is an expert on the subject without applying any effort or legitimate mental rigor to the topic. Proposals to change parking rules can whip up the kind of hysteria that makes you question the mental capacity of folks you used to hold in some regard.

http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/john-anderson/21891/parking-hysteria-norm-and-aint-right

China seeks to make cities better places to live in

China has detailed its urban planning vision, which has been designed to make its sprawling cities more inclusive, safer and better places to live.
In a statement released after the Central Urban Work Conference, which ran from Dec. 20 to Dec. 21 and was attended by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, policymakers pledged to transform urban development patterns and improve city management.
The last time China held such a high-level meeting was in 1978, when only 18 percent of the population lived in cities. By the end of 2011, in excess of 50 percent of the population called the city their home.
While the "triumph of the city," which characterized the past decades, has brought about significant social and economic changes in China, it has also spawned problems such as traffic jams, air and water pollution and a stretched public safety network.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-12/22/content_22778165.htm

Kenya: Government Must Step in to Stop Madness of Unplanned Development Around Towns

As we get into 2016, Kenya continues to suffer an acute shortage of decent urban housing.
New housing units continue to fall far below the annual projection of 150,000 required to bridge our national deficit.
The persistent deficit has seen local entrepreneurs devise innovative models to cash in.
Sadly, some of the models are unsuitable for the long term and the sustainable development of our urban areas.
Unless regulated, these models will be the bane of Kenya's urban life in the future.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201601050195.html

Better cities for everyone through collaboration

It is a fact, cities are facing diverse challenges. One of them, according to professor Jari Niemelä (University of Helsinki), lies in how urban planners are getting more and more isolated. As a result urban changes and community participation become unknown or unpleasant in some cases. Kaupunkiakatemia (Urban academy) emerged as a bridge between these kind of problems creating a constant flow between the community as a whole.

https://citiesintransition.eu/cityreport/kaupunkiakatemia

The Urban Dimension of the Dutch EU Presidency

The EU Urban Agenda is among the priorities of the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU. One of the objectives of the Dutch Presidency is that the responsible Ministers adopt a declaration (the ‘Pact of Amsterdam’) establishing the EU Urban Agenda, its priorities and working methods. For this to happen, important elements have to be developed and some concrete actions need to be taken between now and the informal Ministerial meeting of May 30th, 2016. These elements and actions will be reported on the newly launched EU Urban Agenda website.

http://urbanagenda.nl/

NYC Just Planted 1 Million Trees

Los Angeles tried. Denver tried. Boston tried. But so far, only New York has succeeded--becoming the first city in the world to plant one million trees.
The idea for MillionTreesNYC came to life eight years ago. New York Restoration Project (NYRP) had just planted 600 blossoming cherry trees along the Harlem and Hudson Rivers, and our Founder Bette Midler was showing them to then Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They were both captivated by the beauty and shared a deep commitment to sustainability—and they knew a city as great as New York could do better than 600 trees. So Bette turned to the Mayor and said “why should we stop here? We should plant one million!”

https://www.nyrp.org/blog/nyc-just-planted-1-million-trees.-heres-how-we-did-it/

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