March2014

Vertical greenery is increasingly used in cities to both raise quality of life and improve urban environments and eco-systems. As well as modifying temperatures, improving air quality and increasing biodiversity, exposure to urban greenery can improve peoples’ physiology and mental health. Yet, how effective is vertical greenery, what are its costs and benefits, and how sustainable is it in the long term?

http://alive2green.com/greenbuilding/do-cities-need-vertical-greenery/

The world's 10 riskiest cities

What are the world’s riskiest cities when it comes to natural disasters? A reinsurance company set out to assess 616 cities around the world for their risk of earthquake, hurricanes and cyclones, storm surge, river flooding and tsunami. Here are Swiss Re’s overall top 10 most risky cities

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2014/mar/25/earthquakes-hurricanes-cyclones-and-tsunamis-10-riskiest-cities-world

PeopleForBikes Selects Six Cities for Bike Lane Program

The PeopleForBikes Green Lane Project has selected six US cities to join its intensive two-year program to build better bike lanes. Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington will receive financial, strategic, and technical assistance to create low-stress streets and increase vitality in urban centers through the installation of protected bike lanes. The six cities were chosen from more than 100 that submitted letters of interest for the program.

http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/peopleforbikes-selects-new-green-lane-project-cities

How important is youth civic engagement in a city?

Toronto is ranked the #1 Youthful City of 2014 out of twenty-five of the world’s largest cities. Decode, a firm that analyzes young person consumer behavior and interests, conceptualized YouthfulCities.
YouthfulCities is an initiative to, eventually, determine the top 100 cities for youth. It has compared five cities from each region – USA & Canada, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia – from a youth perspective. YouthfulCities scored 80 indicators and weighed each category to determine the overall ranking. As the age of youth varies by region, generally ages 15-24 in Europe and North America and ages 15-34 elsewhere, YouthfulCities defined youth as 15-29 years old.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/how-important-youth-civic-engagement-city

Local impact of free movement of EU citizens

Mayors reflected on the impact of free movement of EU citizens at local level at an event on 11 February 2014
Mayors and politicians from local authorities across Europe participated in an event organised by the European Commission on 11 February 2014 to assess the impact of free movement of EU citizens at local level. We were represented on one of the panels by Anna König Jerlmyr, Stockholm's vice mayor for social affairs. She shared the experiences and challenges faced by her city with regards to the rapid increase of migration from EU.

http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Local-impact-of-free-movement-of-EU-citizens-WSPO-9HEFGB

European cities on top of the quality of living worldwide city rankings

Due to the very high standard of the healthcare system and infrastructure, political stability and leisure offers, among other indicators, Vienna is the city enjoying the best quality of life standards in the world. The capital of Austria is followed, in the top ten of the rating, by cities like Zürich, Munich or Dusseldorf.
The Quality of living city ranking is an annual report issued by the consulting agency Mercer and covers 223 cities around the world. Based on a wide range of indicators - housing, public services delivery, schools, political stability or air pollution - this report is meant to help municipalities to assess and improve their policies to offer the best quality of life to their citizens.
You can read the full report in Mercer's website.

http://www.mercer.com/qualityofliving

Record numbers sign up for World Urban Forum 7

Nearly 25,000 people have registered as participants for the Seventh Session of the World Urban Forum that will take place in Medellin, Colombia in early April.
As online registration closed this week, UN-Habitat and the WUF7 Secretariat confirmed that a record number of people have signed up to attend the world’s premier conference on cities and urban development.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=12965&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1

Think Globally, Act Locally: Enhancing Social Cohesion in Europe at the Local Level

For a few years now, European cities have been suffering the consequences of deep economic crises. Plenty of statistics and images illustrate the increase of unemployment, social polarisation and risk of social exclusion in times of austerity. How can these emerging welfare issues be tackled in innovative ways? How to make innovations sustainable through new models of governance?

Commission report points to increase in poverty

The European Commission's Employment and Social Developments report for 2013 cites an increase in poverty among the working age population
The European Commission has released the Employment and Social Developments in Europe report for 2013. The report is one of the Commission's key outputs as part of its employment and social policy analysis. The report for 2013 points to an increase in poverty among the working age population and warns that a very gradual reduction in unemployment, which is what is currently being projected in Europe, will not be enough to reverse this situation. The report also highlights that the issue of in-work poverty has been exacerbated by rises in underemployment and wage polarisation.

http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Commission-report-points-to-increase-in-poverty-WSPO-9HDD97

ECOSTARS Forum "Cleaner Fleets: Authority meets Operator" - presentations now online

The ECOSTARS Forum "Cleaner Fleets: Authority meets Operator" took place on 19 March 2014 in Santander, Spain. The Forum marked the final event of the IEE co-funded ECOSTARS project.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/602/45/ECOSTARS-Forum-quot-Cleaner-Fleets-Authority-meets-Operator-quot---presentations-now-online

Detroit’s future city framework offers lessons on resilience

There is a positive vibe around Detroit today, as the city transforms itself under the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework, a blueprint that will guide decision making and actions to realize a shared vision. In many ways, Detroit embodies the problems of cities around the world – post-industrial decline, deterioration of services, lack of economic opportunities. What can we learn from Detroit’s experience to become more resilient? Dan Kinkead, Director of Projects for the Detroit Future City Implementation Office, shares his insights on moving a legacy city into the future.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/detroit-s-future-city-framework-offers-lessons-resilience

Can Too Much Infrastructure Doom A City?

In 2012, an international team of researchers conducted a groundbreaking 370-square-kilometer aerial survey of the mediaeval city of Angkor and several of its satellites in north-western Cambodia. Founded in the 9th century, Angkor was the seat of an empire that had conquered most of mainland Southeast Asia by its height in the 13th century.

http://alive2green.com/greenbuilding/can-too-much-infrastructure-doom-a-city/

Envisioning the Next Generation of Climate Adaptation Resources

ICLEI USA, in collaboration with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, National League of Cities, and researchers with the Kresge Foundation, has developed a survey to assess barriers and needs among local governments in advancing local resilience. The results from the survey will be used to ensure we are providing the most relevant, timely, and usable resources to help you advance municipal climate efforts.

https://umich.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8JiQid98l09JTc9

"Working together to make our cities smarter" - Invitation for Commitments

On 28 February the European Commission launched an Invitation for Commitment within the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (deadline for submission: 15 June 2014).
Often, cities and companies have good ideas but struggle to find the right partners. This can be harmful as it leads to delays and creates additional costs.
Becoming part of the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities is all about finding the right partners, facilitating synergies between city authorities and companies - together with other stakeholders, also making access to financing easier

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=544

A playful and efficient tool to develop integrated sustainable strategies

As a Covenant Signatory city, Odense, Denmark, has committed to reach a 20% CO2-reduction objective by 2020. The city is already well-advanced in terms of sustainable energy strategies, and has even developped its own tool.
The "Sustainability puzzle" was created by Odense's Culture & Urban Development Department. The puzzle is made of 3 categories of pieces: social, economic and environmental sustainability. The idea is to use this puzzle to ensure thinking of all dimensions of sustainability when developping a project, a strategy, a campaign, etc.

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=541

Women’s safety: A major issue worldwide

The world is still struggling when it comes to women’s safety and relatively safe cities like London are no exception. Surveys revealed in 2011 that 28% women did not feel safe on London’s transport network and about 15% of women had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour on train and bus networks. Soon a multi-agency operation resulted in 15 arrests in a single week.
“You have to start by learning from your facts. You need local evidence to establish the nature of the problem. Follow-up action should be fast,” said Anastasia Posadskaya-Vanderbeck, the global manager of the UN Women Safer Cities Global Initiative.

http://www.urbannewsdigest.in/?p=8375

Urban Equity: Core Topic of the Initiatives Presented at the WUF7 Meeting in Barcelona

The round table Urban Equity in Development - Cities for Life, organized by the Cátedra Medellin-Barcelona, was held on 3 March, a Metropolis Initiative promoted by the Kreanta Foundation. The meeting was a preparatory session for the Seventh World Urban Forum (WUF7) in Medellin and featured the participation of Metropolis Secretary General Alain Le Saux.
The purpose of the meeting was to promote the initiatives that both CIDEU (the Iberian-American Center for Strategic Urban Development) and the UN-Habitat’s World Urban Forum (WUF7) will present at their congresses to be held in the city of Medellin from 3 to 5 April and 5 to 11 April 2014, respectively. The 21st CIDEU Congress will be able to link its conclusions and reflections with those of WUF7, carrying its viewpoint beyond the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American regions. CIDEU will share its vision with the international community in a session scheduled for 1.30 pm on 7 April in the City Changer room.

http://www.metropolis.org/news/urban-equity-core-topic-initiatives

Cities act on climate change: Thoughts on the C40 Summit in Joburg

If you go to a conference on cities and climate change, you inevitably hear the statement that “countries talk…but cities act”. This message was loud and clear at the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Summit in Johannesburg last month, where a new report released by the C40 and ARUP detailed the 8000+ initiatives that C40 member cities are undertaking to either reduce GHG emissions or increase their climate resilience. Since the first such report came out in 2011, more cities are reporting on their efforts, and those reporting are doing ever more, expanding the array of initiatives they have launched.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cities-act-climate-change-thoughts-c40-summit-joburg

Do the Right Mix: Third Call for SUM Funding Applications now open

The European Commission's Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) campaign has launched a third call for SUM funding applications. Up to EUR 7000 will be available for campaign initiatives taking place during the period running from 1 June 2014 to 31 December 2014.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/596/45/Do-the-Right-Mix-Third-Call-for-SUM-Funding-Applications-now-open

Creating resilient cities amid urban growth

Much has been said about the impact of rapid urbanization, particularly in Asia, where urban growth has exploded in recent years. The United Nations (UN), in fact, estimates that Asia’s urban population will reach more than 2 billion by 2020.
The population increase and growing dynamism have largely been beneficial, as Asian cities became the main drivers of economic growth, and contributed to economic resilience despite the recent global financial crisis.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/creating-resilient-cities-amid-urban-growth

London's Plan to Move Cyclists to Side Streets

After years of planning, London is finally poised to witness a quiet revolution for two-wheeled transport: an exhaustive citywide network of new cycle routes. This overhaul will nonetheless be coming with a substantial twist. As a visitor to the city, you might possibly never come across a single one of the new routes unless you really try.
That’s because outside of the center, so many of them will be squirrelled away on streets where people other than residents and delivery vans rarely venture. Dubbed Quietways, these routes (due to start their staggered launch in September and being constructed right now) will stick almost entirely to the back roads.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2014/03/londons-plan-move-cyclists-side-streets/8598/

Urban Agenda

The future European urban agenda must take the interdependencies between cities and their surrounding areas into account “We should not keep thinking of the city in its administrative borders. A future EU urban agenda will need to take into account the interdependencies of cities and their surroundings.” This was the message conveyed by the President of CEMR, Annemarie Jorritsma, at the seminar “An EU urban agenda – for and with cities”. This seminar was held as a side event to the proposal made by the European Commission, which aims to strengthen the urban dimension of its policies, using means such as a “European Urban Agenda”. CEMR was also represented at this event by the deputy mayor of Venice (Italy) and vice president of AICCRE, Carla Rey, the mayor of Santander (Spain) and president of FEMP, president of CEMR, Íñigo de la Serna, as well as by the deputy leader of East Renfrewshire and member of COSLA, Tony Buchanan.

Contact: marlene.simeon@ccre-cemr.org

Building the ideal city — citizen participation from the ground up

Many developing world cities are experiencing population explosions at the same time as they face funding gaps and citizen apathy towards government’s ability to make meaningful change. In light of these challenges, BD Promotores Colombia, Prodigy Network, PSFK Labs, world renowned architects Gary Hack and Winka Dubbledam, and the citizens of Bogotá, Colombia have decided to make a radical and inspiring change to the process of urban redevelopment. The downtown Bogotá project is focused on citizen participation at every stage of the process. The project’s website “Bogotá: My Ideal City” gives people the ability to collaborate on the redevelopment of their downtown, the expert knowledge to understand complex urban issues, and the platform to crowd-fund this development. This project is an important step in recognizing that sustainability goes beyond individual projects and interventions, and must include opportunities for citizens to access information and decision-makers to influence their future and the future of cities.

http://thecityfix.com/blog/friday-fun-bogota-my-ideal-city-website-offers-platform-citizen-collaboration-rachel-jaffe/

Glasgow faces up to reality of a divided Commonwealth Games legacy

There was an unusually electric thrill in the air at a pensioners' party in the east end of Glasgow, on a cold December evening in 2007. The elderly of Dalmarnock had gathered in a community centre to celebrate the news that their city had beaten off its rivals for the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, a global jamboree to be played out on their very doorstep.
Little could they imagine that, six years later, this lowrise brick building at heart of the community would be reduced to rubble to make way for a coach park. "This place has had its heart ripped out," says Robert Kennedy, a play worker, as he shovels woodchips around an outdoor play area, across the road from where steamrollers press fresh tarmac over the site of the old community centre.
"We used to have a cafe and a chemist, two newsagents and a chip shop, but all that's been flattened. They took away our high street, leaving us without any amenities for the last three years, and what have we got to show for it? A 'transport hub'."

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/mar/03/glasgow-faces-reality-commonwealth-games

Updates from ICLEI's Global Sustainability Network

ICLEI's Smart Urban Infrastructure agenda aims to bridge the gap between sustainable urban infrastructure needs of cities and innovative infrastructure solutions offered by businesses. The ICLEI Global Town Hall @ Metropolitan Solutions provides the paramount venue for city-business discussion and networking on urban infrastructure solutions.
Centrally located within the Metropolitan Solutions trade fair held on 7-11 April in Hannover, Germany, the Global Town Hall 2014 will cover themes such as climate change and adaptation, smart cities, ecomobility, sustainable purchasing, urban agriculture, green buildings, low-carbon development, and integrated solutions.
Cities planning to attend this year’s event include: Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Baguio, Berlin, Bristol, Chengdu, Copenhagen, Fortaleza, Moscow, Oslo, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Rome, Rotterdam, Seoul, and Taipei, just to name a few. Some of their inspiring initiatives are featured in the local action stories below.
I myself will report about Rotterdam’s latest adaptation plan which will guide the further city (infrastructure) development.
We hope that you can join us at Global Town Hall 2014 in Hannover, Germany on 7-11 April 2014!

For more information and to register, please visit our website here www.iclei.org/gth2014

Intermediary Cities in the new urban agenda

Today, it would be impossible to conduct an in-depth analysis of the urban phenomenon without taking into account the role of intermediary cities, defined here as cities with less than 1 million inhabitants. In reality, these cities, at both local and regional level, account for over 50% of the global urban population.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/intermediary-cities-new-urban-agenda

Indian cities face 'huge' risks without climate planning

Continuing failure to plan ahead for more extreme weather in India’s cities could lead to huge economic and health costs, and hit India’s most vulnerable particularly hard, experts say.
What is needed is a comprehensive strategy to develop resilience in cities, including a “paradigm shift” in how modern cities are planned and managed, argue the authors of a policy brief by The Energy and Resources Institute, (TERI), a leading Indian research organisation and think tank.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/indian-cities-face-huge-risks-without-climate-planning

Leading the way in making Europe's cities smarter

Cities are the major source of European economic activity and innovation. But cities are also a major source of greenhouse gases and pollution. Concerted action is needed to make urban environments cleaner and healthier to live in and to make them use less energy. The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities and its "Strategic Implementation Plan" are leading the way in making the transformation of cities into "Smart Cities" a reality. Real impact could be made through investments in 'zero/plus' energy districts, increased use of alternative energies for cleaner transport, public transport and efficient logistics to reduce negative impacts of congestion, or green, widely available ICTs and multiple-use infrastructures.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-1049_en.htm

The comedian who became the coolest Mayor in the world

The name Mayor Jón Gnarr, brings up a plethora of images: his hilarious campaign video, his refusal to form a coalition with anyone who had not seen The Wire, his fabulous drag getups for Pride parade and the coolest Mayor in the world.
Mayor Gnarr has established himself as a cool celebrity mayor with over 89,500 fans on Facebook. He has also worked towards uplifting Reykjavik from the financial crisis with a large budget deficit. Gnarr raised taxes, re-structured the education system and laid off employees from the electric utility. Not a particularly popular move but it has seen Reykjavik’s budget finally in balance. Mayor Gnarr is also an advocate of green procurement in which Reykjavik is actively involved. In 2012 ICLEI did a case study on Reykjavik's Green Cleaning Program. The green cleaning program aimed to ensure that public cleaning contracts were fulfilled in a way which minimized adverse environmental and human health impacts

http://www.iclei.org/details/article/the-comedian-who-became-the-coolest-mayor-in-the-world-mayor-jon-gnarr.html

Urban youth mentorship programme underway

Successful applicants to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme(UN-Habitat_ youth mentorship programme, launched in the beginning of the year, have been paired with their respective mentors and begun their discussions. The aim of the youth mentorship programme is to increase the capacity of the youth-led agencies supported by UN-Habitat’s Urban Youth Fund.
Twenty-four organizations were selected this year to receive both a grant and training. These youth-led groups span various sectors, from technology and agriculture to governance, education and poverty reduction.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=12928&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1

Urban farming brings more than fresh food back to the city

Forget making lemonade out of lemons. Will Allen is building food systems out of abandoned lots. Give him access to three acres of open space in an urban neighborhood, and he can cultivate a flourishing system of vegetables, aquaculture, livestock, and compost that provides food, education, jobs, and social capital for hundreds of people. Allen honed his skills performing this unimaginable transformation at his urban farm and community food center, Growing Power, located in Milwaukee, Wisc. What started as a single urban farm-site at a run-down nursery has since become an internationally recognized non-profit that includes more than 100 employees, a 100-acre farm in Wisconsin, a 40-acre farm in Chicago, and 15 training centers across the United States.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/urban-farming-brings-more-fresh-food-back-city

200 European cities and regions call for more ambitious EU climate and energy targets

At a crucial time for European climate policy, 200 European cities and regions are backing a call for action supporting more ambitious and binding climate and energy targets, ensuring that future generations are safeguarded against the worst effects of climate change. Spearheaded by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and WWF, the call is timely and directed towards the European Union, which is engaged in discussions regarding the EU 2030 Climate and Energy Package.
The document calls on the EU to enact mandated greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets measuring at least 50% below the level in 1990. It further calls for a share of 40% of energy from renewable sources and a 40% reduction in energy use by 2030.
“Cities are at the forefront of the fight against climate change: local authorities are tasked with enacting on-the-ground measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance renewable energy usage and improve energy efficiency. City leaders are best placed to understand the demands and the need for stronger political targets. With ambitious EU climate and energy policies, the exemplary work of cities can be pushed forward.” said Paolo Casprini, Head of Environmental Policy in the Province of Siena, Italy.
WWF and ICLEI’s call for action places an emphasis on achieving greater support at EU level for renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, recognising that this bolsters green energy policies at municipal level.
“Renewable energy and energy efficiency targets matter - they have a significant influence on the national and regional policy development and deployment of new and innovative energy technologies. Municipalities are operating in a political environment and they need to get strong support.” said Marijan Maras, Head of Office for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development in the City of Zagreb, Croatia.
The document also calls for the costs and benefits of Europe’s sustainable energy transition to be shared equitably, ensuring communities that invest in sustainable energy receive the resulting dividends; and for fossil fuel and nuclear energy subsidies to be ended.
WWF and ICLEI’s call for action is being presented at the event “Clean energy for 2030 and beyond: cities and regions walk the talk”, taking place today in Brussels, Belgium.
To view the Call for Action in full, click here.

http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/call_for_action_iclei_wwf_finale.pdf

New app supports road users’ decisions in Aalborg

The City of Aalborg and the Danish Road Directorate have launched a new app that gives road users all the information they need about the traffic situation in and around Aalborg. The aim is to provide an easy accessible tool to enable the users to make smart mobility choices.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/589/45/New-app-supports-road-users-decisions-in-Aalborg

No sustainable development without engendered local governance!

UCLG is convinced that communities in which all citizens are empowered to participate in social, economic and political opportunities are instrumental in the eradication of poverty. Achievements of the MDGs, in particular those related to women’s advancement are often linked with the quality of basic service provision that local governments are able to offer.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/no-sustainable-development-without-engendered-local-governance

Project blends Rotterdam knowhow with Ho Chi Minh City street smarts

Flood defence and water management are top of the agenda in this unique cross-planet collaboration between river delta cities
Rotterdam is Europe's largest port, a gritty Dutch metropolis with a long history as a commercial hub and a flair for modern architecture. Ho Chi Minh City, half a world away in Vietnam, is a fast-growing megacity clogged with motorbikes; an extraordinary mixture of old and new, rich and poor.
Different as they seem, the two cities have something crucial in common. Both sit on river deltas, and are defined – and increasingly threatened – by their relationship with water. Perched near coasts astride major rivers, with tributaries running through neighbourhoods, these two port cities are on the front lines of climate change.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/28/rotterdam-knowhow-ho-chi-minh-city-project

Can slums be used as laboratories for urban improvement?

Slums in the Global South are often used as "laboratories of urbanism," where initiatives are experimentally "tried out." The following examples from Cairo, Johannesburg, Mumbai and Cali have reported success with these "laboratory" initiatives, which indicates that this approach can work in certain contexts. While this approach encourages self-invention in slums, it can also be highly controversial to use informal communities as experimental territory. The example from Curitiba suggests that much of the city's development success comes from integrating the favela into the formal city planning, as opposed to a running separate, isolated projects. Read on to learn more and then visit URB.im to share your thoughts.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/can-slums-be-used-laboratories-urban-improvement

How local government is tackling youth unemployment

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) launches its report “Tackling youth unemployment: let’s revive partnership between all governance levels”*, which offers a state of play of local government participation in the implementation of strategies.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/cemr-publishes-report-how-local-government-tackling-youth-unemployment

Greening Our Cities: It Takes a Village

We built our cities 100 years ago, and now our urban infrastructure is falling apart. Like many cities across the country, San Francisco's water, sewer and energy systems are in a major state of disrepair. You should see the mess under our streets. And sometimes you see it above ground with sinkholes and flooding. This is an unfolding drama across the country.
But you've heard it before and you'll hear it again -- San Francisco is the city that knows how. Rather than sitting on the sidelines bemoaning our fate, the City by the Bay is doing something about it.
In 2012, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) authorized staff to move forward with the $2.7 billion first phase of the Sewer System Improvement Program (SSIP) to upgrade the City's aging infrastructure. Not just that, but a commitment was made to utilize "green infrastructure" to help get the job done and to engage our residents every step of the way. They are the ones that know how, after all.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francesca-vietor/greening-our-cities-it-ta_b_4920723.html

€400 000 in prizes in Europe’s biggest app challenge

In Europe’s biggest ever app challenge the EU is offering €400 000 in prizes to best new applications that help build smarter cities and smarter businesses.
Campus Party, the world’s largest geek forum, will manage the contest, judged by specialized engineers from the EU-funded FI-WARE Consortium.
The only condition of the competition is that app entries should build on the building blocks deployed in the EU’s project to build the core platform of tomorrow’s internet.

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/%E2%82%AC400-000-prizes-europe%E2%80%99s-biggest-app-challenge

World Urban Campaign partners present vision for future cities

Partners of the World Urban Campaign have presented their vision of how they will engage in, and contribute to, the new Global Urban Agenda in a document titled, The City We Need.
At an event held at the Ford Foundation New York headquarters in early March, World Urban Campaign launched the City We Need process, as a preparation to the 7th World Urban Forum to be held in Medellin, Colombia in April 2014.
The participants collectively designed the City We Need process as an innovative, multi-stakeholder contribution to the New Urban Agenda, engaging the international community, public, private, and civil society actors.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=12942&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1

Semantic Tools for Carbon Reduction in Urban Planning

The SEMANCO integrated platform provides access to widely dispersed energy related data about cities stored by many different organisations. In this way the project platform supports improved energy analysis based on the assessment of existing data rather than estimates. It does this using semantic data modelling that enables information stored in different formats and different places to be used to create a multi-level energy model of an urban area. That can be used to analyse the energy performance of buildings, neighbourhoods, districts and regions.

http://www.semanco-project.eu/

Get Smart: Commission brings “open planning” movement to Europe to speed spread of smart cities

The European Commission is calling on those involved in creating smart cities to publish their efforts in order to help build an open planning movement from the ground up.
The challenge is being issued to city administrations, small and large companies and other organisations to go public with their ICT, energy and mobility plans, so that all parties can learn from each other and grow the smart city market. Through collaboration as well as traditional competition, the Europe will get smarter, more competitive and more sustainable.
The Commission is looking for both new commitments to “get smart” and for interested parties to share their current and past successes. Sharing these ideas will feed the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (see IP/13/1159 and MEMO/13/1049) and networks such as the Smart Cities Stakeholder Platform, the Green Digital Charter, the Covenant of Mayors, and CIVITAS.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-14-146_en.htm

Ensuring access to safe water: a top priority of local and regional governments

On World Water Day (#WWD2014), UCLG reaffirms that ensuring access to safe water is a top priority of local and regional governments, both as an end in itself, and as a driver of environmental sustainability, the empowerment of women, social inclusion, and poverty reduction. As demonstrated in Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization report ‘Basic Services for All in an Urbanizing World’, to be published in June 2014, the provision of water is usually a local government responsibility. Well-resourced, empowered, and accountable local governments are therefore essential if the MDGs and the Post-2015 development goals concerning water are to be achieved.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/ensuring-access-safe-water-top-priority-local-and-regional-governments

How cities can use smart technology and social media for improvement

To deliver a good quality of life, cities have to understand that smart technologies need to work both ways: not just for citizens but with citizens. In previous posts we showed examples of how data-powered street furniture, lighting, and signage, are making our cities smarter. Yet the promise of smart sustainable cities won't be fulfilled without involvement from citizens whose participation and collaboration can be harnessed to boost the development of their own city.
Cities are playing with the idea of involving their citizens in the building and planning process, using sensors that expose and manage data to help improve services and save money. The culture of being always-on, carrying a smartphone wherever we go, makes real-time reporting and telling stories about a city so much easier, allowing the dream of citizen generated content to become a reality.

http://www.woodhouse.co.uk/knowledge/getting-citizens-involved-how-cities-can-use-smart-technology-and-social-media-for-improvement/

Sounds of the city: one urban traveller's search for silence

From churches to bird parks, when metropolitan noise becomes too much where does one find some peace and quiet?
Rome bustles like any good city should. But sometimes the throng can get too much. Walk on the pavement and you get barged off; take refuge in the road and you get hooted at. Even on the main pedestrian thoroughfares there is little point in trying to walk abreast with your ever-loving. It's often single file only.

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/mar/12/sounds-of-the-city-urban-traveller-serach-silence

MDGs failed to address Urbanization: Post-2015 should not forsake Equality!

"I am not an NGO! I represent elected women from Africa and the World. Today through, for REFFELA and UCLG, we need to register as NGOs to be able to talk before you. We need however to understand the great opportunities that resourced local governance can offer".
http://www.uclg.org/en/Post-2015-Equality

CIVITAS Activity Fund supports sustainable urban mobility in Europe

This call for proposals, open until 4 April 2014, aims at supporting sustainable urban mobility measures thanks to experience-sharing between 'pionneer' and 'take-up' cities.
In this call, cities are invited to submit applications to the following six focal areas:
Integrated planning
Urban freight logistics
Demand management strategies
Transport telematics
Safety and security
Clean fuels and vehicles

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=542

Urbanism without government

Asking, “But who will build the roads?” is a cliched response to proposals for a more libertarian political system. However, it leads to the interesting historical question of “Who has built the roads in anarchic societies?” Colonial America provides a few examples that answer this question. Perhaps the best known example of anarchism in American history was in Rhode Island, or “Rogue’s Island,” founded by Baptists fleeing Massachusetts. The stateless Baptists founded the cities of Portsmouth and Warwick.
Unlike the Baptists, William Penn didn’t intend to create an anarchic colony, but Pennsylvania was, in fact, without a government from 1684 to 1691 as evidenced by Penn’s failure to successfully levy any taxes during that time. It’s difficult to know much about street building from this time period in part because of how much time has passed and in part because, as Murray Rothbard writes, “The lack of recordkeeping in stateless societies — since only government officials seem to have the time, energy, and resources to devote to such activities — produce a tendency toward a governmental bias in the working methods of historians.” However, we do know that Philadelphia’s neighborhoods near the Delaware River were growing during this time.

http://marketurbanism.com/2014/03/07/urbanism-without-government/

Climate change adaptation planning in small and medium-sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) (English)

This issue focuses on a regional study and technical assistance initiative to strengthen climate adaptation planning for small and medium-sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). City planners and mayors in LAC are witnessing higher population growth in small and medium-sized cities (SMSC) than in large cities and capitals where numbers have stabilized or decreased in the past years. Rapid urbanization is often accompanied by spatial expansion and urban sprawl into hazard-prone areas such as floodplains and landslide-prone hillsides and mountain slopes. This development trend in SMSC increases the vulnerability of new settlements to climate-related impacts such as heavy rain and storm surge. To better understand the SMSC's climate risks, strengthen their adaptive capacities, increase knowledge exchange, and develop decision-making resources, the World Bank LAC disaster risk management and urban development team implemented a multi-faceted five-city pilot program to deliver technical assistance to conduct urban risk assessments and to develop city adaptation plans. This brief provides an overview of the program, outcome, and practical tools to perform risk assessments and prioritize adaptation investments.

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/18912635/climate-change-adaptation-planning-small-medium-sized-cities-latin-america-caribbean-lac

UN-Habitat statement for International Women’s Day

Nowhere else can equality for women produce more progress for all than in cities.
Cities are an urban construct and can be developed and shaped for the benefit of the entire population. This is both necessary and possible now more than ever. A city cannot become full economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable, as long as there are barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment. A city can become prosperous, equitable and sustainable only if women and men enjoy equal human rights and fundamental freedoms and are recognized as equal partners in urban development.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=12930&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1

SF becomes first major city to ban sale of plastic water bottles

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major city in the U.S. to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on public property, building on a nationwide effort to curb waste from the billion-dollar industry.
The nine-months-in-the-making proposal by Board of Supervisors President David Chiu navigated a number of challenging issues, from The City’s drinking-water infrastructure to impacts on events such as the Folsom Street Fair or lower-key nonprofit events that often rely on the sale of bottled water for
revenue.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/PoliticsBlog/archives/2014/03/04/sf-becomes-first-major-city-to-ban-sale-of-plastic-water-bottles

CoCities workshop on multimodal information

The CoCities European Project takes pride in inviting you to its Co-Cities Round Table for Experts on 26th of March at Intertraffic Amsterdam, finalising the project work lasting through the major part of the recent three years.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/597/45/CoCities-workshop-on-multimodal-information

Seizing the future: Energizing green cities

CITIES have always been the engines of economic growth; now they hold the key to a sustainable future. Cities today have a unique opportunity to become global engines of green growth by choosing energy-efficient solutions for their infrastructure needs.
The urban arena is where development challenges and solutions meet. Two-thirds of the world’s population -- 6.2 billion people -- will be living in cities by 2050. Unfortunately, most of this urban growth will take place in developing countries, where the vast majority of people remain unserved by basic infrastructure services and where they are least able to cope with the uncertainty of climate impacts. Right now in developing countries nearly one billion people are living in slums.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=Seizing-the-future:-Energizing-green-cities&id=84567

Paris tackles smog with temporary free public transport

Use of public transportation, including Paris's bike and electric car hire networks, will be free this weekend, in an effort to improve the French capital's air quality. The city has been under maximum alert for air quality for most of this week and officials are hoping that free transport throughout Paris will encourage drivers to get out of their cars, reducing the current problem.
Other cities in northern France are taking similar steps, as the Normandy region is recording record levels of air pollution. Of particular concern are particles of less than 2.5 microns in diameter, as they can get into the bloodstream if inhaled. Environmental campaigners say that the rise in air pollution is a serious risk to the health of the population, leading to asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Use of the Paris metro, RER, suburban trains and buses are included in the measure, as well as use of the Vélib bike hire system. Free use of the Autolib car hire is restricted to those who have already subscribed. "I urge all residents of the Paris region to prioritise use of public transportation," said Jean-Paul Huchon, President of the Regional Council for the Ile de France.

http://www.thelocal.fr/20140313/public-transit-free-in-paris-this-weekend

India’s growing urban poverty crisis

The end of February saw the release of another round of disappointing figures on India’s economy. In the final quarter of 2013, India’s economy grew by 4.7 percent, the fifth consecutive quarter of sub-5 percent growth. Compared with the ailing economics of Europe, India’s growth rate appears positively bullish. But 4.7 percent is far below the 8 percent growth rate that India’s government says it needs to combat the country’s chronic development challenges. As India heads towards a landmark election – in which the government will almost certainly change hands – this dire economic performance casts a long shadow.
The incumbent UPA government, a coalition of left-leaning parties, has long championed an “inclusive” growth model. But its failure to ensure that the benefits of growth have “trickled down” to the poor is well established. When adjusted for variations in the cost of living, 32.7 percent of India’s population live below the international extreme poverty line of $1.25 per day. India is home to a third of the world’s poor, a third of the world’s slave population, and on a host of other social and development indicators it continues to slip further and further behind other developing countries.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/india%E2%80%99s-growing-urban-poverty-crisis

How to Fund City Growth? Value Capture

Land value tax dates back to the early roots of modern cities, and it could end up financing our future. In the wake of the financial crisis, governments are reconsidering this progressive tax to fund large, city-building projects.
For those who are unfamiliar, land value tax is a special and progressive tax leveraged against unimproved land value. "Land" is the unimproved site, not counting infrastructure or buildings; "Value" refers to the increased market value after public investment; and "Tax" is the payment due for exclusive occupation of the site.
The idea to capture value was first popularized by economist and social reformer Henry George (1839–1897) who was convinced that revenue generated from nature and land belonged to society. In his seminal work, Progress and Poverty, George argued that taxing value increases of unimproved land is economically efficient since wealthy developers will foot the bill. George also argued that land value tax deters speculative land holding.

http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=423&doc_id=526623

Vienna "most livable city in the world" for fifth time in a row

In the Mercer Consulting Group's "Quality of Living" study, which is carried out every two years, Vienna came out on top for the fifth time in a row. Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver occupied the other top places.
Vienna's mayor Häupl and deputy mayor Brauner expressed their pleasure in their first announcement on this matter: "It is an honor, but at the same time a duty, that this city has once again been recognized for its high quality of living. This is because Vienna has also made investments in tough times, and coming in first place today is proof that the "Viennese way" is the right one. Investments in education, research and jobs are not only essential for our city at the current point in time, but also for the future, and to ensure Vienna's quality of life."
http://www.tinavienna.at/en/news/vienna-most-livable-city-world-fifth-time-row

Strategies That Will Transform Your City’s Downtown

Does your city have a long-range downtown plan?
Does your city have a downtown development corporation, a downtown alliance, or similar non-profit organization that is focused solely on promoting downtown as a destination for businesses, residents, and development?
Does your city have public policies (like tax abatements, grants, and other special incentives) to promote downtown development?
Hopefully, you answered ‘yes’ to the questions above. But even if you answered ‘no’ to each question, and your city doesn’t have any official program in place to help make your downtown a more vibrant urban place, there are still lots of strategies your community can pursue to improve the urban vitality of your downtown. That’s what this post is all about.

http://urbanscale.com/blog/12-strategies-will-transform-citys-downtown/

Young immigrant children need to be heard

“I lost them [grandparents]”
“I feel kind of sad leaving the friends I left behind”
“I wonder where my new home will be”
These expressions from children’s narratives, along with the drawing of a little girl who found herself in a basketball court and did not know how to play the game, are some of the findings of a qualitative study about immigrant children’s feelings and experiences of moving to Canada. The study by Monica Valencia, a recent graduate of the Immigration and Settlement Studies program at Ryerson University, showed a mismatch between what researchers commonly see as problem areas – such as cultural clashes, ethnic identity, academic performance, and cultural brokering provided by children for their parents – and what the ten Latin American children she talked to saw as their priorities.

http://maytree.com/blog/2014/02/young-immigrant-children-need-to-be-heard

Fighting Traffic One Paint Brush at a Time

Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood, a gentrified area north of downtown, is bifurcated by 36th Street. “The Avenue,” as it’s known among locals, is strung with coffee shops, boutiques and funky restaurants. It’s a walkable area with lots of foot traffic. So when the city transportation department in 2012 repaved a main intersection on The Avenue—and then failed to repaint the crosswalk for eight months—it became a traffic problem. Cars sped through the intersection, and pedestrian safety became a concern.
Frustrated by the city’s inaction, a few Hampden merchants decided to paint the crosswalk themselves in the middle of the night. One of those merchants, an art gallery owner named Deborah Patterson, called the city the next morning to confess. “I told them I did it because it was dangerous,” Patterson says. “I had almost hit somebody recently coming home one night. I had to do something.”

http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-fighting-traffic-with-paint.html

Walking in Munich to be aided by smart urban development (Germany)

With the goal of further encouraging walking among Munich's population, the city has developed a long-term strategy to make accessible pedestrian spaces and routes fundamental to future planning.
Prompted by the limited capacity of public transportation as well as congestion and pollution from car traffic, Munich (Germany) is planning to increase the possibilities for walking around the city by implementing smart urban development. Walking is already popular among Munich's population, with some 75 percent of journeys under one kilometre and 20 percent of journeys between one and five kilometres accomplished on foot.

http://www.eltis.org/index.php?ID1=5&id=60&news_id=4489&back_id=8

Urban Bikeway Design Guide: Second Edition

Completely redesigned with an accessible, four-color layout, the second edition of this classic guide builds on the fast-changing state of bikeway design at the local level. The book offers substantive guidance for cities seeking to improve bicycle transportation in places where competing demands for the use of the right-of-way present unique challenges.

http://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/U/bo9505518.html

Dark Side of Tech Buses for Cities

Are "tech buses" from companies like Google, Apple, and Yahoo friends or foes of the cities where they operate?
There has been a lot in the news lately about tech buses that ferry employees from their homes in California cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley to suburban tech campuses, mainly in the South Bay. The companies argue that these collective transportation systems keep cars off roads and highways. Detractors see them as a private usurpation of public space. In other words, as if raising the rents in formerly affordable districts was not enough, the tech companies are now taking the streets away, too.

http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=348&doc_id=526610

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability announced that the ICLEI World Congress 2015 will take place in Seoul, South Korea.

The triennial event is the flagship assembly for ICLEI Members and the extended ICLEI community worldwide, and will provide local governments with tried and tested solutions to accelerate their sustainability goals.
Coinciding with ICLEI’s 25th year anniversary and the historic shaping of a post-2015 development agenda, the ICLEI World Congress will offer an unparalleled opportunity to galvanize the role of local governments in multi-level governance, sustainable urban development goals, climate and disaster risk reduction.
Mayor Park: “I am confident that the congress will enable us to build closer partnerships within the global sustainability community, including with our neighboring countries and cities, and allow us to work together to advance sustainability”.

www.iclei.org/worldcongress2015

12 ways to make cities more child-friendly

For far too long, many people have considered family life and urban life as being mutually exclusive. That trend is slowly reversing, as more and more parents choose to raise their kids in urban areas. However, city builders often fail to consider their smallest, most vulnerable users. As Enrique Peñalosa famously said: “”Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.”
The following slideshow describes twelve ways we can make our cities more amenable to kids. These are by no means a comprehensive list, but are designed as a conversation starter. Have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!

http://spacing.ca/national/2014/03/03/twelve-ways-can-make-cities-child-friendly/

How does city twinning, circular economy and commercial urban-planning contribute to the energy transition ?

In an attempt to answer these questions, Energy Cities has developped 6 new Proposals for the energy transition of cities & towns.
Be part of regional, national and European networks to gain exposure to others’ experience
In the context of a severe economic crisis, everyone has to make do with limited resources. We cannot afford to repeat past mistakes. If many towns and cities are members of networks such as Energy Cities, the majority are still facing the upcoming challenges on their own.

http://www.energy-cities.eu/How-does-city-twinning-circular?pmv_nid=2

Free public transit in Tallinn is a hit with riders but yields unexpected results

Last January, Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, did something that no other city its size had done before: It made all public transit in the city free for residents.
City officials made some bold predictions about what would result. There would be a flood of new passengers on Tallinn’s buses and trams — as many as 20 percent more riders. Carbon emissions would decline substantially as drivers left their cars at home and rode transit instead. And low-income residents would gain new access to jobs that they previously couldn’t get to. As Mayor Edgar Savisaar likes to say, zeroing out commuting costs was for some people as good as receiving a 13th month of salary.
One year later, this city of 430,000 people has firmly established itself as the leader of a budding international free-transit movement. Tallinn has hosted two conferences for city officials, researchers and journalists from across Europe to discuss the idea.

http://www.uclg.org/en/node/21905

Global Town Hall @ Hannover Messe

ICLEI's Smart Urban Infrastructure agenda aims to bridge the gap between sustainable urban infrastructure needs of cities and innovative infrastructure solutions offered by businesses. The ICLEI Global Town Hall @ Metropolitan Solutions provides the paramount venue for city-business discussion and networking on urban infrastructure solutions.
Centrally located within the Metropolitan Solutions trade fair held on 7-11 April in Hannover, Germany, the Global Town Hall 2014 will cover themes such as climate change and adaptation, smart cities, ecomobility, sustainable purchasing, urban agriculture, green buildings, low-carbon development, and integrated solutions.
Cities planning to attend this year’s event include: Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Baguio, Berlin, Bristol, Chengdu, Copenhagen, Fortaleza, Moscow, Oslo, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Rome, Rotterdam, Seoul, and Taipei, just to name a few. Some of their inspiring initiatives are featured in the local action stories below.
We hope that you can join us at Global Town Hall 2014 in Hannover, Germany on 7-11 April 2014! For more information and to register, please visit our website here

www.iclei.org/gth2014

China's urban drive risks digging economic hole

After a lifetime of farming and mining in the hills of southwest China, Zhang Zongfu was thrust into subsidised housing closer to town, and into a monumental urbanisation drive aimed at boosting growth.
Zhang likes his newly built digs, which are effectively free, but city life has been harder to settle into. The 48-year-old villager lacks job skills or prospects -- putting a major wrinkle in Beijing's blueprint for prosperity.
"Without work I'm in trouble," he said in his living room, overlooking neat rows of freshly painted apartment blocks on the edge of Anshun in Guizhou, one of China's poorest provinces.
"The house is fine. But if you have a house to live in and can't feed yourself, what's the point?" he asked.
Zhang's situation illustrates the developmental dilemma facing China as its rubberstamp parliament, the National People's Congress, meets this week.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/chinas-urban-drive-risks-digging-economic-hole

Lack of Transit Options May Limit Children's Healthcare

Approximately three million children miss a healthcare appointment each year because of inadequate access to transit, according to a study from the Children's Health Fund. A third of those children later visited a hospital emergency room for the condition associated with their missed appointment. According to the Fund, transportation barriers could reduce the gains in children's healthcare created through expanded insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140224/BLOG/302249991/poor-transportation-could-block-gains-in-pediatric-healthcare

Defending urban freeways at all costs ignores the potential of cities

On the week that the Congress for the New Urbanism released its twice-yearly Freeways Without Futures list to draw attention to urban Interstates that should be dismantled, a Virginia historian threw cold water on the entire argument.
Most urban freeways are necessary and they will be rebuilt because they carry too many cars and too many people need them, argues Earl Swift, a residential fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, in Atlantic Cities.
We'll figure out ways to raise the money to rebuild them, rather than tear them down. Because with precious few exceptions, our cities need their interstates the way organs need arteries.

http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/robert-steuteville/20969/defending-urban-freeways-all-costs-ignores-potential-cit

New ideas for winning the migration debate in Europe

Switzerland’s population of 8 million includes just over 1.7 million foreign nationals, giving it one of the largest immigrant portions – 22% of the total – in the advanced industrial world. A small nation which has prospered though its mixture of high labour specialisation in industry and services, it has the reputation of being one of the most stable economies in the world. Unemployment is low, at just under 3% measured in 2012, and the standard of living is high for the 92% who live above the official poverty line.
Like many European countries it is aging rapidly, with 30% of its people aged 60 or over. A steeply declining fertility rate has been partially arrested in recent years by migration, but at the current level of 1.46 children born on average to every woman it is still far below the 2.1 needed to ensure that the resident population replaces itself.
Diversity is built into the fabric of Swiss society, with the native population comprised of three main language speakers – German (64%), French (20%) and Italian (7%). The country’s sense of national identity comes less from an image of ethnic homogeneity and more from its distinct political institutions which are amongst the most democratic and localised in the world.

http://citiesofmigration.ca/ezine_stories/closing-swiss-borders-new-ideas-for-winning-the-migration-debate-in-europe

New Welsh legislation accommodates walking and cycling (United Kingdom)

This unique new policy will require local governments and highway agencies to make provisions for pedestrians and cyclists, to bolster active travel in Wales.
The Welsh government passed the Active Travel Ac

http://www.eltis.org/index.php?ID1=5&id=60&news_id=4482&back_id=8

Africa yet to see the big housing picture as satellite cities target middle-class

Satellite cities, critics warn, come with a whole range of flaws that might damage overall urban development in the long run.
Satellite cities also pose a direct threat to the main cities; by attracting the upper class and formal businesses, they deprive large urban centres of a much-needed tax base and divert state resources allocated to infrastructure building.
Satellite cities reveal a clear trend in Africa for governments to rely heavily on private-led, isolated infrastructure projects, going against what UN-Habitat currently advocates for in terms of urban growth—dense population.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Africa-satellite-cities-target-middle-class/-/539552/2220790/-/3j8htkz/-/index.html

ICLEI and World Business Council launch city survey

ICLEI, the global cities network, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have launched a new survey to find out how cities and business can work together on sustainable development.
City leaders and officials who want to contribute to a better understanding of how cities and business can work together are encouraged to complete a short, 10-minute on-line survey compiled by ICLEI and the team behind the Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII), a World Business Council for Sustainable Development project. US city Philadelphia was the most recent to receive a report on its future development after its collaboration with companies such as Siemens, Schneider Electric, AECOM, UPS and Toyota (see video below).

http://cities-today.com/2014/02/iclei-world-business-council-launch-city-survey/

Rethinking Urbanism Through Vertical Cities

With the world’s urban population growing at an unprecedented rate, high-rise buildings will feature prominently in future cities. The concept of the vertical city could be a solution to the challenge of high-density urbanisation.
More than 75 per cent of the world’s population is expected live in urban areas by 2050. New residential, commercial and office spaces within major cities will be needed to accommodate millions of people, leading cities to invest in innovative, integrated and sustainable solutions to cope with the rapid growth of urbanisation. In recent years, urban planners and architects around the world have been developing ideas and creating different solutions to approach the challenge of high-density urbanisation, and the concept of the vertical city has become a very popular one.

http://sourceable.net/rethinking-urbanism-vertical-cities

New research examines factors influencing Europeans' commutes

The researchers identified several aspects that sway citizens towards using a particular mode of transport to get to work, and made several recommendations for encouraging more sustainable mobility in European cities.
Commutes to and from work are a major source of pollution and traffic congestion. In a recent study, researchers used data from 112 European cities with populations of between 100 000 and 500 000 to examine the factors which influence the ways in which people travel to work.

http://www.eltis.org/index.php?ID1=5&id=60&news_id=4472

"Lean Urbanism" is Focus of CNU Project

The new Project for Lean Urbanism (PLU), administered by the Congress for New Urbanism and funded by a three-year, $600,000-plus grant from the Knight Foundation, will help small business and development projects move forward more rapidly by finding creative ways to work through city regulations. In its first year, PLU will compile research and reports on opportunities for workarounds in real estate development, business, liability and risk management, infrastructure, and education. The following two years will involve creating tools and strategies based on the findings, as well as field testing them via pilot initiatives and demonstration projects in select cities.

http://nextcity.org/economic-development/entry/project-for-lean-urbanism-congress-for-the-new-urbanism-andres-duany

Agenda 21 of Fear

Zoning had never been particularly controversial business in Baldwin County, Ala. A fast-growing county right across the bay from the office towers of Mobile, Baldwin was the sort of place where local officials voted on projects and then went out for oysters.
Two years ago, that changed. On November 16, 2012, the county’s entire nine-member Planning and Zoning Commission quit in protest over an ongoing war on smart growth and anti-sprawl initiatives.
The mass resignation was a drastic decision for the men and women on the commission. These were not radical environmentalists, although one was a registered forester. They were respected locals who had put in hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteer hours trying to help guide and manage the explosive growth of Alabama’s largest county. Among them were a certified public accountant, a real e

http://nextcity.org/forefront/view/agenda-of-fear

The local and regional agenda during the 7th World Urban Forum

The United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) will celebrate the 7th session of the World Urban Forum in the Colombian city of Medellín on 5-11 April under the overall theme “Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life”. This global event will include a number of important sessions for the local and regional agenda.

http://www.uclg.org/en/node/21847

Deadline extended – Call for abstracts for the 5th IDRC Davos 2014

The 5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC Davos 2014 Secretariat has received an outstanding amount of abstracts. We also received requests for an extension of the abstract submission deadline and are happy to enable this extension.
The call for abstracts for the 5th IDRC Davos 2014 is extended to March 21, 2014. The conference is open to individual oral or poster presentations, to thematic sessions and workshops. Abstracts shall focus on disaster and risk management.
IDRC Davos 2014, is this year's key conference on integrative disaster and risk management, taking place in Davos, Switzerland from 24 - 28 August 2014.

http://idrc.info/programme/call-for-abstracts/

Los Angeles Launches Bicycle Friendly Business District

The City of Los Angeles is establishing its first Bicycle Friendly Business District (BFBD) in Northeast Los Angeles. The BFBD will promote bicycle friendly features including bicycle parking and repair stations, bikeways, maps of the bikeway network, and bikeway signage. The BFBD will help build community, increase physical activity, and reduce street congestion while supporting Los Angeles neighborhood businesses.

http://ladotbikeblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/las-first-bicycle-friendly-business-district-is-coming-to-northeast-los-angeles/

Danger and opportunity: leveraging big events for urban development

Large-scale events, such as international conferences and sports competitions, that take place in cities in emerging countries present both an opportunity and a danger. On the one hand, these events and the preparations they require enable city governments to accelerate progress and put needed infrastructure into place -- and, in the process, provide a crucial chance for poor communities to voice their views and have their needs addressed. On the other hand, governments may use such events as a pretext to make big changes quickly, all too often enriching the few while ignoring the voices of the poor and disenfranchised. The following examples from Nairobi, Delhi, Jakarta, and Rio de Janeiro highlight this dynamic and propose some lessons for properly leveraging large-scale events.

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/danger-and-opportunity-leveraging-big-events-urban-development

Renovation of public buildings

Local government exempt from EU directive's obligation to renovate 3% of public buildings
Thanks to the joint implication of CEMR and our members in favour of more flexibility for local and regional authorities, only EU central governments are now affected by the directive on energy efficiency. Since 1 January 2014, they are compelled to renovate 3% of their public buildings each year, in order to achieve the objectives set by the European Commission on energy efficiency.
As for the local government, they are therefore free to adopt the measures they consider as the best adapted to their particularities to meet the target of 20% of reduction of energy consumption by 2020.

ICT for vibrant and sustainable cities

The five ENIGMA partner cities have defined how innovative public lighting systems will help them to become vibrant and sustainable cities
The five municipal partners (Eindhoven, Malmo, Stavanger, Espoo and Bassano del Grappa) involved in ENIGMA have set themselves an ambitious goal: to become vibrant, sustainable cities with a public lighting system that helps them achieve this.
The ENIGMA project aims to develop a joint transnational pre-commercial procurement procedure (PCP) in the field of public lighting. The five partner cities will cooperate on procuring and testing innovation and technologies in a real life environment.

http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/ICT-for-vibrant-and-sustainable-cities-WSPO-9GUNQB

Launch of The State of African Cities 2014

UN-Habitat launches the “State of African Cities: Re-imagining sustainable urban transitions - 2014” report in a high level plenary of the 5th Session of the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD 5) in N'Djamena, Chad.
This third State of African Cities report is being realised in close cooperation with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability Africa, The British High Commission (South Africa) and United Cities and Local Government Africa (UCLGA). It analyses African cities in the context of globally changing conditions and seeks to stimulate discussion on the need for radically different, re-imagined development visions to guide sustainable urban and other transitions in Africa over the decades to come.

http://archive.iclei.org/index.php?id=13535

Invitation for Commitments for Smart Cities and Communities now open

The European Commission has opened the invitation for Commitments in the framework of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities. The deadline for submitting a commitment proposal is the 15th of June 2014.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/587/45/Invitation-for-Commitments-for-Smart-Cities-and-Communities-now-open

Rotterdam to build ‘floating city’ along river in once-seedy neighborhood

Rotterdam is selling its water. Or, to be more precise, it is selling a 30-year concession on 21 hectares of quiet water in the Rijnhaven area on the Maas River. Why would developers possibly want to buy a chunk of this giant stagnant bathtub? For starters, so they can build a floating city.
Framed by the up-and-coming Katendrecht neighborhood and the densely skyscrapered Wilheminakade, the Rijnhaven waterfront is a somewhat incoherent mix of former port industries, commercial areas and grassroots initiatives like pop-up homemade markets and a neighborhood theater. Just 30 years ago, this area was the most notorious neighborhood in Rotterdam. Situated along a man-made peninsula stretching into the Maas River, the Rijnhaven and adjoining Katendrecht district were given over to every kind of vice. Before World War 2, the largest Chinatown in Europe was located here. Immigrants lived in tenement-style housing and opium abuse was rampant. When a citywide bordello ban went into effect in 1911, all the prostitutes were moved to Katendrecht – the one “exception area” carved out in the city. The fact that the peninsula could be sealed off, if needed, was one of the government’s main arguments for the move. As a recreational destination for sailors during and after the war, these neighborhoods were rife with legal prostitution and sex clubs until the early 1980s. As time passed, the concentration effect slowly led to more violent crime until Katendrecht and the Rijnhaven eventually became a no-go zone for most Rotterdammers.

http://nextcity.org/resilientcities/entry/bits-of-a-floating-city-in-a-former-hub-of-vice

DIVERCITIES: Turning diversity into a positive force for cities

Cities have always been diverse. Especially in the last decades cities may have become more diverse than ever. However, ethnicity, culture or social background are not the only factors determining diversity anymore. The researchers of FP7 project DIVERCITIES, talk about cities of hyper-diversity. With this term they make clear that cities are not only diverse in socio-economic, social and ethnic terms, but that also many differences exist with respect to lifestyles, attitudes and activities. How can cities deal with this diversity? DIVERCITIES' will explore the policy arrangements that are needed for turning diversity into a positive force for European cities.
More

UN-Habitat holds urban mobility event at high-level Women’s Commission

UN-Habitat’s Deputy Executive Director, Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, will chair an important session on access to urban mobility for women and girls at the 58th session on the Commission for the Status of Women.
The event, titled “Equitable Urban Mobility – Supporting the Empowerment of Women and Girls” will take place on Tuesday 18th March at 1830 at the UN Headquarters in New York and will explore the current challenges facing women with respect to access and safety when it comes to urban mobility. The event will serve to provide a platform for UN-Habitat partners to share their experiences in the promotion of inclusive urban mobility solutions which drive the accessibility agenda as an effective means of empowerment for women and girls.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=12922&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1

United Cities and Local Governments offers a revamped version of its website

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, our international organisation UCLG launches a a brand new version of its website. By using a more modern design this new version aims to facilitate the navigation for visitors while adapting to new internet uses.
UCLG invites you to browse through the pages of their new website and share your views with them via communication@ucgl.org.

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/wwwuclgorg-revamped-celebrate-10-years

Boosting sustainable urban development in the EU neighbourhood: Sustainable Urban Demonstration Energy Projects (SUDEP)

On 26 February, the European Commission launched a Call for Proposals worth a total of €8.25 million for the regional programme "SUDEP - Sustainable Urban Demonstration Energy Projects”.
This Call is open to local authorities from Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
Main objective of the Call is to enable the implementation of sustainable energy actions leading to increased levels of energy savings and energy efficiency and to the deployment of renewable energy sources. Actions must not exceed 36 months and must take place in the territory of these local authorities.

http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=538

Sustainable cities and urbanization in the heart of post 2015 development agenda

Following a year round stocktaking exercise, UN negotiators are planning to include sustainable cities and urbanization among the focus areas of sustainable development goals that will be applied universally in the post2015 period.
Open Working Group of the UN General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG) was established in January 2013 as a follow-up of the Rio+20 Summit held in June 2012. The group was mandated to implement paragraph 248 of the Rio+20 Document which referred to establishment of an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process on sustainable development goals that is open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly.
Between March 2013 and February 2014, the OWG was convened in 8 sessions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York USA, each focusing different themes of sustainable development.
As a conclusion of the first phase of its work, Co-Chairs of the OWG released first compilation of focus areas which prominently positions sustainable cities and urbanization among its priorities.

http://www.iclei.org/details/article/sustainable-cities-and-urbanization-in-the-heart-of-post2015-development-agenda.html

The role of cities in the prevention of reoffending

While sanctioning and implementing sanctions are the responsibility of the State’s judicial system, cities play an important role in implementing community based alternatives. Furthermore, cities are on the front line when it comes to balance the needs of individuals versus those of the community, and the needs of victims versus those of offenders. The European Forum formulated guiding principles in this regard through a resolution (also available in German) adopted in 2011 by its Executive Committee. In particular, this resolution affirms that “local elected officials must have a say about the world of prison, and facilitate the building of bridges between prisons and the outside world. NGOs and civil society stakeholders involved in the rehabilitation of ex-prisoners also have an important role to play in building such bridges.”

http://efus.eu/en/topics/risks-forms-of-crime/reoffending/efus/3530/

Land Values Capture: A method to finance urban investment in Africa?

The UCLG Local Finance and Development Committee has just published a study on “Capturing Land Values: a route to financing urban investment in Africa?” conducted in partnership with the Global Fund for Cities Development, and with the contribution of UCLG Africa, SCET, AFD, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cities Alliance. What are the advantages, risks, and legal and institutional basis for the implementation of this method of funding? The present publication provides a brief overview on the issue, illustrated by several projects conducted on the African continent. It aims to incite the various actors to go further and develop, for each national context, the conditions necessary to ensure this development potential can be exploited. The proposed reforms are certainly ambitious but can Africa afford to not develop this method of financing?

http://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/land-values-capture-method-finance-urban-investment-africa

Translating megatrends into urban challenges

The Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe will present its megatrends study on 27 March at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels
Joint Programming is an instrument established in 2008 by the European Commission. It strengthens research and innovation by encouraging European countries voluntarily work together and pool national research efforts. The Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe was set up in 2010 to strengthen European research and innovation in the field of urban development. It is being further supported by two ‘Seventh Framework Coordination & Support Actions’, BOOST, and SEiSMiC, in which EUROCITIES is a partner.
Researchers from the member states taking part in JPI Urban Europe have produced a megatrends study, translating megatrends such as climate change and globalisation into challenges for European cities.

http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Translating-megatrends-into-urban-challenges-WSPO-9GWUTF

World Bank: Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities - Now

To help mayors and other policy makers identify the bottlenecks they face as urbanisation accelerates and to propose policy options to tackle such challenges, the World Bank - with support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Cities Alliance- has carried out diagnostics called 'Urbanisation Reviews' in 12 countries across 4 continents. The report 'Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities - Now' distills the lessons learned from these diagnostics into a practical framework for sustainable urbanisation.

http://www.eukn.org/E_library/Urban_Policy/World_Bank_Planning_Connecting_and_Financing_Cities_Now

Climate change refugees a reality

Australia needs to plan for an influx of climate change refugees from neighbouring countries that face ever increasing risks from cyclones, rising sea levels and more severe droughts, according to a researcher at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

http://www.urbangateway.org/news/climate-change-refugees-reality

Libraries still at the core of community

Technology and the internet are changing Americans’ reading habits and also their relationship with libraries. Half of Americans now own a tablet or e-reader and libraries have responded by expanding their digital offerings.
But what hasn’t changed is Americans’ love for books. American adults still read about as much as ever and overwhelmingly say libraries play an important role in their communities. In advance of the American Library Association’s Midwinter Convention (#alamw14) in Philadelphia, here are some key facts and trends we have chronicled in our research on America’s public libraries.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/24/10-facts-about-americans-and-public-libraries/#twt3

The State of European Cities in Transition 2013

Over the last years, UN-Habitat has analysed different trends in cities in the world in its reports "State of cities". The UN-organisation has now come up with a new edition of this well-known series: "The state of European cities in transition. Taking stock after 20 years of reform". In this report, UN-Habitat explores the specific situation of cities in South-East Europe, giving a comprehensive overview of a number of aspects related to the transformation in this region.

http://www.eukn.org/E_library/Urban_Policy/The_State_of_European_Cities_in_Transition_2013

Cities Work Towards an International Markets Day

Barcelona, Venice and Florence are leading a project to create an International Day of Markets recognised by UNESCO. These cities are working to engage international institutions like UNESCO and UN Habitat to get their support for an International Day of Markets to be held in the spring of 2014. More than 25 cities have already given their support to the initiative.

http://urbact.eu/en/news-and-events/view-one/news/?entryId=5328

Sick cities: why urban living can be bad for your mental health

Is our headlong rush to live in cities bound to increase incidences of stress and other mental disorders?
You are lying down with your head in a noisy and tightfitting fMRI brain scanner, which is unnerving in itself. You agreed to take part in this experiment, and at first the psychologists in charge seemed nice.
They set you some rather confusing maths problems to solve against the clock, and you are doing your best, but they aren't happy. "Can you please concentrate a little better?" they keep saying into your headphones. Or, "You are among the worst performing individuals to have been studied in this laboratory." Helpful things like that. It is a relief when time runs out.
Few people would enjoy this experience, and indeed the volunteers who underwent it were monitored to make sure they had a stressful time. Their minor suffering, however, provided data for what became a major study, and a global news story. The researchers, led by Dr Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, were trying to find out more about how the brains of different people handle stress. They discovered that city dwellers' brains, compared with people who live in the countryside, seem not to handle it so well

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/feb/25/city-stress-mental-health-rural-kind

Wireless charging of electric vehicles: Share your views!

The European project UNPLUGGED is interested in your opinion on the concept of Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems for charging electric vehicles. This survey is part of a task to investigate the socio-economic impacts of WPT charging of electric vehicles. Polis is a member of the UNPLUGGED Advisory Board.

http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/582/45/Wireless-charging-of-electric-vehicles-Share-your-views-33

Global Forum for Human Settlements 2014 in Bogota

As a follow-up event to commemorate the 2nd Anniversary of the Rio+20 Conference, High-level Dialogue on Sustainable Cities, Transport and Tourism & Global Forum on Human Settlements 2014 (HLD & GFHS 2014) is scheduled to be held on 2-4 June of 2014 in Bogota, Colombia, an EcoMobility Alliance City.

http://www.ecomobility.org/news/archive-detail/article/gather-in-bogota-this-june-vie-for-global-human-settlements-award/

Welcome to Bicycle Urbanism

There is a cheap and prescription-free drug out there, which can take hold as a side-effect-free antidote for many urban ills our societies are facing today. It is called Bicycle Urbanism. Welcome to the discourse on how we can use bicycle urbanism to build cities fit for the future. The Bicycle Urbanism column engages with pedal-powered strategies for building sustainable cities

http://www.urbangateway.org/document/welcome-bicycle-urbanism

When car space encroaches on housing space

What if San Francisco stopped adding car parking? The idea might sound a little odd to the average person, but when you look at where the city is heading, the really crazy scenario would be to keep on cramming more cars into our neighborhoods. Under current policies, SF is poised to build 92,000 spots for personal car storage by 2040, consuming an ungodly amount of space in our compact, 7-mile-by-7-mile city. At what point does it stop?
“If we were really serious about” curbing emissions and creating a livable city, “we would just cap it at zero right now,” said Jason Henderson, author of “Street Fight: The Politics of Mobility in San Francisco,” at a forum this week on San Francisco’s parking policies.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2014/02/14/the-more-space-sf-uses-to-store-cars-the-less-well-have-to-house-people/

EU awards for sustainable mobility

The European Commission has announced the six finalists of two awards which honour the actions of European cities in developing and promoting sustainable approaches to urban mobility. European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, in charge of transport, and Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik will present the awards at a ceremony on 24 March in Brussels, Belgium.
With 75 % of Europe’s population expected to be living in urban areas by 2020[1], it is even more important that our transport choices do not negatively impact on the liveability of our cities. European cities are leading the way in integrating sustainability into their urban mobility plans and raising public awareness.
This year’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) award recognises cities with SUMPs illustrating the ‘integration of economic, social, and environmental policy criteria’, the theme of the 2013 awards. The award is presented to local authorities which demonstrate excellence in developing and implementing their sustainable urban mobility plans to address their city’s mobility challenges. An expert jury evaluates the applications on their achievements and selects a winning city to receive the prize of EUR 10 000. Last year’s winner was Aberdeen City Council, this year’s winner will be revealed at the ceremony on 24 March. 21 applications from 11 EU countries have been submitted.
The finalists for the 2013 SUMP award are:
•Rivas Vaciamadrid (Spain)
•Strasbourg (France)
•Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain)
A more detailed description of each finalist can be found here.

http://newsletter-europa.eu/MOVE/20140224/Spotlight%20on%20the%20SUMP%20Award%20finalists.pdf

Ericsson Networked Society City Index shows how cities can benefit from ICT solutions

Cities are experiencing rapid technological development, driven by cloud-based services and more powerful mobile devices, sensors, big data and analytics. In this emerging Networked Society, intelligent networks will be critical to the basic functioning of our cities and to their
success in meeting current and emerging challenges. This report, published by Ericsson, illustrates how cities around the globe can benefit from ICT solutions.

http://www.eukn.org/dsresource?objectid=333687

The cost of being an urban Yuppie

Whether you’re a yuppie looking for a city to call home or someone trying to get as far away from yuppies as possible, our Yuppie Price Index (YPI) for services will help you identify the top cities that are the most and least hospitable to yuppies.
While most people nowadays know that “yuppie” stands for “young urban professional,” the actual meaning of the term can be somewhat contentious. To set the record straight – when we say yuppie, we’re referring to an urban professional in their 20s and 30s who is in a high paying field like finance, consulting, or law. These yuppies have higher than average disposable income and spend it in ways that could be viewed as frivolous by others. This includes paying up for conveniences, indulging in self-pampering, and a greater focus on self-maintenance and looking good.

http://blog.locality.com/post/75907934024/the-yuppie-price-index-for-services

Where the streets now have names

Without street addresses, how can a city function?
Most city streets in Ghana — as in many parts of the developing world — have no names, or at least no formal names that are widely accepted and publicly marked with signs. To identify buildings, people use landmarks. Make a right at the mango tree next to the uncompleted building, and look for the petty trader selling on table top. He’ll tell you where to go.
There are some obvious problems with this system. The tree may have been cut down. The trader may be away from his usual spot. Accra and other Ghanaian cities are growing so fast that even locals can easily get lost amid the new settlements. Urban navigation is even harder for visitors and tourists.
But wayfinding problems are just the beginning. In a city with no addresses, it’s difficult for local authorities to tax property. And without tax revenues, it’s difficult to upgrade infrastructure and services in the slums that are home to half of Ghana’s urban population. Delivering emergency services in a city with no addresses is a particularly serious problem. The moment your house is burning down is no time to hope that firefighters can find the right mango tree.

http://citiscope.org/story/2014/where-streets-now-have-names

150+ papers for REAL CORP 2014

more then 150 presentations have been selected by the international program committee for
REAL CORP 2014,
19th International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society
under the topic
PLAN IT SMART!
Clever Solutions for Smart Cities
that will take place 21-23 May 2014, Vienna, Austria at the premises of WKO - Austrian Economic Chamber (A-1045 Wien, Wiedner Hauptstraße 63, http://tinyurl.com/oa5opkx)
The list of accepted papers and presentations is available here:
http://www.corp.at/fileadmin/user_upload/realcorp2014_list_of_presentations.pdf

How cities go low carbon while supporting economic growth

Cities across the globe are taking action to support economic growth whilst reducing their carbon emissions. The report 'Delivering Change', published by the UK-based Centre for Cities, provides practical and proven examples of how cities in the UK and across the globe are tackling the environmental and economic challenges they face. It is important for cities to learn from these kinds of examples, as the Centre for Cities shows that the most successful cities in this policy area, combine experiences and examples from other cities with the insights and resources of local partners to develop their interventions.

The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2013

Communities across the country are making roads safer and more accessible for everyone who uses them—and these changes are happening on a larger scale than ever before.
In 2013, more than 80 communities adopted Complete Streets policies. These laws, resolutions and planning and design documents encourage and provide for the safe access to destinations for everyone, regardless of age, ability, income or ethnicity, and no matter how they travel.
Nationwide, a total of 610 jurisdictions now have Complete Streets policies in place. Today, 27 states as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have Complete Streets policies. Fifty-one regional planning organizations, 48 counties and 482 municipalities in 48 states also have adopted such policies.

http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets-2013-analysis

Helping Africa’s urban poor gain from modernisation

Plans to reshape and modernise African cities, in part driven by investment, architecture and construction companies seeking new markets, could deepen existing social inequalities, according to recent research. But these development plans could also benefit the poor if governments are responsive to the needs of their citizens, argue analysts.

http://www.urbangateway.org/document/helping-africa%E2%80%99s-urban-poor-gain-modernisation

Urban Consolidation Centers: the good, the bad and the ugly

The Volvo Research Educational Foundation Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Freight Systems is organising three webinars on the Japanese, Dutch and UK experiences with Urban Consolidation Centers.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/583/45/Urban-Consolidation-Centers-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

Experience from Pilot Networks to Inform URBACT III

Exploring how European cities can really maximise the benefits of their involvement in URBACT projects, URBACT kicked-off two new separate pilot Delivery and Transfer networks in Paris last month. The first supports cities as they implement integrated sustainable urban action plans, and the second focuses on sharing good practices in the same field.

http://urbact.eu/en/news-and-events/view-one/news/?entryId=5330

Real estate armageddon coming to Australia?

A US forecaster has painted a picture of real estate armageddon, predicting Australia's property prices could plummet by as much as 50 per cent in coming years.
The forecast, by economist and demographer Harry Dent, would lead to Sydney's median house price falling from last year's record high of $763,169 to as little as $381,584.
House prices in Sydney and Melbourne have reached almost 10 times income levels - the same point they were in California when the US market peaked, Mr Dent said.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/property-prices-will-plummet-says-specialist-20140215-32snu.html

EcoMobility Alliance at Global Town Hall 2014

EcoMobility will be the featured theme of a half-day event at ICLEI Global Town Hall @ Metropolitan Solutions in Hannover, on 9 April 2014. The event will be the place for cities and businesses to come together and explore, face to face, the various possibilities to work together. EcoMobility Alliance experts and partners will facilitate this session. Alliance cities, Münster and Suwon, will be among the presenting cities

http://www.ecomobility.org/news/archive-detail/article/ecomobility-alliance-at-global-town-hall-2014/

GCIF Global Cities Summit website launched! REGISTER NOW!

The GCIF Global Cities Summit will take place May 15th and 16th, 2014 in Toronto, Canada. Leaders from GCIF’s network of cities, business leaders, senior government officials, scholars, and planning & design professionals will participate in this global event. Space is limited so be sure to register early!
Visit the Global Cities Summit website: www.globalcitiessummit.com

Develop shrinking cities, not greenfields

Development of "greenfields," or previously undeveloped land, is expanding at alarming rates, contributing to degraded environments and isolated, car-dependent communities. This needs to stop.
Greenfields have been ravaged by sprawl development for decades. Perversely, at the same time, many American Rust Belt cities have been facing devastating property abandonment and population losses, known as the "shrinking cities" phenomenon. Could two negatives make a positive?
In other words, greenfield developers need space and infrastructure. Shrinking cities have excess space and infrastructure. Logic suggests that each could fulfill the needs of the other.

http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=406&doc_id=526601

Covenant capacCITY study tour

Are you starting up or looking for ideas to improve your municipal Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP)?
Need ideas for measures?
Want to become more ambitious? Solve problems?
Be inspired - share useful guidance, great ideas and tips on how to proceed with developing and financing your SEAP.
Local political decision-makers keen to learn about municipal energy policy, technical staff working on a Local Action Plan are welcome to join the Covenant capacCITY study tour on 16 April 2014, in Padua, Italy!
1 day power-packed with energy and ideas.
A great programme – introducing local policy, cool strategies, exemplary approaches, ideas, inspiration – for you!

For more information, contact covenant-capacity@iclei.org

Addressing economic and immigration issues while creating safer cities

The Greek city of Alexandroupoli invites members of the Forum to take part in a Manifesto Day which will be held on 7 March on the theme: "Safety, Democracy and Cities – Addressing Economic and Immigration Issues while Creating Safer Cities". Efus has taken a public stance regarding the inflows of illegal migrants in Mediterranean Europe through two resolutions (Malta 2012 and Reggio Emilia 2013) calling for more solidarity and more coordinated policies in Europe ...

http://efus.eu/files/2013/01/AGENDA-Manifesto-Day-Alexandroupolis.pdf