NewsApril2018

Join as many as 2,000 local government representatives, urbanists, and activists beginning May 16 in Savannah, at the annual gathering of the Congress for the New Urbanism, CNU26.Savannah. CNU 26 will focus on urgent questions of implementation, as well as the role of New Urbanism in small towns, the connection of New Urbanism to climate resilience, and how to diversify the movement for better equity and inclusion. May 16- May 19.
https://www.cnu.org/cnu26

The Local Dimension of the NDCs: 100% Renewable Energy - Discussion

This webinar is part of the follow-up process of a successful forum organized during COP23 by the Global 100% Renewable Energy Platform together with the German Environment Agency. This forum was designed to breakdown silos and facilitate a dialogue on concerted action between sub-national governments, with a particular focus on moving towards 100% renewable energy. The goal is to escalate the local 100% RE movement that can be particularly observed in industrialised countries to the national level as well as support CVF countries to implement the Marrakesh Vision.
http://join.ises.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=15441&qid=2626933

How does a city become 'smart'? Lessons from Tel Aviv

Smart cities, digital cities, virtual cities, connected cities. Are these just trendy buzzwords? Perhaps. But these types of cities are supported by the infrastructure that is more than bricks and mortar.
These cities are smart (thoughtful, people-centric), digital (driven by data acquisition, measured, analyzed and sometimes exchanged) and virtual (experiential). And, as a result, they are connected, creating more potential interactions between people and their place.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/04/how-does-a-city-get-to-be-smart-this-is-how-tel-aviv-did-it-6c2767e6-80d9-4ac7-9835-da39a0b9f804

Singapore ranked first for mobility in new report

Singapore has been ranked top among 100 global cities surveyed for their advanced mobility systems in a report by management consultancy firm Arthur D Little.
Released at the UITP Asia-Pacific Assembly in Taipei, the third edition of the firm’s Future of Mobility study and updated Urban Mobility Index analyses the ability of cities to adapt to growing demand, technological advancement and innovation as well as customer expectations and changes in mobility behaviour.
http://www.urbangateway.org/news/singapore-ranked-first-mobility-new-report

Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize 2018 Laureate

Seoul is the laureate of the Lee Kuan Yew City Prize 2018. The capital of South Korea rose from a city crippled by war and economic insecurity to an inclusive, creative and sustainable city over the past few years.
The Lee Kuan Yew City Prize wishes to honour the strategies adopted by the city as an example for the creation of better urban communities around the world. Seoul achieved its high quality of life by adopting a bold leadership with innovative solutions, to answer the challenges of rapid urbanisation, coupled with a good communication with citizens and stakeholders, which resulted in their active engagement in the city vision and transformation.
https://inta-aivn.org/en/news/related-news/2643-lee-kuan-yew-world-city-prize-2018-laureate

SCNY 2018 Workshops are open!

With only 2 weeks left until Smart Cities New York 2018, it’s time to start planning out your conference schedule. In addition to the dozens of great panels and speakers, this year’s conference features 30 workshops at sites throughout the city on May 8th. Don’t miss these opportunities to learn about the strategies and technologies transforming cities from the experts and innovators who are leading the charge.
Get your tickets today to sign up for workshops but hurry because space is limited!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/smart-cities-new-york-2018-powered-by-people-tickets-39202329222

Top 7 disruptive technologies for cities

Imagine you were working in development and poverty reduction in the early 1990s (I was!). Only one website existed in all the world in August 1991 (today there are over 1.5 billion). Mobile phones were expensive, rare, and clunky. Very few would anticipate a situation in which India would have more mobile phones than toilets.
To paraphrase Bill Gates: we tend to overestimate the changes that will happen in the short term and underestimate those in the long term. Technology is quietly but radically disrupting and transforming how cities deliver services to their citizens. It does that in a way that fundamentally alters not just the mode of delivery but its underlying economics and financing.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/top-7-disruptive-technologies-cities

Smart cities need thick data, not big data

In Barcelona, high-tech data platforms generate demand for old-fashioned community development.
Residents living around Plaça del Sol joke that theirs is the only square where, despite the name, rain is preferable. Rain means fewer people gather to socialise and drink, reducing noise for the flats overlooking the square. Residents know this with considerable precision because they’ve developed a digital platform for measuring noise levels and mobilising action. I was told the joke by Remei, one of the residents who, with her ‘citizen scientist’ neighbours, are challenging assumptions about Big Data and the Smart City.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2018/apr/18/smart-cities-need-thick-data-not-big-data

Save the date: Asia City 2050

Most Asian and “Belt & Road” developing countries are in the largest scale urbanization process in human history.
Developing countries, especially China, are trying their best to approach high quality construction and sustainable development. Recently, Chinese government has set an ambitious goal: in the following 10 years, 30% of the newly built buildings shall be constructed in prefabricated way, and in 2020, green buildings will account for 50% of the newly built buildings. As a top and priority policy and strategy, China is now in the process of shifting from a high-speed increase to a high-quality development. Other relevant policies were also released to improve the quality and safety of construction, and further support the sustainable development of building industry in China.
http://www.cc4conference.com/

Velo-city in Rio

Velo-city conference series’ next stop: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Coming to South American for the first time, Velo-city 2018 Rio will focus on the main theme Access to Life, linked to the overall goal of cycling inclusion. Building on topics of previous Velo-city conferences such as Health, Infrastructure, Technology, Governance and Data, Velo-city in Rio de Janeiro will explore the fusion of these discourses through cycling inclusion.
https://www.velo-city2018.rio/

'Pedal Pubs' Gain Popularity, Putting Cities on the Spot

Bar-hopping party bikes, which let a dozen or more people pedal through popular destinations, don’t fit neatly under traffic laws.
They're part party bus, part group bicycle and part mobile bar. The four-wheeled contraptions go by a variety of names: pedal wagons, party bikes, pedal taverns.
They've been entertaining tourists and vexing regulators in U.S. cities for a decade now. But they are still enough of a novelty that state and city lawmakers continue to struggle with whether to allow them and, if so, what rules they should follow.
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-pedal-taverns-bikes-city-regulations.html

Smart Cities and the journey to the “Cloud”

This report, published by Deloitte, introduces a new framework for helping cities apply smart city strategies. This describes the main domains that support smart city objectives, sets the key elements to build the right foundation of a smart city and explores the role of technology in building smart city solutions.
http://www.urenio.org/2018/04/20/smart-cities-and-the-journey-to-the-cloud/

European Bus Systems of the Future 2 Final Conference

The EBSF_2 consortium is glad to invite you to the Project’s Final Conference in Vienna on 18 April 2018. The all-day event will showcase the solutions and technological innovations tested within the 12 project’s test sites and give participants the opportunity to discuss the results with the demonstrations’ working teams.
https://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1663/45/European-Bus-Systems-of-the-Future-2-Final-Conference

Global Symposium on Urban and Territorial Planning

The first Global Symposium on Urban and Territorial Planning: “Improving Planning for More Sustainable Cities and Territories” is being organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in partnership with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of the Government of Japan, the City of Fukuoka and Seinan Gakuin University.
http://gsutp.urbanpolicyplatform.org/

Novel technologies to repower extra-high voltage electricity lines unveiled in Budapest

Recently major players in the electricity sector unveiled pioneering technologies to repower and improve the design, operation and maintenance of existing high voltage power lines. The breakthroughs were presented at an international workshop in Budapest, organised by Hungarian Transmission System Operator (TSO) MAVIR and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), in cooperation with German TSO 50Hertz.
http://www.bestpaths-project.eu/en/news/novel-technologies-to-repower-extra-high-voltage-electricity-lines-unveiled-in-budapest

This NYC Park Is Designed to Be Flooded

An East River park that will protect residents from storm surges while providing access to the waterfront received some key community feedback this week. A series of designs — showing bike paths and play areas for children that would double as seasonal flood lands — was opposed by Manhattan’s Community Board 3, unless its conditions are met.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/this-nyc-park-is-designed-to-be-flooded

DecarbCities - Cities as main actors for the energy transition

An increasing share of humans live in cities. This trend requires no-pollution solutions to maintain local air quality, reduce the effect of heat islands and provide the fair share of cities in the fight against global warming. At the same time, cities have their own budgets and can act more directly and on the ground than national or European legislators. Cities thus become urban labs that can explore possible pathways towards zero emissions.
The DecarbCities forum organised by the Covenant supporter EHPA (European Heat Pump Association) on the 16th of May from 9 am - 10 pm in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, will address this challenge and will provide solutions to cities, the main actors for the energy transition.
http://decarbcities.eu/

WUF9: The value of City-City Partnerships for Implementing the New Urban Agenda

In the UN-Habitat’s World Urban Forum 9, JPI Urban Europe and URBAN-EU-CHINA jointly organised a session on the city partnerships. Sigrun Kabisch, the vice-chair of JPI Urban Europe’s Scientific Advisory Board reflects upon an event and summarises the main take aways from the networking session.
https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/news/wuf9-the-value-of-city-city-partnerships-for-implementing-the-new-urban-agenda/

To save our cities, we must let them breathe

Evolution is vital if a city is to enjoy lasting success; but, as Andreas Whittam Smith says, the endless construction of new skyscrapers is not necessarily evidence of positive change
On holiday some years ago, walking up Third Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York, I suddenly told myself that I really do love big cities. It felt like an epiphany moment, a realisation of something that had been implicit for a long time. After all, I had lived in London all my adult life without ever wishing to leave. I am proud of the place.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/save-cities-evolve-london-paris-new-york-riots-housing-planning-skyscrapers-a8291726.html

Driverless cars are here – but the roads aren’t ready for them

The recent deaths of a woman struck by a car Uber was testing in driverless mode, and of a man whose Tesla Model X crashed when his hands were off the steering wheel because he was letting the car do some of the driving, may shift the debate over autonomous vehicles.
https://www.citymetric.com/transport/driverless-cars-are-here-roads-aren-t-ready-them-3823

Delivering a greener city

A virtual tour of Paris’ latest new mobility event
The Mairie de Paris’ on-going vision of positioning Paris as a leader in sustainable mobility was on full-display during the city hall’s April 9th event La Rencontre professionnelle des mobilités propres. The Mairie de Paris utilized Autonomy’s knowledge and expertise to help organize the event which showcased sustainable solutions designed to allow for local businesses, artisans and health workers to move around the city faster and cleaner.
https://urbanmobilitydaily.com/delivering-a-greener-city-a-virtual-tour-of-paris-latest-new-mobility-event/

Five takeaways from 2020 Cities, Kansas City

Cities Today organised its first North American meeting for 2020 Cities hosted by Bob Bennett, Chief Innovation Officer, Kansas City, Missouri on 28-29 March.
2020 Cities is a global network of CIOs, CTOs, deputy mayors and directors focused on addressing challenges and developing solutions in partnership with start-ups and corporates. The ninth meeting, chaired by Miguel Gamiño, brought together 22 cities from across North America to advance the solutions agenda through roundtable discussions with Chris White, CEO Americas, Philips Lighting; Hugh Martin, Vice-President IoT Platforms & SCV Strategy, Verizon; and Maddie Callis, Manager of City Possible Mastercard.
https://cities-today.com/five-takeaways-from-2020-cities-kansas-city/

Protecting health by improved building efficiency

A revised EU directive to fight energy poverty and pulmonary diseases due to unhealthy buildings should be approved this month
Home sweet home. Houses are supposed to be our nest, a shelter from the world outside. But how healthy are European homes?
Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, often at home, one reason being the current shift to “desk jobs”. It follows that the environment of the buildings we live, work and play in has a major health impact.
http://r2cities.eu/news_and_events/news/protecting-health-by-improved-building-efficiency.kl

Innovative project to promote circular economy and decarbonization of urban living

Almada is one of nine Portuguese cities selected to implement an innovative project that aims to recreate urban spaces, turning them into spaces for demonstrating activities and livelihoods that are more sustainable and less carbon intensive.
Within the Portuguese Environmental Fund (http://www.fundoambiental.pt) framework, this project follows the signature of the Paris Agreements in 2015 by Portugal, for the reduction of carbon emissions resulting from human activities by 2050. These Living Labs are, in practice, delimited spaces defined by the cities, where demonstrative solutions will be implemented, which can then be replicated in other locations and in other cities in the country and in the world.
http://www.energy-cities.eu/Almada-Innovative-project-to-promote-circular-economy-and-decarbonization-of

European Transport Conference early booking open

Delegates are now invited to book their place at the European Transport Conference to benefit from an Early Booking Discount. The Early Booking Discount applies to delegates booking 3-day attendance only, with payment received by 29 June 2018
www.aetransport.org

Urban Transitions: Programme outline announced | Submit abstracts by 8 June

The programme overview for Urban Transitions 2018 is now available for download.
This three-day event will include six keynote lectures and three concurrent sessions of contributed talks together with large poster sessions exploring how to develop multi-sectorial solutions to promote healthy urban development.
https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/urban-transitions/submit-abstract

Campaign to improve women's safety in public transport

Public transport is, sometimes, the only way for women to have access to education, employment or even health care.
For this reason, UCLG is collaborating with the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) and the World Bank to reinforce the effective implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (gender equality) together with SDG 1 (sustainable and resilient cities) at local and regional level. In order to promote and give greater visibility to safety in cities for women in the use of urban public transport, we have produced a series of materials that aim to be a call to action to facilitate women's safe access to public transport and to raise awareness on the positive impact on gender equality that this action has in society.
https://www.uclg-cglu.org/en/media/news/campaign-improve-women-s-safety-public-transport

The 100 million city: is 21st century urbanisation out of control?

Projections suggest cities will swell at an astonishing pace – but whether that means our salvation or an eco-disaster is by no means certain
The 1960 street map of Lagos, Nigeria, shows a small western-style coastal city surrounded by a few semi-rural African villages. Paved roads quickly turn to dirt, and fields to forest. There are few buildings over six floors high and not many cars.
No one foresaw what happened next. In just two generations Lagos grew 100-fold, from under 200,000 people to nearly 20 million. Today one of the world’s 10 largest cities, it sprawls across nearly 1,000 sq km. Vastly wealthy in parts, it is largely chaotic and impoverished. Most residents live in informal settlements, or slums. The great majority are not connected to piped water or a sanitation system. The city’s streets are choked with traffic, its air is full of fumes, and its main dump covers 40 hectares and receives 10,000 metric tons of waste a day.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/19/urban-explosion-kinshasa-el-alto-growth-mexico-city-bangalore-lagos

Full Speaker Program Now Available: 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference

CTBUH is pleased to release the complete program and speaker list for the Tall + Urban Innovation Conference, featuring two tracks of presentations exploring the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world.
http://tallinnovation2018.com/program/

Top 5 takeaways from Smart Cities Connect 2018

Using failure as a learning moment and building partnerships are among the lessons from the three-day conference in Kansas City, MO.
The 2018 Smart Cities Connect conference in Kansas City, MO brought together officials from various levels of government as well as those in business and academia, all to discuss the evolution of smart cities and what communities can do to stay at the forefront of that evolution.
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/smart-cities-connect-2018-top-takeaways/520383/

Air Taxis are Coming and They are Coming Soon

For many, the concept of a flying taxi seems way off into the future. How soon do you think we’ll start seeing VTOL jets in European cities’ skies?
It’s not way off into the future. That’s what’s so exciting about this industry – it’s potentially just around the corner. We’ve already flown our two-seat prototype – take a look on YouTube. The next stage is the full-size, five-seat jet, and then we move to production and operation. It’s going to happen sooner than everyone thinks. It’s time to get very excited.
How would the Lilium jet change the daily life of an urban commuter?
https://urbanmobilitydaily.com/air-taxis-are-coming-and-they-are-coming-soon-an-interview-with-remo-gerber-cco-of-lilium/

French cities call for decentralisation of energy policy

On March 22, the city of Paris, together with other 19 French cities, co-signed an open letter in Le Monde, asking to redirect part of the energy and climate tax’s increase towards local communities and calling for a law for the decentralization of the energy policy.
Regional and local level are extremely important to reach the objectives set by the Paris Agreement but in France, as in other European Countries, most of the levers are still controlled by national government and national operators. As a result, innovative energy and transport projects are rare and renewable energy infrastructures not easily put in place. In order to come out of this impasse, French Mayors, supported by Energy cities and other city networks, are advocating for a new economic and legal framework to allow local communities to take control of their energy policy.
http://www.energy-cities.eu/French-cities-call-for-decentralisation-of-energy-policy

Water and sanitation - a metropolitan issue

Between the 18 and 23 of last March the city of Brasilia hosted the 8th edition of the World Water Forum, the largest global event on water and its sanitation. The presence of some members of Metropolis stood out in the event: the Government of the Federal District of Brasilia, as co-host of the forum, led discussions on the implementation of the 6th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6, guarantee the availability of water for all and its sustainable management and sanitation); the Mayor of Libreville stood out at the International Conference of Local and Regional Authorities organized by UCLG; and Quito was recognized for its water management among the best practices in Latin America.
https://www.metropolis.org/news/2018/water/sanitation

Teaming Up for Urban Forestry webinar

Smart Growth Network hosts webinar that explores the resources available to help policymakers and municipal executives make decisions about the future of their community’s forests, and to learn how urban forestry can help drive progress toward Smart Growth and sustainability goals.
The webinar features Laurence D. Wiseman of CenterLine Strategy and the founding president and CEO of American Forest Foundation, Ian Leahy of American Forests and Lauren Marshall of the U.S. Forest Service.
http://smartgrowth.org/teaming-urban-forestry-new-tools-build-energize-local-sustainability-efforts/

Mediterranean City-to-City Migration

What do the cities of Amman, Beirut, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Tangiers, Tunis, Turin and Vienna have in common? Among others, migration is a historical feature of their urban development. Ana Feder, ICMPD, shares a Mediterranean perspective on urban migration from the MC2CM Project.
http://citiesofmigration.ca/ezine_stories/mediterranean-city-to-city-migration/

What European Cities Want

An interview with Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General of Polis
Polis is a network of 68 European cities and regions cooperating for innovative transport solutions. Karen Vancluysen, Polis’ Secretary General as well as a previous and future speaker at the Urban Mobility Summit, sat down with us to discuss the transportation solutions mayors are seeking to improve their cities, the importance of collaboration between public and private actors and Polis’ exciting future projects.
https://urbanmobilitydaily.com/what-european-cities-want-karen-vancluysen-secretary-general-of-polis/

Call for Host City: 6th European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (2019)

The European Commission has opened a call for applications to host the 6th European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, to be held in 2019.
The annual European Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans is Europe's leading event for all those involved in putting the SUMP concept into practice. It serves as a forum for policy makers and academics across Europe to network, debate key issues and exchange ideas on sustainable urban mobility planning. This event has grown since the first conference in 2014, and now attracts an audience of 450.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/call-host-city-6th-european-conference-sustainable-urban-mobility-plans-2019-0

CleanEnviro Summit Singapore 2018

If you are a cleantech enthusiast and visiting Singapore in July 2018, you probably can’t afford to miss the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore (CESS) 2018. The fourth biennial CleanEnviro Summit Singapore will be held from 8 to 12 July 2018 and an opportunity to discover latest trends in the fields of waste management, cleaning, pest management sustainable energy and pollution control. Just the right place for participants ranging from environmental scientists to everyone who is concerned and interested in clean environment and health friendly cities.
http://ecourbanhub.com/cleanenviro-summit-singapore-2018-cess-marina-bay-sands/

Global to local: supporting cities to meet the New Urban Agenda

The New Urban Agenda sets ambitious sustainability objectives for cities of all sizes. At the 9th World Urban Forum, IIED worked with local governments on how to deliver against the wide-ranging goals. Alexandra Norodom reflects on the power of inclusive processes.
https://www.iied.org/global-local-supporting-cities-meet-new-urban-agenda

Seoul and Beijing pledge to improve air quality

At a meeting in Seoul, Park Won Soon, Mayor of Seoul and President of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and Jining Chen, Mayor of Beijing, agreed to join efforts to reduce the concentration of fine pollutant particulates in both cities.
On 19 March 2018 in the South Korean capital, Mayor Park and Mayor Chen agreed to deepen their bilateral partnership during the third meeting of the Seoul-Beijing Joint Committee, held under their bilateral cooperation mechanism. The mayors highlighted opportunities for cooperation on matters related to the environment, as well as with regards to cultural, economic and educational advancements.
http://www.iclei.org/details/article/seoul-and-beijing-pledge-to-improve-air-quality.html

C-ITS and cities workshop

Dublin City Council hosted on 22 March the final workshop of the CODECS C-ITS City Pool, a platform set up to have focused discussions about the challenges and opportunities of deploying C-ITS in cities. Some 35 people attended the workshop, including 15 representatives of city and regional government.
https://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1654/45/C-ITS-and-cities-workshop

Call for papers - Healthy City Design

The Call for Papers for the second Healthy City Design 2018 International Congress & Exhibition has been launched under the plenary theme of 'Creating healthy cities for all: Designing for equity and resilience'.
http://healthycitydesign2018.salus.global/conference-show/healthy-city-design-2018

With the growth of smart cities, how do we build smart citizens to match?

People involved in creating the world’s smart cities might think everyone knows what a smart city is. But in reality, only 18% of people have heard of the term ‘smart city’, let alone understood what it means. Moreover, emerging technologies such as AI, play a key role in smart city projects; even so, they are alien to most of the public.
http://www.urenio.org/2018/03/29/with-the-growth-of-smart-cities-how-do-we-build-smart-citizens-to-match/

Private companies want to replace public transport. Should we let them?

Companies like Uber and Citymapper are scrapping for a piece of the mass transit market – with or without the support of public bodies
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/29/public-transport-transit-private-companies-citymapper-uber-whim-smart-buses

Unleashing the urban psyche

The second of EUROCITIES ‘Imagine the urban future’ events will take place on 25 April with special guests Charles Landry and Chris Murray. In cooperation with CEMR and the European Parliament Urban Intergroup, this event is part of our work on the future of cities and of our network. It is another occasion to discuss cities’ future challenges and how we can respond to them.
Charles Landry is a respected voice in the field of creativity applied to urban spaces. He now supports cities in transforming, developing their potential and inspiring them to look for new opportunities. He first talked about ‘creative cities’ in the late 80s, in a period of economic, social and cultural change. This concept is based on the principle that cities can empower citizens to overcome disruptions using imagination to solve problems and seek opportunities
http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Unleashing-the-urban-psyche-WSPO-AXHJ66

Webinar: Renovation of Public Buildings in Europe

The European Commission, in partnership with the UN Environment Finance Initiative, is organising a webinar on Renovation of Public Buildings in Europe on 27 April 2018, from 11.00 to 13.00 Central European Time.
This webinar will hear 4 presentations:
Miguel Casas from Energinvest will present the outcomes of a study on innovative financing mechanisms for energy efficiency, based on 24 concrete case studies across the EU.
Erika Honnay from GRE-Liege will present RenoWatt, a one-stop-shop in Belgium which provides assistance to the participating authorities in the energy renovation of their buildings: identification of energy-consuming buildings, project profitability analysis, financing of the investment program and management of the entire public procurement procedure.
Rob McKinnon will present the Re:Fit project which has set up a framework contract to simplify public procurement of energy performance contracts in the UK to support public sector to implement energy efficiency and local energy generation measures.
Celine Tougeron from the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) will present the funding opportunities available under the EU programme Horizon 2020 to work on the renovation of public buildings, in particular Project Development Assistance and Innovative Financing schemes.
The webinar will be conducted in English and will be moderated by Celine Tougeron from EASME.
Please register by 26 April 2018.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7038857226769399810

The Six Attributes of Future-Proof Cities

The JLL City Momentum Index for 2018 identifies the world’s most dynamic cities, with a new focus on those cities best poised to maintain their competitiveness in a rapidly changing, technology-based global economy.
Along with analysing 131 established and emerging business hubs for their short-term economic and real estate momentum, the index also ranks these cities by their potential for future, continued growth. This potential for future-proofing is determined by factors such as capability for innovation, world-class higher education, high levels of technology start-ups and scale-ups, and the quality of the urban environment, from liveability to public transport infrastructure.
http://www.urbangateway.org/news/six-attributes-future-proof-cities

Rapid Urbanization Creates "Smart" Opportunities

For the first time in history, there are more people living in urban than rural areas and that trend is expected to continue – with 1.4 million people added to the urban population every week1. Today, nearly 54.5% of the world’s population lives in cities2, and it’s expected to grow to 70% by 20503. People are drawn to cities for a number of reasons – job opportunities, stronger education resources, exposure to arts and culture and a more diverse environment, to name a few.
But for all the richness of cities, urban living can be filled with challenges, from traffic jams to taxed energy systems to overcrowded sidewalks and transit. Many of these difficulties are rooted in dated infrastructure – so as the number of people living in cities continues to rise, investing in and modernizing city infrastructure becomes critical.
https://www.bofaml.com/en-us/content/smart-cities/future-smart-city-infrastructure.html

2018 Polis Conference: Call for speakers open!

We are happy to inform you that the Call for Speakers for the 2018 Polis Conference "Innovation in transport for sustainable cities and regions" is now open and kindly invite you to submit your abstracts! Download the call for further information, including the list of priority topics.
Don't miss this opportunity to showcase your urban transport innovations!
Abstracts can be submitted until 18 May 2018.
https://www.polisnetwork.eu/uploads/Modules/PublicDocuments/2017_polis-conference_call-for-speakersv2.pdf

TOD News - TOD Conference Videos Released!

This important conference brought together leaders in the Transit Oriented Development world to showcase the latest in best practices for the design and development of TODs. Network with the leading developers, architects, planners, designers, place managers, transit agencies, elected officials, and more.
http://www.tod.org/events/la2018.html

Dying to Know Uber's Secrets, Data-Hungry Cities Get Creative

Less than a decade after a startup called UberCab launched in San Francisco, there’s a growing sense in American cities that things have changed. Ride-hailing services like Lyft, Juno, Gett, Via, and of course Uber have upended how people travel around the places where they live. A ride is faster, cheaper, easier to find, and maybe even safer than ever before.
https://www.wired.com/story/uber-lyft-data-research-driver-pay/

The Evolution to a Smart & Sustainable City

Many cities in the U.S. and around the world have started the process of transformation from analog to smart and sustainable. The process tends to start with the implementation of a series of independent infrastructure systems connected to a digitally linked network. Yet, the transformation process for cities is still in its early stages.
Many cities and communities have taken different approaches. There are many different components and systems for a city to choose from in deciding how and where to start. Transformation also requires the involvement of various players. This article discusses the players and the evolution of cities as they race to be Smart & Sustainable.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/the-evolution-to-a-smart-sustainable-city-26503

The Ninth international Cities for Mobility Congress will take place under the title "New mobility and the transformation of cities" on 17-19 June 2018 at Stuttgart City Hall. The event is addressed to municipal practitioners, decision makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and initiatives from civil society and combines presentations with practical activities, such as trainings, interactive workshops, excursions and contact forums.
Over 250 decision makers, professionals and scientists from over 30 countries world-wide will meet in June at the 9th International Cities for Mobility Congress. The event will focus on mobility trends and their influence on creating livable public spaces in cities, tackling especially the importance of mobility experiments and innovations with measures for the benefit of citizens as well as a careful design and use of public space that prioritizes sustainable modes of transport. Further topics that will be discussed at the congress are new concepts for the development of public transport services (such as on-demand mobility), innovations in city logistics and the expansion of shared transport models (car/bike sharing, ride sharing).
www.cities-for-mobility.net

Biodiver-City conference

If we think about nature conservation or increasing essential ecosystem services we usually think of protected areas, conserving valuable ecosystems such as forests and wetlands, or maintaining rural landscapes. But can cities also help achieve biodiversity goals and targets? This largely depends on the amount, the quality and management of urban green infrastructure. However, the potential of cities to help protect biodiversity and ecosystem services is likely underestimated.
This conference aims to deliver a set of key messages and principles on how cities can contribute to regional, national and European biodiversity policies, goals and targets.
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/event/conference/biodiver-city

What Counts as 'Real' City Planning?

The traditional canon of urban planning excludes people and practices that could greatly benefit it—and society. That needs to change.
In Cities of Tomorrow, a textbook commonly used to teach the history of urban planning, Peter Hall espoused the contributions of Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and other heroic male figures of urbanism. As for women, he told the reader: “There were, alas, almost no founding mothers.”
It would be more accurate to say that women are and always have been part of urbanism, but their contributions have disappeared from planning and architectural history.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/what-counts-as-real-city-planning/556082/

In the rush to develop, Asia's cities advised to think green

He may never set foot in New Clark City, but taxi driver Edgard Labitag hopes the Philippines' first green, disaster-resilient, high-tech metropolis will ease the pressure on Manila - meaning fewer hours stuck in traffic and more time with his children.
On a sweltering Sunday afternoon, the 42-year-old at the wheel bemoaned another shift spent inching along the infamously congested streets of the capital city of 13 million people.
"Crowding, pollution and traffic - this is what people say about Manila," he said, gesturing at the gridlock.
"But luckily the government has a plan ... and (President Rodrigo) Duterte is the right man to see it through."
http://www.thisisplace.org/i/?id=dae23338-58a9-47da-908b-6ad459799d41

Making the Case for Transit webinar 11 April

Join us to learn how to create livable communities where all members have access to school, work, play, and more. This webinar will feature successful resources, programs, and campaigns on how to make the case for people-first walking and transit solutions.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5007775574102425859

Energy Cities Annual Conference - Rennes 18-20 April 2018

One month left for our Annual Conference on 18-20th April in Rennes (France)! The agenda is extremely rich, we will host different interactive workshops, networking breaks, site visits and social events.
You can find some examples below:
The Smart Living or Living smart workshop kicking-off the conference (on Wednesday 18th)
The workshop “After effort comes comfort –solutions from cities and home owners on how to renovate multi-apartment blocks!” (on Thursday 19th)
A session dedicated to Blockchain (on Friday 20th )
Additionally, a political peer-to-peer session for city leaders and councillors will be held on Thursday afternoon. Elected representatives will debate with guest EU leaders and inspiring regional/national leaders to draw 10 golden goals for the EU post 2020.
www.annualconference.energy-cities.eu/register/ before April 11th.

The Tesla Of Smart Cities?

Pavegen's On A £5m Mission To Supercharge Your Sidewalks
Laurence Kemball-Cook wants your footsteps to power your world.
The British entrepreneur came up with this idea back in 2009, after a failed university project with German energy giant E.ON.
The kicker? He couldn’t work out how to light street lamps with wind or solar energy.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kittyknowles/2018/03/27/the-tesla-of-smart-cities-inside-pavegens-5m-mission-to-supercharge-your-sidewalks/#6d216d805c00

Salt Lake City Sensors Show Link Between Sprawl and Rising CO2 Levels

New suburban development creates more CO2 than dense, city-center development. But actual long-term research testing the emissions created by urban vs. suburban growth over time is scarce. A new study sheds some light on the particles in question, revealing that, for the most part, common sense holds up.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/salt-lake-city-sensors-show-link-between-sprawl-rising-co2-levels

Last chance to register for INTA 41

It's not too late to register for the INTA41 Congress, which will take place in a few days! It will feature an exciting team of speakers, from more than 15 nationalities, in 5 plenary sessions, 4 technical visits of local partnership initiatives and 4 workshops with 14 cities and partnerships projects represented. Registrations will close on Sunday 8 April.
https://inta-aivn.org/en/activities/exchange/congress/inta41/registration

54th ISOCARP Congress Deadline extended to 8 April

Due to numerous requests it was decided to extend the deadline for the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress in Bodø, Norway on “Cool Planning: Changing Climate and our Urban Future”.
Papers, case studies, research projects, session proposals by international experts coming from practice, government, the private sector and academia will be discussed in six parallel tracks.
A summary of the congress tracks, submission details, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, venues, congress tours, and many more can be found in the Congress Announcement
https://isocarp.org/2018congress/abstract-submission/

Superkilen: Urban Park, World Stage

When the city of Copenhagen went looking for ideas to revitalize the old working class district of Nørrebro, it decided to create a new kind of public space. Today, the award-winning urban park is filled with objects from around the globe. It is designed as a kind of world exposition created with and by local inhabitants with over 60 nationalities.
http://citiesofmigration.ca/good_idea/superkilen-extreme-civic-involvement/

Nurturing the Entrepreneurs Our Inner Cities Need

Capital is important, but so are ecosystems that reward innovation and thrive on diversity.
Job-creating innovation and inner cities can prosper together, and a new approach that's well underway in cities across the country is demonstrating how. It starts with talent and inclusive entrepreneurship rather than a focus on the traditional geographic locations that have so dominated capital for business in the past.
http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-innovative-ecosystems-nurturing-entrepreneurs-inner-cities.html

INTA X Taiwan Declaration on urban revitalization

At the end of the 13-16 March Forum on Urban Regeneration and Revitalization, jointly organized by INTA and several Taiwanese companies, international and national experts have developed a declaration outlining the main axes of urban revitalization. This declaration aims to revitalize Taiwan's cities by defining the necessary changes.
https://inta-aivn.org/en/activities/exchange/conferences-a-seminars/2624-international-forum-urban-regeneration-and-revitalization

Webinar: Inclusion of Migrants with Irregular Status: a Role for Cities

Why should cities reach out to migrants with irregular status?
A growing number of cities in Europe, like their North American counterparts, are taking steps to connect irregular (‘undocumented’) migrants and their families to essential services. Sarah Spencer, Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity, COMPAS, University of Oxford, draws on the work of the C-MISE Project (City Initiative for Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe) to explain why and share some of the creative ways that local authorities have found to provide services, protect the vulnerable and build more inclusive cities for everyone.
http://citiesofmigration.ca/webinar/webinar-inclusion-of-migrants-with-irregular-status/

Intelligent Urban Watersheds

Over the last few decades, hydraulic and hydrologic modelers have dramatically increased our understanding of urban watersheds; namely the built wastewater and stormwater infrastructure within their respective urban environments. These models have been manually tuned and calibrated using data from flow meters and other sensors, and adjusting available software knobs and levers to improve model accuracy, leading to better capital infrastructure planning. Additional, substantive improvements to the various modeling software platforms in recent years have yielded improved results and a more compelling user experience.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/intelligent-urban-watersheds-25645

Why Do Cities Experience Water Shortages?

Over the last year or so there have been several notable news stories about water shortages. The most severe is the situation in Cape Town, which has been living with the prospect of ‘day zero’, when the taps run dry. Nairobi is another African city under pressure, holding out for a decent rainy season to top up the falling water levels at the dams that supply the city. Last year California finally saw an easing of drought conditions after several dry years, though it looks like the problem is far from over.
https://makewealthhistory.org/2018/03/13/why-do-cities-experience-water-shortages/

2018 Polis Conference Call for exhibitors and sponsors

The Polis Conference is the network's annual flagship event. It provides a unique platform to engage with representatives of cities and regions. We invite organisations and projects to showcase innovative solutions and approaches that can help to solve urban mobility challenges.
https://www.polisnetwork.eu/uploads/Modules/PublicDocuments/2018_polis-conference_sponsorship_final.pdf

Urban Transitions - Keynote speakers announced

We are pleased to welcome the following experts who will give invited lectures at Urban Transitions 2018:
Luis Bettenbourg, University of Chicago, USA
Robert Cervero, University of California Berkeley, USA
Ana Diez Roux, Drexel University, USA
Nadja Kabisch, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Audrey de Nazelle, Imperial College London, UK
Mark Stevenson, University of Melbourne, Australia
Urban Transitions 2018 aims to promote healthy urban development by bringing together the different disciplines working within cities to provide enhanced understanding of the linkages involved and develop multi-sectorial solutions.
Delegates will include researchers, policy makers and practitioners in urban planning, architecture, transport planning, environmental science and exposure assessment, public health, social science and policy.
https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/urban-transitions

Why Cities Need a Chief Scientist

Every city in the U.S. has a chief elected leader. Many cities have a chief technology officer. Several cities have a chief resilience officer. But, how many cities have a chief scientist?
In an era of climate change and limited resources, isn’t this an idea whose time has come?
I suggested this idea at the recent CitiesIPCC 2018 Conference in Edmonton, Canada before a friendly audience of mayors, planners, policy makers, researchers, and yes, scientists to tentative applause.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/why-cities-need-a-chief-scientist

Japan’s Smart Cities

There is very little in the literature about what Japan is doing in the field of smart cities. The report “Japan’s Smart Cities” by Andrew DeWit shows a series of domains in which smart city concepts and technologies have been applied.
http://www.urenio.org/2018/03/17/japans-smart-cities/

INTA41 Focus: "Public-private-civil society partnerships: new ways to design the city"

An extremely interesting group of speakers representing the Public, Private and Civil Society spheres will be participating in Plenary Session 2 at INTA41. Representing Swedish, French, German and Latin American organisations, the speakers will engage in debate that will challenge the existing paradigms of Public-private-civil society partnerships.
https://inta-aivn.org/en/activities/exchange/congress/inta41/programme

Future of Urbanism is a Scooter

Hold onto your glasses, nerds: The scooters are here.
As cities around the U.S. still try to figure out what dockless bikesharing is, a leader in that nascent industry is betting that some urbanites are already ready for the next big thing—scooter-sharing. LimeBike, one of several firms operating docklessly in Washington, D.C., unleashed a fleet of electric-assist scooters in the nation’s capital this week, marking the scooter-share’s East Coast debut. (They first hit the streets last month, in San Diego.)
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/03/scoot-scoot/555746/

What Uber’s autonomous vehicle fatality tells us about the future of place

Sometimes when a news story hits, you just know it will reverberate. The fatal collision involving an Uber autonomous vehicle (AV) hitting a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix fits that profile perfectly. While all details are not yet public, early reporting suggests the Uber AV hit someone crossing a street outside a designated crosswalk. As an initial response, Uber pulled all of its AV services from each city where it’s testing.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/20/what-ubers-autonomous-vehicle-fatality-tells-us-about-the-future-of-place/

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Further archived news available on request from: Kate More