NewsJuly2017

It stands for Active mobility, Data, Electric, Shared and Autonomous vehicles
Take any city and look at the way people move around. There may have been some improvements, but the global picture hasn’t changed much in 50 years. It is estimated that by 2050 there’ll be 6 billion urbanites, a startling fact which makes it all the more urgent that we replace single car ownership with cleaner and more efficient ways of commuting. But when will the tipping point happen?
http://blogurbanmobility.com/adesa-the-key-to-the-urban-mobility-revolution/

City development policy for inclusion of migrants

International seminar on Migrants and Refugees, Malmo, 30-31 August 2017
INTA invites policymakers of national and local governments, city planners and other urban actors to an international seminar on migrants & refugees on the 30th / 31st of August. The seminar aims to develop sustainable and effective solutions for city leaders and public actors to integrate migrants & refugees to the city's urban, economical, cultural and social surface. The central question is:
https://inta-aivn.org/en/activities/exchange/conferences-a-seminars/2017-city-development-policy-for-inclusion-of-migrants

We Demain Forum - Security and resiliency

Insecurity is a recurring and growing theme today, a concern for the whole planet and individuals, but also a challenge local and global authorities, States or compagnies, among others, have to face. It is among the major modern challenges.
Facing this conclusion, We Demain is launching its first forum on security and resiliency, on 19 September 2017, at Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, to reflect upon alternatives for the all-secure promotion, and to conceive a more secure and still ethic future, by gathering specialists that are currently working on innovative and efficient solutions.
https://forumswedemain.fr/

CITYnvest final conference on the power of innovative financing

Boosting investment for sustainable building renovation is vital for achieving a clean energy transition in Europe. This is particularly true for buildings as they are responsible for 40% of European primary energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions. The problem is: there is no easy way for cities to access financing, including from the EU.
To make it easy, and to raise awareness on potential barriers and success factors, we will share with you a set of policy recommendations at CITYnvest’s final conference, in Brussels, on 4-5 December 2017.
http://www.ccre.org/en/actualites/view/3548

Calling for applications: 2017 Dubai International Award for Best Practices

The Dubai Municipality and UN-Habitat is currently calling for submissions to the 11th round of the 2017 Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.
The 2017 award is an international contest which seeks to recognize outstanding initiatives that are making valuable contribution to the sustainability agenda along the themes of the New Urban Agenda. The award is open to all national and regional governments; local authorities and their associations; non-governmental organizations; multilateral agencies; community based organizations; research and academic institutions; public and private foundations; media entities and individuals in different categories
https://unhabitat.org/calling-for-applications-for-2017-dubai-international-award-for-best-practices/

End to first-class carriages on commuter trains

The UK transport secretary, who travels to Westminster by rail, says he will make the change to put an end to overcrowding
The days of commuters crammed cheek-by-jowl in overcrowded train carriages while first-class compartments remain half-empty could be coming to an end.
The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said first-class carriages will be cancelled on busy suburban routes in a bid to reduce rush-hour overcrowding.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/22/chris-grayling-no-more-first-class-carriages-on-commuter-trains

Transit Oriented Development Asia

23-24 August 2017 Hong Kong
Ascending into its third frontier, Trueventus’ 3rd Annual Transit-Oriented Development Asia features the grandstand of successful projects from core cities and the strategies to effectively engage policies and solutions to convoluted urban areas, running in conjunction with Brownfield Asia Summit. Discover the necessary methods and practices to finance and fund the developments while ensuring partnerships with both public and private sectors. Immerse yourself on tackling the complexities and enterprise in Transit-Oriented Development.
http://www.trueventus.com/event.php?intid=367

The Need to Manage Mobility From the Ground Up

A top-down view of transportation is important, but it's crucial to focus on the needs of individuals and underserved communities.
In my last column in this space, I argued for government to approach mobility as a system rather than simply as a set of discrete transportation-related services or agencies. A handful of pioneering cities have appointed mobility managers who are, for the first time, addressing the many modes of transportation -- buses, trains, bikes, ride-sharing and more -- holistically.
http://www.governing.com/blogs/bfc/col-mobility-management-individual-needs.html

Smart Investments to Create Smart Cities

The public and private sector –partnered together– can transform our personal lives and communities. It is exciting to see how the new digital era allows us all to reimagine both citizen and consumer experiences that can only help improve the world we share. This story originally appeared on Business Trends on the SAP Community.
As I speak with customers around the world, our conversations often turn to the rise of technology companies. Not your traditional Google, Apple, IBM, and even SAP-type technology companies, but the Airbnb, GO-JEK, Under Armour and Ubers of the world. Those aren’t tech firms you think? They describe themselves as such. And now, the public sector is starting to get in on the tech game too.
https://www.smartscities.com/en/technology/smart-investments-create-smart-cities

With Local 2030, the U.N. seeks to turbocharge its engagement with cities

The United Nations leadership on Monday unveiled a broad and potentially far-reaching new strategy to bolster the ability of cities to implement their own sustainable development priorities. The initiative also may fundamentally reorient how the U.?N. system works at the local level.
The core of the project, officially called the Local 2030 Hub for Sustainability Solutions, is the creation of new global platforms for city-to-city learning on three issues in which robust city action is seen as especially crucial: data, finance and energy. New “hubs” for sharing knowledge on these subjects will seek to strengthen local-level capacity while highlighting innovative local experiences.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/local-2030-un-seeks-turbocharge-its-engagement-cities

Save the date: BrabantStad, Smart & Green Mobility Solutions Workshop - Wednesday 11 October 2017, Brussels

During the annual European Week of Regions and Cities taking place in Brussels from 9 to 12 October 2017, BrabantStad will organise a workshop with a focus on Smart & Green Mobility Solutions.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1449/45/Save-the-date-BrabantStad-Smart-amp-Green-Mobility-Solutions-Workshop---Wednesday-11-October-2017-Brussels

Which is the world's most biodiverse city?

From Brazil to Mexico to South Africa, diverse and delicate ecosystems are somehow holding on in the face of rampant urbanisation
Never before have we lived in such an urban world. Asphalt and concrete extend themselves over the earth, water disappears undergroundand steel and glass sparkle under the sun. Urban expansion is one of the chief characteristics of the freshly minted Anthropocene era.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jul/03/which-worlds-most-biodiverse-city-extreme-cities

CIVITAS Urban Mobility Tool Inventory

The CIVITAS Urban Mobility Tool Inventory is an online database of 100+ tools and methods that will help local authorities make better informed decisions about which planning tools to apply in their given local context. Using advanced search functions and interactive user rating and review features, the dynamic inventory interface will enable practitioners to easily identify the most useful tool for their needs. It will feature a broad range of tools and methods – including guidelines, software, manuals, mobile apps, serious games, and planning approaches – that are useful for all steps of urban mobility planning, from scenario building and measure selection to implementation and evaluation. The Urban Mobility Tool Inventory is a joint initiative of CIVITAS SATELLITE and SUMPs-UP that will be available online in September 2017.
http://civitas.eu/news/civitas-urban-mobility-tool-inventory

A Review of Smart Cities Based on IoT

With the expansion of smart meters, like the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), each smart city is equipped with various kinds of electronic devices. Therefore, equipment and technologies enable us to be smarter and make various aspects of smart cities more accessible and applicable. The goal of the current paper is to provide an inclusive review on the concept of the smart city besides their different applications, benefits, and advantages. In addition, most of the possible IoT technologies are introduced, and their capabilities to merge into and apply to the different parts of smart cities are discussed. The potential application of smart cities with respect to technology development in the future provides another valuable discussion in this paper. Meanwhile, some practical experiences all across the world and the key barriers to its implementation are thoroughly expressed.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/07/11/review-smart-cities-based-iot/

What Can Urban Planning Gain from the Mobile Internet Revolution?

Our impressions of a city are formed mainly by the quality of public spaces. If they are not pleasant and preserved, or if they transmit a sense of insecurity, we will seldom return. Good planning of these spaces should be the rule, not the exception. In the series “Public Spaces,” originally published in Portuguese by TheCityFix Brasil, we explore different aspects related to public spaces that determine our daily experience in cities.
The world is experiencing unprecedented urban growth. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. As cities modernize, urban residents are finding their lives increasingly optimized and automated by a series of technologies. But urban planning has not kept pace and it is still a challenge to build urban spaces that are conducive to people’s well-being and happiness.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/public-spaces-what-can-urban-planning-gain-from-the-mobile-internet-revolution-priscila-pacheco/

2017 IECA National Conference and Stormwater Queensland Conference

Effective land and water management requires a holistic approach across catchments and the development cycle. But it also throws up challenges – grey areas – that require new or different ways of thinking. The IECA National Conference and Stormwater Queensland Conference Theme: 50 Shades of Blue, Green and Brown; exploring the grey areas of land and water management will assist delegates with a holistic and detailed understanding of the industry.
http://www.ieca-sqconference.com.au/

How sustainable neighbourhoods are the building blocks of green, climate-safe cities

This month, C40 is exploring what it takes to create a sustainable neighbourhood. Anyone who lives in a city – no matter how big or small – knows that we experience the city through our local neighbourhoods: the places where we live, work and play. If mayors, urban planners, businesses and citizens can make these individual communities green, then they will be well on their way to making their city truly sustainable and resilient to the most devastating impacts of climate change.
http://www.c40.org/blog_posts/sustainable-neighborhoods-july

5 Ways Sensor Technology Can Improve City Infrastructure

In order to withstand the pressure on infrastructure that urbanization will bring, smart cities are expected to grow commensurate with the process of worldwide urbanization.
More than 6.5 billion people are expected to live in cities by 2050, according to UN estimates. That figure represents more than double the number of people currently living in such settlements. In order to withstand the pressure on infrastructure that this process of urbanization will bring, smart cities — referring to a concept by which cities’ traditionally offline systems such as water supply networks are brought online and connected to sophisticated analysis and control systems — are expected to grow commensurate with this process of worldwide urbanization.
Alongside provisioning special, low-powered telecommunications networks to support their connectivity, sensor technology is the key means for driving the growth of these projects, which are expected to rise fourfold in number by 2025.
http://www.govtech.com/fs/perspectives/5-Ways-Sensor-Technology-Can-Improve-City-Infrastructure-Industry-Perspective.html

Here’s a Super Helpful Guide to Equitable City Growth

When there’s a big project with public dollars in the city of New Orleans, the city assembles a group of small business owners from disadvantaged backgrounds, and gives them the tools, resources, and networking opportunities they need to bid on some of that work.
In Chicago, financial empowerment centers are learning how to better coordinate outreach and relationship building with mainstream financial institutions in neighborhoods bombarded by predatory lenders.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/new-toolkit-makes-equitable-economic-growth-strategies-easier-to-find-under

Cities Revive an Old Idea to Become More Pedestrian-Friendly

“Pedestrian scrambles” surged in popularity half a century ago. Some places are bringing them back.
You're on a busy street corner and you need to get to a destination that's diagonally across the intersection. You know what you need to do: Wait for the signal, cross one street, wait for the signal to change, and then cross the other street.
But does that make sense in a place where the number of pedestrians outnumber the number of vehicles? City officials in Washington, D.C., don’t think so.
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-pedestrian-scramble-diagonal-barnes-dance.html

Digitization and Urbanization: Three Major Challenges

We should be careful not to exaggerate the differences between the most and the least advanced global cities. Security solutions in Toronto might very well be applicable in Karachi; and digital services in Singapore could eventually take root in Kabul.
https://thehimalayantimes.com/opinion/digitization-urbanization-three-major-challenges/

Britain loves its parks. But they need a funding boost to save them

In the first half of the 20th century, the parks superintendent in Leeds started a scrapbook to chronicle the splendour of the city’s open spaces. Among the photos is a selection taken on a warm Whit Bank Holiday at Roundhay Park in 1944.
They are startling. Despite World War II reaching its climax after years of hardship and rationing, the people caught on camera seem to have found happy respite from the harsh realities of life.
http://www.citymetric.com/fabric/britain-loves-its-parks-they-need-funding-boost-save-them-3194

“Active Travel for Healthy Cities” workshop, 19 October 2017 in Paris

Polis, in cooperation with PASTA project will host the workshop “Active Travel for Healthy Cities” during Autonomy’s Urban Mobility Summit in Paris. The workshop aims to present the new Health economic assessment tool (HEAT) and city case studies of the use of HEAT to inform sound transport policy and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP).
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1439/45/Active-Travel-for-Healthy-Cities-workshop-19-October-2017-in-Paris

Urbanization and electricity are not to blame for sleep loss

In this study, researchers from the University of Surrey, in collaboration with groups in South Africa, Brazil, Colombia and the USA, examined the sleeping patterns of people from two neighbouring communities in Mozambique - the small electrified urban town Milange and the non-electrified rural community Tengua.
It has previously been suggested that the post-industrial world is experiencing a sleep deprivation epidemic. Scientists have proposed that people who have electricity stay up later, but do not necessarily get up later to compensate. The Surrey-led research team found that although the people in the town retired to bed on average one hour later, they did not sleep less than the people in the village without electricity, because they also rose one hour later in the morning.
https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-07/uos-uae071817.php

Third International Conference on Learning Cities

Cork, Ireland, from 18 to 20 September 2017.
This event will be an opportunity to exchange experiences and forge partnerships with representatives of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities and other international leaders and experts in the field of lifelong learning.
http://learningcities2017.org

Montreal declaration 2017

As the outcome of the 12th Metropolis World Congress and the 37th General Assembly of the “Association Internationale des Maires Francophones” (AIMF), mayors of the cities present have signed a commitment to stand together and take up local and global challenges, including by implementing the Paris climate agreement.
By encouraging this statement, Metropolis shows its willingness to get involved in the global leadership that aims to address the most pressing contemporary challenges.
https://www.metropolis.org/news/Declaration-Montreal-2017

WHO Brief for action about the relevance for Urban Green Spaces

Urbanization results in an increasing proportion of the population living in cities. In Europe it is expected that around three quarters of the population will live in urban settings by 2020. Urban living limits access to nature and can increase exposure to certain environmental hazards, such as air and noise pollution. Many urban areas face increasing pressure from expanding populations, limited resources and growing impacts of climate change. These challenges must be addressed in order for cities to provide healthy and sustainable living environments. Green spaces and other nature-based solutions offer innovative approaches to increase the quality of urban settings, enhance local resilience and promote sustainable lifestyles, improving both the health and the well-being of urban residents.
http://thegreencity.com/world-health-organization-brief-for-action-about-the-relevance-for-urban-green-spaces/

The Race is on for the UK's only Dedicated National Tree Officers Conference Tickets

The acclaimed National Tree Officers Conference will return to Telford, 8 November 2017.
The outstanding inaugural event hosted more than 200 delegates from local authorities around the UK, who travelled to Telford last November. This is the only major conference dedicated to the needs of Tree Officers. More than 97% of last year’s delegates felt the content and programme met their reasons for attending this conference.
The National Tree Officers Conference is a unique gathering for professionals interested in all areas of local authority arboricultural work. This conference is crucial to tree, woodland and planning officers; provides a significant platform for future collaborations and partnerships; and offers latest research. It will demonstrate the best practice and innovation from arboricultural and urban forestry experts.
http://www.charteredforesters.org/2017/06/race-uks-dedicated-national-tree-officers-conference-tickets/

Urban Affairs Association Call for Participation

48th Annual Conference of the Urban Affairs Association
April 4-7, 2018 | Sheraton Toronto Centre Hotel | Toronto, CN
Abstract/Session Proposal Deadline: October 1, 2017
Shaping Justice and Sustainability Within and Beyond the City’s Edge: Contestation and Collaboration in Urbanizing Regions
In an era of globalizing forces, the region has become an important arena for collaboration and contestation, as metropolitan areas work to craft their individual identities. As they do so, questions of equity, inclusion, and sustainability remain. What is the role of diversity, difference and singularity of social actors and communities when it comes to forging visions of urban development that are collective in process, cohesive in vision and sustainable in implementation? Furthermore, as global financial systems exert greater control over national, regional, and local economies, what is the role of innovative and/or insurgent social practices in an urbanizing region? What are the most effective strategies to create environmentally and economically sustainable communities in a regional context? How will different factions of regional actors evolve given conventional relationships, increased social and cultural diversity, and the contradictions of competitiveness and solidarity?
http://urbanaffairsassociation.org/conference/participate/call-for-participation/

Towards zero-energy cities

On the first day of this year’s EU Sustainable Energy Week, experts from the R2CITIES project will be offering 2 free webinars on how to navigate the pitfalls of residential district retrofitting. Drawing on their first-hand experience of renovating three districts in three different countries, our team will shine the spotlight on retrofitting design methodology and then on data management.
http://r2cities.eu/News_And_Events/Press-Releases/Towards-Zero-Energy-Cities.kl

Placemaking for Peacemaking

According to a 2015 report from the International Organization of Migration, over half the world’s population lives in urban areas. This is in part because 60% of the world’s refugee population and 80% of internally displaced people have migrated to cities, raising the question of how to build a sense of social connectedness for these new citizens in their host communities.
Rony Jalkh is a placemaking activist, Senior Fellow at The Project for Public Spaces and a Visiting Professor at Pratt University in New York. Jalkh recently visited multiple cities in Canada with Cities for People and its partner organizations as part of The City as Commons discussion series. We spoke with him about placemaking for peacemaking and how this can be applied to welcoming newcomers to Canada.
http://www.socialconnectedness.org/placemaking-for-peacemaking/

How Can We Manage Our Ever-Expanding Cities?

Technological advancements from the IoT to digital energy may be the solution to managing population growth.
Urbanisation has been a geopolitical fact of life since the industrial revolution. As the centres of wealth creation switched from the fields to factories, so too those seeking employment upped sticks and settled in increasingly urbanised areas.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/social-innovation/managing-expansion-in-cities/

The American Cities with the Worst Sprawl – And How They’re Trying to Change

These cities here are the least-walkable in America. They’re all built to satisfy cars more than pedestrians, and are only lately discovering the benefits of dedicated public transportation infrastructure. But they also have one thing in common: They’re all trying to change for the better.
https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/urban-sprawl-worst-cities

Ambitious new public transport plans outlined for Dublin

A far-ranging transformation of the Irish capital’s transport network has been outlined by the country’s National Transport Authority (NTA). The overall cost of the project would be €1bn.
NTA figures show that average traffic speeds on the main roads during morning rush hour is fallng from 39.kmh to 33.7kmh. The number of cars paying the toll on the M50, Ireland’s busiest motorway, is also rising by 18 per cent.
http://eltis.org/discover/news/ambitious-new-public-transport-plans-outlined-dublin

Meeting Fearless Cities

This month, I have been fortunate enough to meet many local charismatic, committed leaders. Barcelona, Paris, Valencia, Heidelberg, Ghent, Växjo, Atlanta, Cape Town, Chefchaouen, Seoul… The list is too long to give it in full. What I retain from these fruitful meetings (1) are two main points:
What is at stake now is our capacity to redesign local governance for the energy and societal transition
http://www.energy-cities.eu/Policy-brief-Meeting-Fearless-Cities

Urban transition in focus at the JPI Urban Europe conference

Urban practitioners and policymakers, researchers and representatives from European institutions of research and innovation discussed how to foster urban transitions by enhancing impacts at the conference “Engaging for impact: the next step in urban transition” in Brussels on May 29-30.
http://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/news/urban-transition-in-focus-at-the-jpi-urban-europe-conference/

US mayors pass resolution to target 100% renewable energy by 2035

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) on Monday approved a resolution supporting a 100% renewable energy goal by 2035, and launched the Ready for 100 campaign to support the utilization of more clean power.
http://www.utilitydive.com/news/us-mayors-pass-resolution-to-target-100-renewable-energy-by-2035/445894/

Dense Urbanism is Great for Downtowns. But What About Suburbs?

Post-war America has largely been built around cars. Many existing cities permanently scarred themselves with new urban freeways. Though the status quo of big, bland, car-centric subdivisions retains enormous inertia, there is now a real counter-movement of urbanists trying to reclaim the virtues of pre-car towns and cities- scale, character, and walkability.
https://www.vox.com/2017/6/23/15815510/toderian-suburbs

Navigating Urban Vehicle Access Regulations

Urban Vehicle Access Regulations (UVARs) manage vehicular access to urban areas, thereby helping to keep them healthy and liveable for residents. Yet few people are aware of them. A Commission-funded website informs road users about UVARs EU-wide, helping them to plan their journeys accordingly and avoid delays and fines.
http://eltis.org/discover/news/navigating-europes-urban-access-regulations

Call for best practices: 100% renewables

Energy Cities is launching a call for best practices on the actions of European cities in the field of renewable energies. This call is open until September 15th 2017 to every local authority from the 28 European Member States. The results will be published from December 2017 on in the Energy Cities’ online database.
This action is part of the European project "Renewables Networking Platform (RNP) - Cities and regions on the 100% renewables road", led by Energy Cities, with the main objective to monitor the advances in renewable policies both at national and sub-national levels.
http://www.energy-cities.eu/Call-for-best-practices-100-REN

Interethnic co-existence in European cities

How can interethnic co-existence work in superdiverse neighbourhoods?
ICEC (Interethnic Co-existence in European Cities), one of the ten projects from the first JPI Urban Europe Call, has come to an end. Project leader dr.Yvonne Franz from the Austrian Academy of Sciences looks back and forward.
What was the main project goal?
“We wanted to initiate an assessment and exchange of good practice in integration policies between three European cities, namely Amsterdam, Vienna and Stockholm. The results are used and implemented in municipal policies and bottom-up initiatives aimed at creating integrative neighbourhoods. ICEC results found entrance in the new Regional Plan for Stockholm (RUFS 2050) and inspired the district mayor in the 6th district of Vienna for a new seed-funding programme for neighbourhood initiatives (https://miteinander.mariahilf.wien.gv.at/site/).”
http://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/news/projects-talk-inerethnic-coexistence-in-european-cities/

This Urban 'Tree' Cleans as much Polluted Air as an Entire Forest

The CityTree is a high-tech green wall that scrubs the air of harmful particles and it has as much air-purifying power as 275 urban trees. A CityTree can absorb around 250 grams of particulate matter in a day. Over an entire year, this can remove 240 metric tons of C02. Green City Solutions hopes to one day install CityTrees in major cities around the world.
http://inhabitat.com/this-urban-tree-cleans-as-much-polluted-air-as-an-entire-forest/

Partnership Against Violent Radicalisation in the Cities project kicks off

The EU-funded “PRACTICIES – Partnership Against Violent Radicalisation in the Cities” project, in which Efus is a partner, has commenced with a first coordination meeting held in Madrid (Spain) on 1-2 June.
The project mobilises networks of European cities and experts from the fields of humanities, political sciences and information sciences with the aim of better understanding the “human roots of radicalisation”, characterising these processes and their origins and building concrete tools and prevention practices.
https://efus.eu/en/topics/risks-forms-of-crime/radicalisation/public/14075/

Women’s Right to the City: Reflections on Inclusive Urban Planning

Traditional city design and planning often fails to recognise the complex and unequal relations between men and women in our society, says URBANET’s author Ana Falú. While women’s right to the city was largely left unattended until the recent past, it is important to understand that women have always been active participants in the building of cities. Still, many challenges remain. The progress and success of city policies depends on the capacity to ensure equal conditions and opportunities for people of all genders.
http://www.urbanet.info/womens-right-to-the-city/

Sustainable urban mobility: Applications for the CIVITAS 2017 Awards are now open!

The call for applications to the CIVITAS 2017 Awards in the field of sustainable urban mobility has just been launched.
The CIVITAS Awards highlight the most ambitious, innovative and successful efforts in all aspects of sustainable urban mobility. It is the EU's highest award for clean urban transport and inspires cities across Europe to increase and accelerate their actions in this field.
http://www.eumayors.eu/news_en.html?id_news=834

Addressing social changes caused by innovation

Fourteen things learned at KIM Conference 2017, a new edition organized on June 7th in Barcelona by KIM on his tenth anniversary.
Here they are some of the thoughts, knowledge and lessons learned by those attending the event and KIM’s team. Speakers and the audience shared with their knowledge and thoughts about the changes caused by disrupting technologies: new ways of interaction, robotics and industry 4.0, how to adapt traditional materials to smart materials, how to find the right business in this changing situation.
https://www.smartscities.com/en/news/addressing-social-changes-caused-by-innovation

San Francisco's New Bike Racks Are Self-Aware

They make security cameras take your picture and cry for help if somebody is stealing your bike.
Bike theft is a huge problem at San Francisco Bay Area BART stations. The floors of some look like a maniac dynamited a Kryptonite factory.
But the newfangled bike racks the agency is rolling out as a pilot project might deter at least a bit of the crime. They have tough, built-in locking mechanisms, alarms that screech if someone tampers with them, and the ability to ping the authorities and make security cameras take photos—basically everything short of a deploying a flamethrower at bike thieves.
https://www.citylab.com/crime/2017/06/san-franciscos-new-bike-racks-are-self-aware/530904/

Endless cities: will China's new urbanisation just mean more sprawl?

The announcement that new megacity Xiongan will be built near Beijing is the latest attempt to take pressure off China’s biggest metropolises. Can it work?
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/05/megaregions-endless-china-urbanisation-sprawl-xiongan-jingjinji

2,500 Cities Have Taken Up the Climate-Change Fight

Cities are increasingly moving ahead of countries in setting carbon-reduction goals and initiatives, according to a new report from banking giant HSBC.
More than 2,500 cities have now listed climate-change pledges on the Non-State Actor Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) portal launched as part of the 2014 Lima-Paris Action Agenda, HSBC notes.
“We think this is extremely important because NSAs [non-state actors] can move quicker in implementing climate change policies and measures,” reads the report.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/how-cities-are-taking-up-the-climate-change-fight

Public Spaces: Participation as a Tool to Build More Democratic Cities

People influence the built environment, and the built environment influences people. This interrelation, though not always evident, appears in some daily subtleties. On one hand, the presence of urban furniture and good lighting invites people to occupy a space, and buildings that are surrounded by walls and poorly lit parks bring a sense of insecurity. On the other hand, when people occupy public spaces, they also have influence on the built environment around them. People make urban spaces more alive and human – community gatherings and street events breathe life into otherwise abandoned places. This exchange between people and spaces, as well as societal participation in planning these environments, helps to build more democratic and equitable public spaces and cities.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/public-spaces-participation-as-a-tool-to-build-more-democratic-cities-priscila-pacheco/

The Secret Copenhagen Model for Regenerating Cities

Thirty years ago, the city of Copenhagen was experiencing 17.5 percent unemployment, an out-migration of population, the loss of manufacturing, the decline of taxing capacity, and an annual budget deficit of $750 million. Today, the city has been transformed into one of the wealthiest (and happiest) in the world.
A little known publicly owned corporation — the Copenhagen City & Port Development Corporation (or By & Havn in Danish) — is one of the main reasons for this remarkable turnaround. While cities around world rightly celebrate Copenhagen for its cycling culture and climate change commitments, the real focus should be on institutional innovation, explored here in this first in depth case study.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/copenhagen-model-regenerating-cities-norbhaven

A city fighting climate change

How Nantes got its citizens to talk energy transition
Tackling climate change was never going to be easy. But in the afterglow of the Paris COP21 (link is external) Agreement, at least it seemed that we were moving in the right direction. By late 2016, the biggest polluters were signed up, and there appeared to be consensus on the scale and urgency of the problem, as well as on what needed to be done. What a difference a year can make. From where we are now, feels like we have another mountain – or two – to climb.
http://urbact.eu/city-fighting-climate-change-nantes

New report looks at solutions to UK urban freight challenges

A new report from the Independent Transport Commission (ITC) in the UK looks into how urban freight distribution in the country can be improved.
The report examines examples of urban freight innovation through three case studies. These look at solving the challenge of the 'last mile' delivery, urban consolidation centres (UCCs), and the possible retiming of deliveries.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/new-report-looks-solutions-uk-urban-freight-challenges

Assessing the health impact of transport policies

Some key urban transport policy measures can lead to positive effects on people’s health, while others have few benefits or can be harmful to public health, a new study has found.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1436/45/Assessing-the-health-impact-of-transport-policies

What characterises an ideal city, and how do we get there?

What do we envision the ideal city of the future to be like? How can we approach such an ideal in urban planning? According to Marco Dall’Orso, the (re)creation of urban environments needs to balance and integrate multiple strategies. Taking into account the quality of the socio-economic and built-natural environment, he develops a framework that can be used to analyse a city’s strengths, weaknesses, and possible trajectories for future development.
http://www.urbanet.info/ideal-city/

Cities Revive an Old Idea to Become More Pedestrian-Friendly

Five takeaways from the New Cities Summit

Perched on reclaimed land where over a decade ago the Yellow Sea once lapped the shores of South Korea, Songdo has grown to become one of the better-known greenfield cities in the world. Jonathan Andrews reports from Songdo which last week played host to the sixth New Cities Summit under the theme of ‘Thriving cities: the building blocks of urban wellbeing’.
http://www.urbangateway.org/news/five-takeaways-new-cities-summit

Can States and Cities Really Uphold the Paris Climate Deal?

They have pledged to carry out the landmark accord on behalf of America. We asked environmental experts for the most effective and politically practical ways they can help do that.
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-states-climate-change-paris-trump-global-warming.html

Why the world needs a Metropolitan Compact

A new vision for the future of sustainability.
A generation ago, the United Nations launched the Global Compact, an effort to connect sustainability with private-sector entrepreneurism. Today, it is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, involving more than 12,000 signatories from over 160 countries.
http://citiscope.org/commentary/2017/06/why-world-needs-metropolitan-compact

Urban Indigenous Peoples: the new frontier

Invited to think of Buenos Aires, most would probably think of elegant cafés, beautiful architecture, passionate football fans, and buzzing streets. Invited to think harder, you might also think of its villas (slums), street children, and other less gleeful views. But no matter how hard you try, very few would associate Buenos Aires with Indigenous Peoples. Yet, Buenos Aires has the largest concentration of indigenous populations in Argentina, which is itself rarely associated with Indigenous Peoples, but has the seventh largest indigenous population in Latin America (close to one million). In effect, over 40 indigenous communities are officially registered in urban areas of the Buenos Aires Province, and as much as one quarter of all Indigenous Peoples in Argentina make a living in or around the Capital of Tango, whether in communities or not.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/urban-indigenous-peoples-new-frontier-argentina

Maximising the Smart Cities Opportunity: Recommendations for Asia-Pacific policymakers

Asian cities are facing pressing and complex challenges: reducing pollution and mitigating the consequences of climate change, efficiently managing economic resources, and improving the quality of life of citizens. This report, published by the GSMA, identifies seven key recommendations for municipalities looking to implement smart city solutions.
http://www.urenio.org/2017/06/20/report-maximising-smart-cities-opportunity-recommendations-asia-pacific-policymakers/

Air pollution, urbanization offsetting gains in renewables

Air pollution remains high globally and urban areas are expanding, showing a more comprehensive effort is needed on the environmental front, the OECD said.
"While there are signs of greening growth, most countries show progress on just one or two fronts and little on the others," OECD Environment Director Simon Upton said in a statement Tuesday.
http://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2017/06/20/OECD-Air-pollution-urbanization-offsetting-gains-in-renewables/1571497952325/

Anti-smog bikes: could pedal power clean China's polluted air?

The bikes designed by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde would suck in polluted air, using positive ionisation to purify it, before releasing it back into the atmosphere
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/19/anti-smog-bikes-china-air-daan-roosegarde

Successful final conference in London for FREVUE

Cross-River Partnership and Polis presented the results of the FREVUE project with all of their 30 project partners, including the Polis city members: Amsterdam (NL), London (UK), Madrid (ES), Milan (IT) and Rotterdam (NL) at the FREVUE final conference on Wednesday 21st June 2017, at the City of London Corporation’s Guildhall.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/1435/45/Successful-final-conference-in-London-for-FREVUE

How Copenhagen is tackling two-wheeled traffic jams

It is perhaps not the reason that people are used to hearing from somebody explaining why they were late: that there was congestion in the cycle lanes. Yet precisely this situation has arisen in Copenhagen.
For the first time, bikes outnumber cars in Copenhagen. Last year, sensors recorded 265,700 bicycles entering the city centre on a daily basis against 252,600 cars.
This has led to overfilled cycle lanes, with several reaching capacity at peak times. Forecasts indicate that daily bike traffic is likely to increase by 25% by 2025, meaning measures are required to combat the two-wheeled traffic jams.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/how-copenhagen-tackling-two-wheeled-traffic-jams-denmark

It's Time to Change How We Measure Affordable Housing

A cheap home isn’t affordable if it comes with high transportation costs.
I’ve long been dissatisfied with commonly used measures of describing housing affordability. There are lots of reasons to believe that a single, fixed percentage of income standard does a poor job of reflecting whether housing is priced appropriately, and whether households are being asked to spend too much. I’ve explored some of these issues before, but today I want to focus on one key issue: the tradeoff between cheap rents and costly transportation.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/06/the-problem-with-how-we-measure-affordable-housing/531378/

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Further archived news available on request from: Kate More