NewsMarch2018

The European Commission has announced the winners of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2017 and 6th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) at a ceremony in Brussels (Belgium).
Vienna was named the winner of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2017 for larger municipalities, with Igoumenitsa revealed as the inaugural winner of the newly added category for smaller municipalities. The 6th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) was presented to Turda (Romania).
http://www.mobilityweek.eu/

Join the EBSF_2 Final Conference in Vienna on 18 April 2018

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/1651/45/Join-the-EBSF_2-Final-Conference-in-Vienna-on-18-April-2018

Life is LiFi in smart buildings

In the coming decades one of the key technologies to be implemented in intelligent buildings will be LiFi, the transfer of data through light
Just imagine: you get back home one evening, unlocking your door with the torch light of your mobile. You sit down on your sofa, download a film 100 times faster than currently possible and enjoy the movie on a fully secure wireless connection. This is already possible in some smart buildings, and could be the norm in the future, thanks to LiFi – or Light Fidelity.
http://www.bresaer.eu/life-lifi-smart-buildings/

Plight of Phoenix: how long can the world’s 'least sustainable' city survive?

Jennifer Afshar and her husband, John, pushed their bikes across the grass and paused to savour the sunshine, while their two boys went to look at the duck pond. Other kids were playing soccer or doing tricks in the skate park, and families picnicked on blankets or fired up a barbecue across from the swimming pool.
“We moved here from Los Angeles, to get away from the rising cost of living and the traffic,” said Jennifer. “When we saw this park, we thought they were punking us it was so good. There’s low crime, the home owners association takes great care of the grass and trees – we like it.”
The Afshars live in the squeaky-clean suburb of Anthem, Arizona. It’s part of a giant conurbation of satellite towns surrounding Phoenix, and is a classic example of why this metropolitan – or “megapolitan” – area is tempting fate.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/20/phoenix-least-sustainable-city-survive-water

16th Next Generation World Conference of Cities and Ports

Our societies and our environment are undergoing change at a pace and on a scale never before seen in human history. With over 80% of global trade and some nine billion tonnes of goods passing through them, port cities are set to be at the crossroads of traffic in goods, data and people for some time to come. The challenges facing those looking to shape the port cities of the future are considerable. To meet them, AIVP believes that it is increasingly vital to ensure that the strategies adopted take account of people’s aspirations. Human beings need to be restored to their rightful place as essential partners for city-port development, paving the way for the ideas and tools to enable controlled, harmonious growth.
http://citiesandports2018.aivp.org/en/#QuebecAIVP

First 20+ events of Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues

The first 20+ events of the 2018 Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues are being released at the CitiesIPCC Conference in Edmonton, including the Canadian Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues to be held by ICLEI, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Ville de Montréal at the ICLEI World Congress in Montréal on 19-22 June 2018.
http://www.iclei.org/details/article/first-21-events-of-cities-and-regions-talanoa-dialogues-announced-at-citiesipcc.html

Can you defeat NIMBYism by bribing NIMBYs?

Yes, that's us, London YIMBY. You're probably wondering how a simple housing pressure group got into this crazy situation.
Nearly everyone in the incestuous world of housing and planning seems determined to ignore that the government has admitted that it wants the shortage of homes to get worse. But it’s right there, in black and white, in the instructions to Oliver Letwin’s housing review. The government has told good ol’ Ollie to make sure house prices keep going up – and not even slower than inflation.
The endless wonkish fights about obscure reforms are a total waste of time. The government could easily fix the housing crisis if it wanted to. It doesn’t. It’s even said so.
https://www.citymetric.com/fabric/can-you-defeat-nimbyism-bribing-nimbys-3776

Migration Out of Big Urban Counties Accelerates

Major urban jurisdictions, including some that had previously staved off losses, are seeing more residents move away.
Many of the nation’s large urban centers have seen a slow, yet growing exodus of residents to more suburban areas in recent years. New county population estimates released by the Census Bureau on Thursday suggest this shift isn't slowing down.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-2017-big-county-population-declines.html

ISOCARP Congress Registration now open

For fees, benefits and online registration click here. We are offering an all inclusive package to all delegates. Please register by 30 June to benefit from the early-bird discount.
Don’t miss the opportunity to join! We look forward to seeing you in Bodø. Being located just north of the Arctic Circle, Bodø is the perfect place to discuss climate matters.
For full information on the congress visit https://isocarp.org/2018congress/

The 8th edition of the international Smart City Event will take place in The Hague (The Netherlands) on the 27th and 28th of June 2018
Last year over 700 professionals from different countries and cities, came together in The Hague. This year, experts from leading cities will be on stage to present their unique projects of smart cities. During these 2 days there will be several keynote speeches, round table sessions, excursions and much more!
https://www.smart-circle.org/smartcity/

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.org/en/media/news/campaign-improve-women-s-safety-public-transport

Partnership promotes the science we need for the cities we want

In a joint statement, partners working on cities and climate change have laid down the foundations for better-informed city climate action and decision-making, as a result of greater engagement between the policy, practice, and scientific communities working in urban areas.
The document, titled: The Science We Need for the Cities We Want, was signed at the recent CitiesIPCC conference hosted by the city of Edmonton, Canada, and brought together some of the world’s leading urban practitioners and researchers.
https://unhabitat.org/124872-2/

EU conference of mayors on “building urban defences against terrorism”

How to better protect public spaces in European cities in the face of terrorist threats? Efus and representatives of a dozen member cities attended the “EU mayors conference” on “building urban defences against terrorism” organised in Brussels by the Commission and the Committee of the Regions, on 8 March. Affirming that “local authorities can play an active and crucial role in the protection of citizens”, EU officials also stressed the funding opportunities for European local authorities, in particular a €118.5 million line that will be available by mid-2018 “to support cities investing in security solutions”. ...
https://efus.eu/en/topics/%activity%/14820/

Leading transport and tech companies signed The Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities

These principles were first released at the EcoMobility World Festival in Kaohsiung in October 2017 and constitute the basis for the Kaohsiung Strategies for the Future of Urban Mobility. By supporting the Principles, the signatory companies, which include Didi, Lyft and Uber, as well as bike-sharing giants Ofo and Mobike, are pledging to prioritize people over vehicles
http://www.iclei.org/details/article/15-transport-and-tech-companies-sign-the-shared-mobility-principles-for-livable-cities.html

Montreal mayor pins climate hopes on public transport boost

Valerie Plante, the first female mayor of Montreal, says the city’s transport system needs to be improved to reduce its emissions and fight climate change. Montreal is working to add a new metro line and has scheduled the construction of the world's third-largest light rail system.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/montreal-mayor-pins-climate-hopes-on-public-transport-boost/

In An Urbanizing World, Shrinking Cities Are a Forgotten Problem

Urbanisation has been a well-established trend in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, depopulation and deurbanisation in some countries and numerous cities are becoming serious problems for which no good solutions exist at present. People have steadily moved from rural to urban areas to improve their standard of living as well as quality of life. In 1950, 30% of world population was urban.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/managing-shrinking-cities-in-an-expanding-world

Save the date for “Women Mobilize Women” Conference

As part of this year’s ITF Summit 2018, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) and its partners, including ICLEI, is co-organizing the first “Women Mobilize Women” Conference. The Conference will focus on challenges and success stories of female empowerment in the transport sector.
https://2018.itf-oecd.org/high-level-conference-%E2%80%9Cwomen-mobilize-women%E2%80%9D

How cities across Europe beat road congestion

Over 200 urban transport professionals gather in Brussels for two days to discuss how walking and cycling can help reduce congestion on urban roads.
The EU co-funded TRACE and FLOW projects have brought data from tracking trips and transport modelling up to a 21st century level. The joint final conference on 13 and 14 March is titled "Decongesting Europe: New approaches to freeing our cities". The event concludes three years of research and includes an award as well as a declaration signed by decision makers.
http://h2020-flow.eu and http://h2020-trace.eu

Why Rents Are Actually Lowering in Some Big Cities

When it comes to housing, New York, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Washington, D.C., all have something in common. Prices are actually starting to come down.
Many of the nation’s hottest real estate markets, construction booms have brought a recent reduction in average monthly rents. Not by a ton -- and not enough to make any of these cities into bargains -- but enough to relieve at least some of the pressure on renters. It’s simple economics. Increased supply is doing a better job of meeting demand. Last year, apartment construction reached a 30-year high, with much of the growth concentrated in major cities such as Dallas, Houston and New York. “We have seen an uptick in vacancy rates and that’s having an effect on rents,” says Michael Neal, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-rents-coming-down.html

Gobee dockless bikes pull out of French operations

The dockless bike sharing service Gobee has pulled out of France after a large proportion of its fleet were damaged or stolen. “It is with great sadness that we are officially announcing to our community the termination of Gobee.bike service in France...” the Hong Kong-based service announced.
The company, which became the first dockless bikesharing operator in France back in October 2017, had more than a thousand bikes stolen and almost 3,400 damaged nationwide, according to the Guardian (link is external).
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/gobee-dockless-bikes-pull-out-french-operations

Smart City Expo World Congress report available

The 7th edition of Smart City Expo World Congress, together with the premiere edition of the Smart Mobility World Congress, featured a 3-day inspiring debate with more than 420 urban experts from around the world and 675 exhibitors. What were the highlights of the event? What were the most cutting-edge ideas and solutions to make better cities?
We’ve got all our ducks in a row with the 2017 Report
http://media.firabcn.es/content/S078018/mail/01022018-report/SCEWC17_Report.pdf

CIVITAS Forum 2018

This year's CIVITAS Forum Conference will take place from 19-21 September in Umeå, Sweden. The 16th edition of Europe's premier sustainable mobility event will bring together the CIVITAS community from across the continent and beyond.
http://civitas.eu/forum2018

Cluster development and smart specialisation at city level

The cluster approach is acknowledged as the most influential one in modern industrial policy worldwide, and the arrival of smart specialisation has emphasized its influence. But, why? How might local authorities take advantage of this momentum to enhance their role as facilitators of cluster initiatives? What new drivers are now working in the field of cluster development? This article gives us the opportunity to introduce some concepts associated to smart specialisation illustrated by examples from the In Focus network cities.
http://urbact.eu/cluster-development-and-smart-specialisation-city-level

The 0% city: how Manchester developers dodge affordable housing

In February, consultants Deloitte named Manchester one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities. Much of that growth is centred around the centre, where in the year 2000, four years after an IRA bomb blew up much of the downtown shopping district, just 10,000 people lived.
By 2016, there were 50,000 residents, split between warehouse conversions and shiny new builds. Come 2024, about 80,000 people are expected to have made their home at the heart of the onetime Cottonopolis. Many will live in huge and exclusive new skyscrapers, including on a former BBC site on Oxford Road and in the old Granada Studios, where Coronation Street was filmed until 2013.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/06/the-0-city-how-manchester-developers-dodge-affordable-housing

Registration now open for ICLEI World Congress

Held every three years, the ICLEI World Congress assembles hundreds of local and regional governments, international agencies, national governments, representatives of the private sector and other partners from around the world to steer the global sustainable development agenda through action taken in urban areas worldwide.
https://worldcongress2018.iclei.org/

Mayors at the Urban Future Global Conference 2018

Thirty-one cities have signed the pre-commitment declaration to the European Covenant of Mayors (CoM) 2030 objectives, during the Urban Future Global Conference 2018 (UFGC) , held in Vienna from the 28th of February to the 2nd of March (full list of the cities at the bottom of the article).
By signing the declaration, these cities expressed their intention to present the CoM 2030 commitments to their next municipal council meeting and to share their decision before the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) to be held in December 2018 in Katowice.
http://www.eumayors.eu/news-and-events/news/1526-covenant-of-mayor-at-the-urban-future-global-conference-2018.html

So why are Germany’s cities going red?

It was a landslide so large that it even surprised the winner. In last Sunday’s mayoral election in Frankfurt, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) incumbent Peter Feldmann won 70.8 per cent of the vote, against just 29.2 per cent for his opponent, Bernadette Weyland from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
This result is even more shocking if you look back six years to the last election. In 2012, Frankfurt’s mayor was the hugely popular Petra Roth, a CDU stalwart who’d led the city for 17 years, and who won her last election with such a massive majority that the SPD didn’t even make it to a run-off. Both Frankfurt’s seats in parliament are held by the CDU – and the CDU has been the largest party on the council almost continuously since 1977. It shouldn’t be easy territory for the SPD, and yet they won every single district.
https://www.citymetric.com/politics/spd-just-won-frankfurt-mayoralty-landslide-so-why-are-germany-s-cities-going-red-3766

Global Urban Innovators

Startups and social entreprises that are transforming cities around the world through technology.
Global Urban Innovators is our community of trailblazing international urban tech companies. These startups and social enterprises creatively apply technology to tackle pressing urban challenges. We choose Innovators for their radically new approach to improving cities around the world.
https://newcities.org/global-urban-innovators/

Open European Day 2018 at Bonn Resilient Cities Conference

The fifth edition of the Open European Day (OED) will be held back-to-back with the Bonn Resilient Cities conference on 25th April 2018 from 8:00 to 17:15. It is organised by the European Environment Agency and ICLEI Local Governments of Sustainability with the collaboration of other projects and institutions and the participation of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
European cities and key adaptation voices from different institutions will meet at the 5th OED to debate the most pressing issues around climate adaptation and urban resilience. Cities praised previous years’ editions as inspiring and informative, particularly due to their interactive format and the emphasis put on the exchange and discussions (the OED is PowerPoint-free zone). During the previous editions, between 100 and 150 participants attended, mainly coming from cities and local governments at various stages of adaptation and resilience development but also including adaptation and climate experts and professionals of the field.
http://www.eumayors.eu/news-and-events/events/upcoming-events/1909-open-european-day-2018-at-bonn-resilient-cities-conference.html

Highlights from the Eurocities Social Affairs Forum

On 7-8 March, the social affairs forum met in Utrecht. A record number of 175 participants from over 50 cities, including 15 elected city politicians and representatives of the European Commission, OECD and UN-HABITAT, took part in the meeting. They agreed cities play a key role in translating the Sustainable Development Goals into relevant actions at local level and involving citizens in the process.
The meeting was opened by the deputy mayor of Utrecht, Kees Diepeveen, who welcomed all participants to the most inspiring Global Goals City of the Netherlands and called for aligning our city policies to the SDGs to ensure a sustainable future for all. The chair of the social affairs forum and deputy mayor of Barcelona, Laia Ortiz, noted the great interest of cities in getting involved in the SDG agenda. She said: “co-creation is very important because only by involving people in our policy-making we can empower our communities”.
http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Highlights-from-the-Social-Affairs-Forum-in-Utrecht-7-8-March-2018-WSPO-AWPMW3

More cities track opioid use through wastewater

Cities may soon have a new tool in their efforts to contain the opioid epidemic: residents' own urine.
“Everybody pees, every day,” said Newsha Ghaeli, co-founder of Biobot, during her pitch to the mayors on Sunday. “And this rich source of human health information aggregates in our public sewers -- an infrastructure that you own, you maintain and you manage.”

http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-opioid-crisis-urine-sewage-testing.html

Smart Cities save 125 hours per year for each Citizen

The UN’s prediction that, by 2030, two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in megacities, means that smart technologies can play a key role in reducing the pressures and impact of overcrowding.
Smart cities and the technologies they implement, such as the sensors and meters that collect and analyze amazing volumes of data to improve public infrastructure and services, have the potential to produce dramatic benefits to the lives of citizens. Juniper Research, sponsored by Intel, has conducted a study that attempts to quantify the benefits offered by smart technologies to smart city residents in terms of time.
http://www.urenio.org/2018/03/13/smart-cities-save-125-hours-per-year-for-each-citizen/

Deadline for registration to the Vienna Conference on Sustainable Housing extended

The deadline for registration to the Vienna Conference on Sustainable Housing: “Promoting access to adequate, affordable and decent housing through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda and the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing” has been extended to 4 April 2018.
The Conference will take place on 12 and 13 April 2018 in Vienna.
Information relating to this meeting, including the draft programme, invitation, concept note, practical information, and online registration are available on the event website
https://www.unece.org/housing/viennaconference2018.

Don't miss early registration for Smart City Event 2018

Early registration for the 2018 Smart City Event closes on April 1.
The 8th edition of the international Smart City Event will take place in The Hague (The Netherlands) on the 27th and 28th of June 2018
Last year over 700 professionals from different countries and cities, came together in The Hague. This year, experts from leading cities will be on stage to present their unique projects of smart cities. During these 2 days there will be several keynote speeches, round table sessions, excursions and much more!
https://www.smart-circle.org/smartcity/

Pedestrians First: A new tool for walkable cities

Can we measure how walking-friendly a place is? ITDP's new publication Pedestrians First: Tools for a Walkable City assists cities to measure, plan, and improve walkability in urban environments.
https://www.itdp.org/pedestrians-first-walkability-tool/

Urban Heat: Can White Roofs Help Cool World’s Warming Cities?

It has long been known that installing white roofs helps reduce heat buildup in cities. But new research indicates that making surfaces more light-reflecting can have a significant impact on lowering extreme temperatures – not just in cities, but in rural areas as well.
Summers in the city can be extremely hot — several degrees hotter than in the surrounding countryside. But recent research indicates that it may not have to be that way. The systematic replacement of dark surfaces with white could lower heat wave maximum temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius or more. And with climate change and continued urbanization set to intensify “urban heat islands,” the case for such aggressive local geoengineering to maintain our cool grows.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/urban-heat-can-white-roofs-help-cool-the-worlds-warming-cities?platform=hootsuite

Mayors in the driving seat, but who fills the tank?

The Ceremony for the 10th Anniversary of the Covenant of Mayors in the European Parliament in Brussels was a moment for stock taking, celebrating, but also for criticising shortcomings.
Cities are in the midst of a major economic, social and environmental transformation. The 700 local and regional leaders that filled the Hemicycle of the European Parliament two weeks ago testified how they are proactively and creatively facing this challenge. From Florence in Italy to Wroclaw in Poland, cities showcased their innovative and ambitious strategies for improving buildings, transport, air quality or, simply, making their city an even more liveable place. For Ines Medeiros, Mayor of Almada in Portugal, the energy transition is, above all, about removing inequalities. "We need to focus the debate on how a city’s action can benefit all local players." With that in mind, she also emphasized the need for cooperation and pedagogy. Almada’s low-carbon living lab in the dynamic, historic city centre, involving the private sector and co-financed by the city’s local climate fund, illustrates this approach.
http://www.energy-cities.eu/Mayors-in-the-driving-seat-but-who-fills-the-tank

Moscow Urban Forum 2018

Moscow Urban Forum 2018, the largest congress on urbanism in the world, will take place at one of the city’s newest landmarks — the Zaryadye Landscape Park, near the Kremlin. Over the course of a week experts from Russia and abroad, together with the mayors of some of the world’s biggest cities, urban and social scientists, economists and public authorities, will discuss the best solutions for city development and the most efficient urban management models.
http://mosurbanforum.com/

Megacities institute launches a survey about urban air pollution

The Megacities Institute in cooperation with the Toulouse Business School has launched a survey about citizens’ attitudes towards urban air pollution.
Megacities is a non-governmental research institute based in Paris. It provides a research platform open to all contributors, such as companies, local authorities, universities. The Institute aims to understand citizen’s problems and analyze solution frameworks according to the needs of citizens. The survey has been elaborated together with the Toulouse Business School.
https://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/XML5Up

13 cities that are starting to ban cars

On Tuesday, Germany's highest administrative court ruled that, in an effort to improve urban air quality, cities can ban cars from some streets.
As The New York Times notes, the ruling could open the floodgates for cities around the country to go car-free.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/03/13-cities-that-are-starting-to-ban-cars

2018 Tall and Urban Innovation Conference

This conference explores and celebrates the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world. Incorporating what was previously known as the CTBUH Annual Awards Event, this two-day conference will see the owner/developers and design teams for 46 Finalist projects compete in front of an international audience and live juries for winning distinctions across nine award categories.
The event brings to Chicago, home of CTBUH, a critical cross-section of tall building owners, developers, occupiers, designers, engineers, builders, and operators – along with the interested public – to investigate the cutting-edge in sustainable urbanism, as presented by the world’s foremost examples.
Join us and explore what’s on the horizon for dense vertical cities of the future!
http://tallinnovation2018.com/

Webinar: Teaming Up for Urban Forestry

Join us for a live 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. Participants of the webinar are eligible for 1.5 AICP CM credits for live view only. Tuesday, March 27 at 1:00pm.
http://smartgrowth.org/event/teaming-urban-forestry-new-tools-build-energize-local-sustainability-efforts/

Targeted Urban Economic Growth Will Improve the Economy

Cities are huge drivers of economic growth. They have a large share of the population, both public and private institutions and infrastructure.
In 2007, just 380 cities contributed half of global GDP. Researchers project that by 2025, 600 cities will account for 60 percent of global GDP. In contrast to years prior, many of these new hubs are located outside of the United States and Europe to the south and east, especially in China.
So what can the United States do to spur economic growth as the global economy continues to shift? One strategy could be investing in the mid-size cities in the country that are on the rise.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/targeted-urban-economic-growth-will-improve-economy-25261

The Local Movement to Curb Big Brother

Predictive policing tools. License plate readers. Stingrays. As more and more surveillance tools fall into police’s hands, cities are trying to play catch up.
A local government. A powerful private entity with controversial technology. A secret deal. This time, in New Orleans.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/how-cities-are-fighting-secret-surveillance/553892/

Women Make Cities and reSITE will help them

reSITE encourages female designers, architects and women in cities leadership to attend the annual conference reSITE 2018 ACCOMMODATE focused on housing (June 14-15, Prague). A special promotion “Women Make Cities” has been introduced offering a 70% discount from the standard registration fee to all women working in design, architecture, cities leadership and administration (bringing the price to €75, available until April 30).
https://www.resite.org/events/resite-2018

The Power of Heat: COGEN Europe annual conference

From 5 to 6 June, Brussels, Belgium
The conference will in particular focus on how cogeneration can play an important role in delivering energy savings, reducing CO2 emissions, creating jobs, boosting the competitiveness of European industry and facilitating the uptake of more intermittent renewables. These are all key objectives of the EU Energy Union and are at the heart of the current negotiations on the Clean Energy Package. Cogeneration generates today 15% of the EU’s heat and 10.5% of the EU’s electricity. There is potential to increase these numbers and help Europe to achieve its climate goals.
http://www.powerofheat.eu/

German plan for free public transport criticised

The German Government is considering making public transport free in order to cut emissions and help Germany meet its EU air quality targets. While the idea of free public transport seems appealing, the plan has received some criticism.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/german-plan-free-public-transport-criticised

3 Cities Lead Fight Against Human Trafficking

Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis have won funding to better identify and help victims.
Governments' efforts to combat human trafficking have shifted in recent years from a tough-on-crime approach to one focused on identifying and helping the victims. Now three cities -- Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis -- will push that paradigm shift even further.
http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-human-trafficking-atlanta-minneapolis-chicago-lc.html

Transport Research Arena: A digital Era for Transport. Solutions for society, economy and environment.
Every two years, international experts from politic-, science-, research- and industry-sectors meet at the Transport Research Arena. This year, from 16th to 19th April, Europe's largest conference on transport, mobility and traffic will take place in Vienna. More than 3000 international experts will discuss future challenges and present solutions over all modes of transportation and mobility.
As it is concerning all industries at once, the motto of TRA2018 will be: “A digital Era for Transport. Solutions for society, economy and environment.” Digitalisation forces not only the European industry to rethink their visions, developments and solution processes. One main question to face all these challenges is, how interoperability between ideas and implementation can be fostered. Challenges need to be discussed in a new way, early exchange between industries, politics, research and users are key.
One goal of TRA is to enable a better alignment of political objectives and to provide an open arena for representatives of politics, industry and research to debate on latest trends and transformation processes such as digitalisation, automated driving, sharing mobility, e-mobility and multimodality. The four-day scientific and technological conference will be complemented by a 7,000m² exhibition which also houses the so-called Interactive Zone, where research results and solutions are supposed to be experienced first-hand. It includes more than 30 and outdoor demonstrations and live showcases as well as live presentations or discussions.
The event is organised by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, the Austrian Institute of Technology and AustriaTech, supported by the European Commission.”
www.traconference.eu

The Vienna Conference on Sustainable Housing

The Vienna Conference on Sustainable Housing: “Promoting access to adequate, affordable and decent housing through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda and the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing”.
The Conference will take will take place on 12 and 13 April 2018 in Vienna.
It will discuss the progress in achieving affordable and decent housing for all through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda and the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing at the national, local and international levels.
https://www.unece.org/housing/viennaconference2018

As Cities Grapple With Mobility Revolution, 10 Principles Emerge to Guide Them

Mobility is undergoing a huge shift – from the emergence of shared cars and bicycles to the impending self-driving cars – and we’re just starting to understand the full effect on cities. The revolution has implications for equity, accessibility and sustainability, and has caught many cities unawares, leading to court battles, unexpected impacts on congestion and lots of uncertainty.
A consortium of leading city and transport organizations, including WRI, developed the Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities to help cities make sense of these changes. Now, with 15 of the world’s leading transport and technology companies signing on, innovative players from the private sector have sent a powerful message of support around a common vision of the future for cities, and how we can get there.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/as-cities-grapple-with-mobility-revolution-10-principles-emerge-to-guide-them-robin-chase/

Hyperlocal Neighbourhood Networks

It has never been easier to stay in touch with family, friends and colleagues, wherever they live. Yet most of us still lack a digital infrastructure for connecting with the people living next door. Despite their success in some developed countries, hyperlocal social networks are not a fixture of most local communities. nebenan.de, Germany’s first hyperlocal communication platform, now hosts 5,000 active communities that bring neighbours together both online and offline. nebenan.de could offer a model for communities in developing countries seeking to leverage the power of hyperlocal communication to increase social capital.
http://www.urbanet.info/hyperlocal-neighbourhood-networks/

BRIDGE Summit 2018

Bridge Summit will be held on May 22nd - 24th in San Francisco. The three days focuses on bridging the gap between the private and public sectors. With Startup Day, an Enterprise Day, and a Cities Day, the Summit includes 50+ speakers including Mayor Mark Farrell, Peter Hirshberg and World Economic Forums Murat Sonmez and representatives from Cubic, Microsoft, MasterCard, Siemens ITS and many more.
Tickets are limited, so purchase tickets today at BridgeSF. Early-Bird rates end on March 15th.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bridgesf-2018-registration-tickets-37249201364

International Forum on urban regeneration and Revitalization

INTA is organizing, with taiwanese organizations, an international forum on urban regeneration and revitalization, on 13 to 16 March, at the Grand Mayfully Hotel of Taipei. The Forum aims to discuss the measures necessary for the revival of Taiwan's regeneration policy, by hearing the experiences of some of INTA French, British and Japanese members.
https://inta-aivn.org/en/activities/exchange/conferences-a-seminars/2624-international-forum-urban-regeneration-and-revitalization

Data on slums holds key to more resilient cities

As people flock to cities around the world in search of work and a better life, municipal authorities are struggling to meet rising demand for housing, jobs, transport, healthcare, food and water.
That challenge is made even harder by the stresses of climate change, which is bringing more extreme weather, from floods to heat waves, and higher sea levels that threaten coastal cities.
The result is that migrants from rural areas - especially in developing countries – often end up in slums, now home to nearly 1 billion people across the world, where many live in poverty.
http://www.thisisplace.org/i/?id=c8e7a4ac-bf9e-4e6d-b784-0aae35577578

Enabling Bicycles to Sense the City

One of the most complicated and pressing issues in today's urban areas is the increasing tension between the population's demand for more mobility and finite city infrastructure. The Smart City community is looking at ways to help solve this challenge - the first step requiring the digitalisation of mobility services and infrastructure. This will help identify where the barriers are and to prioritise appropriate travel behaviours.
http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/hacking-copenhagen-project-enabling-bicycles-sense-city

Webinar: Empowering Youth: Identity, Belonging and Migration

Muslim youth. Refugee youth. Migrant youth. When identity politics follow you to school, onto the playing field, and into the street, it’s time to go beyond stereotypes and challenge the public imagination.
Join us online to learn how youth initiatives in Berlin and London are using theatre and sport to develop a counter-narrative that strengthens youth participation in local cultural and social life while promoting skills development, empowerment and living together in cultural diversity.
http://citiesofmigration.ca/webinar/empoweringyouth/

Call for Papers: Managing Urbanisation for Health

The 15th International Conference on Urban Health will bring together interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, health and urban stakeholders and community leaders to exchange ideas and advance research and practice across sectors on how best to manage the rapid urbanisation occurring in all regions of the world.
Abstracts are invited for oral and poster presentations, pre-formed panels, workshops and special tracks on the following conference themes by 14 May 2018.
http://www.isuhconference.org/

UN Steps up Action to Make Urban Spaces More Climate-Resilient

The 9th World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur concluded this week with a call to use the new urban agenda as an accelerator to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and support climate action.
According to the UN, the world’s urban population is expected to grow by 2.5 billion by 2050, with over 90 per cent of this growth to take place in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
This presents an unprecedented opportunity to re-define urban development, including investing in livable, low-carbon and resilient cities.

https://cop23.unfccc.int/news/un-steps-up-action-to-make-urban-spaces-more-climate-resilient

The next great urban reset

Sometime this century—perhaps in the next decade—America will be physically repurposed in a new urban form that is different from sprawl or 19th Century gridded towns. Is CNU ready to lead when that happens?
Urban resets are pretty rare in history but once in a century or two they appear. When the old system finally implodes, ideas lurking under the previous system are finally able to rise to the top to set the new patterns.
Arguably everything CNU has done to date is a prelude to the real moment of urban reset just at our doorstep. Form based codes, neo-traditional neighborhoods, and other new urban ideas, though acknowledged as alternatives, are not the dominant patterns. But that could be about to change. Is CNU prepared?
https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2018/02/26/next-great-urban-reset

TransportNET - Urban Logistics Summer School

Interested in an intensive immersion into the world of urban logistics? Interested to follow an introductory module covering all aspects of urban logistics (20-24 August) and an optional assignment elaboration week (27-31 August)? Interested to focus on innovation and sustainability in urban logistics in all its facets?
Then, you should join the first TransportNET Urban Logistics Summer School, from 20 to 24 August, in Antwerp. Presentations will be given by practitioners as well as academics, with ensuing discussions by all participants.
https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/summer-schools/urban-logistics/

Sustainable mobility award nominees

The European Commission has revealed the finalists of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award and the Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP). The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award showcases local authorities that demonstrate significant efforts in promoting sustainable urban mobility, while the SUMP Award recognises outstanding sustainable urban mobility planning.
www.mobilityweek.eu

Solve Tomorrow’s Gridlock With Free Youth Transit Today

This week, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a plan to provide all public high-school students with free transit passes by next fall.
“At a time that our city is becoming increasingly unaffordable for families, we need to make transit more safe, accessible and affordable, especially for our young people,” Durkan said in a statement, as reported by the Seattle Times.
https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/seattle-mayor-solve-tomorrow-gridlock-with-free-youth-transit-today

Understanding the Soul Of A City

A Boeing engineer once explained to me that aeroplanes do not really exist. These sleek monsters that carry us to the farthest reaches of the planet were, to him, no more than a million parts flying in close formation, not a single one of which was capable of flying by itself. What turns a million parts into an aeroplane is the organization and interconnection of those parts. It would take an unusually smart AI to look at such a pile of parts and understand that their purpose is to fly. It would be even less likely that an AI could determine from such a pile of parts how to make a “better” aeroplane.
http://meetingoftheminds.org/understanding-soul-city-25207

Smart City Expo World Congress Call for Speakers extended!

Good news! After several requests, we are happy to announce we have extended the deadline for our Call for Speakers to April 4th 2018. Just link your proposal to one of the topics below, and you could soon be presenting your innovative projects or insights to an international audience of more than 18,700 professionals from a variety of key sectors.
http://www.smartcityexpo.com/en/callforspeakers2018

Urban Transitions 2018 Abstract submission is open

The conference 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.
We welcome your participation and hope you will contribute to the programme.
https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/urban-transitions/about/conference-themes

Cities can ‘hack’ global sustainability goals for their own purposes

The U.?S. Census is an immensely powerful data-collecting tool that can cough up some strange statistics, such as the fact that the northern state of Wisconsin’s top foreign import is sweaters. But how well does the decennial census in one of the world’s largest countries prepare its cities to track their progress on global sustainability goals? Surprisingly well, say researchers at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
In a report released last week, “Hacking the Sustainable Development Goals: Can US Cities Measure Up?”, a pair of researchers argue that even though the Sustainable Development Goals — the SDGs, a global framework that went into effect last year — were designed with national governments in mind, the majority of SDG targets are relevant to U.?S. cities. Further, they find, data is indeed generally available to track progress locally, although gaps exist.
http://citiscope.org/story/2017/cities-can-hack-global-sustainability-goals-their-own-purposes-report-says

Hope for Car-Haters

Cities are beginning to rethink their relationship with automobiles.
Let me start with a confession: I have grown to really dislike cars and what they are doing to our cities. I know that sounds elitist and faintly un-American, but I can’t help it.
http://www.governing.com/commentary/gov-getting-out-of-cars-transit-policy.html

The Autonomy Urban Mobility Summit Call for Speakers is Now Open

The Autonomy Urban Mobility Summit, 25 - 26 October 2018* in Paris, is the world's most influential urban mobility conference program that matches needs with solutions by bringing together innovators and policymakers on the same stage.
The Urban Mobility Summit is curated to assist foreign businesses entering the French and European market, and European businesses wanting to speak to an international audience. It also feature policymakers looking for solutions to alleviate pollution and traffic woes in their cities and innovators or thought leaders with groundbreaking ideas.
The Call for Speakers is now open until 22 March, apply today!
https://www.autonomy.paris/en/

Attend CNU 26 in Savannah

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.
https://www.cnu.org/cnu26

Cluster development and smart specialisation at city level

Safer Cities for Children

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has many negative consequences, especially for children and young people. Many children live in urban areas without safe spaces to play, learn, and develop. The rights of children living in cities — including the right to health, the right to education, and the right of protection against violence — are violated, often on a daily basis. City leaders and planners must pay more attention to the needs and rights of urban children, especially those exposed to violence.
http://www.urbanet.info/safer-cities-for-children/

Registration Open for Energy Cities 2018

Our zero-carbon future is built through partnerships that are wide-ranging, both in scope and scale.
In 2018 in Rennes, the flagship event of our network is meant to power those partnerships with people and ideas.
http://www.annualconference.energy-cities.eu/

Solutions for the city of the present and the future!

How do we want to live? And what will our world be like at home, at work and in life in general?
Cities have become the number one place to live and work, drawing in millions of people. This is also changing the urban landscape for good and focused, far-sighted planning has become an absolute must.
SMART CITY SOLUTIONS is a new communications platform and an integral part of INTERGEO that is training the spotlight on digitalisation in cities. It includes discussions, impetus and ideas for urban planners, architects and technology companies, as well as presentations of pioneering concepts from around the world and all kinds of fields.
http://www.intergeo.de/intergeo-en/trade-fair/topics/smart-city-solutions.php

The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water - like Cape Town

Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water.
However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about - water scarcity.
Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water, is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh.
https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-42982959

Bridging the smart cities security divide

There are plenty of organizations that seem to be working on answers to secure smart cities, but in many ways it's like the early days of cloud computing with everyone building their own solutions.
In an earlier post about smart city security, I made the case that there are two entrenched sides that, almost like the current political divide, are appealing to different audiences. I said that even when talking about a single city, the two sides seem to talking about very different places.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3252844/internet-of-things/bridging-the-smart-cities-security-divide.html

International Congress of Urban Parks

The 1st International Congress of Urban Parks, organised by the 2017 Asociación Nacional de Parques y Recreación, Mexico's new national association is this April in Merida, Mexico.
This is a valuable opportunity to develop your expertise on urban parks, open space and recreation related to the five themes of planning and design, economy & uses of public space, health and environment, public service and citizen participation, and the city.
There are many World Urban Park members in the line up of speakers, including Catherine Nagel from CPA, Jorge Perez director of Emerging Cities committee, Martha Fajardo, and others.
http://www.congresoparques.com/english/index.php

Urban Transitions 2018 - call for abstracts

Urban Transitions 2018 aims to promote healthy urban development by bringing together different disciplines working within cities. Meet world leading experts on urban and transport planning, architecture, environmental exposures, physical activity, and public health and governance to discuss current challenges and solutions.
https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/urban-transitions

Towns and regions want a fair EU budget

Europe’s towns and regions are worried about the European Union’s future budget. They want it to be respectful of their needs.
On 14 February, the European Commission published a communication on the EU’s future spending plan (the Multiannual Financial Framework – MFF) outlining potential cuts of 15% or even 30% to the cohesion policy budget. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) believes that a clear cut to cohesion policy would mean withdrawing local governments from the European project.
http://www.ccre.org/en/actualites/view/3671

Can the L.A. River Avoid 'Green Gentrification'?

Los Angeles is where it is because of the river that runs through it. Tongva people lived along the river, around what is now downtown L.A., for centuries. The Spanish camped there when they first passed through. Pobladores established a town there. It grew into a city.
The river, which once rampaged in wet winters, was tamed by concrete beginning in the late 1930s. People forgot there was a river. It became a flood-control channel.
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/02/can-the-la-river-avoid-green-gentrification/553613/

Guangzhou Award 2018 - Call for submissions

Reaching its fourth edition in 2018, the biennial Guangzhou Award is putting a special focus on innovative approaches taken by local governments to accomplish the SDGs and meet the commitments of the New Urban Agenda towards the prosperity and quality of life of their citizens.
http://www.guangzhouaward.org/

URBACT City Festival -Save the date

We are excited to announce that URBACT’s flagship event – the URBACT City Festival – is taking place in Lisbon, on 13-14 September 2018.
Providing solutions to major urban challenges
How can we make our cities more equal? More welcoming to newcomers? How can we increase the attractiveness of our cities and fight unemployment? Make sure that they are prepared for the climate change and resilient? How can we do all that with less? The questions that the European cities are asking themselves seem to be ever multiplying and the urgency to answer them ever growing.
This is the backdrop of the third edition of the URBACT City Festival. It will bring you the work done in the past 3 years by 20 networks and more than 210 European cities. It will showcase the results designed and tested by these networks, acting as testbeds for smart and innovative solutions for the questions above and many more. It will also put the major challenges of urban development in a wider context – the urban trends that we are observing in Europe and beyond.
http://urbact.eu/urbact-city-festival-2018-save-date

Easypark’s Smart Cities Index reveals top Smart Cities for 2017

The 2017 Smart Cities Index, published by Stockholm-based smart parking service Easypark, ranks the top 100 smart cities around the world along 19 factors related to smart city technology such as public transport, clean energy, citizen participation, urban planning, smartphone penetration or living standard. The top smart city was Copenhagen, while the top five also included Singapore, Stockholm, Zurich and Boston.

http://www.urenio.org/2018/02/20/easyparks-smart-cities-index-reveals-top-smart-cities-2017/

Does Rent Control Do More Harm Than Good?

A new study suggests that policies meant to keep rents down actually jack them up overall, reduce the rental stock and fuel gentrification.
As rents continue to skyrocket across the country, state and local governments (and renters themselves) are scrambling for solutions. One of the most obvious -- and most controversial -- of those is rent control, which caps rent increases in an effort to keep cities more affordable for low- and middle-income people.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-landlords-rent-control-stanford.html

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Further archived news available on request from: Kate More