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31/10/2019 - UMD19: It's time to register 31/10/2019 - CiBiX Workshop Series on Urban Mobility 31/10/2019 - How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town 31/10/2019 - A rising tide lifts all boats: Leeds 2023 explained 30/10/2019 - Smart Nation 2020 - Early Bird Rate Available 30/10/2019 - Making The Most Of The Smart Mobility Advancements 30/10/2019 - Copenhagen to increase parking costs up to 100 times 30/10/2019 - 8 Principles to Better Sidewalks 29/10/2019 - MobiCascais and ECOMM 2020 29/10/2019 - UNECE Conference "Smart and Sustainable Cities: the Role of Governance and Innovation Policy" 29/10/2019 - Quick Build: Tactical Urbanism on Steroids 29/10/2019 - Greenhouse gas emissions have already peaked in 30 major cities 28/10/2019 - Save the date: INTA 43 Congress on December 6 2019 28/10/2019 - 55th ISOCARP World Planning Congress 28/10/2019 - Montreal launches a policy of non-discriminatory access to all municipal services 28/10/2019 - Seven cities on a Zero Carbon Journey 25/10/2019 - Apply for the 8th SUMP Award on Safe Walking and Cycling 25/10/2019 - Transport Research Arena 2020 in Helsinki 25/10/2019 - Montréal Mayor addresses UN on behalf of cities 25/10/2019 - Tactical Urbanism or how to humanize our metropolises 24/10/2019 - A UCLG Congress tailored to your needs 24/10/2019 - Latest news - World Urban Forum 24/10/2019 - Copenhagen closing the plastic packaging loop 24/10/2019 - Why are South African cities still so segregated 23/10/2019 - Cities: a 'cause of and solution to' climate change 23/10/2019 - 1st International Environmental Sustainability Congress 23/10/2019 - A Reservoir for Civic Progress 23/10/2019 - Report sets out issues and options on Mobility as a Service for city regions 22/10/2019 - Register for City Lab #3 Integrated Approaches 22/10/2019 - Shared Urban Sustainable Mobility workshop 22/10/2019 - How to end the shared mobility ‘tug of war 22/10/2019 - Green roofs improve the urban environment – so why don’t all buildings have them? 21/10/2019 - Cities leading the urban mobility transition 21/10/2019 - 5th South Asian Cities Summit 21/10/2019 - Inside Copenhagen’s race to be the first carbon-neutral city 21/10/2019 - Low-Carbon Cities Are a $24 Trillion Opportunity 16/10/2019 - Public transport leaders meet in Barcelona to offset climate change 16/10/2019 - How to Craft Bike-Friendly Cities 16/10/2019 - Smart city and wise city 16/10/2019 - Tackling urban freight through collaborative action 15/10/2019 - EcoMobility Days 2019 is just days away 15/10/2019 - International Conference City Street 4 (CS4) 15/10/2019 - Why the Bus Got So Bad, and How to Save It 15/10/2019 - Carbon Emissions Are Already Falling in 30 Cities 14/10/2019 - Child Friendly Cities Summit 14/10/2019 - Climate Chance Summit 2019 14/10/2019 - What Desert Cities Can Teach Us About Water 14/10/2019 - The Real Reason Why Mobility is Not Women-Friendly 3/10/2019 - Register for the workshop "SuSMo–Shared Urban Sustainable Mobility" 3/10/2019 - 2nd International Conference on Mobility as a Service 3/10/2019 - Our Cleanest Cities and their Zero Carbon Progress 3/10/2019 - The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is Becoming a Real City 2/10/2019 - Cities sign "The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets" declaration 2/10/2019 - 5 takeaways for cities from the UN Climate Action Summit 2/10/2019 - How Innovative Cities Benefit from Mobility IoT Data 2/10/2019 - The Green City Tool 1/10/2019 - Moving towards the UCLG World Congress 1/10/2019 - World Habitat Day 1/10/2019 - Cities urged to study footpaths 1/10/2019 - Urban Innovative Action 5th call for proposals just launched
There are only some weeks left before the dates that we really wait for – 13th-16th of November 2019, when Berlin will welcome official delegations and individual guests to participate in the 2nd International Smart City Dialogue on Urban Mobility (UMD). We think it is the right time to register now. CiBiX Workshop Series on Urban Mobility The City-Business Collaboration (CiBiX) Workshop Series on Urban Mobility will take place on 19 and 20 November 2019 in Barcelona, Spain in partnership with Smart City World Expo World Congress. The Ideator Series will bring together cities and businesses to drive forward sustainable urban mobility. For cities, this is an opportunity to showcase bold mobility initiatives, exchange with peers and engage with innovative businesses on their most pressing challenges. We invite your City to express interest in one or both of the CiBiX Challenges. https://cibix.iclei.org/barcelona2019/ How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town New York’s empty storefronts are a dark omen for the future of cities. These days, walking through parts of Manhattan feels like occupying two worlds at the same time. In a theoretical universe, you are standing in the nation’s capital of business, commerce, and culture. In the physical universe, the stores are closed, the lights are off, and the windows are plastered with for-lease signs. Long stretches of famous thoroughfares—like Bleecker Street in the West Village and Fifth Avenue in the East 40s—are filled with vacant storefronts. Their dark windows serve as daytime mirrors for rich pedestrians. It’s like the actualization of a Yogi Berra joke: Nobody shops there anymore—it’s too desirable. https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/10/how-manhattan-became-rich-ghost-town/573025/ A rising tide lifts all boats: Leeds 2023 explained Cities bidding for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) benefit from the process regardless of the result. This was one of the takeaways from the EUROCITIES Culture Forum in Chemnitz last April 2019. Leeds, competing for ECoC 2023, responded to the cancellation of the competition in the UK with a five-year cultural investment programme culminating in a year of cultural celebration in 2023. How was this possible? “The thing that secures your ability to do anything, whatever it is, is by engaging lots and lots of people from different sectors, and by spending your time working with the people that are sceptical”, explains Cluny Macpherson, chief officer for culture and sport at Leeds city council. Smart Nation 2020 - Early Bird Rate Available Open Forum Events are delighted to announce our Smart Nation 2020 - Manchester Exemplar Conference & Exhibition. The conference will reflect the innovation of international Smart city and agriculture concepts, the keynote presentations and panel discussions will cover topics at the forefront of the Smart agenda. On the day delegates will receive practical advice and demonstrations of best practice from a range of real-life case studies delivered by international authorities/organisations leading Smart projects around the world. Making The Most Of The Smart Mobility Advancements ACI’s Connected Car Summit will be taking place in London, UK, on 27th – 28th of November. The two day event will bring together key industry stakeholders from the automotive industry, connected, IoT, telematics data associations, safety personnel consultants, solution and technology providers. The connected car summit aims to connect the elite of the industry together to discuss and highlight present challenges to allow for a collective industry effort to find active solutions and improve the efficiency and performance of the overall connected car sector. https://www.wplgroup.com/aci/event/connected-cars-summit/ Copenhagen to increase parking costs up to 100 times In spring 2020, the Danish Capital is going to increase the prices for resident parking. The current scheme bases pricing on the emissions of vehicles following the logic that fewer emissions equal lower prices. Owners of most economic diesel and petrol cars were obliged to pay only 10 kroner for an annual parking ticket. This price is to increase to 1,000 kroner increasing 100 times. Vehicles with still low emission ratings see a doubling of the price levels from 2,000 to 4,000 kroner. Even electric and hydrogen cars will have to pay 200 kroner with the reform of the pricing policy. https://www.eltis.org/in-brief/news/copenhagen-increase-parking-costs-100-times-reducing-cars-city 8 Principles to Better Sidewalks Walking is the oldest, most democratic way to get around. But as urban areas have become more sprawled, walking has slowly been suffocated by other modes of transport that are less healthy for both people and cities. Wide, congested roads have taken precedence over pedestrian sidewalks, crossings and public spaces. Too often, the pedestrian areas that do exist are poorly constructed and maintained. https://thecityfix.com/blog/8-principles-better-sidewalks-hillary-smith-paula-manoela-dos-santos/ In an ambitious approach to climate protection MobiCascais has been implemented Mobility Packages (MaaS) and nudged behavioural changes locally and regionally by radically created a low cost passes (20€) and special prices for people over 65, and free for children under 14, possible to use in eleven bus lines, operated by the municipality. Locally Cascais had already integrated these passes with the passes from the metropolitan authority, including bicycles, electric car sharing and street parking. Join us at ECOMM 2020, taking place 3 – 4 June 2020 in Cascais and learn more about the ambitious approach in Portugal´s vibrant city by the sea. http://www.epomm.eu/index.php?id=2814 UNECE Conference "Smart and Sustainable Cities: the Role of Governance and Innovation Policy" It is our pleasure to invite you to the international conference Smart and Sustainable Cities: the Role of Governance and Innovation Policy. The conference is organized by the UNECE Innovative Policies Development Section and will take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XII, on 5 December 2019. The event will gather top experts – including policy makers, business, civil society and academia – to discuss: the role of cities as hubs for sustainability, innovation and as ‘drivers’ of sustainable development, what constitutes a smart and sustainable city and why innovation is at the centre of its transformation. It will provide an opportunity to share experiences and case studies from across the UNECE region, including economies in transition, and learn from success stories. https://www.unece.org/housing/committee80thsession.html Quick Build: Tactical Urbanism on Steroids For about a quarter of typical road diet costs, semi-permanent street transformations have been successfully demonstrated in two cities. The economic and public safety advantages of walkable streets are manifold, and have been demonstrated time and time again. Yet well-designed thoroughfare transformations are also costly, time-consuming, and require substantial political capital. https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/09/05/inexpensive-flexible-street-redesigns-take-hold Greenhouse gas emissions have already peaked in 30 major cities Greenhouse gas emissions have already peaked, and are continuing to fall, in 30 major cities including New York, London and Paris. Austin, Athens, Lisbon and Venice are the latest places to hit that milestone in the fight against climate change, according to analysis from C40, a coalition of 94 large and influential cities around the world working to limit global warming and protect the environment. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/carbon-emissions-climate-change-global-warming/ Save the date: INTA 43 Ccongress on December 6 2019 The next INTA congress will take place on December 6, 2019, at the same time as the General Assembly of the association. This year the organization of the congress is different : all sessions will take place in Paris but will be available live online, on the Youtube channel of INTA in the idea of making this congress a low carbon event. You will soon receive more information about the content and speakers of the congress. https://inta-aivn.org/en/news/inta-news/2890-congres-inta-43-paris-2 55th ISOCARP World Planning Congress We are proud that our 55th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, held in Jakarta and Bogor, Indonesia, on 9-13 September, has attracted a record number of over 700 attendees! The Congress culminated in the delivery of the Jakarta Declaration, calling upon urban professionals, decision-makers and civil society to act upon the most crucial planning challenges confronting fast-growing metropolises ‘and beyond’. The declaration calls for good and sustainable urbanisation while taking into account the rural and natural spaces in and around large metropolitan areas and utilising new technologies to improve liveability, equity and transparency. The insights of the Congress are now available online. Montreal launches a policy of non-discriminatory access to all municipal services On June 5, Rosannie Filato, head of public security on the Executive Committee, and Magda Popeanu, vice-president of the Executive Committee and head of culture and diversity in Montreal, unveiled two new actions by the Bureau d'intégration des nouveaux arrivants de Montréal (BINAM) to strengthen the sense of security among immigrants without legal status or in precarious immigration status, including asylum seekers. These are the implementation of a Fearless Access to Municipal Services Policy and an Intervention and Protection Unit for immigrants, particularly those without status or with precarious status, who have been victims or witnesses of abuse or criminal acts and who are afraid to report this situation. Seven cities on a Zero Carbon Journey In 2019 Manchester decided to become a zero carbon city by 2038. At city level, this means capping total emissions at 15 million tonnes of CO2 between 2018-2100 based on a science-based ‘carbon budget’ in line with the Paris Agreement. Therefore, Manchester need to halve their emissions between 2018 and 2022 – a 13% reduction every year. Manchester is not only looking at its direct emissions, but also at consumption-based emissions as well as aviation emissions. An annual report is prepared to show whether the city is on track or not. https://energy-cities.eu/seven-cities-on-a-zero-carbon-journey/ Apply for the 8th SUMP Award on Safe Walking and Cycling In the framework of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK, the European Commission presents every year the European SUMP Award to a planning authority which demonstrated excellence in sustainable urban mobility planning. The aim of the SUMP Award is to encourage the adoption of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) by local authorities across Europe and to reward outstanding achievements in each year's thematic priority area. http://mobilityweek.eu/sump-award/ Transport Research Arena 2020 in Helsinki The event provides an ample forum for the representatives from research, industry, public administration and policy-making to discuss major challenges and opportunities we are facing in transport and mobility. ”Finland welcomes you to Transport Research Arena 2020! The conference aims to rethink transport. We concentrate on the actions needed to lead the transport sector towards clean and inclusive mobility of both people and goods. I challenge you to join us in the pursue of these goals!” says Mrs Mia Nykopp, Director General of the Finnish Transport Safety Agency Trafi responsible for organising TRA2020. Montréal Mayor addresses UN on behalf of cities The Mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante, speaking on behalf of the world's cities during the Climate Action Summit in New York on 23 September 2019, explained that cities are on the forefront of the fight against climate crisis and their actions will have the greatest impact in reducing GHGs. Recalling that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has set a target of 45% GHG reduction by 2030, compared to the 2010 level, and carbon neutrality by 2050, Mayor Plante pledged to go further for her city. She reminded political leaders and key environmental stakeholders gathered at the UN General Assembly in New York that the majority of cities around the world are already engaged in the fight against GHGs and are ready to do more, but to do so, they need to be able to count on state support and private sector collaboration. Tactical Urbanism or how to humanize our metropolises Most of the world's population lives in urban territories. The increase in urban population is exponential and it is expected that by mid-century more than 70% of the Earth's population will live in cities and metropolises. This leads to pressing challenges in those territories such as the rise of atmospheric pollution, the lack of community spaces, or the need to improve mobility that require rethinking how metropolises and cities are designed. https://www.metropolis.org/news/tactical-urbanism-or-how-humanize-our-metropolises A UCLG Congress tailored to your needs The detailed program of the World Summit held in Durban from November 11-15 is now available. The co-creation of spaces and knowledge by the different actors has been a priority when preparing the program, as well as strengthening the sessions by giving them more time and depth. https://www.durban2019.uclg.org/en/media/uclg-congress-tailored-your-needs Latest news - World Urban Forum The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. Today, it is the world’s premier conference on managing growing towns and cities. Organized and convened by UN-Habitat, the Forum is one of the most inclusive international gatherings on urban challenges. This, combined with high-level participation, makes it unique. The World Urban Forum aims to raise awareness of sustainable urbanization among stakeholders and constituencies, including the general public, improve collective knowledge of sustainable urban development through inclusive open debates, sharing lessons learned and the exchange of best practices and good policies; and increase coordination and cooperation to advance sustainable urbanization. Copenhagen closing the plastic packaging loop In Copenhagen, around half of the plastic waste comes from food packaging. To reduce the amount of plastic ending up in incineration plants, Copenhagen has designed a new system encompassing every single step of the plastic lifecycle, from collection to new packaging available on the market. Re-thinking the system as a whole, Copenhagen is implementing a large scale recycling initiative in close cooperation with the key industry partners engaged in a ‘Partnership for circular food trays,’ determined to bring recycling material back into food sector. http://www.eurocities.eu/eurocities/news/Copenhagen-closing-the-plastic-packaging-loop-WSPO-BGUFMM Why are South African cities still so segregated After 1994, the architecture of apartheid – the separation of rich and poor, black and white – was to be eradicated with creative and determined urban planning. It has not quite happened Cities: a 'cause of and solution to' climate change Ms. Sharif will be joining world leaders at United Nations headquarters in New York next week at the Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. UN-Habitat is supporting one of the nine action tracks designated by the Secretary-General “Infrastructure, Cities and Local Action” under the leadership of the Governments of Kenya and Turkey. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1046662 1st International Environmental Sustainability Congress The 1st International Environmental Sustainability Congress will take place in Madrid on October 31st, 2019. The congress will address issues concerning public management and private initiatives from enterprises and social organizations with a major impact on citizens’ lives. The Congress will feature the participation of academics, scientists, political leaders, national, regional, and local government authorities, celebrities, experts, non-profits, and companies to debate, exchange, and propose ideas aimed at improving global economies and focused on eco-friendly and sustainable development. A Reservoir for Civic Progress How can a community learn from its civic projects and build on them? There are lessons in Baton Rouge's years-long effort to establish a center for people suffering from mental illness or substance abuse. Report sets out issues and options on Mobility as a Service for city regions The Urban Transport Group have published a new report examining the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). The report sets out the factors that will decide the future of MaaS, as well as the issues and options for city regions on the role they might play in shaping MaaS in their areas. It also examines schemes which provide access to information on, and payment for, transport options via a single digital platform. https://www.eltis.org/in-brief/news/maas-movement-report-sets-out-issues-and-options-mobility-service-city-regionsRegister for City Lab #3 Integrated Approaches City Lab #3, focused on the principle of Integration, will take place in Warsaw alongside and following the EUROCITIES Social Affairs Forum. This City Lab will link to the policy themes of the Forum, looking at the principles of integration in urban development, specifically how cities tackle the challenges of economic integration, social integration and gender inclusiveness. https://urbact.eu/city-lab-3-integrated-approaches Shared Urban Sustainable Mobility workshop The EIT Climate-KIC project on Sustainable Shared Mobility will kick off in Brussels in 2019 its first workshop out of a series of four events targeting local governements, and other public and private stakeholders working in shared mobility and micromobility. The SuSMo project will be holding their first Sustainable Shared Mobility Systems Innovation workshop alongside the Polis Conference on the 28th and 29th November in Brussels. How to end the shared mobility ‘tug of war As cities grapple with the influx of shared and micromobility providers, it’s increasingly clear that the public and private sectors are not speaking the same language on these matters. To ensure equitable access to mobility options, protect public safety, optimise existing infrastructure and connect to public transport and mobility hubs, the only way forward is to take a collaborative approach. Green roofs improve the urban environment – so why don’t all buildings have them? Rooftops covered with grass, vegetable gardens and lush foliage are now a common sight in many cities around the world. More and more private companies and city authorities are investing in green roofs, drawn to their wide-ranging benefits which include savings on energy costs, mitigating the risk from floods, creating habitats for urban wildlife, tackling air pollution and urban heat and even producing food. Cities leading the urban mobility transition The new EU-funded project SPROUT kicked off on the 18th and 19th of September 2019 with its first project meeting in Zaragoza. The rapidly changing urban mobility environment – characterized by emerging business models, new technologies, and disruptive innovations – represents a considerable challenge for urban mobility policy making. Previously tested urban mobility policy responses are not adequate to address the transition underway and to address today´s societal challenges and issues related to citizens’ everyday lives and businesses’ requirements. With the objective of building better urban future, All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) is forum where city mayors along with senior officials from municipal corporations from around the world can share their knowledge and learn from the experiences of each other, contribute their bit in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and join hands together to build a better urban future for coming generations. Realizing this potential with a holistic view in providing sustainable & livable solutions for cities, All India Institute of Local Self-Government, and United Cities and Local Governments-Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC) along with other National & International organizations are organizing the 5th South Asian Cities Summit in March 2020 in Goa, India. https://www.metropolis.org/agenda/5th-south-asian-cities-summit Inside Copenhagen’s race to be the first carbon-neutral city Green growth and ‘hedonistic sustainability’ have helped keep the public on board as the Danish capital seeks to reach its goal by 2025 – and so far it’s all going according to plan “We call it hedonistic sustainability,” says Jacob Simonsen of the decision to put an artificial ski slope on the roof of the £485m Amager Resource Centre (Arc), Copenhagen’s cutting-edge new waste-to-energy power plant. “It’s not just good for the environment, it’s good for life.” Low-Carbon Cities Are a $24 Trillion Opportunity The world is facing a climate emergency, forcing us all to rethink the best way to spend resources, create jobs and improve quality of life for all. In these critical times, cities offer one of the biggest opportunities. With most of the world’s population, economic activity and carbon emissions concentrated in cities, it is becoming ever-more-clear that the fate of cities is the fate of the planet. Science tells us that the world must reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to keep global warming below 1.5°C. A new report from the Coalition for Urban Transitions, Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity, finds that low-carbon cities can reduce emissions while offering tremendous economic opportunities. https://thecityfix.com/blog/low-carbon-cities-24-trillion-opportunity-leah-lazer-catlyne-haddaoui/ Public transport leaders meet in Barcelona to offset climate change From 5 to 6 September, UITP has brought together 40 executives from public transport organizations and networks to discuss key issues in the fight against climate change. UITP (International Public Transport Association) has held the Public Transport Leaders Forum from 5-6 September in Barcelona. This forum - hosted by the FGC (Catalan, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya) - welcomed more than forty public transport managers from over 23 countries to discuss key issues characterizing the fight against climate change. https://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/public-transport-leaders-meet-barcelona-offset-climate-change How to Craft Bike-Friendly Cities As Next City reported, Minneapolis, Minnesota, consistently ranks in the top 10 for best biking cities nationwide, but the state isn’t content to stop there — a statewide effort is making communities across the North Star State more bikeable. The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, otherwise known as BikeMN, teamed up with the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Department of Health since 2012 to offer Bikeable Community Workshops across the state since 2012. With a focus on the public health benefits of biking, the goal is working through policy systems and changing local environments to make long-term impacts in communities around the state. https://nextcity.org/events/detail/how-to-craft-bike-friendly-cities The term smart cities mainly refers to the field of technology. Some fear that the intelligent cities of the future will be massively robotic, with algorithms dominating people. Hence the need for more citizen engagement in designing the digital revolution of their urban spaces https://www.matchup-project.eu/news/smart-city-and-wise-city/ Tackling urban freight through collaborative action Freight transport is at the core of today’s global economy; in emerging regions such as Asia, the logistics industry accounts for 15 to 25 percent of GDP. However, urban freight also causes adverse impacts to cities, including traffic congestion, poor air quality, noise pollution and intensity of road accidents. Emissions from road freight transport alone are expected to nearly double by 2050. https://talkofthecities.iclei.org/tackling-urban-freight-through-collaborative-action/ EcoMobility Days 2019 is just days away The ICLEI EcoMobility Days 2019 is just days away, taking place in Paris, France from 17 to 18 October. Don't miss out! ICLEI is teaming up with AUTONOMY for its 2019 edition of EcoMobility Days. Take a look at what's planned for this leading urban mobility event: a robust congress program designed to inspire participants on the latest transport technologies and trends in the space; 7 thematic tracks covering all dimensions of intelligent & sustainable mobility, and many networking opportunities to connect with exhibitors, partners, and collaborators. https://www.autonomy.paris/en/program-2019/ International Conference City Street 4 (CS4) On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we would like to cordially invite you to participate in the upcoming International Conference City Street 4 (CS4) to be held at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (UL FA), in Ljubljana, Slovenia, between 23-26 September 2020. The Conference is organized by University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (UL FA) , Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia (UI RS) and Notre Dame University - Louaize, Ramez Chagoury Faculty of Archi¬tecture, Art and Design (NDU FAAD). Authors are invited to submit abstracts no later than 17 December 2019. http://www.ndu.edu.lb/city-street-4/home Why the Bus Got So Bad, and How to Save It If you had flicked through the cavernous layers of New York City transit Twitter last Thursday morning (and practically ever since), all you would have seen were buses. There they are, speeding down Manhattan’s 14th Street on freshly painted red lanes devoid of private car traffic, which is now banned for most hours of the day. This was the first glimpse of a true bus-centric street in America’s largest city, a feat of traffic engineering that fended off civil lawsuits to become a reality. The busway is now over a week old and has already increased the speeds of one of the city’s pokiest routes. In hindsight, its mission statement—give buses priority, and they will move efficiently—seems so painfully obvious, that it now seems difficult to believe it took this long to pull off. Carbon Emissions Are Already Falling in 30 Cities Since nations signed on to the Paris Agreement four years ago, committing to collectively lower carbon emissions to below 2 degrees Celsius, progress across the globe has been uneven and, sometimes, even discouraging. But there is good news. Austin, Athens, Lisbon, and Venice have joined 26 other major cities in steadily reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis published by a coalition of cities known as C40, ahead of its annual World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen. The latest news is an update to C40’s 2018 analysis, which identified a handful of cities across the global north that have hit their “peak” emissions before 2015, meaning they have since reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 10 percent. From 15-18 October 2019, UNICEF and the City of Cologne will host the first international Child Friendly Cities Summit in Cologne, Germany. The Summit will bring together mayors, local leaders, technical experts, children and young people from Child Friendly Cities around the world to discuss innovative approaches to advance child rights through local commitment and to identify and exchange good practices at the local level. Thirty years since its adoption, it provides a unique opportunity for mayors and local leaders to recommit to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and enhance strategies to build sustainable, child-friendly cities of tomorrow. https://childfriendlycities.org/2019-summit/ The Climate Chance Summit – Africa 2019 will take place in Accra from October 16th until October 18th at the International Conference Center. It will be a wide gathering of 1000 non-state actors fighting climate change on the African continent, including local governments, businesses, trade unions, environmental NGO’s, farmers, women and youth organisations, researchers, etc. It will highlight the engagement of Ghana and more broadly the African actors in fighting climate change. https://www.climate-chance.org/en/climate-chance-africa-summit-2019/ What Desert Cities Can Teach Us About Water Record breaking heat is a common phenomenon in desert cities like Phoenix and Tucson. During the summer, temperatures often skyrocket to 110 degrees or more, and with climate change, the research models predict an average increase of 4 to 10 degrees in the Southwest region. A rise in temperatures coupled with population growth—Phoenix, the 5th largest city in the United States, is home to approximately 1.6 million people and while Tucson has over 535,000—calls into question the long-term sustainability of desert cities. https://daily.jstor.org/what-desert-cities-can-teach-us-about-water/ The Real Reason Why Mobility is Not Women-Friendly In an August long read from the UMDaily, Dr. Nicole Kalms, Director of XYX Lab and Ross Douglas, Founder & CEO of Autonomy stated the facts: women and girls face endemic levels of harassment on and around public transport, every day and everywhere. Women modify their travel patterns to avoid danger with consequences for their participation in work, education and public life. Further, women are still the primary group charged with the mobility of care (travel necessitated by caring for children or the elderly). With the projected growth of ‘Mobility as a Service’ and the banishing of single-use cars in cities, the situation for women and girls stands to get worse, globally. Yet, Nicole and Ross conclude, innovators and policy makers seem to believe that men and women have the same mobility realities. Even with growing awareness of the research, very little action has been taken to improve things. https://urbanmobilitydaily.com/the-real-reason-why-mobility-is-not-women-friendly/ Register for the workshop "SuSMo–Shared Urban Sustainable Mobility" To mitigate the impact of the transport sector on climate change, it is urgent to reduce emissions from urban mobility, but the shift to a sustainable multi-modal future requires a system change in how individuals travel and how transport professionals think about transport. Cities have ambitious plans for carbon neutrality, but we stand at a crossroads, unsure of the way forward towards these goals. New services are introduced in cities, but what role the city authority in supporting or regulating shared mobility? What role for a private operator? What are the responsibilities of public transport organisations, and how can we work together? And how do we ensure that our actions support decarbonisation goals? The EIT Climate-KIC ecosystems project SuSMo (Sustainable Shared Mobility) will focus on building a European ecosystem for shared sustainable mobility, by which we mean shared bicycles / cargo bicycles / scooters / e-mopeds (electric powered or not) and shared electric cars / vans and charging infrastructure. 2nd International Conference on Mobility as a Service “Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the integration of various forms of transport services into a single mobility service accessible on demand.” This is the definition of MaaS as provided by the MaaS Alliance. The 1st International Conference on Mobility as a Service (ICoMaaS) was held between 28–29 November 2017 in Tampere, Finland. The conference aimed to summarise the state-of-the-art of MaaS research, and to provide insights as to the preconditions, success factors, and the effects of MaaS. Some of the papers presented in the conference resulted in a Themed Volume of Research in Transportation Business and Management journal. The second International Conference on Mobility as a Service (ICoMaaS) aims to further increase our knowledge on the preconditions of MaaS, experiences from trials and commercial services, and the effects of MaaS, in particular on climate change, travel behaviour and transport poverty. http://www.tut.fi/verne/icomaas/ Our Cleanest Cities and their Zero Carbon Progress Our cleanest cities provide powerful lessons in how to transition to clean energy, while growing a city economy, and providing better services to citizens. All of these cities improved their renewable energy generation, energy-efficient buildings, government, equitable communities, and transportation. The success of these cities, and the ranking of all major U.S. cities is detailed by American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). https://meetingoftheminds.org/our-cleanest-cities-and-their-zero-carbon-progress-31972 The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is Becoming a Real City From the top of a viewing tower in Cox’s Bazar District in southern Bangladesh, bamboo and blue-green tarpaulin constructions sprawl in every direction, as far as the eye can see. The Kutupalong camp is home to more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees, crowded into a temporary city spread across five square miles. They live in fragile, improvised shelters, with nothing but the possessions they fled Myanmar with. Another 300,000 Rohingya refugees live in comparable squalor in satellite settlements and camps to the south, on a peninsula adjoining the Naf River that divides Bangladesh and Myanmar. A warren of passageways dissects the vast Kutupalong camp, revealing its unplanned nature; the settlement sprang up organically around the refugees as they fled to Bangladesh in late 2017. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/09/rohingya-refugees-kutupalong-camp-design-myanmar-bangladesh/597076/Cities sign "The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets" declaration As this year’s European Mobility Week starts, the European Commission and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety co-organised a Road Safety Roundtable in Brussels this morning on 16 September. During this event, two commitments were handed over: One from the European Commission and the EU Member States, namely the target of halving the number of fatalities and serious injuries on European roads between 2020 and 2030, and one from European cities, entitled “The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets”. 5 takeaways for cities from the UN Climate Action Summit For this year’s Climate Action Summit in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on leaders to bring concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, plans that would bring nations in line to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent over the next decade and to net zero emissions by 2050. With the Summit now concluded, official outcomes have been released by the UN, and grouped by the nine tracks. The commitment by national governments was mostly led by smaller and island nations that are already disproportionately facing the threats of climate change, while the major world economies mostly disappointed with their lack of enthusiasm in scaling up action. How Innovative Cities Benefit from Mobility IoT Data We are entering a new transportation age, one in which new modes; from scooters to ride hailing apps to autonomous vehicles, are disrupting transportation traditions. the Internet of Things (IoT) is gradually connecting everyone to everything, and new data sets are emerging too fast to be properly analyzed or effectively integrated with other data. To understand how this transition is unfolding — and how it affects mobility issues like congestion, climate change, public safety and social equity — we recently talked with StreetLight Data’s VP of marketing Martin Morzynski and western region director Sal Akhter. https://meetingoftheminds.org/how-cities-benefit-from-mobility-iot-data-31884 City governance and sustainable urban planning The European Commission just launched the Green City Tool, a self-assessment and benchmarking tool for cities, and a source of information and advice for anyone wanting to learn more about making cities greener and more sustainable. This tool is all about city governance and the approach taken to sustainable urban planning – it is not about quantitative indicators of sustainability, although it will guide users to the best places to find such information. https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/greencitytool/home/ Moving towards the UCLG World Congress The UCLG regional sections met in Barcelona to discuss GOLD V and the process of localizing the global agendas, and shared the progress towards the World Congress in Durban Under the agenda theme "UCLG Secretaries General: Towards UCLG Congress 2019", the Secretaries General of the regional sections of United Cities and Local Governments met in Barcelona on the 9th and 10th of September. https://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/moving-towards-world-congress World Habitat Day, observed on the first Monday of October each year, supports UN-Habitat’s mission towards transformative change in cities and human settlements – to leave no one and no place behind. Building on last year’s theme “Municipal Solid Waste Management”, this year’s theme is “Frontier Technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth”. The global observation of the World Habitat Day 2019 will be hosted by the Government Mexico in Mexico City on 7 October this year. https://www.urbangateway.org/node/50727 Cities urged to study footpaths In Finland, officials are looking to where people walk in parks after snow has covered official pathways to guide future planning http://www.thisisplace.org/i/?id=92f4d47d-8f46-41e3-83db-8dc75609abf0 Urban Innovative Action 5th call for proposals just launched The Urban Innovative Action has issued its 5th and last call for proposals. EUR 50 million will be assigned under the Urban Innovation Initiative with the aim of testing new alternative solutions to current challenges in European urban areas.
Further archived news available on request from: Kate More |
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