Smart Urbanization – Key to Sustainable Cities

Urbanisation is a major change taking place globally. It is estimated that 500 million people will be urbanised by 2030 which is around 60% of the world’s population will be living in cities. Cities fuel economic development through mobilizing capital, work force, knowledge/information and technology and offer better chances of wealth generation, better health facilities, education and a good quality of life with better services and facilities. This has led to the increase in “megacities” (urban areas with a population of 10 million or more) and primate cities (leading cities in the region disproportionately larger than others in the urban hierarchy) across the globe. Urbanization propelled by economic reforms are putting cities under perpetual pressure of population concentration and energy intensive growth model. The cities are often confronted with a multitude of key problems like high urban densities, traffic congestion, energy inadequacy, unplanned development and lack of basic services. Due to high land values, migrants often have no choice but to settle in shantytowns and slums, where they lack access to decent housing and sanitation, health care and education thus adding to urban poverty. Urbanisation is also contributing significantly to climate change as 20 largest cities consume 80% of the world’s energy and urban areas generate 80% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The challenges of rapid urbanisation are to deal with the social, economic and environment development through more effective and comprehensive land administration functions, supported by efficient per capita infrastructure supply , resolving issues such as climate change, disaster management, insecurity, energy scarcity, environmental pollution, and extreme poverty. Urbanization must be able to support urban planning to achieve sustainable development in order to meet the growing energy and housing demands, reliable public transportation systems and be able to meet essential urban services without putting pressure on resources. Therefore it needs to support innovative urban planning policies and strategies beyond traditional urban planning paradigms. Urbanisation on the positive side provides an unparalleled urban planning opportunity to pre-address social and environmental problems, including reduction of greenhouse gas emissions combined with the retrofitting and upgrading of facilities and networks in existing urban centres, as well as smart urban planning of cities can provide better education, healthcare and high-quality energy services more efficiently and with less emissions because of their advantages of scale, proximity and lower geographic footprints. Thus “Smart Urbanisation” is the key to safer cities of tomorrow. Building cities sustainably using smart growth principles, compact development planning form, using eco-city concepts, concept of low carbon electricity ecosystem etc, provides an opportunity to avoid future sources of greenhouse emissions, while developing more liveable and efficient urban centres. It could also alleviate population pressure on natural habitats and biodiversity thus reducing the risks to natural disasters. High-level integration of existing technologies to deliver a smart energy network, enhanced electricity transmission, energy efficient transportation, and low carbon building footprints, will make it easier to manage the unfolding urbanisation, and could have much positive impact on energy use and consumption. Policy interventions and government investments are important determining tools to its success. This paper attempts to discuss the principles of “smart urbanisation” in light of sustainable cities of tomorrow

Internal report cluster 1: Urban freight innovations and solutions for sustainable deliveries (3/4)

Technical report about sustainable urban freight solutions, part 3 of

Future in Wood? Timber Construction in Boosting Local Development

Large scale timber construction has been on the upswing for some time in many European countries. Besides the building cluster, also regions and cities have taken advantage of the ongoing timber boom in their economic and spatial development. In this article the focus is on the South Ostrobothnia region and the city of Seinäjoki in Western Finland, where the potential of the business is quite weakly exploited regardless of favourable preconditions. By studying the key actors of the innovation network we are able to better understand the premises of the local development platform that should aim at boosting timber construction

Trends in Smart City Development

This report examines the meanings and practices associated with the term 'smart cities.' Smart city initiatives involve three components: information and communication technologies (ICTs) that generate and aggregate data; analytical tools which convert that data into usable information; and organizational structures that encourage collaboration, innovation, and the application of that information to solve public problems

Monitor Sustainable Municipalities Report 2019 Key topic Circular Economy. Bertelsmann Stiftung Study 4 November 2019

At first sight, the concept for a recycling economy appears to be just the latest trend in the field of urban development, but in fact conversion to circular value creation also contains numerous oppor-tunities for the creation of long-term sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits for local communities. We have therefore chosen to look at this topic in this, our fourth, Monitor Report. Recycling Economy, Circular Value Creation and Cradle To Cradle are three concepts which – alt-hough each has a different main focus – basically all describe the same paradigm shift: away from a classic linear economy (“Take, Make, Use, Dispose”) towards a model based on restoration and regeneration. The recycling economy principle is actually anchored in the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Devel-opment Goals, or SDGs. Goal 12 calls for sustainable consumption and sustainable production patterns. The recycling economy is also associated with a number of other sustainability goals, as it makes a significant contribution to their achievement. We are convinced that it is worth considering the applicability of the concept to local communities in Germany. What does transferring the recycling economy principle to local communities entail? How can towns be converted into “Recycling Cities”? Where are the obstacles and what potential is there? This Monitor Report is a first – it is the first bilingual version. With the kind permission of the Collab-orating Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) in Wuppertal, we have issued their “Circular Economy Guidebook for Cities” in the original English with a German translation. We hope that, by looking at the bigger picture, we will also generate the impulse to consider how the topic can be adopted in (European) towns and cities, and what the resulting benefits could be. We are fully aware that a one-to-one transfer will not work. “One size fits all” does not apply to local communities. Although something that makes sense in Amsterdam, Copenhagen or Oslo may not necessarily work in towns, districts and local communities in Germany, it is definitely worth looking at how things are done in other countries. I would sincerely like to thank everyone who contributed to the creation of this Report, and especially the CSCP for its trust and invaluable cooperation. We hope you enjoy reading the Report, and look forward as always to your feedback and suggestions

Sustainable consumption: towards action and impact. : International scientific conference November 6th-8th 2011, Hamburg - European Green Capital 2011, Germany: abstract volume

This volume contains the abstracts of all oral and poster presentations of the international scientific conference „Sustainable Consumption – Towards Action and Impact“ held in Hamburg (Germany) on November 6th-8th 2011. This unique conference aims to promote a comprehensive academic discourse on issues concerning sustainable consumption and brings together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines. In modern societies, private consumption is a multifaceted and ambivalent phenomenon: it is a ubiquitous social practice and an economic driving force, yet at the same time, its consequences are in conflict with important social and environmental sustainability goals. Finding paths towards “sustainable consumption” has therefore become a major political issue. In order to properly understand the challenge of “sustainable consumption”, identify unsustainable patterns of consumption and bring forward the necessary innovations, a collaborative effort of researchers from different disciplines is needed

Priorities, policies and (time)scales : the delivery of emissions reductions in the UK transport sector

Peer reviewedPreprin

Unsatisfying Transfer of Climate Research to Urban Planning: The Regulatory Trap in the Triple Helix

Making urban areas more sustainable by transferring scientific results into the building, shaping, and governance of cities is a complicated process which involves – amongst other dimensions – science, local governance, and regulatory processes. There are non-linear interactions within each of these three dimensions which are influenced and enhanced by interactions between the three dimensions. After a short analysis of different sustainability concepts, this conceptual paper considers each of the three dimensions and finally tries to find some suggestions as to how these dimensions could interact more smoothly also considering Triple Helix theory. One basic suggestion is that without updating laws, norms, and standards, urban administrations will often not be able to integrate new scientific findings into procedures for more sustainable cities. That is, all three dimensions need to be aligned in the process of building sustainable cities