We can all play a role in changing urban environments for the better. People who are employed by municipal authorities and governments have a direct impact in how their city or town runs. Citizens who live in cities and towns can have make an important contribution to how they evolve, and how their taxes are spent. Businesses of all types and sizes are critical to urban economies. Charities, Not For Profit organisations, arts and leisure centres, academic institutions and journalism all have a say and a role to play in how urban areas develop.
This section of Suredis Cities puts forward ideas for different groups to support how urban environments can be thriving, green and resilient places:
1. Citizens
3. Government
4. Businesses
How hard is it for an elected official to get to net zero, and at what cost? What steps truly make an impact? See for yourself in this browser-based Bloomberg CityLab game...
A lot of municipal authorities publish information and plans on their websites - and many tend to assume that people will go and find them. For example, some authorities publish strategic plans and encourage feedback through their website, by asking people to add comments in ways that are often time-consuming and impractical.
What can we do as citizens?
We can start by finding out about strategic plans and ask authorities how they are communicating them. Maybe we can give them some ideas, such as holding "public consultations" and getting out in the streets and town squares with kiosks and centres to talk with people and get the debate going.
If you review plans and you can't see any linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ask why.
If you don't see enough evidence of improving greenery, ask why.
If you don't see ambitious targets to change transport and energy, ask why.
Everyone uses apps nowadays - yet most of us don't have apps to engage with our local authorities. Why is this?
Ask your local authority when (not if) they will have one or more apps to engage with communities properly. If they don't have any plans for apps, ask them why. Of course, launching an app service requires a lot of work - introducing new services needs organisational readiness. Apps also require agility to respond to feedback and requests.
This website provides mock-up examples of what an "urban app" focused on improving urban environments could contain, and look like.
Do you really need a car? For sure, some forms of work require a car or a van. If you have mobility restrictions, it may be vital to how you get about. However, for many people who live in urban environments, a car is not necessary - or not nearly as much as we assume it is. If we all reduced car use, we could make better use of roads and the (often ugly) spaces required to park them.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are not the answer to saving the planet. They consume a lot of carbon to make, and if your electricity to power them comes from a coal-fired power station, it's making no difference at all.
Can you walk, ride a bike or use a scooter more (if you are physically able)? Can you use public transport, such as the train, bus or metro services more often?
If you already own a bike, start using it. If you don't have one, buy one!
If you need a bit of pedal-power assistance, buy an e-bike. They are very well equipped and sturdy.
Have you seen how the Dutch city of Utrecht manages its use of bicycles? It's the world leader that all cities and towns can learn from.
Encourage your local authority to improve cycle lanes in a properly considered and complete network, shared with other "micro-mobility" solutions. Ask them whether they will ban cars from central streets and city/town centres. Ask for urban car parks to change to bike parks (and urban vertical farm centres, too).
Streets around the world used to be communal areas. Some still are, but many are not.
Ask your local authority to look at closing certain streets to cars. Volunteer to help with maintaining new greenery that could be planted where tarmac and concrete have until now dominated. Suggest to your local authority about structures to put into the streets such as cooling fountains, multi-purpose benches/play kits (see this example from Sweden).
Making changes to your home will cost you money - but it can also save you money in the long run. Are you prepared to make changes that help us all to reduce climate change?
Insulating your house to avoid heat loss can make a big difference. What you can do depends on where you live. Plenty of advice for different geographies is available.
Are government incentives to change utilities, such as changing a gas-powered boiler to an electric heat pump good enough to convince you? What about sourcing your own energy with solar panels?
If your house is ill-equipped to deal with heat, find out what you can do to deal with it better in future.
It's not easy finding solutions that can work for everyone.
Try playing some games such as Can You Fix Smogtown? (made available by Bloomberg), Can you reach net Zero by 2050? and Do you know your food carbon footprint? (which are both made available by The Financial Times)? to experience some of the challenges that exist.
Embed the circular economy into your everyday life - it's easier to do than you may at first think.
Reduce what you consume, and consume responsibly. Know what is involved to make what you buy. Reuse what you can, and consider recycling as a last part of the circular loop. To minimise the waste that you create, try using smaller bins.
The finance sector has a major role in financing big initiatives to change the global economy and to invest in responsible and green initiatives. Do you know how your own savings are invested? It's not just about investing in clean tech and bio-technology, it's also about helping heavy industries to change. You may have come across the term "greenwashing", which basically means investment claims that are not true. Do your homework to avoid this.
Many examples of positive change are taking place around the world - often involving only small amounts of money. This website provides a few examples. See if any of the examples you see are relevant to where you live. Many of them are citizen-led - we can all make a difference if we try.
How urban environments are shaped is a joint effort by municipal authorities, the state / national / federal government, the private sector, citizens and supporting groups. Good governance is vital, and is integral to achieving SDG 16.
Do you have enough autonomy to manage your budget, your investment needs and your plans? As discussed in The city/town to 2050, different levels of autonomy exist around the world. If you are lacking in autonomy to do what you need to do, make the case for change.
From Amsterdam to Zanjan, many cities and towns are working out how to improve citizen involvement and make change happen.
How do you currently publish and share information and plans about changes to the areas you oversee? Do you publish documents on website(s) and assume that citizens will look at them?
Share your draft plans in a more interactive way than just publishing them on websites. Work out how to meet with people to maximise the engagement and feedback. Use posters and boards to show the many things that you can do.
Is it feasible to create Urban Future / Urban 2.0 centres that people can walk into at any time, and also to attend regular urban forums and discussions? Perhaps they could be created as "movable centres" that use unoccupied buildings in the city / town centre.
Can you also set up "pop up" kiosks in town squares on weekends, with information posters and videos and interactive sessions to talk with people and help get the debate going?
Are there any opportunities to work with the private sector to pay for Urban Future / Urban 2.0 centres and / or kiosks?
Show how your plans link to the global effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Show people how industries that impact us all - from cement to plastics production and food management - need to change, and what your local area is doing about it.
Remember that the future belongs to young people. Can children at school and students at college and university be inspired to think of creative solutions to sustainability and resilience challenges, aided by people in business with yourselves as municipal authorities acting as advisors to their projects?
Almost everyone uses apps nowadays as part of their daily life - yet most of us don't use apps to engage with our local authorities.
Do you use apps to engage your citizens and businesses? If not, how could you make them work?
Are you working on providing one or more apps to engage with your communities and businesses? It's not simply a case of publishing an app - introducing an app as a service requires the organisational structure to be in place to support its use. It requires being more agile as an organisation. Plus, you can use an app to monitor progress of implementing your plans.
Consider using risk management and scenario planning to analyse how you could make an app approach work.
How can you introduce much more greenery in your placemaking strategy and plan, including making it a requirement of planning permission for new developments to have a minimum percentage of greenery? Can you push forward the design of buildings using circular economy principles (which are also more resilient to climate change), and ask the construction industry to show more innovation? Embodied and operational carbon needs to be drastically lowered, in line with SDG 13. Air and noise pollution needs to come down.
For housing, could you mandate accreditation to the world-leading Passivhaus standard or a similar type of standard?
For inclusive design, what plans do you have to cater for people with different restrictions (such as blindness, physical disability and others)?
Are you measuring and improving air and noise quality in your area?
Can you change the transport & mobility hierarchy in your area, given budget constraints and resistance to change? Are you ensuring your urban areas are designed "for time", so that the core things people need are close by without needing a car? Reducing car use won't be popular in many places to begin with, which is why holding engagement sessions to explain why it needs to be done, and working out business cases for change, are vital.
Focusing on active and inclusive mobility, with better public transport is key. Can you afford to trial autonomous EVs for "micro public transport"? Do you have a plan for it?
What is your plan for a fully integrated and complete cycling network (with bikes being given priority at crossings)?
Are you looking at new forms of transport, such as light rail, trams and trackless trams? Projects such as light rail don't apply to only the largest cities - they can work for smaller urban areas, and help to reduce cars.
What can you do to change how energy is sourced? Is there anything that you can specifically do locally, to set up renewable energy sources in line with SDG 7? Could the buildings of roofs be used for solar panels? Can you fund wind energy projects? For an urban case study on energy management, cities and towns can review The EnergyLab Nordhavn project, which ran between 2015 and 2019 and showcases different energy solutions.
A citywide “energy data warehouse” can collect real-time data on renewable energy production, weather, energy costs, and how resources are being consumed at any given moment.
Do you have a Water Management Plan including specific strategies to restore natural water points in line with SDG 6?
We will inspire, support and incentivise citizens and businesses to adopt good circular economy practices for all resources and to responsibly consume all goods, products and services including energy, water, fuel, food, technology, textiles and others. We are aiming for zero waste and no landfill by reducing, re-using and recycling what we consume.
Waste management is a core part of what you do. What is in your Waste Strategy? Are there any opportunities to completely rethink the approach, and not simply have bins lining the streets?
As you seek to improve your built environment and to reshape the socio-economic environment, is a recalibration of retail required? Will more independent retail help to make urban environments more pleasurable to experience?
Are you thinking about art and history and how to maximise it?
How is value measured? Are you changing from using the out-of-date measure of GDP?
What new sources of green finance are you aiming to secure?
Some cities are asking citizens to help shape their budget allocation, with a percentage of budget spend being for “participatory budgeting”. Is this something you could consider?
Could a common fund – such as a pre-distribution fund – in which all citizens contribute a small portion for the social and environmental good of the area, be feasible for cities and towns, working with governments (as an additional revenue stream alongside traditional taxation policies)?
Are you measuring the value of nature in your measurement of economic progress? If not, when will you start doing so? Look at the principles of Mission-orientated innovation for insights and ideas.
For example, should a private housing developer, which sets out to achieve profits through building and selling homes, commit to helping their developments be better connected to new forms of public transport (e.g. trackless trams) rather than simply creating roads for car use? If so, how will value be recognised for these efforts?
Can new forms of digital currencies assist cities and towns? Could such currencies be linked to an app, with rewards in this currency being generated for confirmation of positive actions by citizens and businesses which allows them to be able to use these rewards in a beneficial way?
Is there scope for a “city / town wellbeing plan” that authorities can agree with various stakeholder groups? Could such a plan, for example, include in the budget plan the provision for their citizens of one day’s free travel (using public transport) around their city or town so that they can explore other neighbourhoods?
Do you have a climate adaptation and resilience strategy for your city / town / local area? If not, when will you have one, and how will you engage citizens, businesses and academia about it for input? This includes driving forward a carbon tax to change behaviours and probably linking to your built environment master plan (including development zoning control).
Do you report your city / town emissions through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)? If not, when will you start doing so?
Do you have a resilience strategy for your city / town / local area? If not, when will you have one, and how will you engage citizens, businesses and academia about it for input?
Are you part of the MCR 2030 network? If not, would you consider joining it?
Are you up to speed about intelligent actions that some cities and towns have taken that have avoided major events turning into disasters, and can you learn from them?
Do you have a Smart City / Town strategy? If not, when will you have one, and how will you engage citizens, businesses and academia about it for input?
It's not just about creating "digital twins" and the latest online technology, although some of these aspects may be of value. It's also about practical smart solutions.
Personal data protection and cybersecurity need to built into the foundation of all smart city plans.
How urban environments are shaped is a joint effort by municipal authorities, the state / national / federal government, the private sector, citizens and supporting groups. Good governance is vital, and is integral to achieving SDG 16.
Is the government providing enough autonomy to municipal authorities for them to manage their budgets? As discussed in The city/town to 2050, different levels of autonomy exist around the world.
It is important that good governance and oversight by government is in place.
Can state and national / federal government help cities and towns to publish and share information and plans about urban improvements?
Can they support the use of Urban Future / Urban 2.0 centres?
Government policy and incentives can certainly help to encourage citizens to act on important matters.
Government can invest in research and development to support cities and towns.
Perhaps state / national / federal government can help to sponsor work to use and maintain apps for cities and towns.
Government policy can support greenery initiatives and nature-based solutions.
Government regulations can drive the design of buildings using circular economy principles (which are also more resilient to climate change), and to require the construction industry to reduce embodied and operational carbon emissions.
State / national / federal housing policy should link to city and town initiatives.
Can a transport & mobility hierarchy be coordinated at a state / national / federal level?
Reducing car use won't be popular in many places to begin with, and it will have political implications. Focusing on active and inclusive mobility, with better public transport is key.
Government can support a state / national / federal energy and water strategy and plan.
As well as all the action required at a local level for the circular economy, governments can play a valuable role in supporting circular principles.
Will a government be prepared to change the out-of-date measure of GDP?
Can common principles be adopted that change the concept of value?
Can new forms of digital currencies assist cities and towns? Could such currencies be linked to an app, with rewards in this currency being generated for confirmation of positive actions by citizens and businesses which allows them to be able to use these rewards in a beneficial way?
Government strategies and actions for climate and disaster resilience can be coordinated through mutilateral agreements, to support cities and towns.
Support for Smart City / Town strategies should be provided, perhaps with a national resource centre.
The plans and objectives of virtually all businesses in all sectors are impacted by the urban environments that they work in or serve. Understanding your impact on urban environments can help you to understand how you can play your part towards achieving good urban resilience. It pays to develop a good Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that supports the urban environments where you operate.
By understanding your impact on urban environments, and how your objectives influence urban resilience, you help your organisation’s resilience and business continuity, and in turn that of society. This includes how extreme weather events are dealt with by urban areas, transportation challenges and cyber threats, and how public health threats such as a pandemic are responded to.
For the urban environments you are associated with, do you know what they are already doing towards sustainability and resilience, and can you play a part to achieving their goals?
Understand sectoral interlinkages. For example, if you work in the finance sector, what impact do your investments have on urban environments? If your organisation is an infrastructure or construction business, are you developing sustainable financing for urban design, or responsible materials use (for example, we must change our approach to concrete) and sustainable asset management?
Work with your teams and eco-system partners to push the envelope for ambitious and achievable sustainability targets, and see which objectives contribute towards good urban resilience. This requires making the time to fully understand the urban areas you serve or operate in.
Work with your teams and eco-system partners to push the envelope for ambitious and achievable sustainability targets, and see which objectives contribute towards good urban resilience. This requires making the time to fully understand the urban areas you serve or operate in.
Can you help to change the transport & mobility hierarchy in the urban areas where you operate? Reducing vehicle use won't be easy in various cases, yet working out business cases for change are vital.
Can you support your employees to use cycling and public transport?
What can you do to change how your energy is sourced? Is there anything that you can specifically do locally, to set up renewable energy sources in line with SDG 7? Could the buildings of your roofs be used for solar panels? Can you fund wind energy projects?
Do you have a Water Management Plan including specific strategies to restore natural water points in line with SDG 6?
How can you work with municipal authorities where you operate to ensure good circular economy practices for all resources are in place?
Are you aiming for zero waste and no landfill by reducing, re-using and recycling?
What is in your Waste Strategy? Are there any opportunities to completely rethink the approach, and to assist municipal authorities with their efforts?
How is value measured? Are you supporting new forms of business accounting which value nature?
What new sources of green finance are you aiming to secure?
For example, should a private housing developer, which sets out to achieve profits through building and selling homes, commit to helping their developments be better connected to new forms of public transport (e.g. trackless trams) rather than simply creating roads for car use? If so, how will value be recognised for these efforts?
Can you play a role in helping cities and towns with new forms of digital currencies which allows citizens to be able to use them in beneficial ways?
If you have wellbeing initiatives, are you able to support similar initiatives of cities and towns?
Do you have a climate adaptation and resilience strategy for your city / town / local area? If not, when will you have one, and how will you engage citizens, businesses and academia about it for input? This includes driving forward a carbon tax to change behaviours and probably linking to your built environment master plan (including development zoning control).
Do you report your emissions through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)? If not, when will you start doing so?
Are you linked into the resilience strategy for the cities / towns / local areas where you have a presence (one or several)? If not, how can you get involved?
Are you part of the MCR 2030 network? If not, would you consider joining it?
If you have any feedback on ways that we can all get involved in changing and improving urban environments for the benefit of humanity and the planet, please let us know.
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