About this Discussion

Urban centres provide opportunities for a range of social and cultural activities, as well as being critical for innovations in science, technology and education. They are also of critical importance for social and economic development. However, with approximately 40% of global energy use taking place within city buildings, this sector is also the single largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, the design and use of energy and resource-efficient buildings has a key role in climate change mitigation to accelerate the global green economy transition. Although vast savings are possible by constructing new green buildings and retrofitting existing buildings, even greater gains can be achieved by adopting a long-term life-cycle approach involving stakeholders at different stages – from environmentally-minded investors and architects, to sustainable extraction, construction and usage, and the eventual demolition and the recycling or disposal of the building materials.

Cities are well-placed to play a major role in decoupling economic development from resource use and environmental impacts, while finding a better balance between social, environmental and economic objectives. Resource-efficient cities combine greater productivity and innovation with lower costs and reduced environmental impacts, offering at the same time financial savings and increased sustainability.

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Cities and Urban Development

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Air pollution, congested streets, higher rates of road accidents, and carbon emissions are some of the common challenges cities face. Fortunately, cities are taking strides to change this situation.

This blog post by ICLEI presents some of the steps cities are taking for developing healthier and climate-neutral cities through sustainable urban mobility.

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https://talkofthecities.iclei.org/the-road-to-healthier-and-climate-neutral-cities/

How would you rank the bike lanes in your city? Do you use them?

Indeed, well-designed cycling networks can help cities obviate the need for so many private cars and the issues related to health, pollution, space and equity that arise with them.

According to WRI there are five key principles of safe bike lane design:

- Establish safe operational vehicle speeds for all urban streets
- Maintain a coherent network approach by integrating new bike lanes with any existing bicycle network
- Design bike lanes to prioritise safety for cyclists and pedestrians
- Provide ongoing communication and engagement at all stages of the design and implementation of safe bike lanes.
- Manage and enforce regulations to protect bike lanes from common types of infringement

Read the article to find out more!

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https://www.wri.org/news/release-bike-lane-design-principles-show-how-build-safer-more-sustainable-s...
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)

The 2021 Green Growth and Sustainable (GGSD) Forum will focus on COVID-19 recovery measures and their role in greening the built environment and the transport sector. Read More

The world’s cities are heating up at twice the global average due to the urban heat island effect. At this rate, by 2100 many cities across the world could warm as much as 4 degrees Celsius.

Hotter cities could be catastrophic for public health. If the current trends in urbanization and increasing heat continue, it is expected that the urban population exposed to high temperatures – that is, average summertime highs above 35 ̊C – will increase 800 per cent to reach 1.6 billion by mid-century.

To tackle this issue, UNEP and RMI have prepared a new guide "Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities" which offers planners an encyclopedia of proven options to help cool cities.

In your experience, what are the best approaches to make cities cooler and more liveable?

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https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-issues-new-guidance-address-warming-cities
https://youtu.be/OqMpbL1dnX0

In Austria climate action revolutions public transport: fifteen years after it was first proposed, the new Klimaticket, or climate ticket, went live on October 26.

Offering seamless travel across all modes of public transport - for only 3 Euros per day - it is intended to galvanize the Alpine nation's fight against climate change.

"The Klimaticket Ö is more than just your ticket for all public transport. It is also the ticket with which we aim to reach the Paris climate goals together".

Good news for sustainable mobility! Will similar initiatives happen elsewhere?

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https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/austria-klimaticket/index.html