United Cities Issue 4

Issue 4 • November 2011

A PFD Publication www.pfdmedia.com

Will Cities Get A Voice In Durban?

Special report on the climate change talks

• Why local governments can be vital development partners • The challenge of tackling South Africa’s townships • Revealed: the benefits for cities of reporting emissions

Contents

Issue 4 • November 2011

VIEWPOINT 4

Busan: an opportunity not to be missed Brian Atwood, Chair, OECD Development Assistance Committee

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COVER STORY Managing editor Richard Forster rforster@pfdmedia.com Editor, Americas Jonathan Andrews jandrews@pfdmedia.com Editor, Europe and Middle East Nick Michell nmichell@pfdmedia.com Editor, Asia-Pacific and Africa Kirsty Tuxford ktuxford@pfdmedia.com Staff writers Sarah Marks William Thorpe Reporters Andrew Bates Helen Watson Production editor Richard Boal Sales executives Mark Brown mbrown@pfdmedia.com Fernando Ortiz fortiz@pfdmedia.com Publisher Peter Warren pwarren@pfdmedia.com Sales director Willem Fast willem@pfdmedia.com Publishing For Development Ltd. 5 St. John’s Lane London EC1M 4BH United Kingdom Tel +44 203 286 5209 Fax +44 207 526 2173 www.pfdmedia.com United Cities is published four times a year by PFD Publications Ltd. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the views and policies of PFD Publications Ltd. Requests for reprints or feedback should be sent to editorial@pfdmedia.com

CLIMATE CHANGE AND CITIES 6

Climate change talks: will cities get a voice in Durban?

Jonathan Andrews

10 The benefits for cities of climate change reporting Conor Riffle, Carbon Disclosure Project 13 How can we get citizens to think green?

Sarah Marks 16 Why reducing building emissions is key to tackling climate change Curt Garrigan, UNEP

19 Josep Roig, Secretary General, UCLG Nick Michell

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FEATURES 22 Bringing new homes to the townships Kirsty Tuxford 28 Local governments can be vital development partners Andrew Bates

CUTTING EDGE 32 India pioneers use of solar power in city of Thane Andrés Luque, Durham University

ROUND-UP

© PFD Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cover image: Prakash Bhikha

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INTERVIEW

38 News from the UCLG Regional Sections

REGULARS 21 Calendar Upcoming events

55 Conference Preview Tenth World Congress of Metropolis, Porto Alegre 57 Conference Report Sixth Ibero-American Forum, Asuncion Fifth World Congress of Cities for Mobility, Stuttgart 60 My Life, My City Jean-Paul Huchon, Regional President, Ile-de-France

viewpoint

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Busan: an opportunity not to be missed

All partners in development must be willing to take ownership of their development agendas and hold each other accountable as they work together toward common goals

By Brian Atwood, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee

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4 United Cities • November 2011

2008 to accelerate implementation on key targets — would have saved the EU and its member states over €5 billion. The direct benefits on the individual donor side would have included reduced administrative costs, more cost-effective sourcing of goods and services, and more predictable and useful aid flows; numerous indirect effects in recipient countries would also have been expected. What’s more, should

its commitments to making aid and development work better. The Busan forum is underpinned by developing countries’ demands for effectiveness — and for ownership of their own destinies.

It is designed to push the development community to act in a more rational, less fragmented, form.

This is an opportunity not to be missed. With the unprecedented number of people coming to Busan — leaders from donor and developing countries, international organizations, local governments, civil society organizations, parliaments and business — we have a chance to forge a truly inclusive and effective partnership around development.

Let’s not make this another story — like the Horn of Africa — of missed opportunity and human tragedy, or the subject of another report on what could have been saved.  For more analysis of the forthcoming Busan forum on aid effectiveness, please see the article on page 28.

Photo: OECD

ccording to a recent UN report, US$ 2.5 billion will be needed to respond to the devastating drought and famine that has hit the Horn of Africa. Although the international community is working hard to provide relief, funding is still short and aid is still arriving too slowly. Despite the participation of dozens upon dozens of aid and relief organizations, there is no likelihood that the situation will improve before the end of the year.

In a recent blog, my colleague Stephen Groff, Deputy Director of the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, said: “The crisis in the Horn of Africa is indicative of development failure. Early warning systems predicted it a year ago.” Early and coordinated action could have produced countless savings — in terms both of costs and, more importantly, of human suffering.

We must learn from this situation, because it highlights many of the challenges we face today in an increasingly complex development landscape. Global challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and armed conflict cut across national borders and reinforce the notion that development is a truly global priority. And indeed, the number of organizations and countries working on development is greater than ever before. Yet at the same time, this burgeoning activity — and the broad range of instruments being used to promote diverse outcomes — have brought increased transaction costs, overwhelming developing nations’ capacity to cope.

In 2005, when donor and partner countries agreed on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, they signed up to a shared set of principles designed to reduce transaction costs, among other measures to improve the quality and impact of aid. The Paris

the EU countries have found the political will to coordinate their allocations of aid to countries, this €5 billion in savings would have more than doubled.

This represents, of course, a huge lost opportunity. And while the evidence gathered in the last round of monitoring of the implementation of the Paris Declaration shows us that we are headed in the right direction, progress is modest and reforms are far too slow in coming. Stronger leadership and sustained political commitment is needed to drive changes in both donor and developing countries. All partners in development must be willing to take ownership of their development agendas and hold each other accountable as they work together toward common goals.

The upcoming Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) in Busan, Korea, (29 November-1 December 2011) will offer an opportunity for the international community to renew, refresh and reshape as necessary

Brian Atwood, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee

Declaration was groundbreaking not only because of these guidelines, but also because it provided a series of timebound, action-orientated commitments and targets against which partners agreed to be measured and monitored during the following five years.

Since 2005, these aid effectiveness principles have been embraced by developing countries, civil society organizations, international organizations, and donor countries alike.

We have seen the Paris Declaration principles used as the foundation for a wide range of agreements, including

the Bogotá Statement on South-South Cooperation (2010) and the Dili Declaration on Fragile States (2010).

They have served as global norms for best practice, raised expectation levels from all sides working in development, and helped to focus divergent interests on ambitious but measureable goals.

Ensuring value for the money we spend on aid and development can mean a lot. A recent study funded by the European Commission estimates that a more ambitious application of the Paris Declaration principles and the subsequent Accra Agenda for Action — agreed in www.pfdmedia.com

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November 2011 • United Cities 5

Climate Change

Climate Change

Climate change talks: time for cities to make an impact?

Photo: Nathalie Sandra Bellat

With recognition for cities gained in Cancun, Mexico, at the COP 16 UNFCCC meetings, Jonathan Andrews explores whether that recognition will bring cities to the fore at the upcoming negotiations in Durban, South Africa u

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November 2011 • United Cities 7

Climate Change

8 United Cities • November 2011

The exhibition aimed to raise awareness of environmental issues and climate change for the city’s citizens as Durban gears up for the hosting of the COP 17 conference in November and December

Photo: City of Durban

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p to 10,000 local citizens in Durban experienced first hand creative and innovative initiatives at the city’s second Sustainable Living Exhibition which took place in September this year. Attendees of all ages were able to see, touch, and experience water and energy saving solutions for homes and businesses, and creative artwork from recycling, organic gardening and composting systems.

“I am inspired by the creativity of people who are turning cans into caps, buttons into jewellery, and turning trash into cash,” said Ayande Dube, a visitor to the exhibition who said that it planted a seed in her mind to live more sustainably.

The exhibition aimed to raise awareness of environmental issues and climate change for the city’s citizens as Durban gears up for the hosting of the COP 17 conference in November and December. Schools, NGOs and businesses showcased their work, inspiring all who visited to make a difference and to start to live more sustainably.

Since the Cancun COP 16 meetings at the end of 2010, cities have planted their own seed within the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Local and subnational governments were officially recognized as governmental stakeholders in the UNFCCC process and more importantly it was the first time that cities were explicitly mentioned in the UNFCCC documents.

“I think it was very important as we know that it is impossible for countries to reach the targets without mobilizing their cities first,” says Ronan Dantec, Deputy Mayor of Nantes, France, and UCLG’s lead negotiator on climate change.

The Mayor of eThekwini (Durban municipal government), James Nxumalo agrees but says that what must now happen at COP 17 is to turn this into action. “We want to profile the work that local governments around the world are doing in terms of climate protection and to report on their progress in achieving measureable and verifiable mitigation and adaptation actions at the local level.”

With this momentum come expectations that cities will take the lead and the advantage of their new status in

Climate Change

The Mayor of eThekwini, James Nxumalo

the agreements. Yet many believe cities have already shown to be leaders in climate change and that this recognition will only strengthen their positions.

“I don’t think cities have ever not been ‘in the game’,” explains Dan Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist, Cities and Climate Change, World Bank. “I think probably what will come out of COP 17 is recognition by sovereign state negotiators that any agreement that they reach will be largely handed off to the cities to be implemented.”

Even previously, without this new recognition, some believe that cities and mayors were the actual leaders on mitigation and climate change and were the real drivers in many countries.

Citywide programmes including building codes, traffic management, ‘smart’ power meters and street lighting have begun to

yield results. On a larger scale, the City of Tokyo, established the world’s first city-based Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), showing cities’ commitment and potential that they can bring to GHG reductions. Already Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai are showing a keen interest.

“What I think is starting to happen is the recognition that 80 percent of the adaptation of the costs and impacts are going to happen in cities,” says Hoornweg. “As cities respond to the call to fight climate change, new partnerships and new ways of doing things are emerging.”

One such partnership has been the establishment of a global standard on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from cities. C40 Cities, a cities climate leadership group, and ICLEI, local governments for sustainability, announced in June 2011 that by the time of the COP 17 meetings they will have established a global standard for accounting and reporting communityscale GHG emissions that can be used across platforms.

New city standards for measuring emissions “Cities of all sizes play an important role in combating the impact of climate change,” says C40 Chair and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Establishing a single global standard for reporting GHG emissions will empower local governments to accelerate their actions and access funding for mitigation and adaptation projects.”

The standard, once developed, will allow for accurate monitoring of progress against emissions targets, facilitate robust climate action planning, and provide standard guidance as local governments pursue environmental reviews, inventory certification and other relevant policy making processes in their day-to-day operations. www.pfdmedia.com

Buoyed by the common mantra echoed by mayors throughout the world of ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’, the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative in June this year. This agreement will address structural issues that make it difficult for cities to finance climate actions that have been identified by the World Bank Group and C40 Cities, particularly in helping cities accelerate current actions to measure and reduce GHG emissions.

“This unique partnership with the World Bank will help solve many of the problems that cities face in obtaining financing for climate-related projects,” says Bloomberg. “It will also make it easier for C40 cities to access the resources of the World Bank.”

By the time of the COP 17 meetings the World Bank will have established a single, dedicated, entry point for cities to access World Bank climate change-related capacity building, technical assistance programmes and climate finance initiatives. The MOU will also outline common tools and metrics, citytailored finance, and enhanced city-tocity learning.

Durban, as the host city, aims to foster city-to-city learning by showcasing some lead examples of its own including the event during a mayors’ summit, community meeting and roadshows. These include award winning wastewater management programmes, solar panel installations with financial assistance, educational initiatives, its own implementation of a low-carbon strategy and ensuring that the carbon footprint of the COP 17 meetings are held to a minimum.

“What we really want to see stemming from these meetings is that the Global Covenant of Mayors on Climate (Mexico Pact) is extended through the inclusion of a Durban Adaptation Pact, to help spotlight the urgent need for climate change adaptation issues in cities so that they receive the same kind of attention and funding opportunities as mitigation interventions,” says Durban ‘s Mayor Nxumalo. www.pfdmedia.com

What many now argue and see is that cities’ creativity, pragmatism and impact was ignored at the top level and wasn’t seen throughout the world, also cities weren’t effectively called upon to mitigate GHG emissions, but now through the COP 17 meetings, many believe this will change.

“One of the great hopes is that cities can now be more fully in the game,” says

Hoornweg. “Cities will be there at COP 17, but mostly cities will see a continuation and intensification of discussions, debates, and flat-out brawls as they wrestle day-to-day adaptation in a changing climate. Cities are very powerful groups that the world has the ability to call on them and give them a bit of recognition, for example via direct funding, in order to accomplish some of these enormous tasks.” 

Special South-African Local Governments Events A global advocacy and capacity building process for the Local Government and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency has been developed in the run-up to COP 17. This process will be delivered by main local partners SALGA (South African Local Government Association), SACN (South African Cities Network), eThekwini (the Durban municipal government) and global coordinating partner ICLEI, in close partnership with local government, city networks and key private sector partners. The process is designed to advance the global Local Government Climate Change Roadmap formally embarked upon in Bali, 2007, and will be marked by a series of interlinked and complementary milestones, events and outputs ahead of and during COP 17/CMP 7.

Local Governments Climate Change Road Map For COP 17/CMP7, the objectives of the global Local Government Climate Change Roadmap are to: • Build on successful global advocacy and milestones achieved leading up to, and since Bali, through the global Local Government Climate Change Roadmap linked to the UNFCCC COPs since 1995.

• Reinforce the need for, and seek increased recognition of, the pivotal and urgent role of cities and local governments in the implementation of immediate, up-scaled local climate actions.

• Provide platforms for high-level interventions, direct negotiations and new partnerships aimed at new and increased commitments, resources, policy frameworks, legal mandates and PPPs to enable significant and urgent up-scaled local climate action.

• Demonstrate and report on local climate commitments and actions and the cumulative current and projected impacts of such commitments and actions for the global common good.

• Build on the outcomes and momentum of previous UNFCCC COP engagements, Resilient Cities 2010 and 2011, and related regional and international local government climate advances.

Cities Carbonn Registry (Mexico Pact) In November 2010, UCLG World Council gave mandate to the Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, to represent United Cities and Local Governments, the global organization of local, regional governments and their associations in the COP 16, and to bring forward the involvement and concrete actions of local and regional governments to Parties. This involvement is embodied in the Mexico City Pact that has been signed by 152 cities at the World Mayors Summit on Climate held in Mexico city on 21st November 2010, which was held in the continuation of UCLG third world Congress also hosted by Mexico City.

The Mexico City Pact consists of two parts: the first mentions considerations as to why cities are strategic in combating global warming: the second establishes a set of voluntary commitments to promote strategies and actions aimed at mitigating GHG emissions and adapting cities to the impacts of climate change.

The Cities Climate Registry provides cities with a sound and transparent instrument for establishing links and negotiations with multilateral, regional, sub-regional and national financing agencies, by having a common methodology supported by scientific and technical criteria that validates their climate actions.

By signing the Mexico City Pact, the signatories agree to jointly cooperate with the aim of increasing direct access to international climate funding for cities.

November 2011 • United Cities 9

Climate Change

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Climate change reporting: why cities need a global platform

Photo: z-clone

Conor Riffle of the Carbon Disclosure Project explains how measuring climate change action can really benefit cities

Dublin was one of the first cities to seek the benefits of climate change reporting

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hen Dublin City Council looked around for ways to kick its climate change activities to the next level, staff members turned to local companies for inspiration.

They found that many of the multinational companies based in Dublin were reporting their climate change activities to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

“We noticed that when companies were engaged in climate change reporting, it was mostly to CDP,” says Mark Bennett, Green Business Officer with Dublin City Council. “We felt that our city would also benefit from this process of publicly 10 United Cities • November 2011

reporting our climate change activities and being able to measure ourselves against our peers.”

So last year, the city of Dublin became one of the first cities to report to CDP, a global not-for-profit organization based in the US and the UK. Since 2000, CDP has administered an online questionnaire which it sends to large, listed companies every year. Companies use this to report their greenhouse gas emissions, risks and opportunities, and other climate change related information.

The information reported to CDP is made available to investors, governments

“We felt that our city would also benefit from this process of publicly reporting our climate change activities and being able to measure ourselves against our peers” www.pfdmedia.com

and the general public via its website and data outlets like Bloomberg and Google Finance. “Our mission is to put highquality climate change data at the heart of investment and public policy making,” says Paul Dickinson, CDP’s founder and executive chairman. “We believe that better data can lead to better decisions that drive investment toward solutions to climate change.”

CDP has some extra help in encouraging companies to respond: 551 institutional investors representing US$71 trillion dollars in assets stand behind CDP’s request. Investors make decisions in part based on how a company responds to CDP. Companies are paying attention: this year, more than 400 of the world’s largest 500 companies reported their climate change data via CDP. CDP now promises to bring this same transformative process to city governments around the world. “We realized that city governments could also benefit from the process we originally set up for corporations,” says Nigel Topping, Chief Information Officer, CDP. “Finding efficiencies, driving reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and identifying risks — these are all actions to which cities can relate.” In 2010, in partnership with C40 Cities, CDP announced the extension of its reporting platform to city governments. Last year, 48 cities participated, including over 70 percent of the C40 members. These cities reported on their greenhouse gas emissions, risks and opportunities, and actions to address climate change. With the help of multinational consultancy KPMG, CDP turned the aggregate data from all of the participating cities into a report, launched in June 2011, which summarized the key trends and analysis.

For cities, a common reporting platform could be a climate change game-changer. For one, reporting will lead to better, more complete data about city action on climate change, which is currently a chronic problem for policy-makers. Nobody can agree, for instance, on cities’ total contribution to global climate change — is it 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, or closer to 30 percent? This www.pfdmedia.com

Community emissions reduction targets, by city

figure, in addition to other data about cities, are urgent questions to resolve over the next decade if we hope to make the right climate change policies at the national and local levels.

Reporting can also drive action to measure greenhouse gas emissions and climate change risks. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” says Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s mayor and Chair of C40 in the foreword to the CDP Cities 2011 report.

Managing greenhouse gas emissions

and risks from climate change is a key activity that every government must undertake if they want to make a meaningful effort to reduce their emissions and become more climate resilient. The opportunity to report can help to accelerate the pace at which local governments begin measuring and tracking key climate change metrics.

And finally, global reporting can help cities to attract outside investment.

Investment is the lifeblood of cities, creating jobs and contributing the tax u

Emerging practices from C40 Cities in climate change governance

November 2011 • United Cities 11

Climate Change

base, and the role of city governments in attracting investment is becoming increasingly clear. A recent article in the Financial Times urged investors to look beyond the traditional nation-state paradigm in considering investment risk. “Global investors usually think in terms of countries,” the article said “They should be paying more attention to cities.”

As the attention of major investors shifts more towards cities, the transparency and commitment to management that comes with reporting is increasingly paramount.

The main highlights from CDP Cities’ latest results are below. How does your city stack up?

• Responsibility for climate change sits at the highest level in C40 cities.

Nearly every responding city reports the involvement of their senior leadership in taking responsibility for climate change.

Many cities also make special note of their efforts to engage local citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders in climate change-related decisions.

• Large city governments are keeping pace with major corporations on greenhouse gas measurement and disclosure. Two out of every three responding cities measure and report their GHG emissions, a number just slightly lower than the equivalent metric for the Global 500, the largest 500 companies in the world.

• Climate change risks to cities are serious and immediate. Over 90 percent of disclosing cities identify themselves as at risk due to climate change. A further 43 percent report that they are already dealing with the effects of climate change in their areas.

• Businesses in major cities could be at risk due to warming temperatures. 79 percent of cities report that climate change could affect the ability of businesses to operate successfully in their cities.

As cities grow and the climate changes, maintaining safe, resilient environments for people and businesses will be increasingly important.

How can we get citizens to think green?

While technology exists to retrofit buildings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, if office workers continue to leave all the lights on each night then efforts to tackle climate change will be thwarted.

Sarah Marks examines some of the tools that have been used to change citizens’ behaviour and reveals what strategies city leaders can adopt to make their residents act responsibly

• C40 cities report city-wide GHG emissions totaling 609.5 million metric tonnes CO2-e. This figure is equivalent to the total emissions from a country like Canada.

In 2012, CDP Cities is inviting the largest 140 cities in the world to participate. However, city governments of any size are welcome to report. CDP is free to all. If your city government is interested in participating contact the Carbon Disclosure Project at: Cities@cdproject.net.  Photo: TravelSmart Australia

• C40 cities show extraordinary awareness and commitment on climate change issues. An impressive 42 out of 58 cities responded to CDP this year, a 72 percent response rate. 38 cities made their responses available to the public. Such high rates are unusual in what is for many cities the first year of reporting and demonstrates clear leadership by C40 cities.

Climate Change

Walking to school was one of the individual marketing messages of the TravelSmart campaign in Western Australia

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n the 1980s Californian utility companies collectively spent US$200 million to promote energy efficiency in the home. The result? A miniscule reduction in energy use. The Pacific Gas and Electricity Company actually splashed out more money on advertising the benefits of home insulation than it would have cost to install it in the homes of every single person it was trying to reach (source: McKenzieMohr report, 2000).

Energy consumption needs to be reduced but how can cities persuade citizens to change their habits? Do people need incentives?

“No,” says Geoff Brown, Director of Tangent Consulting, a company specializing in community change programmes. “We are too often lured into incentive strategies, assuming that 12 United Cities • November 2011

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people need to profit or gain something else to stay changed. If a project can connect people with people and build relationships and networks, then this is probably the biggest gain people can get; we are social creatures and we seek connection.”

According to Brown, campaigns for behavioural change should target the social context and remember that humans have an ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ mentality. “Most research shows we are herd animals – we do what we do subconsciously and under the influence of those around us,” explains Brown. “We have long assumed that if we insert the right knowledge into people’s heads, then they will respond with a predictable change in behaviour. This is wrong and most of us know it – but this thinking still persists.”

A project that Brown worked on – Castlemaine 500 – is a good example of this. Castlemaine, a town in Victoria, Australia, with a population of approximately 7,000 was selected by the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance for a behaviour change programme aimed at reducing household energy use.

The programme used workshops, home assessments, community conferences and a local leaders programme to attempt to change residents’ energy consumption behaviour.

The project was successful in reducing gas consumption by 15 percent and electricity consumption by 8 percent, but failed to reach the 500 households it had targeted to sign up, with only 351 formally registered – a problem thought to be due to an overcomplicated sign-up process.

Results showed that behaviour is more likely to change when people become involved in networks and social groups that provide them with reassurance and create a group mentality. “Of significant interest in our findings is that the creation of social spaces proved to be one of the most influential aspects of the project,” states the report.

Participants reported that talking and sharing knowledge and experiences were vital for them to learn and change their behaviour.

Contrary to Brown’s view that people don’t need incentives is that of Ozzie Zehner, author of the forthcoming environmental book Green Illusions. He argues: “Personal incentive is a mandatory precondition for successful policy. Otherwise you’re fighting an uphill battle.” u November 2011 • United Cities 13

Targeting the individual TravelSmart – a project that John Pinkhard was involved in – shows how campaigns that tackle individuals rather than groups can work. The project in Western Australia aimed to reduce private car use through the use of individual marketing techniques to change travel behaviour. The campaign was based on the assumption that generalized marketing of public transport is ineffective in reducing private car use.

Maps, timetables and route guidance were given to 15,300 households in South Perth. The result was a 14 percent reduction in car journeys and a 17 percent reduction in the distances travelled by car, which perpetuated over time.

The government of Western Australia’s Department of Transport report numerous benefits from this behavioural change, including: reduction of over 20 million car trips; 200 million fewer car kilometres; 60,000 tonnes less greenhouse gas emissions; an extra 3 million public transport rides; 5 million extra hours of physical activity from more walking and cycling trips, and the reduction of fuel use by 20 million litres, saving a total of A$ 24 million (US$ 24.3 million).

A Scottish government report which analysed the campaign estimated the cost of the project to be US$729,000: US$ 408,000 for household visits, US$ 251,000 for marketing information and US$ 70,000 on monitoring. Even though the results are significant, the behaviour ‘change’ is not necessarily so dramatic – according 14 United Cities • November 2011

to the Scottish report, the people who participated in this initiative were already predisposed to environmentally conscious behaviour and sought out the information voluntarily. However, Pinkhard argues that the programme has been a success. “The people who had already reported an interest in adopting more environmentally forms of travel did so as a part of the intervention,” says Pinkhard.

Photo: Green Illusions

The argument for incentivizing behaviour doesn’t necessarily just focus on providing benefits. “An incentive could involve the removal of a barrier to engage, rather than the introduction of a new benefit,” explains John Pinkhard, Director of Ansons Consulting Ltd, a company that designs behavioural change programmes.

“For example, moving a compost bin closer to the back door could act as a motivator because it reduces the need to walk all the way to the back fence on cold winter evenings.”

Climate Change

Ozzie Zehner, author of the forthcoming environmental book Green Illusions

Although significant energy savings were made and greenhouse gas emissions were reduced, the Travelsmart campaign appears to have succeeded in encouraging the believers rather than converting those who were not aware or had chosen to ignore the savings afforded by change. Zehner sheds light onto why behavioural change on sustainability is so hard to achieve. “Even though the long-term risks of climate change are widely acknowledged in public discourse, it’s difficult for citizens to

mobilize changes to their individual behaviour in response to such nebulous concerns,” he says. “Concerned citizens may lionize sacrifices for being noble, even virtuous, but as a global society we unsympathetically ignore them in practice. No matter how well intentioned we may be, we’re often unaware or unable to accurately assess the impact our choices have on the larger world.”

So for Zehner, campaigns influencing human behaviour that rely on sacrifice, will power, or which appeal to ethics, no matter how valid or insightful they may be, will fail next to those offering real benefits. “Policies to reduce energy consumption will have a much better chance of success if they generate tangible, up-front benefits such as cost savings, free time, and other valued attributes,” says Zehner.

“I’m not arguing against sacrifice or restraint. I’m only pointing out their limitations as policy tools – especially where there are more capable options.”

The key is to highlight the benefits which must be more than just being labelled a ‘green citizen’. “Motivators can also be internally or externally derived,” explains Pinkhard. “For example, a subsidized transit pass may serve as an external motivator to use public transport more often. Knowing that you can read a book or sleep on the journey may be a strong internal motivator to catch a train.”

Legislating for behavioural change In Berkeley, California, there is no such carrot and stick approach for its programme to reduce household energy use. The city didn’t try to coax residents to adopt energy-saving measures, instead, it imposed legal obligations on residents to force them to change their behaviour.

The Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) project in Berkeley, California, targets people during moments of transition in their lives, when they are moving house. The objective is to reduce household energy use, and the law states that homeowners have one year from when they decide to renovate www.pfdmedia.com

or sell their house, to upgrade the property to comply with energysaving standards set by the local government. Responsibility lies with the homeowners, who must also finance the upgrade up to the maximum value of US$3,400. The amount owners spend is capped at 0.75 percent of the final property sales price. There is funding available from the State of California and nonprofit organizations work within the framework to keep down the costs of materials like loft insulation.

Homeowners gain an estimated US$450 in savings annually from reduced energy consumption. The project has resulted in a 13 percent reduction in domestic energy use and demonstrates how the force of law, combined with interventions in the material context of behaviour can be effective at changing behaviour.

Real estate agents do not like the law as they think it makes it harder to sell properties. But the mayor says citizens welcome such initiatives.

“Berkeley residents are supportive of green requirements that don’t cost too much,” says Tom Bates, Mayor of Berkeley. “We are offering rebates in conjunction with PG&E rebates with federal stimulus money.”

Getting into people’s minds In the absence of laws obliging citizens to be green or incentives to make change, political leaders have resorted to psychological pressure to convert the ‘unconvertible’ to green action.

In India, the government cleverly tapped into an existing sense of pride to motivate homeowners to install toilets.

A countrywide campaign was launched called ‘No toilet, no bride’, designed to put social pressure on those without toilets who were hoping to find a bride.

The rural and farming population which were being targeted had a history of defecating in the open. The reason for the toilet campaign was really to improve sanitation and reduce disease – but those factors alone hadn’t been sufficient motivators for the population to use or install toilets previously. But by understanding that traditionally www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: Curt Carnemark and World Bank

Climate Change

The No Toilet, No Bride campaign targeted rural coummunities in India to stop open defecation and encourage better sanitation

women in Indian households are responsible for cleanliness, and harnessing that knowledge while supporting it with technology and information, an increase in the use and installation of toilets was possible.

“One of the fascinating things about studying the history of our toilet habits is the realization that even our most basic social actions are taught, and that a strong motivator for change is desire for social status and avoidance of shame,” explains Shawn Shafner from The People’s Own Organic Power Project (www.thepoopproject.org) “While international health advocates are able to encourage people in ‘developing’ countries to adopt proper hygiene through the use of these social factors (i.e. India’s toilet campaign), sustainable advocates in the ‘developed’ world have yet to tap into this idea on a massive scale. For example, how do we make the reusable water bottle sexy while creating social shame around the use of disposable bottles?”

Understanding social psychology Behaviour change is a complex issue, but the three contexts in which it can occur should be noted: individual, social and material. The value of peer pressure and the feeling of belonging to a social group or a network of likeminded thinkers can be a powerful motivator – no one wants to be an

outsider. People don’t necessarily need incentives to change their behaviour – they just need to feel that they are moving in sync with the rest of the herd but incentives can be a way to create the herd mentality by provoking people to change behaviour to take advantage of the tangible benefits which follow from the change.

In fact, the most powerful strategies are those that become automatic, where performing the energy-saving task is built into daily life, mainly thanks to the design of surrounding infrastructure. Zehner gives an example: “People who live in dense cities appreciate the convenience of walking down the street for groceries or to see friends,” he says. “Even though they are using far less energy than their suburban counterparts, they wouldn’t know it. These energysaving conveniences become such an appreciated part of daily life that residents of walkable communities perform them unconsciously.”

What city leaders really need to do is remove the opportunity for choice.

Only when lights and air conditioning turn off automatically, vehicles are only manufactured with electric batteries and plastic water bottles are banned as in Toronto, can we be sure that behaviour has changed. If we don’t have a choice then we need not worry about the impact of those choices.  November 2011 • United Cities 15

Climate Change

Climate Change

Photo: Tony Clough

Why reducing building emissions is key to tackling climate change The building sector, which represents 10 percent of the economies of many countries and contributes up to one-third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally, has the greatest potential to reduce (GHG) emissions in all parts of the world. It is these facts that led the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to launch a new initiative in 2006 focused on global building sustainability, and in particular climate change. Curt Garrigan, Coordinator of the UNEP Sustainable Buidlings and Climate Initiative, explains how it has led to the development of a new international standard to measure emissions which will go before the ISO in 2012 16 United Cities • November 2011

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Photo: UNEP

U

NEP’s Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative (UNEPSBCI) is a partnership between multinational corporations, local and national governments, non-government organizations, and building sector representatives from across the globe.

In its relatively short existence, the initiative focused its work on addressing barriers to improving the energy and resource-efficiency of buildings. In response to the lack of a universal metric for measuring and reporting energy consumption in, and emissions from, existing buildings, the UNEP-SBCI and its members have developed a globally applicable measurement to support the reduction of GHG emissions. This measurement is known as the Common Carbon Metric (CCM). The CCM is a protocol and tool for measuring energy use and reporting GHG emissions from the operational phase of buildings. It was developed with the specific intent of creating a methodology that defines the climate impact of buildings, through a consistent protocol which can assist in the establishment of baselines and which meets requirements for measurable, reportable and verifiable, ‘MRV,’ reporting a key element in potential international financing mechanisms for energy efficiency in the building sector.

The value of the CCM is clear, as Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch at UNEP, who oversees UNEP-SBCI and serves as a Board Member points out. “Developing a protocol that addresses the need to meet MRV requirements will truly help unlock the potential for the building sector to achieve significant emission reductions,” he adds. “The CCM helps provide a framework to measure emission reductions in buildings by establishing baselines and providing a means to measure progress from energy efficiency projects, thereby facilitating various financing opportunities.” What’s more, the CCM is sufficiently groundbreaking that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently decided to consider it as a basis for creating an international standard.

Professor Tomonari Yashiro, University of Tokyo

“Serious and urgent needs exist to establish international consensus on a globally applicable common method of measuring operational energy use in existing buildings”

Professor Tomonari Yashiro, University of Tokyo

The CCM intentionally focuses on the narrow measurement of operational energy use at the building level, given that the operational phase of buildings is estimated to account for 80 to 90 percent of buildings’ energy consumption, and thus is the phase where energy efficiency interventions can have the greatest impact. Moreover, the CCM has been specifically designed with global application in mind. To ensure the CCM can be used in developed and developing countries alike, it relies on widely available data as simple as energy bills or metering. This ensures that developing countries are not excluded, where more comprehensive data collection or infrastructure may not support the

capacity for a full-life cycle approach including, for instance, the construction or demolition of buildings.

Launched at COP15 in Copenhagen, the CCM measures energy use and intensity in kWh/m2/ yr, and GHG emissions (equivalent) in kgCO2e/m2/yr and kgCO2e/occupant/yr.

In 2010 the tool and protocol was pilot tested by UNEP-SBCI members and partners. As a result of the first pilot test, refinements to the tool were made and a second pilot test was completed this year. UNEP is also promoting the use of the CCM through its projects, including two which target sustainable building policies in developing countries, of which one is specifically focused on social housing projects.

“An important task is to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the CCM in various locations,” says Hoballah. “As we put the CCM into practice, both in UNEP’s work and others, we not only prove the value of the tool, we help those who use it such as cities, governments, and owners of building stocks, to establish their baselines and measure their progress towards increasing building efficiency and reducing emissions.”

In late 2010, Professor Tomonari Yashiro of the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Sciences, who serves as a convenor of an ISO u November 2011 • United Cities 17

Climate Change

interview

Providing a harmonised methodology: The Common Carbon Metric (CCM) The Common Carbon Metric (CCM) is a protocol for measuring energy use and reporting GHG emissions from the operational phase of buildings. Developed by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiatives (UNEPSBCI) it was launched in response to the need for a globally harmonized methodology to define the climate impact of buildings.

Josep Roig, UCLG Secretary General Josep Roig was announced as the new Secretary General of UCLG at the organization’s Executive Bureau meeting in Rabat in June 2011 having previously been Secretary General at Metropolis. He talks to Nick Michell about his plans for UCLG and what he hopes to achieve for the organization

“UCLG can become a network of networks where the work developed by specialized organizations, and the regional and national associations can be enriched and scaled up to foster global decision making and define our strategies”

Arab Hobollah, United Nations Environment Programme

working group studying sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works, put forward a New Work Item Proposal (NWIP). This proposal recommended that his group develop an international standard to provide a universal method of measuring GHG emissions from buildings during the operational stage. Professor Yashiro further suggested using the CCM as the basis and reference for the development of the standard.

Professor Yashiro had independently discovered the work of UNEP-SBCI on the CCM and was convinced that the protocol had broader application than facilitating financing mechanisms. “Sustainabilityrelated standardization is one of the most significant issues in current ISO strategies,” says Professor Yashiro.

“Serious and urgent needs exist to establish international consensus on a globally applicable common method for measuring operational energy use in existing buildings, and to report the associated GHG emissions from such operations. I hope the standardization

by ISO will facilitate diffusion of the CCM to many areas of business.”

The proposal to use CCM as the basis for new international standards for buildings will be put on the agenda of ISO members within a year. If appropriate, new draft international standards will then be prepared on energy consumption and CO₂ 18 United Cities • November 2011

emissions which, when finalized, could be adopted within three years.

While the development of the CCM represents a significant achievement in UNEP-SBCI’s work programme, it is not the only product of this unique public/ private partnership hosted by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics in Paris. UNEP-SBCI has also produced other tools, such as a ‘Quick Scan Policy Tool’, developed in cooperation with Central European University. The Quick Scan Tool allows users to assess, based on simple inputs drawn from the existing context of a jurisdiction and the policies and practices it currently has in place, what policy interventions may be effective in advancing sustainable buildings. Such projects have been made possible by the UNEP-SBCI through its tireless efforts to build and expand a network of collaborators, and the contribution of its membership through participation in working committees.

“One of the unique aspects of UNEPSBCI is that we have created a broad network of members and partners with whom we collaborate to deliver on our work programme,” says Hoballah. “Our members bring practical experience to the initiative, which we try to foster into consensus for methodologies and tools to advance sustainability in the sector; building on our members’ expertise to better inform policy development.”

• Local, regional, national and international governments’ policies and initiatives, • Emission reduction mechanisms including NAMAs, flexible financing mechanisms and carbon crediting, • Industry initiatives, • Building portfolio managers and owners, and • National building rating schemes The CCM will establish baselines; enable measurable, reportable and verifiable (MRV) reporting; and, help unlock the potential for significant reduction in GHG emissions in the building sector.

On a broader scale, the UNEP-SBCI is currently working on development of a Sustainable Building Index (SB Index). The Index is being developed to ensure a globally consistent framework is available to understand, measure, report, and verify the influence of the performance of building stock on core sustainability issues. The UNEP-SBCI, and its growing membership, hopes that the SB Index will provide a common language for sustainability, which informs policies, regulations, building codes, and other tools necessary to advance sustainable buildings.

“Through its collective action, our membership has had a catalyzing role in elevating the discussion about sustainable buildings, and contributed to a body of knowledge that is informing policies worldwide,” says Hoballah. “As we approach the Rio+20 conference next year, we are developing a clear message for stakeholders through our unique platform to emphasize importance of addressing a broader range of sustainability issues through the adoption of sustainable building policies and practices.”  www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: UCLG

Photo: UNEP

The CCM is being developed to inform:

Josep Roig

What does it mean to you to have been appointed the new UCLG Secretary General? How do you think your experience with local and metropolitan governments can help you in this new role?

I have worked with cities for many years. In the era of urbanization I see being appointed as the new UCLG Secretary General as a great challenge.

I am further honoured to have been entrusted this task by local leaders from around the planet, whom I greatly respect. Working with these men and www.pfdmedia.com

women that shape our cities and our territories has always been a great inspiration.

My previous experience in local, metropolitan and regional governments in Metropolis and the City of Barcelona has helped me to understand the members’ needs and demands of cities on international associations. I also share the “action oriented” view of local politicians and experts, who are facing up to the challenges in the daily life of their citizens.

What do you think is the most important mission of UCLG? What are you hoping to achieve in your term as UCLG Secretary General?

During its first six years of existence, UCLG has made great progress. A lot of energy has been put into consolidating its membership and common values. As the President said in Mexico [at the Third UCLG World Congress], it is now time to take a step forward, to set goals for the future. I am very excited about pursuing the strategic exercise. I am hearing very interesting feedback from members and partners about their expectation from the organization and their vision for the future. I am very keen to utilize the full potential of modern technologies to develop our pivotal role in stimulating global dialogue and decision-making among local authorities. UCLG has great potential to become a true network for global advocacy, knowledge and action.

UCLG can become a network of networks where the work developed by specialized organizations, and the regional and national associations can be enriched and scaled up to foster global decision making and define our strategies. u November 2011 • United Cities 19

interview

calendar

Upcoming Events

What do you mean by “network of networks”?

A network of networks involves both the autonomy of its nodes and collaboration and exchange among network nodes to achieve a single system. UCLG remains open to new partnerships with other networks sharing similar values and objectives.

In my view the strength of UCLG is its global and diverse nature. All local and regional authorities can find their place in the organization. UCLG should be the place to test ideas, present plans and define global strategies together. Different types of involvement should be possible in different topics and diverse opinions are welcome in our organization. I hope we will be able to convince many more cities of the important things to be learned and shared.

How can UCLG encourage cities to share knowledge and best practices worldwide?

I am very confident that UCLG can be instrumental in bringing the important contribution of cities, local and regional authorities to the international stage. There are vast experiences and skills that can be further nurtured through learning among peers. We are committed to building strong partnerships that will enable UCLG to provide better services for its members and contributing through that to a a better quality of life for the citizens.

UCLG can grow to become the link between local governance and global governance. Our logic is at the same time bottom-up and top-down. UCLG is the place where local leaders can develop collective learning and define strategies which can influence the visions of central governments and international institutions.

We need to learn to better connect ideas, knowledge and policies between different levels of governance, while fully cooperating with other complementary networks both public and private.

According to UCLG’s view, what are the biggest challenges that cities face for the future?

Our last World Congress in Mexico, held in November 2010 saw the adoption of the Manifesto for the 20 United Cities • November 2011

United Cities and Local Governments World Council

Photo: United Nations

Date: 9-11 December 2011 Destination: Florence, Italy Web site: www.cities-localgovernments.org Description: The next UCLG World Council will take place in Florence (Italy) on 9-11 December 2011. All members of the Council are invited to participate.

UCLG President Kadir Topbas (left) met with the UN Secretary-General (right) in March to discuss an enhanced role for UCLG

City of 2030. In this Manifesto, the local and regional leaders across the world agreed on the main challenges that cities face and the need to find common solutions.

Facing up to the challenges of climate change, ensuring the achievements of the Millenium Development Goals, promoting gender equality and mobility and urban strategic planning, examining the challenge of water in cities, supporting the use of culture as fourth pillar of sustainable development, ensuring the good delivery of basic services and making cities resilient are among the biggest challenges that local leaders face every day.

We have learned over the past years that strategies need to be flexible and broad enough to adapt.

When we all thought we could focus on efficiency and achieving the development goals the findings around climate change and the financial crisis took over our agendas.

The agendas of local and regional authorities are being adapted as we speak. I am however convinced that looking at the new definition of the Habitat Agenda in 2016 will be among our priorities.

Do you think UCLG should play a bigger role vis a vis the UN? How can that be made possible? How do you cooperate with the UN currently?

UCLG´s vocation is to be the counterpart of the international community representing local and regional authorities. Mayors, Governors and other local leaders that have the responsibility over the wellbeing of millions of citizens are ready and willing to share experiences and visions before the international governance system.

The UN has been an important ally for our movement, helping us move forward on the agenda of decentralization and local democracy but we think further steps need to be undertaken. Our task however does not end at the UN but rather at all the international forums of relevance.

UCLG brings together local governments and they are the key link between the values and actions of the citizens, and the values and action at the global level. We represent governments which are closest to citizens, and we influence national and global governance.

Our active role in UNACLA (United Nations Advisory Council of Local Authorities) is a first step to wider recognition within the UN system.  www.pfdmedia.com

Energy • 4th NUR International Scientific Research Conference – Energy, 16-18 November 2011, Butare, Rwanda Environment • International Seminar on Climate Change and the Role of Local Government 27-28 November 2011, Dhaka, Bangladesh • The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 17 / CMP 7,

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28 November – 9 December, 2011, Durban, South Africa • International Conference on Sustainable Development 5-7 December 2011, Putrajaya, Malaysia Gender • Gendered Violence Conference, 23-25 November, 2011, Bristol, United Kingdom Governance • Inaugural Trans Urban International Conference (ITIC), 12 November, 2011, Dubai, United Arab Emirates • 2nd Annual Building Partnerships within Urban Indigenous Communities, 29-30 November 2011, Melbourne, Australia Health • Emergency Medicine in the Developing World, 15-17 November, 2011, Cape Town, South Africa

• World Toilet Day Summit, 22-25

November, 2011, Haikou, China

ICT • 2nd International Symposium on Innovation and Technology ISIT, 28-30 November, 2011, Lima, Peru Transport • Safe Roads Middle East Conference, 21-22 November, 2011, Dubai, United Arab Emirates • IRF International Conference: Innovation in Road Infrastructure, 2224 November, 2011, Moscow, Russia Water • Asia Water Summit, 17-18 November 2011, Jakarta, Indonesia To feature your events in the Upcoming Events section, please send details to editorial@pfdmedia.com

November 2011 • United Cities 21

housing

housing

community initiatives and education for the children – one reason they cannot leave.

Visitors to South Africa are often shocked when they drive out of the upmarket areas of major cities and suddenly find themselves passing vast expanses of slums. These informal settlements are the legacy of apartheid, but now that that regime has been abolished, why are the shacks still standing?

Kirsty Tuxford reports from Cape Town

Limitations on new housing The question of which shack residents can afford what is difficult to answer, as the informality of their existence and for many, their cash-in-hand income, makes the gathering of statistics regarding the number of residents and their economic status a complicated matter.

“This perception that if you live in an informal settlement it’s just because you are poor – that’s a fallacy”

Photo: Kirsty Tuxford

Bonginkosi Madikizela, Minister of Informal Settlements, Western Cape

Military Heights near Cape Town

W

alking through the shanty town of Khayelitsha on the edge of Cape Town is a sobering experience. In stark contrast to the fashionable new apartments and hotels overlooking the city’s waterfront, the water here consists of dirty puddles in which shoeless children are playing.

Kilometre upon kilometre of squat, dilapidated makeshift ‘homes’ have been banged together from scrap sheets of corrugated metal and planks of old rotting wood. No one has their own bathroom, and rubbish is piled up on street corners.

An outsider would assume that poverty has driven people to live in these slums yet one is struck by the contrast between the new cars of the slum 22 United Cities • November 2011

residents which shine in the afternoon sunlight next to their dingy homes.

How can people in these pitiable shacks afford such vehicles?

“People must not think that people are in informal settlements just because they need a house – it’s not like that at all and this perception that if you live in an informal settlement it’s just because you are poor – again, that’s a fallacy,” says Bonginkosi Madikizela , the Minister for Informal Settlements in the Western Cape. “An informal settlement does not actually indicate a housing need. Not at all. People reside in informal settlements for a variety of reasons – some had a house and they sold it and they went to live there; some go there because you don’t have to pay – you just build your

shack; some go there because they’re involved in criminal activities.”

There are, of course, genuinely poor people living in these shanty towns with no choice at the moment but to put up with the appalling conditions, and a visit to other settlements – including Military Heights in the Lavender Hill area where there are no cars and not even paved roads – highlights the dire state in which some people are living.

“I had a house before,” says Berny, a 35-year-old mother of six who lives in a shack in Military Heights. “I lived with my family, but I heard that if I came here I could get a house of my own so I came, but it wasn’t true. I’ve been here seven years now, but I can’t leave.” In Berny’s case, she and her husband are heavily involved in www.pfdmedia.com

To understand why people are still living in shacks also relates to supply and demand. The central government’s post-apartheid constitution promised to provide adequate housing for all, and government-subsidized RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses are being built at a rapid rate and given for free to the most needy at a cost of ZAR 100,000 (US$12,300) per unit to the local government.

But in the Western Cape alone the current housing backlog is for around 500,000 people according to Madikizela.

What’s more, the local government has a grant of ZAR 2 billion, which will allow for the building of only 16,000 units and 16,000 serviced sites (sites connected to water and electricity). “If we continue with our current approach of building, it will take 28 years to clear the backlog,” says Madikizela. “And that’s not including the migration to the province, which keeps increasing the demand.”

There are several grumbles from some waiting for RDP houses: they won’t be able to afford the bills once they move into the house, or the houses are too small or their www.pfdmedia.com

family life will be too upset by a move.

“We were offered houses but they were too far away from our children’s schools,” says one resident in Military Heights township.

“We would have to relocate and start all over again,” she complains.

The houses go to poor people without jobs who cannot afford their own home. “This situation doesn’t bode well for the government, it isn’t sustainable,” says Madikizela. “You cannot go around the cities, flooding them with free houses for people who cannot afford to pay because that will affect the revenue collection of the municipalities and the ability of the municipalities to provide free services to the people who really deserve to be subsidized.”

According to the minister, the biggest problem with the RDP houses is that they do not encourage people to seek employment. “If the government is going to give you a grant, send your children to school for free, make healthcare services available to you for free and if the government is going to give you a house for free, then it’s a complete disaster, because it really doesn’t encourage people to go out there and look for work,” says Madikizela. “The taxpayers are angry because what this means is that the few people that are working have to pay more taxes in order for the government to subsidize this luxury. It is not sustainable.”

invading land all over and demanding free services and free houses. You can earmark land for development, with the intention that you prioritize people who’ve been on the waiting list the longest, but then, if it is occupied by people who arrived there yesterday, there is a problem because you can’t evict them. As a result, the people who’ve been on the waiting list the longest end up being compromised

Legislation encouraging informal settlements Despite the effort towards building the promised houses, there are aspects of South African law which also exacerbate the problem by contributing to the growth of informal settlements.

The Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act (PIE) states that people cannot be moved from land they have occupied (once 48 hours have passed) until the authorities have found them alternative accommodation – thus encouraging the illegal occupation of land by those who are either desperate for a proper house, or less inclined to work to earn money to pay rent because free houses are on offer.

“That Act might have been established with good intentions,” says Madikizela, “But we are getting people

Berny (right), a resident of Military Heights, says she came there because she was promised her own house

Photo: Kirsty Tuxford

Bringing new homes to the townships

and unfairly treated because the Act says that you must move these people [the invaders] to an alternative accommodation and that ends up stalling the development for years at the expense of the people who should be prioritized.”

“I would agree that the current policy is not addressing the problems of poverty, as evidenced by the lengthening waiting list of houses,” says Professor Anton Harber, Director of Journalism and Media Studies at Wits University and author of the book, Diepsloot – a book about life in a Johannesburg slum. Harber believes an approach that facilitates more people building their own or contributing to their own housing is needed, rather u November 2011 • United Cities 23

Sponsored Statement

housing

Services over houses One such fundamental is access to services.

Minister Madikizela has committed to making sure that there are no more informal settlements without basic services in the Western Cape by the end of 2014. The focus isn’t solely on building houses, but on also providing decent living conditions for those who are waiting. There are about 134,000 shacks in Cape Town, and 51,000 in the rest of the province – with an average of five inhabitants per shack. Thousands of people are waiting

Residents of informal settlements complain that they cannot afford the bills that come with new housing

youth in the construction of houses and for the financial year 2010/2011, 3,500 housing units were delivered as a result of the combined efforts of government and communities.

“We need to give people security of tenure, even in informal settlements, and allow them to monetize and trade in their property and houses as assets,” argues Harber. He also recognizes the scale and range of demands on state resources, and suggests that education and job creation should be prioritized.

24 United Cities • November 2011

for housing in terrible conditions, without access to the basic services of clean water, sanitation and refuse removal.

“It costs ZAR 100,000 to build one house but it will cost us only ZAR 14,000 to make sure that each household has access to water, electricity and sanitation,” says Madikizela. “If we use this money wisely we will be able to cover everybody and the majority will have access to basic services.”

Another issue that local government has promised to look into is that some

• The Southern African Housing Foundation (SAHF) is a private sector initiative aimed at bringing housing professionals together to support the development of sustainable communities. The SAHF aims to improve the quality of life of local communities through training initiatives, job creation programmes, harnessing of indigenous technologies, facilitation of the manufacture of building materials and construction programmes, and the promotion of community-based projects relating to self-help, empowerment, capacity building and skills development.

• Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa (Omigsa) Alternative Investments recently raised ZAR9 billion for its housing impact fund for South Africa. The money goes to help those earning less than ZAR15,000 per month. Affordable homes for sale and rent are to be built and housing loans made available.

professional workers cannot get access to government housing subsidies or mortgage loans and are left unable to afford housing even though they have an income. These are workers such as nurses, teachers and policemen who typically earn between ZAR 3,500 and ZAR 12,000 per month and therefore do not qualify for a government subsidy, but neither do they qualify for a housing loan from the banks.

Some private sector funding is available to assist (see box) but the position of such workers is often overlooked. “They also need to be able to own houses, yet currently it’s very difficult for them to do this,” admits Madikizela.

Building houses for people living in informal settlements won’t eradicate the shacks. But using funds to provide access to water, electricity, refuse collection and sanitation for those that are awaiting new homes at least reaffirms their dignity and can encourage people to look for work and seek education.

“I cannot allow our current approach of measuring our success by the number of houses we build to continue while people are waiting in such difficult conditions,” says the Human Settlements Minister. “This is why I am shifting the Department’s focus to first make sure that the basic services are provided, so at least people can live in dignity and health while they wait.”  www.pfdmedia.com

LED Lighting Simply Enhancing City Life How Philips innovative LED lighting solutions help rapidly growing cities meet the sustainability challenge Today, more than half of us call cities our home. In twenty years, that figure will have risen to some 60 percent, and by the middle of the century, more than two thirds of us will live in urban areas. That equates to three billion extra city dwellers, most living in rapidly expanding conurbations in emerging economies, like China, India and several countries in Africa.

C

Photo: Philips

Private sector assistance for housing

“None of the other issues (such as housing and health) will be solved until there are improvements in these fundamentals,” says Harber.

Photo: Kirsty Tuxford

than the expectation for housing to be handed down.

The People’s Housing Process (PHP) is a process whereby beneficiaries are actively involved in the decision making over the housing process and product, and, must make a contribution towards the building of their own homes.

“Instead of employing a constructor, which would cost a lot more, we are saying that skilled people from the community must be brought on board: bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters etc,” explains Madikizela. The idea is to give residents a sense of pride and ownership of their homes and a desire to improve the community in which they live.

Initiatives include involving women and

LED lit Malaysian motorway

learly, the sharp rise in urban population offers great opportunities for economic and social development and at the same time, presents cities with enormous challenges. Issues such as cutting back energy consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, securing a reliable energy supply, ensuring public safety and maintaining a sense of community will be at the top of the agenda for every city far into the future.

Philips is committed to helping cities meet these challenges. The company has been at the leading edge of the lighting industry, driving a wave of innovative LED lighting technologies that offer city authorities a wide range of possibilities for highquality sustainable lighting, that enable impressive energy savings, especially when combined with ‘intelligent’ management and control systems, enabled by ICT. Earlier this year, the Malaysian Ministry of Works partnered with Philips Lighting to create a highly u

By switching to Philips LED technology, the Malaysian Government has saved more than 50 percent in energy consumption while cutting its carbon emissions in half www.pfdmedia.com

November 2011 • United Cities 25

Sponsored Statement

energy- efficient LED lighting solution to illuminate three roads leading to the Subang Airport, Federal Highway and Middle Ring Road 2. This lighting solution emits high-quality, neutral cool white light, improving the visual safety for drivers and motorcyclists. By switching to Philips LED technology, the Malaysian Government has saved more than 50 percent in energy consumption while cutting its carbon emission in half.

This helps the Malaysian government realize its ambition to reduce its energy consumption, while at the same time creating livable, vibrant and safe city areas.

Solar driven LED street lighting Guiyang, China 26 United Cities • November 2011

Hangzhou canal

City Identity

As the global population increases, creating an identity that will attract business and tourism and bring communities together will be another growing challenge for cities.

For the city of Hangzhou in eastern China, urban planners wanted to find a way to bring more areas of the city to life, to give its residents outdoor spaces where they can relax and enjoy the outdoors.

By ‘painting the city with light’, our lights have brought people out of their homes to create communities that otherwise would not have existed Working with Philips these urban planners used the company’s LED solutions to light up an iconic section along the city’s 2,000-year-old canal system, choosing a blue-green color

palette to highlight the spaces in a dramatic and enchanting way The versatile LED lights not only use less energy than the municipality had originally expected, they’ve also transformed the entire area. By ‘painting the city with light’, they’ve brought people out of their homes to create communities that otherwise would not have existed.

A leader in light for more than 120 years, Philips hopes to partner with cities to help them express their unique identities and truly shine on the global map by using sustainable, high-quality lighting to making them safe, efficient and beautiful places to live and work. 

Photo: Philips

Recent innovations in LED lighting and solar technologies have made it possible for Philips to offer reliable off-grid solutions that are even more sustainable by providing high-quality, cost-efficient lighting using sunlight instead of conventional electricity.

This solution is especially valuable in the “sun-rich” cities in and around the equator. These cities can take advantage of the many hours of sunlight to supplement the capacity of their conventional electricity grid, addressing growing concerns about their ability to meet the steep increase in energy demand.

In China, Philips Lighting in partnership with the Climate Group and the One Foundation has developed tailor-made, solar-driven lighting solutions to light the streets of Guiyang.

During the day a solar panel converts solar energy into electrical energy that is stored in a battery. When night falls, the battery discharges, releasing enough power for the LED luminaire to light the road.

Philips has developed what is said to be the most effective and costefficient solar-driven LED street lighting solutions available on the market today.

In addition to being highly sustainable, these all-in solutions offer reliable lighting if the electricity grid fails and make it possible for the more than 1.6 billion people in the world who do not have access to electricity, to have light after sunset.

Photo: Philips

Powered by the sun

Photo: Philips

Sponsored Statement

We have managed to develop the most effective and cost-efficient solar-driven LED street lighting that people can rely on if the electricity grid fails

Africa LED street lighting www.pfdmedia.com

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November 2011 • United Cities 27

aid

aid

Why governments can be vital development partners

for the development processes within a country,” says Knip. “It is within the government spheres closest to citizens where the real impact of effective aid delivery will be noted. This explains the need to recognize the dimension of multi-level governance in which all spheres of government have a role to play to achieve effective delivery of aid and development outcomes.”

In Paris in 2005 and Accra in 2008, international discussions started on the definition of principles for sustainable aid known as the Aid Effectiveness Agenda. Ahead of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea, in November 2011, Andrew Bates looks at the importance of recognizing local governments as essential development partners and why this has been overlooked in the past

The themes covered in the Paris declaration include: Ownership. Developing countries need to set their own priorities for development, to strengthen their institutions and to lead in coordinating aid.

Alignment. Donors should position their aid behind developing country priorities and make better use of a country’s plans, policies and systems.

Harmonization. Donors need to coordinate to avoid duplication, simplify procedures and agree a better division of labour with partner countries.

28 United Cities • November 2011

Managing for results. Developing countries and donors must keep their focus on producing - and measuring - results.

Mutual accountability. Donors and developing countries should be held accountable for the results they achieve to each other, and to their parliaments and public.

While the Paris Declaration was extremely important in bringing the aid effectiveness agenda to the fore, it is widely believed that it has fallen short in its objective of enhancing aid effectiveness in the years since it was signed.

“The Paris Declaration still needs to find a way to reconcile the current aid effectiveness agenda, which mainly addresses issues related to ODA (official development assistance) provided by traditional donors (OECD/DAC members), with the challenges and opportunities emerging from the development support provided by new development partners, including local and regional governments,” says Monica Nogara, Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination.

In September 2008, development partners came together for the Third High Level forum in Accra, Ghana, to galvanize efforts to achieve the targets laid out in the Paris Declaration. At Accra, donors and partner country governments

Photo: Bergmann

A

id effectiveness is about ensuring the maximum impact of development aid to improve lives, cut poverty and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. At the beginning of the 21st century it became clear that aid was not delivering the results that were expected and inadequate approaches and differences in donor approaches were making aid less effective.

As a result, in March 2005, over one hundred ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials met in Paris at the Second High Level Forum and committed their countries and organizations to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Bussan, Korea, will host the upcoming forum on aid effectiveness

recognized that strengthening national ownership of development required a wider dialogue that fully includes parliaments, local authorities and civil society organizations as well as southsouth cooperation and aid provided by middle-income countries.

Although important documents relating to the effective delivery of aid came out of the meetings in Paris and Accra, they have mainly been donor-driven and excluded other development actors in their formulation. Local governments are barely mentioned, with the accountability and governance principles of the level of government closest to the citizens not taken into account.

“Well, when you are at the top of the mountain it is not easy to see what is happening in the valley,” says Peter Knip, Chair of the Capacity and Institution www.pfdmedia.com

Approximately half the world’s population now lives in urban areas and virtually all of this urban growth is occurring in the developing world, resulting in severe social and economic inequities and escalating rates of poverty Building Working Group Structure and Director of VNG International. “There is a tendency across the world for national politicians and national policy makers to overlook the importance of good local governance.”

It was highlighted in the discussions around the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra that true ownership of national development strategies could only be effective if www.pfdmedia.com

all stakeholders are consulted on the needs and constraints, and in order to ensure this ownership, the capacity of all stakeholders has to be developed. This needs to include local governments.

“Local governments have the responsibility -and hopefully the passionto ensure equitable delivery of essential services, in many cases including social services around health, welfare and housing and are therefore very important

Tackling the challenges of urbanization Approximately half the world’s population now lives in urban areas and virtually all of this urban growth is occurring in the developing world, resulting in severe social and economic inequities and escalating rates of poverty.

Urbanization is placing an enormous burden upon both rural and urban local governments, as they struggle to put in place responses to deal with the effects of these unprecedented demographic shifts. In this context, local and regional authorities must become both key development actors and the target of development cooperation.

In addition, fast growing urbanization is giving rise to a major and pressing need for future infrastructure projects, however, these infrastructure needs are currently being unmet. Failure to invest in infrastructure has already impacted severely upon the daily lives of millions of citizens in developing countries. The achievement of the main international development commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals and the global fight against climate change and its impacts will be won or lost in the urban areas of the planet and particularly in the slums.

“The emergence of new categories of countries [e.g. middle-income countries (MICs)] as a result of development progress has strengthened regional and south-south development cooperation,” says Nogara. “This in turn has enhanced the role of regional and local actors as development partners.

Rapid urbanization and the emergence of mega-cities in the developing world have also strengthened the role of local municipalities as key actors for the delivery of basic services to broader sections of citizens.” u November 2011 • United Cities 29

Climate Change

Decentralization boosts delivery of aid for health services in Tanzania

The Government of Guatemala introduced new legislation in 2002 that aims to stimulate the participation of all communities, including indigenous, in local government. The legislation regulates the process of decentralization, recognizing indigenous identity and the right to preserve and strengthen indigenous forms of local authority. If correctly applied, the framework will eventually allow indigenous communities to directly manage development funds earmarked for their communities, which take into account their own cultural identity and traditional values.

In 2000, eleven Development Partners (Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, One UN, Switzerland, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank) began pooling un-earmarked resources in support of Tanzania’s Health Sector Strategic Plan (FY04-FY09) and its MKUKUTA (Poverty Reduction Strategy). Creating a common fund (known as the Health Basket Fund) for the health system represented an effort to harmonize development cooperation in the sector and remove distortions in sector allocation priorities, which would commonly occur before the reforms, when there were multiple distinct health interventions.

The Nimlaha´kok and Nimlasa´chal micro-regions requested support from and collaboration with Herent, Belgium, in order to strengthen their governance, local capacity and autonomy. They elaborated a set of criteria as pre-conditions for a good working partnership, which included support for the indigenous group of Maya-Q´eqchi´s who seek recognition as a Local communities are now clearly represented in the development process social entity and strive for self-governance. The most important claim is to return a percentage of the municipal tax revenue to the micro-regions so that they can decide where to allocate resources associated with their self-defined development priorities.

Photo: Rigostar

Local ownership and social mobilization in Guatemala

While the governance structure is quite complex and relatively new, the local communities are now clearly represented in the micro-regions, which enables them to have a voice in the municipality. The partnership is an excellent example of how the strengthening of democratic local government can lead to real progress in achieving a locally owned, people-centred approach to development.

enhance local capacity to plan, manage, implement and report on results.

Awareness about the role of local governments in development cooperation is gradually increasing.

The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) includes specific timelines and recognizes the importance of democracy, improvement of governance, social progress and environmental challenges as prime engines of development. The role of local governments has explicitly

Photo: Tjrdbsjung

Local governments, through decentralized cooperation, are playing an important role in the delivery of aid through peer-to-peer cooperation. Local governments and their associations can assist in the mobilization of community assets and significant resources that complement the financial contributions from donors. The delivery of these resources through programmes and projects that are co-managed by southern and northern partners promote mutual accountability and

The Forum will provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of local governments as development partners 30 United Cities • November 2011

been recognized in the development of national development policies.

The AAA also recognizes the need to support capacity building initiatives of local authorities and emphasizes the importance of local resources in the provision of technical cooperation.

Further progress has been made recently with the release of the Second Draft Outcome Document for the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will take place in Busan, Korea, from 29 November to 1 December 2011. The document recognizes the critical role that local governments play in linking citizens with government, and in ensuring broad-based and democratic ownership of countries’ development agendas.

“Indeed local governments are being recognized, though very marginally,” says Knip. “The Busan High Level Forum is promoted as an inclusive forum which suggests that local governments and their perspective on aid should be included in a broader sense. We had hoped that this inclusion would be broader and more significant. The concept of inclusive and genuine ownership needs to be further deepened to significantly involve local governments in the stages from the elaboration to the evaluation of national development strategies.” www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: Jeffrey Gluck

Climate Change

A central feature of Tanzania’s Health Basket Fund is that it places greater Tanzania’s Health Basket Fund places greater responsibility for healthcare responsibility for, and control of, health services planning and delivery in the in the hands of local government hands of regional and local governments, while ensuring that this planning is aligned with the Health Sector Strategic Plan and the Government of Tanzania’s poverty reduction strategy. The Fund has enabled resources to be redistributed in individual districts, providing additional funds per person. According to the Joint External Evaluation of the Health Sector in 2007: “The Health Basket Fund has played a particularly important role in supporting the meaningful implementation of decentralization of responsibility for health services to Local Government Authorities”.

Tanzania’s sector wide approach to health care has, no doubt, achieved significant improvements in health outcomes that are unparalleled in other countries – between 1990 and 2004, annual death rates in children under five in Tanzania fell by 40 percent and between 2000 and 2004 alone, by 24 percent. An April 2008 study published in the British medical journal The Lancet showed that, if its trend of improved child survival is sustained, Tanzania could reach the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) — a reduction of mortality in children under five by two-thirds — by 2015.

The document states that the Working Group on Aid Effectiveness will accelerate and deepen the implementation of existing commitments to strengthen the role of parliaments in ensuring ownership of development processes, including by supporting capacity development, backed by adequate resources and clear action plans. There will be further support for local governments to enable them to assume more fully their role going beyond service delivery, enhancing participation and accountability at sub-national levels.

The Working Group also vows to implement fully commitments to enable civil society organizations to exercise their roles as independent development actors, with a particular focus on an enabling environment that maximises the contributions of civil society organizations to development.

The impact of decentralization on aid effectiveness While this recognition and support for local government is encouraging and necessary, there is still a need to deepen the impact of policies and efforts on broader development and include decentralization as a specific policy for development. Ownership www.pfdmedia.com

The Forum will provide an opportunity to draw greater attention to the importance of local government in recognizing decentralization as a specific policy for development, as well as the need for further research on the subject and accountability are improved by supporting an efficient decentralization framework with clear core powers and responsibilities and transfer of corresponding financial resources to local governments.

“Decentralization and decentralized cooperation as aid modalities have not yet been fully explored,” says Nogara. “Although there is an extensive body of research concerned with the challenges and opportunities of decentralization as a governance modality, there is no systematic assessment of its performance in relation to aid delivery and management. In my view, the inclusion of these modalities in the aid effectiveness agenda and debate would be facilitated by fresh research and data.”

Another reason why these modalities have been overlooked

in the past is the nature of the aid effectiveness debate. “ The debate is focused and guided by the principle of national ownership and the definition of national ownership remains highly political,” says Nogara.

It is clear that donors have begun to acknowledge that, in order to make aid more effective, local governments should be consulted and taken into account. Recognition in the Second Draft Outcome Document for the upcoming Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness is a significant step towards increasing the involvement of local government and acknowledging their value as development partners. The Forum will provide an opportunity to draw greater attention to the importance of local government in recognizing decentralization as a specific policy for development, as well as the need for further research on the subject.  November 2011 • United Cities 31

cutting edge

cutting edge

India pioneers use of solar power in city of Thane Local energy governance plays a key role in the transition to lowcarbon urban infrastructure. However, energy planning and local energy governance are largely absent from the agenda of most cities around the world. Here, Andrés Luque of the Department of Geography at Durham University’s Energy Institute, tells the interesting story of the alternative offered by Thane on the outskirts of the Indian metropolis, Mumbai

Photo: Andrés Luque

H

Thane has committed to a 10 per cent city-wide reduction in energy use in the next five years 32 United Cities • November 2011

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ome to some two million people, Thane is one of eight municipalities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. As a result of its proximity to Mumbai, the city has experienced rapid growth for the past decades. Such explosive growth dates back to the 1980s, when the population was just over 400,000.

Today, Thane District is one of the most populous in India. And politicians and public officials are concerned about how to cope with this expanding population and at the same time provide the infrastructure to meet growing demand.

The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has thus taken steps to increase renewables and energy efficiency for the entire city.

Over the past decade, the Corporation has experimented with novel energy schemes for public buildings such as theatres and hospitals, and in 2005 the local legislative body enacted a building by-law making the use of solar water heating mandatory for all new public and private construction.

More recently, in 2009, Thane became one of the first cities to join India’s Solar Cities Programme and committed to a city-wide 10 percent energy reduction over the next five years.

India’s Planning Commission considers that in order to meet

the energy needs of the country while maintaining a GDP growth of 8 percent per year, electricity generation capacity will have to be increased more than five times over in the next 20 years.

Innovation: public services running on renewables The TMC has pushed for energy innovation in its operations through different small to medium-scale projects, such as solar powered traffic lights, solar water heating for the city’s hospitals, thermal storage at the city’s main public auditorium and even a 50 kW photovoltaic system for the municipality’s offices.

One of the most recent innovations, for example, is an air conditioning system running on parabolic concentrated solar energy at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the city’s main public hospital. Over 90 solar parabolas are located in the roof of the hospital to generate water steam, which is then directed to a vapor absorption unit acting as a heat exchanger for the purpose of cooling air.

The hospital provides air conditioning only for the operation rooms and other sensitive medical areas that run during the daytime, so the solar system is appropriate for the specific needs of the building. u November 2011 • United Cities 33

Photo: Andrés Luque

The results of Thane’s mandatory policy on solar hot water systems can be seen as a success.

Just in public hospitals solar hot water is saving the municipality up to 500MW per year and almost US$ 50,000 in energy bills

A by-law makes the use of solar-powered hot water systems mandatory for new buildings

Local government taking the lead Perhaps one of the most notable things of this energy innovation is that leadership comes from a local government, rather than the private sector or a regional or national level energy agency.

As with any other innovation, risks are part of the experience. However, the municipality’s energy efficiency office known as the ‘Energy Conservation Cell’, convinced the local legislative body to assign funds for this energy innovation.

The Maharashtra Energy Development Agency provided additional funding and private sector partners committed to technological delivery.

Payment to the private partners occurs only upon delivery, testing and third party verification, and their terms of reference include a five year maintenance period that extends their responsibility and accountability. In this way the TMC has succeeded in distributing and managing risk.

Scaling up: mandatory solar hot water systems In 2005, Thane was one of the first Indian cities to enact a building by-law making the use of solar hot water systems mandatory for all new constructions.

Such local policies had already been 34 United Cities • November 2011

recommended by the Indian government, although very few cities went on to implement it. But in Thane, builders do not get a final occupation certificate unless they show proof of installation of solar water heaters. Thane is an exception in this regard, and today its growing urban landscape can be distinguished by its extensive use of solar hot water systems on roofs.

The results of Thane’s mandatory policy on solar hot water systems can be seen as a success. Just in public hospitals solar hot water is saving the municipality up to 500MW per year and almost US$ 50,000 in energy bills.

The users’ experience of solar hot water systems is often tarnished by cheap, low quality and undersized installations and solar industry leaders in the state of Maharashtra are worried that Thane’s mandatory requirements for solar hot water have resulted in low quality systems, potentially damaging the reputation of what still today could be considered as an emerging technology.

Energy planning Whilst energy efficiency and renewable energy can deliver significant financial and energy security benefits to cities, their implementation often receives a

low priority in local agendas. On the one hand, energy decisions are often outside of the remit of local authorities, while on the other, local governments tend to focus on more pressing urban needs, such as water provision, sanitation, flood prevention, waste collection and transport.

Through the funds provided, the Municipal Corporation is planning to establish a public energy information and resource centre, the Solar City Cell. It is expected to generate public awareness on energy issues, engage with final users, and help iron out some of the quality problems encountered.

Local energy governance Thane’s experience shows the multiple possibilities associated with energy governance activities at the local level.

It also points to the pivotal role that local governments will play in a world characterized by resource constraints.

Matters of energy conservation, renewable technologies and low-carbon transitions gain a new meaning when seen from the local lens. 

Making it happen: A roadmap for cities and local public services to achieve outcomes “Cities and local governments facing multiple challenges, which were intensified by the financial crisis, have urgently to implement strategies that allow them to compete for business investment, retain talent and attract visitors”1

T

oday, cities around the world are seen as the engines for sustainable economic growth.

And more than ever before the growth that cities can achieve is strongly linked to their power to address social, environmental and economic issues in a holistic manner, whilst making the most of future opportunities. But the most pressing challenge for many cities is how to make this happen and turn city visions into reality.

Last year, our report on cities and the global financial crisis Seizing the day highlighted the importance of strategy execution in the context of rising public sector debt, public spending cuts and the challenge arising of doing more for less in many countries. But how can city managers best execute the city’s strategy and deliver their vision in this new era?

Will they be able to deliver their desired outcomes? And can they overcome budget cuts (in some countries of up to 25 percent-30 percent) and still develop and improve their local economies?

As the world emerges from recession, our new report, Making it happen, identifies the success factors that are essential for the execution of a city’s strategy and making progress towards realizing its vision.

Cities of the Future Acknowledgements The author would like to thank ICLEI-SA, the Thane Municipal Corporation and the solar industry in Maharashtra for their support in the development of this research. Research leading to this article has been funded by the Durham Energy Institute and the Department of Geography at Durham University, UK. www.pfdmedia.com

The management of cities is a complex affair. In PwC’s publication Cities of the future,2 we looked at the ways to achieve the future development of a sustainable,

Figure 1: A holistic approach Strategic Ambition

Vision

Management capabilities Leadership

City Brand

Prioritisation

Social Intelligence

City Finance

Programme and Project

Performance and Risk

Partnerships

Property

People

Policies for Managing Capitals

Environmental Capital Social Capital Intellectual Capital

Culture & Leisure Capital

Sustainable Local Economy Infrastructure Capital

Execution and Performance Management

Participation and Political Capital

ICT Capital

A City of the Future, A City of Opportunity

competitive city. We advocated developing an integrated strategic approach, an approach which has now been tested with cities of varying sizes and degrees of development across the world (Figure 1).

But a strategy is only as good as its execution. The starting point for any city is to formulate a clear vision which captures its strategic ambition. It is therefore encouraging to see in the survey for Making it happen that, of 64 cities3 comprising a total population of over 120 million people, most respondents (over two thirds, 69 percent) have a strategic vision and for almost half of our respondents (48 percent) this vision is being implemented, having an impact

and is regularly kept up to date. And even where this vision is not in place, the need for it is recognized and in the vast majority of cases it is in development.

In order to channel all resources towards accomplishing the vision, a city’s management also has to develop multiple internal capabilities: an inspirational leadership, a resilient city brand and an ability to learn from other cities through social intelligence. It needs to manage its finances effectively. And it needs to have the capability to manage the city’s key programmes and projects, its performance risks and its assets including the human capital employed in performing any city’s functions. u

‘Seizing the Day: The impact of the global financial crisis on cities and local public services’, PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre, 2010.

‘Cities of the future – global competition, local leadership’, PwC, 2005.

3 In total, we received 108 responses: quotas of 5 responses per country were set to avoid any one country biasing the results.

1 2

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November 2011 • United Cities 35

Sponsored Statement

cutting edge

Leadership is not enough

It appears from our survey, however, that there is one standout internal capability driving strategy implementation: leadership. This is far and away the most important factor seen by our survey respondents as enabling strategy implementation with over three quarters (78 percent) emphasizing it. Furthermore, 80 percent of respondents believe that there has been a positive impact of leadership on the implementation and delivery of outcomes from their strategies, rising to 88 percent in developed countries.

appears to be a lack of capability to make plans resilient to the financial challenges: only a quarter (28 percent) of the survey respondents have a strategic plan underpinned by a financial plan, with key risks properly assessed and mitigated. For the rest, some or all of their financing is at risk. There is an associated lack of capacity in-house to manage and develop new forms of finance to enable the continuing delivery of services and outcomes to citizens: indeed, only 14 percent of

Figure 2: Capabilities to execute strategy External stakeholders

Cities around the world are seen as engines for sustainable economic growth

Only one in ten (11 percent) survey respondents has in place a comprehensive performance management framework

Capabilities to make it happen • Inspirational Leadership • Resillient City Brand • Social intelligence • Innovation • Financing and Financial Management capability

Clear, ambitious and widely shared vision

• Collaborative Partnering • Prioritisation and Implementation Planning

Successful execution of strategy

Delivery of outcomes

• Programme & Project Management • Comprehensive Performance Measurement & Risk Management Internal stakeholders

• Simplified and streamlined organization

– internally and externally – need to be aligned in order to maximize the chances of success. And in an era of fiscal austerity for many local governments, now is a time to prioritize and focus, both on outcomes and on the challenges of financing their delivery.

Indeed, our survey reveals that of the other internal management capabilities needed to accomplish a city’s vision (Figure 2), local governments are falling short of the necessary requirements in four key areas: • Financing: this is seen as the biggest barrier to implementing strategies, according to two thirds (67 percent) of our survey respondents. There also

our survey respondents reported that their organizations have a very strong capacity in this regard. The results are even more disappointing for developing country local governments where half (50 percent) of respondents report limited or no capacity.

• Simplifying, standardizing and streamlining4: large size can assist branding, but when we analysed our survey responses by size of organization (measured by employee), we found that size may constrain agility and the ability to get things done quickly. In particular, organizations with less than 3,000 employees seem more likely to involve all levels more in a highly collaborative

‘Standardizing processes, improving performance’, PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre, 2010.

4

36 United Cities • November 2011

• Re-designing their organizations to enable more effective collaboration with their primary stakeholders e.g. setting joint outcome targets, building new partnering competencies and professionalizing performance monitoring and management.

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process (37 percent compared to 15 percent) and have a less negative impact on strategy implementation arising from the number of decision-making levels (21 percent compared to 38 percent) and complexity in their organizations (20 percent compared to 53 percent).

• Implementation planning: only one in five (19 percent) of respondents have a comprehensive implementation plan, with accountabilities and responsibilities in place together with frequent monitoring, updating and risk mitigation. Indeed, one in five (22 percent) reported that they had no plan in place at all: no strategy can be implemented in such circumstances.

This is a particular issue for developing countries where a higher proportion, two in five (40 percent), of respondents have no plan in place.

• Supporting frameworks and tracking systems: given that we found that the greatest challenges to service delivery are outcome assessment (for 43 percent of our survey respondents) along with performance monitoring (41 percent) and needs assessment (40 percent), it is also of concern that the supporting tracking and information systems appear to be lacking. Only one in ten (11 percent) survey respondents has in www.pfdmedia.com

place a comprehensive performance management framework, which is fully aligned to the organization’s strategic objectives and supported by transparent reporting of performance to the public. Similarly, only one in six respondents (16 percent) has a comprehensive risk management framework in place and implemented throughout the organization. This is of particular importance given the trend towards increasing use of partnering including more sophisticated approaches to payment by results/ outcomes: where our respondents were making use of partnerships, 39 percent viewed payment by results as extremely effective. These trends require effective systems to be in place in order to measure, monitor and evaluate performance.

Making it happen

So, what needs to be done? Local governments face a challenging agenda for action to make things happen including:

• Assessing the impact of their size and scale and seeking out opportunities to standardize, simplify and streamline their operations.

• Developing clear, well documented implementation plans which make clear the roles, responsibilities and timetables for actions.

• Prioritizing and managing programmes and projects more effectively by putting in place systems to measure outcomes (social as well as financial) and value or money.  To find out more about our survey and download this report, as well as gain access to our full range of publications, please visit PwC’s Public Sector Research Centre (PSRC) at: www.psrc.pwc.com Hazem Galal Global Cities and Local Government Network Leader hazem.galal@br.pwc.com

Join the debate

PSRC is our online community for insight and research into the most pressing issues and challenges facing government and public sector organizations, today and in the future.

It enables the collaborative exchange of ideas between policy makers, opinion formers, market experts, academics and practitioners internationally.

For more information, contact Nick C Jones, Director of PSRC nick.c.jones@uk.pwc.com

• Investing in their capabilities around financing given that this is the biggest single perceived barrier to the implementation of strategies and delivery of outcomes.

November 2011 • United Cities 37

Sponsored Statement

Leadership is critical to the development and execution of an organization’s strategy – top level sponsorship is an absolute requirement, as this year’s survey again highlights.

But leadership on its own is also not a panacea. Outcomes are no longer dependent on the one, but the many, both within and across organizations.

With a proliferation of public, private and voluntary sector organizations working together in collaborative partnership to deliver public services, all stakeholders

Photo: R Forster

Sponsored Statement

Developing a clear vision and internal management capabilities allows a city to prioritize, invest in and strategically manage the building blocks or ‘capitals’ needed by any city for longterm prosperity – social, environmental, cultural, intellectual, infrastructural, ICT and political participation. By putting in place and implementing the appropriate policies, a successful city will maximize its investment in those capitals which are most relevant to its strategic vision, while optimizing its investment in those capitals which are less relevant. This approach is being adopted by visionary cities and local governments as a framework to think through the challenges they face.

Of course, all of this must also be done in a way that is sustainable and through collaboration and partnering with citizens, the private sector, academia and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Our survey shows that local governments do appear to be reaching out to their external stakeholders when designing their visions and implementing their strategies. For example, most local governments in our survey reported the need to partner collaboratively with private (87 percent), public (82 percent) and voluntary (77 percent) sector organizations to deliver their strategies.

A similar picture emerged when we asked about service delivery where three quarters of our survey respondents are currently using public-public and publicprivate partnerships as well as publicvoluntary partnerships (50 percent).

News: North america

HOUSING Homeless centre receives award Dallas’ Bridge Homeless Assistance Center, Texas, which offers a continuum of care provided by 19 organizations, has received the 2011 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Gold Medal. Since the Bridge opened in 2008, the crime rate in the surrounding area has decreased by 23 percent and the number of chronic homeless dropped from more than 6,000 to 150. The six-building campus uses innovative design for sleeping, dining, and multipurpose areas. The award was given to the centre for its work in helping to transform urban challenges into community opportunities.

ENERGY Atlanta provides energy efficiency rebates Atlantia, Georgia, is giving US$ 1 million in rebates for qualifying home energy efficiency improvements over the next 17 months.

SHINE (Sustainable Home Initiative in the New Economy) is a federal grant funded programme offering homeowners up to US$ 3,200 in rebates toward air-sealing, insulation, weather-stripping, caulking and replacement of leaky doors and windows that are the source of heating and cooling loss. During the pilot phase local contractors assessed over 125 Atlanta homes. Through SHINE the city hopes to achieve its larger target of reducing city greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.

38 United Cities • November 2011

Secretary General: Don Borut Address: c/o National League of Cities 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004, USA Tel: +1 202 626 3000 Fax: +1 202 626 3043 Website: www.nlc.org

HOUSING Vancouver launches 10-year plan for affordable housing Vancouver City Council approved an affordable housing and homelessness plan that outlines strategies to end street homelessness and increase affordable housing choices for all its citizens. The 10-year plan covers a range of housing options, from social housing and rental apartments to affordable home ownership. The plan expands on the city’s past focus on homelessness by looking at actions that can be taken to improve affordable housing options for all citizens, including affordable rental and home ownership opportunities.

Calgary wins geographic information system award

CULTURE

Uni Project opens its doors in New York An innovative approach to the standard library was launched in New York in September that aims to transform any available urban space into a portable public reading room and venue for learning.

Dubbed the Uni, it consists of three basic components: a structure, a book collection and a team of volunteers to help share books, showcase The Uni’s cubes stack and lock together, to create a portable public reading room the act of learning, and improve public space. The Uni aims to be installed and operated in parks, plazas, farmers’ markets and other outdoor spaces in New York City.

“We start with the conviction that books and learning should be prominent, accessible, and part of what we expect at street-level in our cities,” said a spokesperson. “The Uni is intended to be a new resource for the city, providing residents with a place to gather and contribute to their own well-being and advancement, as well as that of their neighbourhood and city.”

The Uni structure is based on a system of 144 open-faced cubes. The cubes stack and lock together, and can be installed in different configurations or heights to create an inviting space for people to gather in public. Each Uni cube provides shelf space for approximately 10 to 15 books or other materials. Each cube also has a cover element that can be used as a bench, a table, podium, or a display surface. In the early evening or in bad weather, these cover elements can be re-inserted to close up the Uni and can be further secured with a locking, waterproof cover at night. During the winter months the Uni Project is also looking at vacant storefronts as a way to continue providing services to the public.

The Uni relies on a volunteer corps of librarians, educators, and others, who believe in providing access to books and learning experiences, supporting local residents and neighbourhoods, and experimenting with new ways to do those things in the city.

“We think the Uni will work best as a permanent, familiar resource for a city neighbourhood with a goal of supporting place making, civic life, or education,” said the spokesperson. “That’s what we have tested in the first Uni for New York City. But we think lots of places could use a Uni, and 2012 will also be about exploring how to create ‘blueprints’ for replicating the Uni structure, collection and team in other locations.” www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: ESRI Canada

TRANSPORT Avondale, Arizona, launches new bus service A new circular bus route with tickets priced at US$ 0.50 has been launched with overwhelming support from the community in Avondale. The new buses ply a 19-kilometre route that gives residents greater transport options to dine, shop, work or study, as well as taking them to other transport connection points to places outside Avondale. The five buses were launched after a feasibility study, and public input meetings, indicated that 84 percent of residents said they would use the service occasionally if made available.

URBAN PLANNING

UCLG North America

Photo: The Uni Project

HEALTH Boston expands food truck programme An additional 15 food trucks have begun rotating among designated permanent locations in several Boston neighbourhoods. The food trucks are a part of the mayor’s Healthy Food Initiative to provide a fun, fresh way for people to enjoy a variety of food, with much of it healthy and locally produced. Trucks applying to participate must include at least one healthy menu option that excludes various fats.

news: North america

The team from Calgary was awarded for its use of GIS technology in business processes

Calgary, Canada, has been selected from more than 100,000 organizations worldwide for an award for its core-mapping project, which incorporates use of geographic information system (GIS) technology to centralize municipal land information maintenance. This enables the city to produce consistent basemaps to support numerous business processes.

“We applaud the City of Calgary for their innovative and forwardthinking use of GIS technology,” said Alex Miller, president, ESRI Canada (Environmental Systems Research Institute). “Having a central source for municipal basemaps allows their staff to access these resources quickly and easily integrate business data to enable better decisions. Whether it’s designing intelligent utility networks, planning sustainable infrastructure or tracking the condition of assets, they’ve enhanced their ability to provide more efficient community services. We’re proud that their project is being shared with the global GIS community through this award.”

The city migrated municipal land information maintenance from a previous computer-aided design (CAD) system to a GIS environment. Using ESRI’s ArcGIS technology, the city integrated legal surveys and land ownership data into a comprehensive geodatabase. This has increased Calgary’s efficiency in delivering high-quality, accurate and up-to-date geographic information and basemaps throughout the city. Since the basemaps and data are centrally maintained through the GIS, Calgary has eliminated redundant processes and improved data consistency across all systems.

“It’s a great honour to be recognized among the best in the GIS industry,” said John Lethaby, project manager, Infrastructure & Information Services, City of Calgary. “We’ve always been focused on maximizing the value of our information and technology resources to benefit the community. GIS allows us to do this. It provides us with a robust and richer platform for managing and sharing land information. With the advanced analytical tools it provides, we look forward to further leveraging the technology to enhance planning and decision support across our organization.” www.pfdmedia.com

EMPLOYMENT 200 new jobs created for low-income San Francisco residents San Francisco announced the launch of the Clean Streets Program to employ up to 200 low-income San Franciscans through the Human Services Agency JobsNOW3 programme. The programme will create public service trainee positions at the Department of Public Works for street cleaning and at the Recreation and Parks Department for park maintenance and cleaning. Workers began placements at the beginning of October.

Mayor Lee said: “We are offering low-income San Franciscans the dignity of a job and a pay cheque instead of unemployment.”

TRANSPORT Toronto to re-evaluate innovative traffic signals A traffic signalling system, which gives priority to pedestrians in a busy intersection in Toronto, will be re-evaluated due to apparent traffic build-ups during peak hour. The system allows pedestrians to cross a signalized intersection in all directions while traffic is stopped. But Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of Toronto’s public works and infrastructure committee, said concerns about downtown traffic prompted him to ask for a review. Currently, several cities around the world use the Pedestrian Priority Phase, including Tokyo, San Francisco, Miami, Auckland, and several Australian cities.

GOVERNANCE Seattle promotes greater accessibility to services for immigrants Seattle passed a bill that aims to improve outreach to its diverse immigrant and refugee communities and ensures that immigrant and refugee community members have access and benefit from city programmes and services.

According to the most recent available demographic data, 17 percent of Seattle residents are from immigrant and refugee communities. Through translation and interpretation tools, the city hopes to provide them with better opportunities to participate in the life of the city.

November 2011 • United Cities 39

News: latin america

GOVERNANCE Montevideo city promotes citizen participation The Mayor of Montevideo, Uruguay, along with municipal mayors from neighbouring councils, has launched a campaign to promote and encourage the participation of citizens in the election of municipal councils.

The campaign will involve the development of artistic activities on a campaign bus and through the mass media, as a way to ensure the widest dissemination of the election and functions of the municipal councils.

INFRASTRUCTURE Belize City updates drainage and road capacity The Belize Government will rehabilitate and improve drainage and road infrastructure in Belize City. The five-year programme will help rehabilitate and maintain 3,300 metres of canals, increasing their drainage capacity and reducing the frequency and duration of floods. Interventions will also include construction of side drains and resurfacing of streets affected by recent flooding, covering a total of nearly 7,000 square metres of road surface. The project will also recover urban spaces, including green areas, footpaths and cycle-paths. These interventions will increase porous areas, reducing runoff and aim to enhance living conditions and improve citizens’ perception of the city.

40 United Cities • November 2011

Mexico to fight urban poverty

Secretary General: Guillermo Tapia Nicola Agustín Address: Guerrero 219 y José María Ayora, Quito, Ecuador Tel: +593 2 246 9365 Fax: +593 2 243 5205 Email: flacma@flacma.org Website: www.flacma.org

ICT

Colombia expands fibre optic network to 700 cities The Government of Colombia has embarked on a large-scale national plan to promote Internet use throughout the country, tripling the number of municipalities connected to the Web through fibre optic networks, from roughly 200 to 700 municipalities.

The Vive Digital (Digital Living) Colombia is a strategy to significantly expand the country’s information and communication technologies (ICT) industry and More than US$ 3 billion will be spent developing Colombia’s fibre optic network infrastructure and Internet usage nationwide. More than US$ 3 billion will be invested over the next four years to develop the digital ecosystem and promote massive Internet use nationwide.

Goals of the plan include increasing residential Internet access from 27 percent to 50 percent of households, and for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, from 7 percent to 50 percent, by 2014. Overall the plan will increase Internet connections across the country fourfold – from 2.2 to 8.8 million. One of the primary aims of the plan is to implement connectivity for all government entities and educational institutes, as well as making broadband more affordable for the country’s citizens.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of ICT, Diego Molano, stated, “Our commitment as a government is to encourage mass use of the Internet to make a leap toward democratic prosperity. It has been demonstrated that the use of ICT tools in the life of every citizen has a great influence on the competitiveness and development of a country.”

A recent World Bank study shows that in developing countries, for every 10 percent increase in broadband penetration, economic growth accelerates by 1.4 percent. It also noted that developing the technology sector and accelerating the use and implementation of technology as a tool to close social gaps can achieve increased national competitiveness.

Mexico announced new funding to help fight urban poverty through a comprehensive approach that combines efforts targeting both physical needs – increased access to urban services and infrastructure – as well as social needs of people living in marginal areas.

Co-financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with counterpart funds from the Mexican government totalling US$ 280 million, the programme will improve urban infrastructure and access to basic services as well as strengthen social integration, benefiting at least 2.2 million homes a year. A special focus will be placed on populations suffering high poverty rates.

The loan will be used to pave roads, and improve water supply, sanitation, electrification and public lighting, waste collection and disposal, among other actions. On the social side, the programme will foster individual and collective skills and promote social inclusion and community participation and organization.

www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: Bas van de Wiel

HOUSING Nicaragua to increase neighbourhood improvements The Nicaraguan government, through financing from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the Netherlands, and the IDB, will support a housing and neighbourhood improvement programme focused on low-income families in Nicaragua. Some of the specific results expected from the programme include: improving 4,250 existing homes, the progressive construction of 4,000 new units, improving the basic infrastructure of 4,000 families in neighbourhoods lacking basic services and delivering land titles to 5,000 families.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

UCLG Latin America Section Federación Latinoamericana de Ciudades, Municipios y Asociaciones (FLACMA)

Photo: Ivan Soares Ferrer

TRANSPORT Bolivia bans cars for the day The inaugural National Day of the Pedestrian was celebrated in nine Bolivian cities that saw up to 2 million cars removed from city streets. Pedestrians reclaimed the streets for the day as the government aimed to raise awareness about the environment and to simultaneously reduce pollution. President Morales kicked off the day joining in an early morning marathon through La Paz’s streets.

news: latin america

Increasing public lighting is one part of the infrastructure improvement programme

This component includes services delivered in Community Development Centers (CDC), such as training workshops targeting different skills, spare time activities promoting civic integration, prevention of risk behaviours in adolescents, and assistance to female victims of violence and support for senior citizens.

The strategy is complemented by a pilot scheme which seeks to expand and improve interventions in selected districts in order to reduce vulnerability to violence with the help of community-based interventions.

The programme includes paving or repaving of 17 million square metres of road surface and the laying of 1,000 km of water pipes, 1,350 km of drainage and sewer pipes, and 168 km of electrical wiring. It also provides for the installation of 57,000 streetlights, construction and improvement of a total of 300 centres for victims of violence, construction and/or equipping of 840 Community Development Centers. www.pfdmedia.com

SECURITY Mayors bet on surveillance cameras Mayors across El Salvador are in the process of installing surveillance cameras in an attempt to reduce their city’s crime rate.

Up to 60 of the cameras, that can detect faces and license plates, were to be installed in October throughout the capital, San Salvador, in the city’s most crime ridden areas. A Guatemalan company will donate the cameras, and follows on from successful installations in Mexican cities where cameras have helped reduced crime rates.

ENERGY El Salvador strengthens electric power system In an effort to increase energy savings and diversify the country’s energy matrix, El Salvador will reform its electric power sector through a US$ 100 million loan.

The IDB financing aims to increase the use of renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiency, and encourage private sector participation and regional electricity integration in accordance with the country’s National Energy Policy.

TRANSPORT Four Colombian cities overhaul public transport systems Colombia, with US$ 320 million in financing, will develop strategic public transport systems in the cities of Pasto, Popayán, Armenia and Santa Marta, benefiting 800,000 passengers on a daily basis. It will focus on urban transport infrastructure, with an emphasis on mass transport, systems with improved lane usage, and new passenger stops, stations and transfer terminals. Additional facilities include maintenance workshops and yards, as well as operations control centres and streamlined traffic light control systems.

CO2 emissions are to be reduced by up to 78,000 tonnes within a year.

GOVERNANCE Chile and Honduras sign municipality co-operation agreement During the 10th National Congress of Municipalities held in Santiago, Chile, the Chilean Association of Municipalities (ACHM) signed a co-operation agreement with the Association of Municipalities of Honduras to exchange experiences of best practices in municipal management.

The new president of ACHM, Mayor Raul Torrealba said: “for a global world it is essential to maintain links with other countries and we have much to learn from our Honduran brothers and we have much to offer them.”

November 2011• United Cities 41

News: EUROPE

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY 30 countries recognize challenges of climate change Sustainable energy and climate protection at the local level are complex issues and require commitment, the involvement of multiple stakeholders, financing and supportive policy, as well as local-national partnerships, according to the findings of a summary paper exploring the challenges and needs of local governments in the context of the current climate and energy situation. The paper was produced by cities, towns and their representative associations and networks from 30 European countries, including the 27 EU member states, Croatia, Lichtenstein and Norway.

GOVERNANCE New president elected for Spanish association of municipalities Juan Ignacio Zoido, mayor of Sevilla, has been elected president of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) Spanish member association. “As the mayor of mayors, I ask that you join me in doubling our efforts, with your citizens at heart and solutions in mind,” said Zoido. Angel Fernandez was also elected as the FEMP’s new secretary general.

42 United Cities • November 2011

CLIMATE CHANGE European regions discuss climate change ahead of international conference in Durban A few months ahead of the COP17 meetings on climate change in Durban, South Africa, European regions are getting together in Lyon, France to discuss sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, and interregional solidarity and cooperation. The aim will be to optimize the implementation of regional climate protection action plans and to identify best practices and public-private partnerships in the fight against climate change.

Polish programme modernizes 3,000 km of roads

Secretary General: Frédéric Vallier Address: 1 Square de Meeûs B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 511 7477 Fax: +32 2 511 0949 Email: cemr@ccre.org Website: www.ccre.org Paris Office: 15 rue de Richelieu 75001 Paris, France Tel: +33 1 44 50 59 59 Fax: +33 1 44 50 59 60

TWINNING

CEMR calls for budget of one euro per citizen for new ‘Europe for citizens’ programme The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) called on the European Commission to strengthen the 2014-2020 ‘Europe for citizens’ programme based on a symbolic budget of one euro per citizen, a total of €495 million. The call was issued in the final declaration adopted during Rybnik hosted the European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning the closing session of the European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning, in Rybnik, Poland.

The increase from the current €215 million would bring continued support to twinning links, of which there are currently 40,000 in Europe, and extend partnership possibilities to countries in the east and south of Europe. Support for twinning in EU neighbouring countries would notably help promote mutual awareness and understanding, and allow for the development of local democracy and decentralization in these countries.

In order to facilitate the opening up of the ‘Europe for citizens’ programme to neighbouring countries, CEMR also recommended that the new European External Action Service include if not a full unit, then a least a dedicated expert for local and regional authorities.

CEMR continues to bring support to the creation of a ‘European Academy for Local and Regional Governance’. This academy would operate in the framework of the European Erasmus programme for local and regional elected representatives, as approved by the European Parliament in 2009, and would involve a number of local and regional partners at the European level.

CEMR also called for the setting up of an observatory for the implementation of the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, launched by CEMR in 2006 and which now counts 1,050 signatories. The main mission of this observatory will be to provide a platform for the exchange of good practices and expertise in order to guide local and regional authorities in their implementation of the Charter objectives and accompanying action plans. The observatory will also provide monitoring and evaluation tools in order to help measure results on the field.

The Congress was organized by CEMR in partnership with the Association of Polish Cities, a CEMR member association, and the City of Rybnik, with the financial support of the European Commission and under the patronage of the Polish EU presidency.

Photo: Tomasz Sienicki

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CEMR welcomes new EU cohesion regulation The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has welcomed the European Commission integrating detailed provisions on local development strategies and partnership contracts in its regulation on the future of EU cohesion policy for the increased involvement of local authorities in the development and implementation of operational programmes.

The Commission’s regulation promotes local development, which encompasses both urban and rural-urban issues, as a key priority in operational programmes.

TRANSPORT

UCLG European Section Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR)

Photo: Przykuta

GOVERNANCE European Charter of Local Self-Government needs to be better incorporated in national legislation The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE) declared its aim to better improve the incorporation of the CoE’s European Charter of Local Self-Government in the domestic laws of its member states, at the occasion of its 21st session ‘Living together in dignity’ held in Strasbourg, France. The Congress approved new reports monitoring the status of local and regional democracy in Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia and Serbia.

news: EUROPE

www.pfdmedia.com

3,000 kilometres of roads have been built or reconstructed in Poland

Close to 3,000 km of municipal and county roads were built or modernized from 2009 to 2011, thanks to the national programme for the reconstruction of local roads, put forward by the Association of Polish Counties (ZPP), a member association of CEMR.

Thanks to this established cooperation, new roads and bridges were built, older road networks were repaired and engineering equipment was replaced or fixed “Our pro-development decisions not only altered the local environment. But have also had a significant impact on the entire country,” said Marek Trams, president of the Association of Polish Counties. The Association of Polish Counties represents 319 out of 379 Polish counties, which accounts for 75 percent of the population.

The national government agreed to allocate close to one billion zloty (€227 million), with the investments having been financed 50 percent by the state and 50 percent by local and county authorities.

Thanks to this established cooperation, new roads and bridges were built, older road networks were repaired and engineering equipment was replaced or fixed, improving the overall condition of local and county roads in Poland.

CEMR has two member associations in Poland: the Association of Polish Cities (ZMP) and the Association of Polish Counties (ZPP). ZPP representatives participated in the drafting of the programme’s financial rules and supervised its practical implementation. www.pfdmedia.com

INNOVATION European and Indian cities meet in Belgium European and Indian municipalities came together for the EuroIndia Summit in Leuven, Belgium, to discuss ‘Smart, Sustainable and Innovative Cities’.

The potential role of information and communication technology, better energy management, better water management and conservation, as well as innovation in city planning, affordable housing and inclusive economic growth were among the subjects debated.

KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE New publication for EU LIFE programme European municipalities and regions can now explore the potential of the EU LIFE programme and learn from the experiences of existing projects thanks to the newly released publication LIFE and local authorities: Helping regions and municipalities tackle environmental challenges. The publication features more than 70 LIFE environment related projects as well as an analysis of local and regional policy challenges in the fields of sustainable transport and mobility, climate change, waste and water management and spatial planning.

CLIMATE CHANGE Norwegian local authorities to sell emission reductions The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), a member association of CEMR, has developed a mechanism whereby local authorities outline their planned climate measures and sell the calculated emission reductions to the national government.

This new mechanism, named KLOKT, provides an alternate means of financing local climate and energy action plans, while encouraging municipalities to reduce their CO2 emissions and become more climate-friendly.

November 2011 • United Cities 43

News: AFRICA

Water

United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA)

Cape Town encourages residents to save water

Secretary General: Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi Address: 22, rue Essaadyine, Quartier Hassan, Rabat, Maroc Tel: +212 537 260 062 / +212 537 260 063 Fax: +212 537 260 060 EMAIL: info@uclga.org Website: www.uclga.org

Housing

Namibian campaigner wins UN award

MDGs African leaders call for reassessment of MDGs Leaders from fragile and conflict-affected countries in Africa say they want a revision of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because they are finding it hard to achieve them. The call was made during a meeting on peace- and state-building organized by the African Development Bank, UN Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in September.

Ministers and senior representatives from international organizations came from Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

44 United Cities • November 2011

Photo: K Tuxford

Education Education project for Senegalese girls UNESCO and Proctor & Gamble have launched a partnership to promote education for women and young girls. The first project by the partnership targets illiteracy amongst girls in Senegal. In 2006, fewer than 45 percent of women could read or write. Now, educational kits and digital resources are being made available to train and support more than 1,200 teachers who in turn will give 600 hours of literacy and lifeskills lessons to Senegalese girls. The project is financed from a percentage of sales of the Always brand of feminine hygiene products in France.

Energy Innovative new power source for Rwanda A project in Rwanda will extract methane gas from beneath Lake Kivu, process it and use it to make power from a specially designed generator. The Kivuwatt project is sponsored

by ContourGlobal, a New York based international power company that develops and operates electric power generation facilities powered by natural gas, hydro, wind, solar, biomass, coal and fuel oil. The African Development Bank along with other lenders are contributing US$91.25 million to the project’s total cost of US$142.2 million.

Cape Town has launched an innovative initiative to get residents to use groundwater for watering plants and gardens instead of potable water. The city’s Water and Sanitation Department is launching a research programme into the use of boreholes and wellpoints for water access.

Wellpoints are shallow water extraction shafts with a depth of a Cape Town residents are using groundwater for their gardens maximum of 10 metres that are mostly used for small- to medium-sized residential gardens. Boreholes are much deeper extractions used for the irrigation of larger grassed areas and gardens. The city council began a programme inviting residents to use them from 2003 to 2005 in order to relieve the strain on water resources, as dam levels were low due to lack of rain that year. Their use is now being revived.

Members of the public have been invited to register for a borehole and in return will receive a sign to place outside their home. “It must be stressed that this information is strictly for environmental monitoring and research purposes and members of the public will be participating on a voluntary basis,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, Councillor Shehaam Sims. “This is not a revenue or billing exercise and owners or occupiers will not be billed for their borehole or wellpoint water usage or the ownership of a borehole or wellpoint.”

The hours during which residents can water their gardens are limited and no watering can take place between 10am and 4pm on any day.

Information about water usage will be captured and stored in a database. Each owner who registers for the project also receives a Water Saving Champion certificate of appreciation from the city to acknowledge their valuable role in helping to offset the use of potable water by relieving the strain on Cape Town’s limited water sources.

Photo: R Forster

Food insecurity Food prices at record high The price of food globally is at a record high, according to a new report, ‘Food Price Watch’, released by the World Bank.

The cost of food, teamed with drought and conflict in some areas, has been a large contributory factor to the emergency in the Horn of Africa. Food prices overall in 2011 are around 33 percent higher than in 2010.

Commodities such as maize (up 84 percent), sugar (up 62 percent), wheat (up 55 percent) and soybean oil (up 47 percent) have contributed to the increase. Crude oil is 45 percent more expensive than a year ago and this in turn affects the cost of fertilizer.

news: AFRICA

Edith Mbanga has been helping people living in informal settlements since the 1990s

A Namibian lady representing people living in informal settlements has won a UN award for her tireless campaigning. Edith Mbanga of the Shack Dwellers Federation for Namibia has been helping people living in informal settlements since the 1990s. The UN-HABITAT’s Scroll of Honour Awards, which were announced in September, recognize people or institutions that work towards promoting environmentally and socially sustainable towns and cities.

Mbanga set up a network of savings and support groups for the poor so that they could purchase land and through her work, more than 4,000 households have been able to buy land and 2,000 have built new homes. “[Edith has made] outstanding efforts to improve land access and housing for the poor,” said a UN-HABITAT spokesperson. She has placed particular emphasis on women living in poverty.

Other winners include the creators of a tunnel that relieves traffic congestion and doubles up as a stormwater drainage system. The National Security council’s 9.7-kilometre Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur is the longest multi-purpose tunnel in the world.

It closes to traffic and channels heavy rain during storms to help combat flooding, and opens to traffic during finer weather to help ease traffic congestion – with up to 30,000 vehicles passing through it on a daily basis.

Also recognized was a Cuban research institute that produces affordable, ecofriendly building materials. www.pfdmedia.com

Mozambique keen to join mentor programme At a special UCLG Conference in Durban in June 2011, representatives of Mozambique’s municipalities expressed their interest in twinning with other cities of the South to enter into mentoring projects. Mozambique is going through the process of gradual decentralization, and the municipalities face a familiar challenge: more responsibilities have been devolved to local governments along with the same or only a slightly higher budget.

It is this challenge that small to medium-sized municipalities from Mozambique – and the capital Maputo - hope to tackle with their partners from the South. The National Association of Mozambican Municipalities ANAMM organized for municipalities to receive the UCLG task force in October 2011. The Brazilian, South African, Spanish and German representatives from Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Durban and from UNESCO and UCLG were asked to undertake peer reviews and to design an exemplary Basic Plan with politicians and representatives of Mozambique’s municipal administrations.

Areas for future joint and mutual learning were explored including improving municipal performance management, creating social inclusion through cadastres, linking cadastres to financial management, and setting-up environmental sound land use planning. The municipalities are now drafting the first mentoring projects with their partners from the South. www.pfdmedia.com

Transport Uganda and Kenya to improve railways An old railway route running from Mombasa in Kenya to the Ugandan capital of Kampala will be upgraded thanks to a US$40 million loan from the African Development Bank. The funding is part of a US$165 million long-term foreign currencylending programme with other international financial institutions, which will be used by the project company, Rift Valley Railways Investments to establish an efficient, reliable and integrated rail system in Kenya and Uganda – leading to reduced transit times and an increase in the rail market share of freight transport.

Urban development Kampala cleans up Local government in Kampala, Uganda, has released a statement reporting that the city’s once-filthy streets are becoming cleaner and safer by the day. An Anti-Litter Bill is currently on its way to parliament for debate and enactment, which local authorities hope will help fight the problem of indiscriminate littering by Kampala’s residents. The city has had problems with mounting litter blocking streets causing a health hazard, but the latest reports say that Kampala is at the beginning of a transition towards being a cleaner city.

Water Clean water for Nairobi slum Water vendors in Nairobi’s largest slum, Kibera, are benefitting from chlorine tablets and soap to help ensure they can sell clean water. A Kenyan Steve Mumbwani is directing a project started by American Jeremy Farkas called Life Force Kiosks, which aims to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. Kibera’s residents usually buy treated mains water from kiosks, but now for a minimal extra charge they can be doubly sure that the water is clean and safe to drink.

Energy Tanzania and Uganda sign MoU for hydropower project Communities previously not hooked up to the electrical grid in Tanzania and residents in Uganda will now get access to electricity thanks to the KikagatiMurongo Hydropower Project. An MoU was signed in September during the 23rd Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers that took place at the Arusha International Conference Centre, Tanzania. The project is committed to provide a sustainable source of power, create jobs and to monitor environmental impact. The hydropower plant will be located on the boundary between the two countries.

November 2011 • United Cities 45

News: asia-Pacific

Transport Electric tricycles help combat pollution in Naga The battle against smoke-belching vehicles in the Philippine city of Naga is being fought with the introduction of 50 electric tricycles (e-trikes). Worsening air quality has prompted Mayor John Bongat to join forces with Enzolutions Inc., in association with Eco-Merge Philippines, Inc. and Gerweiss Motors Corporation to deploy the trikes on the streets immediately, with electronic passenger jeeps (e-jeeps) hitting the road from December. Solar-powered charging stations will also be erected. The city has been cracking down on polluting vehicles with heavy fines.

Sustainable development Praise for Sydney’s emission cuts New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has publically congratulated Sydney on its efforts to slash harmful emissions in a video message. Bloomberg hailed Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 Plan as something that every responsible city contemplating its future is doing. Sydney’s mayor, Clover Moore, believes the 2030 Plan is the boldest ever undertaken by the council – the Plan aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030.

Initiatives include the installation of 10 kilometres of bike paths, planting 2,000 trees and greening the city’s vehicle fleet.

46 United Cities • November 2011

Secretary General: Rudolf Hauter Address: PO Box 1286 / JKU Jakarta 14350, Indonesia Tel: +62 21 640 8450 Fax: +62 21 640 8446 Email: secretariat@uclg-aspac.org Website: www.uclg-aspac.org

Energy

Solar power boost for Gujarat Photo: Jesse Miksic

Sustainable development Japanese city recognized for green growth Kitakyushu City has been recognized as a one of the world’s most environmentally advanced cities by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD has analysed the city’s environment and economy and is compiling a report which will be distributed by June 2012 to OECD member countries as an example of how to achieve sustainable development. The recognition comes as part of the OECD’s ‘Green Cities Programme’. Other cities selected so far are Paris, Chicago and Stockholm.

Disaster management Pakistan hit by more flooding Floods devastated Sindh in Pakistan for the second year running in September, with more than 5.3 million people affected, according to Oxfam. More than 4.2 million acres of land was flooded and 1.59 million acres of standing crops destroyed. Oxfam says that slow repairs to river embankments and other protective measures following last year’s flooding made the population more vulnerable this year. The government and donors are being asked to invest more in disaster reduction strategies.

UCLG Asia-Pacific Section UCLG-ASPAC

Waste removal in cities could lead to measurable economic benefits

Sanitation

New report reveals economic benefits of improving sanitation Photo: Debbie Mous

Disaster risk reduction Philippines gains emergency funding The World Bank is providing US$500 million financing to assist the Philippines with emergency relief, recovery, and reconstruction efforts following a major natural disaster. Every year, an average of 1,000 lives are lost due to natural disasters – especially typhoons – making the Philippines one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climatic events.

News: asia-Pacific

The Indian Government wants to build enough solar facilities to generate 20,000 MW by 2022

New large-scale solar power facilities are being installed in Gujarat, India, with the aim of making it more cost effective for private companies to set up energy-generating plants. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a US$100 million loan to the Indian state to help finance the Gujarat Solar power Transmission Project Facilities will include a substation, transmission lines and other equipment to collect and distribute solar power generated by plants in the Charanka Solar Park in Gujarat’s Patan district.

“By putting in reliable power transmission facilities in the solar park, ADB will help draw in private sector developers, while providing a model which can be replicated to scale up solar power in a significant manner in India,” said Naoki Sakai, Senior Climate Change Specialist, ADB. The Indian government’s goal is to build solar facilities capable of generating 20,000 MW by 2022. The energy park at Charanka has a target to output more than 500 megawatts (MW), and is just one of several parks being built to help meet the increasing need for power and prevent reliance of fossil fuels. The parks will assist developers in fast-tracking the rollout of generation plants by granting the necessary permits and services.

The project will also provide vocational skills training for 300 people – 30 percent of them female – and energy-based livelihood programmes for up to 100 poor women.

The Gujarat government is providing funds of almost US$37 million towards the project, which will cost a total of US$137 million. The Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation and the Government of Gujarat will jointly administer the project. www.pfdmedia.com

Cities that invest in sanitation could increase up to sevenfold the return on investment in economic benefits, according to a reports released by the Water and Sanitation Programme, a multi-donor partnership administered by the World Bank.

The latest findings are the summation of the second phase of the Economics of Sanitation Initiative (ESI) launched initially in East Asia in 2007 and focus on the costs and benefits of sanitation interventions in Indonesia, Cambodia, China (Yunnan Province), the Philippines and Vietnam.

The study found that for densely populated cities in East Asia, decision-makers need to take into account the economic benefits from improved waste removal and treatment options, because pit latrines, although a good solution for rural areas, are not feasible in cities.

“The first phase of ESI demonstrated for the first time the huge economic toll of poor sanitation, up to seven percent of GDP in some countries,” said WSP Senior Regional Team Leader for East Asia, Almud Weitz. “The findings from phase two give countries, more specifically sanitation decision-makers, improved evidence on the costs and benefits of alternative sanitation options in different contexts.”

Sanitation has been left behind in city development plans. The report states that even in rapidly growing East Asian countries, access to, and the quality of sanitation facilities are closer to that of comparable low-income countries. In Indonesia, 60 million people still defecate in the open.

Key recommendations for East Asian cities include intensifying efforts to improve access to sanitation for all, make decision-makers aware of all sewage removal and treatment options, and to promote evidence-based sanitation decision-making.

“Decisions should take into account not only the measurable economic costs and benefits, but also other key factors, including intangible impacts and socio-cultural issues that influence demand and behaviour change, availability of suppliers and private financing, and actual household willingness and ability to pay for services,” said lead author Guy Hutton, a WSP consultant. www.pfdmedia.com

Sustainable development Asian population ageing at unprecedented rate Policy makers need to be aware of the rapidly ageing population across Asia, warns a new Asia Development Bank report (ADB). The continent’s demographic landscape will change dramatically in the coming decades as the people who previously fuelled labour-intensive growth become older and more dependent on society. In China this is already happening: the proportion of elderly to working age people will quadruple between now and 2050, surpassing the United States. The ADB says that governments need to strengthen their national pension, healthcare and social security schemes.

Sustainable development New UN guidelines for eco-efficient cities The UN has launched new guidelines specifically for Asia-Pacific cities to make them more environmentally sustainable and liveable. The guidelines provide practical tools for city planners and decision-makers to reform urban planning and infrastructure design according to the principles of eco-efficiency and social inclusiveness. The guidelines were presented at the regional mayors’ forum in Korea at the end of the summer having been prepared jointly by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the Urban Design Lab of the Earth Institute, Columbia University.

Please send any news items or press releases to editorial@pfdmedia.com November 2011 • United Cities 47

News: EURasia

GOVERNANCE Kyrgyz Republic to improve financial accountability The World Bank has approved a US$ 30 million loan for the Economic Recovery Support Operation (ERSO) for the Kyrgyz Republic. The project is designed to support the government’s reforms for improving governance and strengthening accountability mechanisms, and for post-conflict recovery, transition to medium- term growth and poverty reduction. The ERSO will support the government budget and includes a programme of policy reforms to improve public financial management, accountability and governance.

WATER AND SANITATION Armenian municipalities modernize water systems The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending US$ 8.7 million to the Republic of Armenia to improve water supply and wastewater services in 17 municipalities across the country. The funds will be on-lent to the state-owned Armenian Water and Sewerage Company (AWSC) to finance the rehabilitation of water and wastewater networks. In addition, the company will complete the construction of two wastewater treatment plants. The project will significantly reduce water leakages and improve drinking water availability for approximately 300,000 residents.

48 United Cities • November 2011

City of Pskov may join UCLG

Secretary General: Rassikh Sagitov Address: c/o Kazan City Administration 5 Kremljevskaya str 420014 Kazan, Russian Tel/Fax: +7 843 292 0934 Email: uclg_euroasia@yahoo.com Website: www.euroasia-uclg.ru

Situated in the northwest of Russia about 20 kilometres east from the Estonian border, Pskov is the administrative centre of Pskov Region and the city of the Military Honour

ASSOCIATIONS

Cheboksary hosts meeting of Volga Region Cities

EDUCATION Mongolia’s targets higher education reforms The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a US$ 20 million loan to help Mongolia improve the quality of its higher education system and increase enrolment by youth from poor, remote communities. The Higher Education Reform Project, along with strengthening the relevance of existing higher education programmes, will also address issues such as governance and management, financing, and access.

TRANSPORT World Bank supports road rehabilitation in Southern Kyrgyzstan The World Bank has approved a loan of US$ 16 million to support scaling up activities under the on-going National Road Rehabilitation Project (NRRP) in the Kyrgyz Republic. The funding will aid the rehabilitation of an additional section of the Osh-Batken-Isfana road corridor, including the 18-kilometrelong Nookat Pass and the provision of technical assistance to improve road asset management in the country.

Cheboksary hosted the meeting of Volga Region Cities

Rasikh Sagitov, Secretary General of UCLG Euro-Asian Section, attended the meeting of the Board of the Association of the Volga Region Cities that took place in the city of Cheboksary, Russia, marking the 542nd anniversary of the city. At the meeting the Board discussed the strategies for development of the Volga cities.

Specialists from Cheboksary submitted a draft development strategy for the city up to the year 2020 with agglomeration taken into account.

The Association of the Volga Cities was founded in 1998 where the leaders of the seven largest cities, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, Saratov, Ulyanovsk, and Cheboksary signed an agreement on the establishment of the association. In February 2000 Yoshkar-Ola joined the Association followed by Astrakhan and Saransk on 1 November 2002 and Volgograd in 2005. At present the Association comprises 11 cities.

Within the framework of the events devoted to the City Day celebration, Chuvash President Mikhail Ignatyev met with the Mayor of Cheboksary, Leonid Cherkesov.

The participation of Cheboksary in the UCLG Eurasian section activities was discussed at the meeting, as well as the involvement of the city at the V International Conference of the World Heritage Cities of Eurasia, taking place in Istanbul.

Preparations for the conference are currently taking place, where the world’s best specialists in the issues of branding, design and heritage preservation will attend. An exhibition will take place within the framework of the conference, where the cities and experts will present their innovative projects. www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: Ruslan V. Sushko

HOUSING EBRD invests US$ 20 million in Russian housing The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has committed US$ 20 million for a project to build low-rise housing estates in Russia. The investment will finance land purchases, the construction of utilities and other start-up costs. Homes can be built in about three to four months to a standard architectural design, using lowcost but highly efficient materials as part of housing estates that integrate shops, social amenities, schools and public transport.

ASSOCIATIONS

UCLG Euro-Asian Regional Section

Photo: PCode

ENERGY ADB funds smart electricity meters to boost energy efficiency in Uzbekistan The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is financing ‘smart’ electricity meters for Uzbekistan to help the energy-intensive nation use its power resources more efficiently. The loan of US$ 150 million for the Advanced Electricity Metering Project, will fund the installation of modern, accurate, theft-proof digital meters for one million residential and small commercial power users in the cities of Bukhara, Jizzakh and Samarkand.

News: EURasia

The City of Pskov is located on the Velikaya River

The City of Pskov, Russia, is planning to collaborate with UCLG following the visit of Rasikh Sagitov, Secretary General of the UCLG Euro-Asian Section. The agenda of the meeting with Ivan Tsitserskiy, the Head of Pskov, included questions on how UCLG and Pskov could collaborate in the future.

Situated in the northwest of Russia about 20 kilometres east from the Estonian border, Pskov is the administrative centre of Pskov Region and the city of the Military Honour. The city is located on the Velikaya River and has a population of just over 200,000 people. In December 2005 the Pskov acquired the title of the City of the Military Honour by the order of the Russian President.

During the meeting with the Secretary General of the UCLG Euro-Asian Section, the Head of Pskov, Ivan Tsitsersky remarked that the city was interested in developing its international connections, reinforcing the city’s recognition in Russia and at international level, and that an active collaboration with UCLG could help serve this purpose. www.pfdmedia.com

INFRASTRUCTURE ADB funds Uzbekistan rail project The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing US$ 100 million to upgrade a key railway in Uzbekistan, which will stimulate local growth and boost regional trade.

The loan for the Railway Electrification Project will finance the electrification of a 140-kilometre stretch of rail line between Marakand in Samarkand province and Karshi in Kashkadarya province. In Uzbekistan, the route carries about 10 million tonnes of freight annually, including about 1.6 million tonnes of humanitarian relief goods for Afghanistan.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EBRD boosts market economy in Tajikstan The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting the development of the market economy in Tajikistan with a syndicated loan of up to US$ 8 million to Bank Eskhata. The financing will help the latter to support its maturing micro and small business customers and also reach out to new clients in the emerging small and medium-sized business sector. Successful syndication of the loan with commercial lenders will introduce Bank Eskhata to the international financial markets.

November 2011 • United Cities 49

News: metropolis

Heritage Kazan looks to preserve heritage A new group has been formed in Kazan specially to protect historic buildings.

Provisionally called ‘Iske Sheher - Old Town’, the group will be responsible for the preservation and development of the old city centre and its buildings of architectural value. Kazan’s mayor, Ilsur Metshin, said that the problem has been that property owners have had to deal with too much red tape and have been hindered by inadequate legislation when previously trying to upgrade or renovate old properties.

Tourism Barcelona co-founds tourist organization with Beijing Beijing and Barcelona have co-founded a new international organization to promote foreign investment and tourism. Barcelona’s mayor, Xavier Trias, received Beijing mayor, Gou Jinlong, in Barcelona recently with the aim of strengthening ties between the two cities. The mayors discussed their Olympic experiences and the growth of their tourism sectors. Barcelona will also be staging the China at Barcelona Summit in the southern Mediterranean during October, with the hope of portraying Barcelona as a base for Chinese investment. Mayor Gou Jinlong also visited Madrid.

50 United Cities • November 2011

First solar electric vehicle-charging station for Atlanta

acting Secretary General: Alain Le Saux Address: Carrer Avinyó 15, 08002 Barcelona, Spain Tel: +34 93 342 94 60 Fax: +34 93 342 94 66 Email: metropolis@metropolis.org Website: www.metropolis.org

Zero-emission electric vehicles now have a public station to go and recharge in Atlanta.

Mayor Kasim Reed, the Office of Sustainability and CB Richard Ellis Investors officially opened the multi-outlet station on 1 September. It is operational 24 hours a day and is the first of its kind in the area.

“The solar electric vehicle charging station at Atlantic Station is an important milestone towards my goal of making Atlanta a cleaner and greener city,” said Mayor Reed. “We’re focusing on a number of initiatives that will make Atlanta

Transport

Smart parking trial launched in Melbourne

Use of the station is free until the end of 2011, and from 2012 motorists will be charged US$3 per hour, payable through Smartphone apps or by swiping a card at the station

Melbourne is testing new mobile parking technology

Motorists in the Carlton area of Melbourne can now pay for parking using their mobile phones and credit cards. The city authorities have begun a 12-month trial that aims to eradicate the need for drivers to rummage around for coins to feed parking meters.

The Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the new system will revolutionize the way people pay for parking.

“The days of people with pockets full of gold coins to pay for parking may soon be a thing of the past,” said the Mayor. “The Pay-By-Phone service is the way of the future and we hope people will embrace it. By giving motorists the option to pay for parking on their mobile phone, we are making their lives easier. People will also receive a 15 minute SMS reminder before their parking limit expires, which we hope will result in fewer people overstaying the time limit and a greater turnover rate in parking.”

For the first few months of the trial a special team of assistants will patrol the streets to help motorists with the new system. Stickers and signs will also be placed around the area.

Motorists will be given the option to call a number or download a smart phone app to start and end a parking session, and tickets will no longer be required. Parking officers will be able to scan the licence plate number with a handheld device and immediately identify whether a parking session is active and payment has been made.

The Parkmobile Pay-By-Phone technology is currently being used in Auckland, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Boston, Honolulu, Atlanta, and Washington DC. www.pfdmedia.com

one of the Top 10 sustainable cities in the United States and help our residents and business owners become better stewards of the environment. Zero emission vehicles – along with important public transportation initiatives such as the Atlanta Streetcar and the Atlanta BeltLine – play a vital role in ensuring that we are building and investing in a sustainable city for future generations.”

In an attempt to encourage the installation of more charging points, the local government has streamlined the application process for permits. Electric vehicle supply equipment is extradited in three categories: single-family residential, multifamily residential and commercial.

Use of the station is free until the end of 2011, and from 2012 motorists will be charged US$3 per hour, payable through Smartphone apps or by swiping a card at the station. The new solar-powered station is compatible with all currently available US electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, and takes just three to seven hours to charge a vehicle.

Photo: City of Atlanta

Transport Jo’burg seeks solution to congestion Walking and using bicycles are two modes of transport that were proposed for Johannesburg recently during a meeting on transport and congestion. Lisa Seftel, Executive Director for Transport in Johannesburg, said that investments should be made across the city, including townships to create employment close to where people live and thus reduce the need to commute. Seftel called for the government to subsidize bicycles for schoolchildren and the poor.

Transport

UCLG Metropolis Section

Photo: City of Melbourne

UCLG New Secretary General The Secretary General of Metropolis, Josep Roig, left his position on 31 August and has taken on the role of Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Following his departure President Jean-Paul Huchon appointed Alain Le Saux as Acting Secretary General of Metropolis until the next Metropolis General Assembly, which is to be held in Porto Alegre in November.

News: metropolis

Environment Manila’s mayor launches tree planting project Manila’s mayor, Alfredo S. Lim led a group tree-planting project in the city recently.

Residents joined in the planting and were encouraged to bring children along and educate them on the benefits of trees. The group, FIRM-24, donated fruit-bearing trees and also a Japanese acacia, yellow caballero and mahogany tree. The mayor thanked FIRM-24 and taxpayers whose money had also contributed to the project.

Shelter Sydney’s success in reducing homelessness The number of people sleeping rough on Sydney’s streets has dropped by 56 since the last count in February. The city undertakes a twice-yearly count with help from services such as Way2Home and YWCA, using volunteers and people with experience of homelessness. Mayor Clover Moore said that the city is helping people to put roofs over their heads. The street count is part of the city’s AUD1.7 million annual commitment to tackling Sydney’s chronic homelessness problem.

Sustainable development Green building promoted for Indian cities TERI, the energy and resources institute, with a base in Bangalore, has signed an MoU with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO) to encourage energy conservation in urban areas.

HUDCO provides finance for housing and urban development and TERI created GRIHA, India’s national rating system for green buildings. The MoU states that the two organizations will actively promote green building design. All government constructions will now aim to achieve a three-star green rating from now on.

Infrastructure Improved services for poorest Mexicans An innovative, two-pronged project will improve urban infrastructure and social integration for 2.2 million poverty-stricken Mexican households per year. Improvements will include: paving roads, improving water supply, sanitation, electrification, public lighting, waste collection and disposal, and will also focus on fostering individual and collective skills and promoting social inclusion and community participation.

The project is being financed by a US$280 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Mayor Kasim Reed at the launch www.pfdmedia.com

November 2011 • United Cities 51

News: middle east & west asia

GENDER EQUALITY Turkey launches Gender Certification Program The Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGIDER) and the World Bank have launched Turkey’s first Gender Certification Program for private sector companies. The main objective of the project is to support private sector firms that succeed in promoting gender equality as a business practice.

The pilot programme aims to recognize participating Turkish and international firms operating in Turkey for fostering equal job opportunities and advancement in the work place for men and women.

FINANCE Jordan requests membership of the EBRD Jordan has requested membership of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a view to receiving EBRD funding and the Bank’s support for its democratic reforms. In a letter to EBRD President Thomas Mirow, Jordan’s Acting Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Mohammed Najjar, said that over the last year Jordan had sought to accelerate measures to strengthen the country’s democratic governance.

52 United Cities • November 2011

Secretary General: Mehmet Duman Sultanahmet Address: Yerebatan Cad 2 34400 Istanbul, Turkey Tel: +90 212 511 10 10 Fax: +90 212 513 44 87 Email: info@uclg-mewa.org Website: www.uclg-mewa.org Representative for Lebanon, Syria and Jordan: Béchir Odeimi, c/o Municipality of Jdeidé BP 70675 Antélias, Lebanon Tel: + 961 1 901 650 Fax: + 961 1 895 768

COOPERATION

Iraqi minister visits UCLG-MEWA The Minister of Tourism and Municipalities of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq, Mr. Samir Abdullah Mustafa, visited the Secretary General of UCLG-MEWA Mehmet Duman, in Istanbul to discuss a possible cooperation agreement with the public companies of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

The minister took a keen interest in UCLG-MEWA’s study During the visit, Minister Mustafa of local government laws relayed his interest in developing cooperation between Iraq and Istanbul, especially at the local government level. The minister was then briefed about the UCLG World Organization as well as the Middle East and West Asia Section, their membership structure and current activities, after which he conveyed his pleasure to have met with the representatives from this line of activity. He then highlighted the significance of the comparative study of local government laws that UCLG-MEWA is currently undertaking, and pointed out that such studies carry such a significance that they could hopefully pave the way for standardization of certain aspects of local laws in the region.

Minister Mustafa also expressed how pleased he was to have visited Istanbul and he emphasized the importance of achieving successful models to develop bilateral relations.

The minister was accompanied on his visit by the mayor of Erbil, Mr. Habi Muhammed Khder, by his Secretary, Mr. Muhammad Omar Ahmad, and by the Consul General of Iraq to Istanbul, Mr. Said Murad.

DECENTRALIZATION

Decentralization workshop held in Lebanon Following the invitation of the UCLG Sub-Regional Office for Lebanon and Jordan, Mr. Engin Demgr (Councillor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipal Assembly) and Mr. Halil Ġbrahim Yenggün (UCLG-MEWA Middle East Relations Officer) participated in a thematic workshop on administrative decentralization, organized under the Program for the Support of Lebanese Municipalities in Zouk Mikael in Lebanon. This thematic workshop, being the concluding meeting in a series of ten seminars focusing on different aspects of the ongoing decentralization efforts in Lebanon, aimed to answer the questions of Lebanese local authorities in relation to the recent decentralization initiatives of the Lebanon Ministry of Interior and Municipalities. www.pfdmedia.com

Photo: Kangxi Emperor6868

ENVIRONMENT Abu Dhabi residents are more environmentally aware The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has unveiled the results of a major three-year Environment Awareness and Behaviour Survey. Around 2,000 male and female residents from across Abu Dhabi and from all walks of life were surveyed. More people said they were taking action to save energy: 40.6 percent are turning off lights when no longer needed, and 37.7 percent said they turned off TVs and DVDs. More businesses are adopting environmental policies, and there has been a major increase in the number of companies turning off computers at the end of the day.

BEST PRACTICES UN-HABITAT invites submissions for Dubai Awards UN-HABITAT and the Dubai Municipality are offering an opportunity for cities to gain global recognition through the Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment. This is a biennial award established in 1995 under the directive of the late Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Every two years, 12 submissions are awarded as winners and over 100 recognized as best practices for their innovative ways of dealing with common social, economic, and environmental problems.

United Cities and Local Governments of Middle East-West Asia

Photo: UCLG-MEWA

HOUSING IDB approves US$ 16 million Waqf project in Bahrain The Islamic Development Bank is contributing US$ 16 million in financing for construction of a trade and residential complex in the Bahraini capital city of Manama. The approval, which is to be administered by IDB’s Awqaf Properties Investment Fund, APIF, is in line with the Bank’s endeavours to support Islamic Awqaf (endowments) and upgrading its role in economic and social development of the Muslim Ummah.

News: middle east & west asia

Qatar is working with UNDP on a new anti-corruption project

CORRUPTION

Qatar supports anti-corruption project in Arab States Qatar has joined forces with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to implement a new Arab anti-corruption project, signifying the first time that an Arab country will work with the organization on a regional democratic governance initiative.

The agreement is part of a new project Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab Countries that aims to help policymakers and practitioners fight corruption. The project, based out of Doha, offers assistance to all willing Arab countries, and will initially focus on Iraq, Jordan, Djibouti, Morocco, the occupied Palestinian territory and Yemen.

“Our country is proud to be an active member of this community in the fight against one of the most serious challenges in today’s world,” said H.E. Ali Al Marri, the Attorney General of Qatar, who signed the agreement on behalf of his country.

UNDP will support stakeholders, including state institutions and civil society organizations, to further their knowledge and understanding of the scope and impact of corruption at the country level, as well as implement key preventive and punitive measures under the United Nations Convention against Corruption in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The programme will also aid countries in identifying and addressing corruption risks in key sectors, such as health, water, and education. It will facilitate dialogue between stakeholders from the public and private sectors around various anticorruption topics, including how to promote clean business.

“The implementation of [the project] allows UNDP and its partners to leverage their extensive efforts over the years in the pursuit of an ambitious anti-corruption agenda,” said Adel Abdellatif, UNDP’s Chief of the Regional Programme Division in the Regional Bureau for Arab States. “Just 10 years ago this topic was treated as taboo – now the region has the will and is building the capacity to deal with it.”

For Qatar, the agreement comes as an example of its commitment not only to fight corruption, but also to ensure that development efforts are able to benefit from the perspectives, experiences and support of a wide range of partners. www.pfdmedia.com

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Dubai Supreme Council of Energy signs MOU with UNDP H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, ViceChairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, and Dr. Elissar Sarouh, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in the UAE, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide a regulatory framework and facilitate collaboration between the two entities. This MOU aims to promote sustainable development in Dubai and the Gulf region through organizing and hosting ‘The Sustainable Arabia Conference’ next year in Dubai.

ENERGY New energy supplies for rural Afghanistan Indian technology The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), headquartered in New Delhi, has reached an agreement with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development to support efforts in Afghanistan to extend the reach of the national electricity grid beyond its current urban focus.

WATER World Bank promotes remote sensing technology in Arab countries The World Bank has approved US$ 4.59 million in grants to improve water resource and agricultural management within, and across, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon and the Arab Water Council. The grants from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will finance the hardware, software and technical assistance needed for the application of various remote sensing and Earth observation decisionsupport tools to address water resources and agricultural management. These tools will enhance the capacity of participating countries to monitor local and regional societal issues such as fires, drought, flooding, fresh water availability, and crop yields.

November 2011 • United Cities 53

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COnference preview

Metropolis to celebrate 10th World congress in Porto Alegre, Brazil 23-26 November 2011

Photo: Ivo Gonçalves PMPA

By William Thorpe

Metropolis will host its tenth congress in Porto Alegre

What does ‘quality of life’ mean in your city? What measures does your city take to improve the lives of its citizens?

International speakers, including mayors and private sector leaders, who have first hand experience, and success, in tackling the changing nature of cities, will answer these questions and others at the 10th World Congress of Metropolis, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Website: www. portoalegrecongress2011.metropolis.org The title of the congress, ‘Cities in Transition’, will, from 2326 November, explore how new lifestyles, aspirations and heightened expectations, and demands for quality of life, are now influencing the functions of municipal governments.

A key question that will be explored includes how can existing and new mechanisms be put into place to ensure that policy development and metropolitan governance meet these new expectations created by new lifestyles as metropolises evolve into megacities.

Top speakers include, Jean-Paul Huchon, President of Metropolis and President of Ile-de-France Region; 54 United Cities • November 2011

www.pfdmedia.com

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José Fortunati, Mayor of Porto Alegre, Brazil; Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and former President of Metropolis; and Antanas Mockus, former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, who will give the keynote address on cities in transition.

Urban innovation In developing a city’s transition toward a more sustainable urban model, innovation needs to be fostered with the solutions disseminated among cities. The increasing use of public/ private partnerships assist cities that are typically not in a position to assume the complexity of the innovation process. A session that focuses on collaboration with the private sector will be led by Xavier Trías, Mayor of Barcelona, Spain, that will discuss urban innovation experiences between cities, business and institutions.

Senior leaders will bring the voice of the private sector to the Congress.

Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV) The first meeting of the FMDV General Assembly will be held on the 25

November and will elect its Board of Directors. Launched by Metropolis and UCLG to provide local authorities in emerging and developing countries with access to finance for urban development projects, the FMDV works alongside local authorities to provide support throughout the entire project process. The first projects to receive FMDV support will be decided upon during the assembly.

Social sustainability and governance How can cities learn from one another? How do innovations become established practices in governance?

These questions of transferability will be answered using Metropolis’s manual on Integrated Urban Governance as a basis for discussion. The manual evaluates lessons learnt from Metropolis member cities as well as non-members.

Participatory democracy and participatory budgeting Beginning in Porto Alegre over 20 years ago, participatory budgeting has evolved and spread to hundreds of cities around the world. The mayor of Porto Alegre, José Fortunati, and Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice-President, CISCO, and representatives from New York, Chicago and Lisbon will will examine the progress and future potential of participatory democracy.

Awards The final evening will see the 4th Metropolis Award winners announced.

These awards, given triennially, recognize cities responsible for the undertaking of an outstanding event, project or experience that contributes to improving the quality of life for its city.

Previous winners include La Paz, Berlin, Guangzhou and Istanbul.  November 2011 • United Cities 55

COnference report

Mayors call on Ibero-American governments to adopt charter on local autonomy

Photo: UCLG

Sixth Ibero-American Forum, Asuncion, Paraguay 27-30 September 2011

Mayors called on governments to advance the process of decentralization

State representatives from Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, and Paraguay participated in many of the round tables.

Over 100 mayors and representatives of local authorities came together for the Sixth Ibero-American Forum of Local Authorities from 27th to 30th September 2011 in Asuncion, Paraguay. In the current context of the global crisis they called on the region’s Heads of State and governments to deepen decentralization and cooperation between the different levels of government so as to strengthen democratic governance.

Over three days, the Mayors and representatives of eighteen IberoAmerican countries debated issues of governance, decentralization, and state reform in the aggravated context of the global financial and economic crisis. The forum was coorganized by the City of Asuncion, the Paraguayan Inter-municipal Cooperation Organization (OPACI), www.pfdmedia.com

the Latin American Federation of Cities, Municipalities and Associations (FLACMA), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the Union of IberoAmerican Capital Cities (UCCI), the Mercociudades network, the Province of Barcelona and the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB).

The Forum was also supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECI) and by the European Commission through the program co-financed by UCLG on “Support to Decentralization in Developing Countries”.

During the opening ceremony the Mayor of Asuncion, Dr. Arnaldo Samaniego, underlined that “decentralization is at the heart

of democratic governance”. In his message to the Forum participants, the Ibero-American Secretary General, Enrique Iglesias, equally stressed the role local governments must play in the organization of Ibero-American governments during the debate on state reform and modernization.

Through the different roundtables the participants examined the progress made and challenges of decentralization in the countries of the region, focusing on multilevel government, transparency, institutional ethics and citizen participation. Issues such as the difficulties in governing metropolitan cities, public-private partnerships and the role of local governments within the Ibero-American system were also all key points for debate. State representatives from Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain, and Paraguay participated in many of the round tables.

During the closing ceremony a final declaration was adopted. In the current context of the global crisis, the IberoAmerican mayors called on states to deepen decentralization, to strengthen coordination between the various levels of government and to improve the manner in which local authorities participate in the definition of the public policies in order to promote employment, investment and the preservation of social cohesion. Mayors invited the Heads of State and governments to adopt the Ibero-American Charter on Local Autonomy, to create a permanent opportunity for dialogue between ministers and local governments, as well as ensure that local authorities are more closely associated in the negotiation of regional and international agreements on climate change.  November 2011 • United Cities 57

COnference REport

COnference report

UCLG vice-president Schuster advocates walking as the new ‘social transport’ model for cities 5th World Congress of Cities for Mobility, Stuttgart, Germany, 3-5 July, 2011. By Jonathan Andrews to find solutions to mobility challenges by focusing on human relationships and on local communities, with walking and cycling holding the key.

Bronwen Thornton, Development Director from Walk 21, believes it’s about giving people a choice. “We want to promote walking and get cities thinking about it,” she said. “We want them to build for walking and we want people to choose walking as the preferred mode.”

Photo: City of Stuttgart

The mayor of Stuttgart, Germany, and UCLG vice-president and Chair of the UCLG Urban Mobility Committee, Wolfgang Schuster, has strengthened the concept of social space and social transport by signing Walk 21’s International Charter for Walking during Stuttgart’s 5th Cities for Mobility Conference.

By signing the charter, the mayor hopes to demonstrate Stuttgart’s on-

The mayor of Stuttgart, Wolfgang Schuster, signing the charter with Walk 21’s Bronwen Thornton’

going success in delivering walkable communities and underpin future projects throughout the city. The conference was told that walking is often ignored in public transport yet, after cars, accounts for the highest mode of transport.

The 350 participants from over 40 countries, including political decision makers, transport and urban planning experts, and private sector representatives, heard how cities need to re-define the concept of social space and 58 United Cities • November 2011

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Stuttgart, and other cities that sign up to the charter, will work with Walk 21 in developing a strategic direction including a range of resources and tools to enable them to deliver more walking options.

In one of the key presentations, Daniel Sauter, from Urban Mobility Research, showed how the perception of cities changes when people travel by car, bicycle or foot. Non-motorized transport helps to strengthen social relations, preserve the environment, live healthier lives and at the same time enhances local

economies. In contrast, travelling by car impedes social relations and leads to a limited perception of the environment and a weaker community feeling of belonging.

Wolfgang Forderer, Cities for Mobility Head of Policy Planning, and Manager of the UCLG Committee on Urban Mobility, believes that the use of cars cannot be excluded but, in conjunction with cars, cities can promote more sustainable modes of transport.

“We always wanted to avoid making this event a ‘car hating conference’ as cars exist and people like to drive cars,” he explained. “But people are now cycling more, walking more, there is a greater awareness out there in which you have to provide a mobility mix.”

Forderer emphasized also that the ideas gleaned from the conference will be put forward to the UCLG secretariat on mobility to increase knowledge sharing between non-governmental organizations (NGOs), retailers, companies and cities.

“It’s not enough for local governments to talk to each other,” he said. “It is very important for UCLG to be involved on a working level, not on a political level, but on a working level with all stakeholders.

Because in some cities there is a complete change of mayors every three or four years, but the NGOs stay, the companies stay, and the universities stay. There is this point of stability and continuity when you involve these partners.”

Mayor Schuster closed the conference by emphasizing the need for cities to work together. “Cooperation of cities within the scope of the work of UCLG can lead to the more rapid spread of exemplary solutions, greater sustainability of the urban transport systems and consequently to a fairer globalization in our one world.”  November 2011 • United Cities 59

my life, my city

Jean-Paul Huchon, Regional President, Ile-de-France President of Metropolis Social networking is a means to develop new ideas and policies

Why did you become regional president?

To have a profound impact on the life of residents of the Ile-de-France and to be able to influence the future of the region where I was born.

What is your favourite part of the job?

There are two particularly privileged aspects to my job: one is when I preside over the regional assembly where decisions are taken, and the second is being able to see on the ground the realisation of what we have put in place over 12 years.

I went to Beirut in October where we worked with the Lebanese authorities to prepare a city development plan to facilitate mobility for all of Greater Beirut What is your biggest achievement since becoming mayor?

Introducing the mobility plan for transport in the Ile-de-France. The project involves 32 billion euros of investment and will radically change the lives of 12 million residents.

What was your last overseas trip as mayor?

I went to Beirut in October where we worked with the Lebanese authorities to prepare a city development plan to facilitate mobility for all of Greater Beirut.

It was an exciting plan and also very complex to put together.

60 United Cities • November 2011

Photo: Metropolis

Where do you expect to be in five years’ time?

Continuing as President of the Ile-deFrance region.

Jean-Paul Huchon Place and country of birth: Paris, France Education: Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) Docteur en droit, Sciences-Po Paris Date elected as president: 1998 Previous employment: Company director

Who is the most interesting person you have met/worked with since becoming mayor?

Without doubt, Michelle Bachelet.

What do you think of social networking for mayors?

It is an indispensable tool as it allows for constant contact and it allows you to do ongoing benchmarking. It is also a means to develop new ideas and policies.

Which other cities do you collaborate with? Is contact formal or informal?

We collaborate with all of the cities and territories which fall under the 15 cooperation agreements with the region of Ile-de-France as well as with the 120 members of Metropolis.

Favourite place in your city and why?

The Trocadéro because the view is magnificent towards the Champ de Mars, Invalides and the Eiffel Tower and it is one of the great nineteenth century monuments.

What are you reading right now?

Pour Eviter Le Krach Ultime by Pierre Larrouturou and Just Kids by Patti Smith.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Unfortunately both.

Hobbies and interests outside of work?

Rock and roll, football and writing.

Do you have a favourite sports team?

The football team Paris Saint-Germain Favourite travel destination?

Scotland.

Who is your hero or inspiration?

Michel Rocard What advice would you give to the first time visitor to your city/region?

Walk through the streets and sit down in a café and talk to people.

What is your life philosophy?

Love people.  www.pfdmedia.com