Archived News Items - April 2008

Sustainable Urbanization in the Information Age 4/28/2008
UCLG members have been meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York to discuss how innovative forms of technology can contribute to overcoming the environmental problems caused by unyielding expansion of urban areas. UN Economic and Social Commission President Léo Mérorès told the forum that “rather than fear the shift from rural to urban, we have an opportunity to leverage it to ensure sustainable development. What we need is sustainable urbanization.” The conference is being held at the same time as estimates of the UN indicate that by the end of this year, more than half of the world’s population – currently believed to be about 6.7 billion people – will be living in urban areas for the first time in human history. The UCLG Secretary General, the Chair of the UCLG IT Committee, the City of Bilbao and other active members of the World Organization shared the experiences of local governments with representatives of the UN, private sector and civil society. The conference was jointly organized by a number of organizations and entities, including the Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Human Settlements Programme and urban planners in the New York City region. Local Government representatives appealed in New York for a strengthened role of Local Authorities towards the achievement of the Information Society: by increasing their responsibilities and promoting legal reform. They also called for the promotion of cooperation between cities to strengthen IT infrastructure.

Mrs. Tibaijuka says urbanisation shaping daily lives 4/28/2008
UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka last week gave a lecture at the Warsaw School of Economics, outlining the crucial role of urbanisation to staff and students of the prestigious Polish institution. Speaking to the more than 400 students, as well as members of faculties headed by the Rector of the School Professor Adam Budnikowski, representatives of central institutions and media, Mrs. Tibaijuka underlined economic dimension of urbanisation phenomena. “Cities drive national economies in the industrialised countries and even nations in economic output” the Executive Director adding that it may be observed also in the developing world, where cities generate a large share of national income. Importance of the cities for national economic and social development cannot be forgotten, especially by the future elites. However, the Executive Director pointed out, the paradox is that cities become also a locus of excruciating poverty and deprivation. The miserable life of a growing number of slums dwellers, deprived of the most basic amenities requires immediate action. The negative impact on environment by the cities, which are already consuming 75% of the world’s energy and produce significant proportion of the world’s waste, cannot be underestimated, either. Noting that the urban crisis – or the slum crisis – was indeed a crisis in governance, Mrs. Tibaijuka said basing on its experience, UN-HABITAT calls upon creation of inclusive cities, developed in a sustainable manner, which would allow all urban dwellers to live in dignity. “We need to see the urban poor as assets and not liabilities. We need to fight poverty and not the poor, to fight slums and not slum dwellers”, she said. Describing the mandate and activities of UN-HABITAT, Mrs. Tibaijuka briefed the audience on the agency’s unique experiences in cooperation with actors on various levels. She strongly encouraged the authorities of the School to join the growing programmes of UN-HABITAT partner universities.

India to develop 60 Solar Cities before 2013 4/28/2008
The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is planning 60 ‘solar cities’ in the country to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources and control air pollution. Director Mr. A.K. Singhal said ‘The aim would be to link this new project with the existing Central Government scheme on promoting renewable energy.’ Singhal was speaking at a workshop on ‘energy efficient buildings’ organised by ICLEI South Asia. The event was part of the Local Renewable Initiative by ICLEI, which promotes in India, since 2005, the role of local governments in sustainable energy. The new project will target 60 cities/towns with populations ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 to develop renewable energy in urban areas. It will provide seed money funding of 500,000 rupees (12,500 USD) for the selected cities to develop and implement a local action plan for renewable energy. Two local governments taking part of the Local Renewables Initiative are leading the way with a recently adopted municipal policy on sustainable energy. In the next coming years, thanks to support from the German Government and local public-private partnerships they will implement visible actions to reduce energy consumption and adopt renewable energy. India has currently the third largest installed wind energy capacity according the report ‘Renewables 2007 – Global Status Report’ produced by REN21. According to The Economic Times, India is on course to emerge as a solar hub with recent fiscal incentives and international manufacturer establishing themselves in India.

EU and local governance: have your say! 4/28/2008
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a European approach on local governance. According to the Commission, the consultation ('Towards. an EU approach to local democratic governance, decentralisation and territorial development') aims to.gather orientations and views from relevant stakeholders regarding future EC policy in the field of local governance in all its dimensions. A number of central issues are explored in this consultation: local democratic governance, decentralisation, territorial development and the role for local authorities. Local authorities, non-state actors' organisations, institutions and networks interested or active on this debate, partner countries institutions, individual experts, donors and development partners' organisations are involved in this consultation. The consultation is supported by two documents. The first one is the "Issues paper" that identifies some of the key challenges to be addressed and aims at stimulating public debate. The second provides “background information” on the issues paper. The public consultation will close on 16 June 2008. It should lead to a Commission's communication for july 2008.

Fourth Session of the World Urban Forum launched in Beijing 4/21/2008
The Ministry of Housing of China and UN-HABITAT held a press conference in Beijing on the fourth session of the World Urban Form to be held in Nanjing from 3-7 November 2008. Representatives from some 80 international and national media organizations attended the press conference. It was addressed by the Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Mr. Qu Ji, the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Provincial Government, Mr. He Quan, the Vice Mayor of Nanjing Municipal Council, Mr. Lu Bing, and UN-HABITAT’s Director of External Relations and Secretary to the agency’s Governing Council and the World Urban Forum, Mr. Rolf Wichmann. Vice Minister Qu Ji highlighted the international importance of the Forum and this year’s theme of Harmonious Urbanization which will focus on integrated social, economic and environmental development as well as the overall harmony between urban and rural, new and old and social harmony. He described the different events of the Forum which range from peer round-tables, high level dialogues, networking event and a 20,000 square meter exhibition showcasing the latest concepts, technologies, techniques, research and cases studies of sustainable urban development. Mr. He Quan, the Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province, whose urban population is over 53%, and which has five mega cities, and 29 large and medium cities, said the Forum was particularly relevant to his province. The meeting, which brings thousands of decision makers and experts to Nanjing, offers the province rare opportunity because Jiangsu is at a critical stage in transforming to a more industrialized urban economy with stronger links to international markets and economies. http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=5675&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0

European Mobility Week Award 2008 awarded to Koprivnica 4/21/2008
Koprivnica (Croatia) has been awarded the 2008 European Mobility Week Award. Koprivnica made its urban areas more sustainable by promoting soft transport modes, such as walking and cycling. It also launched a three-year programme called ‘Streets for People’ which will work towards making the city accessible to all, promoting new alternative fuels for public transport vehicles and reallocating road space to non-motorized traffic. This award was created to reward local authorities’ activities in the framework of European Mobility Week, which aims at encouraging citizens to change their travel behaviour and shift to more sustainable modes of transport.

South African cities face difficult times 4/21/2008
Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille told members of the UN commission on population and development in New York that after a decade of optimism and growth, South African cities faced many problems that threatened the cohesion of urban society in her country. “Urban crime, poverty and corruption are all increasing,” she warned. This trend must be reversed, she continued, saying that local and central government as well as the private sector needed to work together. “The challenge was to right-size the state to fulfil its functions, facilitate competitive market entry both by producers and consumers, and build partnerships with civil society," she suggested. The Mayor explained that the model had become known as the developmental state approach. “It requires high skills levels in government, and dedicated co-operation with the private sector to fuel economic growth - the single greatest priority,” Helen Zille said. Mayor Zille was more upbeat about conditions in her own city, Cape Town. While infrastructure was under great strain, the 5-year development plan was designed to focus on infrastructure-led economic growth.

Dredging to prevent Jakarta from flooding 4/21/2008
Some 40 per cent of the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta is between one to one and a half meters below sea-level. Add to that an ever-growing population, densely-populated residential areas, rapid infrastructural development, a diminishing number of green areas and catchments, plus six months of near-constant rain - and you have a recipe for flood disasters which literally paralyze the city. The severity of floods in the Indonesian capital has become a national issue given the huge financial losses it incurs and the impact it has on communities in the Greater Jakarta area. The provincial government of DKI Jakarta (Pemda DKI) is embarking on an extensive flood management initiative with the support of the World Bank, in which 13 rivers will be dredged during the first phase of the project’s implementation.

Brazilian police arrest 16 mayors 4/21/2008
Brazilian police arrested more than 50 people and charged them with embezzling money from a government fund. Among those charged were 16 mayors, nine lawyers and a federal judge. Of the 16 mayors, 14 were from the state of Minas Gerais and two from Bahia. The arrests also included four municipal attorneys, four employees of the judiciary, the manager of a government bank and a lobbyist. According to investigations, which started eight months ago, the arrested embezzled at least 200 million reais (119 million US dollars) from the municipalities' share in the revenues from the income tax and the tax on industry products, both levied by the federal government.

City mayors vote for sustainable tourism 4/21/2008
More than 200 mayors representing tourism cities from 35 countries and areas worldwide signed and published a manifesto to encourage the sustainable development of tourism and cities around the world. It also emphasized the need to support those areas with good tourism resources under the precondition of sustainable development, to expedite the process of urbanization and to shape a batch of tourism cities and towns with special features through developing the tourism sector. The manifesto indicates that to maintain sustainable development was an internal requirement of tourism industry development and should be taken as the basic precondition of a tourism city's development; and it must develop the city into an important base of new eco-civilization and must make travel an important channel to spread the concept of saving resources and protecting the environment. The mayors, who met at the 2008 Forum for Mayors of World Tourism Cities held in Zhengzhou, also stressed the need: for cooperation among tourism cities worldwide, to share good experiences of excellent promotion of both tourism and cities, and to expand tourism cooperation fields to take advantage of synergy.

European Green Capital award: "Become the city of the year!" 4/18/2008
DG environment will launch the European Green Capital award scheme on 22 May in Brussels. The award marks a city's wish and capability to solve environmental problems in order to both improve the quality of life of its citizens.and reduce the contribution it makes to global environmental problems. Each year a European city will be rewarded for having: • Remarkably improved the state of the environment and promoted sustainable development over the last five to ten years; • Worked in cooperation and partnership with its citizens, business, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders; • Committed to continuing a program of ongoing improvement thus ensuring a long-term effect of its measures on high urban environment quality; • The willingness to play a key role in promoting wider exchange of experience and best practice between cities on environmental management. Cities will be invited to apply via an online application form from 22 May. The jury will select the award winner by end 2008. The initiative comes from 15 European cities and the Association of Estonian cities. Currently, 36 major European cities, including 20 EU capital cities, are part of the initiative.

The European Ombudsman's 2007 report : the EU lacks transparency 4/18/2008
Lack of transparency, unfairness or abuse of power and unsatisfactory procedures were the main allegations made against the European institutions, according to the 2007 report from the European Ombudsman, investigating.complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union. Commenting on the results, the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, said: complaints concerning lack of transparency are an opportunity for EU institutions and bodies to demonstrate their willingness to be as open and accountable as possible. 64% of the inquiries dealt with in 2007 concerned the Commission, followed by the European Personnel Selection Office (14%), the European Parliament (9%), the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF (3%) and the Council (1%). The report also reveals that Germany produced the greatest number of complaints (16%), followed by Spain (11%), France (8%) and Poland (7%). However, relative to the size of their population most complaints came from Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus. http://www.ccre.org/news_detail_en.htm?ID=1314

Climate change will erode foundations of health 4/18/2008
WHO Director-General warns vulnerable populations at greatest risk of projected impacts- 7 APRIL 2008 | GENEVA -- Scientists tell us that the evidence the Earth is warming is "unequivocal." Increases in global average air and sea temperature, ice melting and rising global sea levels all help us understand and prepare for the coming challenges. In addition to these observed changes, climate-sensitive impacts on human health are occurring today. They are attacking the pillars of public health. And they are providing a glimpse of the challenges public health will have to confront on a large scale, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan warned today on the occasion of World Health Day. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2008/pr11/en/index.html

311/CRM Technologies Help Citizens Touch Their Local Governments 4/18/2008
ICMA Podcast and Report Discuss New Technology for Improved Local Government Customer Service A new ICMA podcast features representatives from ICMA, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center who discuss how local governments are using 311 call centers and other related customer service technology systems. The 47-minute discussion draws a portrait of how communities are using this technology to respond to citizen needs and build local-constituent relationships. The podcast is a product of an ongoing ICMA/Sloan Foundation national study of the use of 311/citizen relationship management systems by local government. These centralized systems allow the public to report nonemergency situations without tapping into already overburdened 911 systems or pouring through pages of phone numbers in the blue pages of their local phonebook. In 2007, ICMA conducted the first-ever national survey on 311 and related customer service technology used by U.S. local governments. During the podcast, the five principle participants discussed the results of the national survey and the first two 311/CRM case studies—San Antonio, Texas and Los Alamos County, New Mexico. A third case study, recently released, demonstrates that even low-cost CRMs used by smaller communities can measurably improve both local government service delivery and citizen customer service satisfaction. http://icma.org/main/ns.asp?nsid=3718&hsid=1&scid=25

FEANTSA Seminar 4/18/2008
FEANTSA, the European Federation of national organisations working with homeless people, and the Committee of the Regions are organising a European seminar on “Strategies to end homelessness: Elements of conflict and cooperation at local level” with the participation of European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, and First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, Michel Delebarre. http://www.feantsa.org/

Cohesion policy: Danuta Hübner calls for more responsibilities at local level 4/18/2008
The EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hübner has called for more involvement of local and regional levels in the future of cohesion policy. At a conference in Maribor (Slovenia, 7-8 April 2008), Commissioner Hübner said that there are still large unused growth resources at the local.level. She added that the future cohesion policy needs local and regional government to be more involved in the planning, delivering and monitoring of regional policies and instruments: : Subsidiarity does not only concern Member states and we might rethink the European subsidiarity principle to put more emphasis on regional and local levels' said Danuta Hübner. Boris Tonhauser, in charge of cohesion policy at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), replied that our regions and towns across Europe face environmental, demographic, energy and structural challenges. Therefore, more responsibilities should be allocated to local and regional authorities. CEMR's representative also stressed the need to go beyond purely economic data to decide which regions can benefit from what funding in the framework of cohesion policy. The level of “regional well-being” should be an important criterion. It can be assessed by combining for instance quality of employment, decentralisation, quality of transport as well as other socio-cultural, socio-demographic and socio-environmental factors he said.

Redesigning the Edgeless City 4/13/2008
A professional development course offered by Regional Plan Association in joint venture with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Boston. The course will explain innovative design and land-use law techniques for combating sprawl development. This year, the curriculum will include new information about the relationship between land development patterns and climate change and ways of quantifying the impacts of alternative development patterns on green house gas emissions. Registration is $50 and participants qualify for 6.25 AICP continuing education credits. Dutchess Golf and Country Club, 2628 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 To register for the course RSVP to: esmith@rpa.org or call 212-253-2727 x324

World Mayors Propose Urban Water Declaration 4/13/2008
Authorities from nearly 40 cities met last week during World Water Day to draft the declaration, known as the Istanbul Urban Water Consensus. The statement recognizes the likely damaging effects of climate change on urban water resources and calls on governments to properly fund adaptation plans. It encourages authorities to improve water availability through technological solutions, land-use reform, and greater collaboration with the business sector. The agreement also outlines specific targets, such as asking cities to set goals for preventing water loss and improving water treatment. "The current state of urban water resources is generally considered unsustainable in all countries due to long-term non-synchronized development and piecemeal solutions to problems," the declaration says. The declaration is expected to be ready for signature by October. In 2009, Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas will ask his counterparts around the world to adopt the statement at the fifth World Water Forum, a conference of industry, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to be held in Istanbul in March. "The attempt is to get as many mayors of cities as possible to sign on to a document saying...for water to have a greater priority," said Dani Gaillard, the forum's coordinator. "There's a need for much more political commitment with respect to water issues."

Climate change and cities 4/13/2008
Deputy Mayor of the City of Malmö, Lari Pitkä-Kangas, representing the lead city partner in this new initiative, launched the Working Group 'Lifestyle and Citizen Behaviour'. The launch was a key part of the European Climate Conference held in Rovigo, Italy from 2 to 4 April 2008. The Rovigo Conference is aimed at motivating more small and medium communities to become engaged in climate protection. The Working Group is, in turn, a practical measure to support local governments in developing strong, effective climate protection messages. There are many communities that are very effective in climate protection action - many of them part of ICLEI's growing European Cities for Climate Protection (CCP)TM Campaign, several of whom shared their approaches in Rovigo. The new Working Group is a support mechanism established within the CCP Campaign, in direct response to a need identified by CCP participants. It will assist local governments with the exchange of practical information on methods to encourage people to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Communicating climate protection and motivating people to act will be a continuous task over the next few years. Cities are asking: How can every citizen be encouraged to contribute to the reduction of harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? How do we communicate with them on this issue? How can we achieve a community-wide engagement in changing the way energy is produced and used locally?

City diplomacy - a conflict resolution tool for local authorities 4/13/2008
The Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has considered a recommendation and a resolution on “city diplomacy” at its Spring session in Malaga. In his report, rapporteur Onno van Veldhuizen (Netherlands, L, IDLG) notes that cities have become major political players on the international stage and help, via their networks, to build and consolidate peace in distant parts of the globe. City diplomacy is the tool used by local authorities and their associations to promote conflict prevention and resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. In the texts adopted in Malaga, the Congress called on local authorities to structure their activities in the field of diplomacy and conflict resolution. It also undertook to continue supporting the Local Democracy Agencies, the North-South Centre and the Municipal Alliance for Peace in their efforts to use city diplomacy, and to continue its work to establish a dialogue between European and Arab cities

Energy Efficiency & Urban Development 4/13/2008
The recent Bali Conference on Global Climate showed how closely related energy security, climate security and global security are. The momentum is building. It seems now to be a convergence of science, economics, technology and finance to guide national as well as international action to address climate change, but the costs of mitigation and adaptation rise substantially as the time passes. Improving efficiency in the way we use and develop urban land, in the transportation sector as well as in the design of commercial and residential buildings can help moderate global climate change while contributing to a more sustainable energy future. CEIM and INTA joined their efforts to organise a timely and useful debate on energy efficiency and urban development focusing on two main themes: Energy as challenge and opportunity for sustainable urban development and Innovative planning as challenge and solution for sustainable cities.

Enhancing Urban Safety and Security Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 4/13/2008
United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Over the past decade, the world has witnessed growing threats to the safety and security of cities and towns. Some have come in the form of catastrophic events, while others have been manifestations of poverty and inequality, or of rapid and chaotic urbanization processes. This publication, Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007, addresses some of the most challenging threats to the safety and security of urban dwellers today. As the report tells us, urban violence and crime are increasing worldwide, giving rise to widespread fear and driving away investment in many cities. Large numbers of people in cities all over the world, including most of the one billion currently living in slums, have no security of tenure, while at least two million are evicted every year. ... The report highlights the key role urban planning and governance have to play in making our cities safe and secure for generations to come. Through its documentation of many successful experiences, it promotes learning and sharing of knowledge on urban safety and security. I commend it to all those interested in the health of cities around the world.

3nd OIDP Distinction “Best Practice in citizen participation” 4/9/2008
The International Observatory of Participatory Democracy (OIDP) has just launched the 3rd edition of the “Best Practice in Citizens’ Participation” Distinction given for initiatives developed at the local level. The invitation is open to all local governments, municipal entities and extra-municipal entities that are members of the OIDP and have promoted a citizen participation initiative within the last four years that is still in effect at the time of the candidacy application. The selected candidacies will receive an accredited diploma and will present their experience within the framework of the VIII OIDP Conference that will be held in La Paz (Bolivia) on November 19th, 2008. OIDP will publish all the experiences presented and will single out the winner for the publication of special material. The application period ends on May 30th, 2008! For further information: www.oidp.net

Giving Africa’s public a greater say in municipal spending 4/9/2008
Top officials from the government and civil society bodies gathered in the Senegalese capital, Dakar last week to launch a national participatory budgeting programme designed to give the public at large a greater say in government and municipal spending. The so-called participatory budgeting system, widely practised in Latin America, is expected to be introduced in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique and other African countries to ensure more transparency and better governance in Africa’s rapidly growing towns and cities. UN-HABITAT is expected to play a major role as a key advisor and partner providing firsthand information on the implementation of the system. Speaking at the Dakar launch, Mr Alioune Badiane, UN-HABITAT’s Director of the Regional Office for Africa and the Arab States, urged government leaders and other elected civil officials to make every effort that would ensure the successful implementation of the programme. “Lessons learnt from this exercise should be shared at the international forums such as World Urban Forum coming up later this year in Nanjing in China,” he said. It was hoped that the programme will enable municipalities in Senegal and in other parts of Africa reduce the biting poverty, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Mrs. Tibaijuka hails new Norwegian support to UN-HABITAT 4/9/2008
Norway will provide UN-HABITAT with funding to the tune of USD 25.6 million to help implement a new medium-term strategic plan aimed at strengthening the agency, sharpening its focus on urban poverty reduction around the world, and improving its internal management. A UN-HABITAT statement said that Ambassador Elisabeth Jacobsen of Norway, had signed the funding agreement with UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, on Thursday 3 April. It provides for the provision of NOK 62 million (USD 12.2 million) for 2008 and NOK 68 million for 2009, subject to Parliamentary reserve. At hand for the signing ceremony were Mr. Erik Berg, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Per Nygaard of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, and Mr. Thomas Eid, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to UN-HABITAT and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

IUCN partners with ICLEI 4/9/2008
IUCN will dedicate a high-profile roundtable at their 2008 World Congress to their cooperation with local governments. IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is dedicating one of their six high-profile roundtables at their upcoming World Congress in Barcelona in October 2008 to their cooperation with local governments, with ICLEI as their main partner. This decision follows the Memorandum of Understanding between IUCN and ICLEI, which was signed in October 2007. IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with more than 1,000 members,will intensify their cooperation with ICLEI in various fields. IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre and ICLEI Secretary General Konrad Otto-Zimmermann had signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two global organisations at the IUCN headquarters in Gland, Switzerland on 8 October 2007.

Australia’s state capitals experience record growth 4/9/2008
Last year Australia’s state capitals grew faster than at any time since the 1980s. The cities grew by a combined 1.6 per cent to reach 13.4 million. The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also show that within the next 20 years Melbourne is likely to overtake Sydney as the country’s largest city. ABS demographer Andrew Howe said that it was the biggest surge in capital city growth for 20 years. “The last time the capital cities combined grew by more than 1.6 per cent was in 1987-88,” he detailed. The Bureau also revealed that the growth was partly due to immigration. “Last financial year, 178,000 more people entered Australia than left. And most overseas migrants, at least when the first arrive, reside in a state capital," Howe said. Darwin was the fastest growing capital city last financial year, expanding by 2.6 per cent to 117,395 people. Perth came in second (growing 2.3 per cent to 1.55 million) followed by Brisbane (up 2 per cent to 1.86 million).

US government selects twelve more solar cities 4/9/2008
Denver and eleven other US cities, among them Houston, San Antonio and Sacramento, have been selected to become ‘Solar America Cities’. US energy secretary Samuel Bodman said that the government would make available US$2.4 million to the 12 cities. They will also receive technical help to install solar technology. The minister said he hoped the initiative would jumpstart the integration of solar energy and encourage other cities to follow suit. Denver is one of the 12 cities that will be one of the Solar America Cities along with the Texas cities of Houston and San Antonio; and the California cities of Sacramento, San Jose, and Santa Rosa. The other cities are: Knoxville, Tennessee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington.

San Francisco mayor urges calm ahead of arrival of Olympic torch 4/9/2008
Two days before the arrival of the Olympic torch in San Francisco, seven Tibet independence activists were detained after three of them had scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a large protest banner reading ‘One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08’. The three climbers remained on the bridge for about two hours before coming down voluntarily. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defended the protests but urged pro-Tibet activists to remain within the law. “Public safety cannot be compromised,“ he said.

Paris mayor joins pro-Tibet protests 4/9/2008
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë has led protests against the Olympic torch during its passage through the French capital. Amid scenes of chaos as pro-Tibet protestors stepped up their actions against China's hosting of the Olympic Games this summer, the Socialist mayor arranged for a banner to be draped across the capital's city hall declaring 'Paris supports human rights everywhere in the world'. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner backed Delanoe as organisers were forced to extinguish the Olympic flame. Echoing scenes in London the day before, where anti-China protestors had disrupted the official procession for the Olympic torch, the pro-Tibet campaign vowed to step up its dissent. However, in contrast, London's mayor Ken Livingstone welcomed the Chinese ambassador and the flame to the British capital, host city of the 2012 Games. Livingstone has also previously incurred derision for his statements downplaying the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Police in London were also told to treat Tibetan flags and anti-Beijing slogans as public order offences.

European cities failed to switch off their lights 4/9/2008
While many cities in America and Asia observed Earth Hour by switching off their lights for one hour on Saturday, 29 March, the response to the energy-saving WWF initiative was muted in much of Europe. Landmark buildings in Germany, Spain and France continued to be lit up. Only in Athens, Budapest, London and Dublin did the authorities respond by turning off the floodlights at buildings such as London City Hall, Athens City Hall, the Hungarian Parliament and Canterbury Cathedral. Elsewhere in the world, city authorities embraced the WWF call for a gesture to reduce energy waste with greater enthusiasm. In Chicago, lights on more than 200 city centre buildings were dimmed on Saturday night, while in Sydney the illumination of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge were switched off. The city authorities of Phoenix ordered that lights in all city-owned buildings were turned off for one hour. Darkened restaurants glowed with candlelight in San Francisco while the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks extinguished lights for an hour.

EISCO 2008 conference: "Moving forward the Digital Local Agenda" 4/9/2008
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) together with ELANET network (CEMR) is co-organising its 7th conference on local and regional governments in the information society. EISCO 2008 will take place in Naples (Italy), from 25 to 27 September 2008. The conference "Local networks and inter-regional cooperation: Moving forward the Digital Local Agenda" will assess the progress of the main European networks of local and regional govenrments in implementing the Digital Local Agenda (DLA), a strategic plan to develop the informatics society in cities and regions. The conference will be organised around five themes: • Collaboration among innovators from the public and private sector in the field of Information and communication technologies (ICT); • Using ICT to build networks for service delivery in local communities; • "e-services" models and WEB 2.0 deployment; • Building digital capacity in local administrations; • Progress of the digital local agenda: methodologies used and first lessons learnt. http://www.ccre.org/docs/eisco_2008_programme_en.pdf