December Headlines - click to see the full story
17/12/2008 - European Neighbours' Day: let's bring together our citizens!
17/12/2008 - Malawi organises its first Urban Forum
17/12/2008 - Mayors, local authorities say urban dimension crucial to climate change talks
16/12/2008 - Open City presented at Urban Age South America Conference
16/12/2008 - Local and regional governments across the world face the financial and economic crisis
14/12/2008 - CEMR Policy Committee : "Local and regional authorities can help tackle financial crisis"
14/12/2008 - Mayors, local authorities say urban dimension crucial to climate change talks
13/12/2008 - Call for Abstracts: Interdisciplinary Conference at York University
11/12/2008 - Conference on Human Security in the Arab Region
8/12/2008 - Renewable energy: CEMR calls for full involvement of local and regional authorities
8/12/2008 - Biodiversity loss, an economic threat to cities and towns
8/12/2008 - First high-level UN-HABITAT visit to Iraq in five years
8/12/2008 - Espoo, Ghent and Newcastle win EUROCITIES awards
3/12/2008 - How governments are propelling urban growth
3/12/2008 - The Glocal eCities Network Program
3/12/2008 - Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil
3/12/2008 - A Future Within Reach 2008
3/12/2008 - Urban Future:The cities of the developing world are spectacularly ill-prepared for the explosion in urban living
3/12/2008 - Call for Contributions: 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul
1/12/2008 - Second announcement of CEMR's 24th general assembly: a glimpse of what you can expect
1/12/2008 - Biodiversity loss, an economic threat to cities and towns
1/12/2008 - Highlighting the urban dimension at the global climate change talks
1/12/2008 - Cities contribute to UN Climate Change Conference in Poland
European Neighbours' Day: let's bring together our citizens!
Take part in the European neighbours' Day to be held on 26 May 2009 in many European municipalities and cities.
Each year, on the last Tuesday of May, inhabitants of a same building or area are invited to share a nice time around a buffet. or a luncheon with their neighbours. This event, relayed by municipalities and local associations, aims to better the “living together”, to develop a real sense of community and to promote European citizenship.
Any city or town is welcome to participate in the event by promoting the event with the inhabitants using all the communication means at their disposal. http://www.european-neighbours-day.eu/
Malawi organises its first Urban Forum
The first Malawi Urban Forum, held in Lilongwe from 8-9 December, brought close to 200 stakeholders to seek solutions to what is considered to be the most significant demographic and poverty dynamic in Malawi today - rapid urbanization and the urbanization of poverty.
The theme of the first Malawi Urban Forum was “Harmonious Urbanisation: the Challenge of Sustainable Urban Development in Malawi”, chosen in line with this year's World Habitat Day theme and also the focus of the World Urban Forum held in November, in Nanjing, China.
The forum zeroed in on Malawi's key urban priorities which include urban planning, shelter, energy and environment, gender, youth, disability, HIV/AIDS and public-private partnerships to promote sustainable urbanization. Meetings, which included a session for parliamentarians, were moderated by key experts.
Mayors, local authorities say urban dimension crucial to climate change talks
Mayors and local authorities representing cities around the world last week urged delegates attending a milestone session of climate change talks to ensure that cities are kept high on the agenda given that they are home to half the world's population and responsible for much of the emissions that cause climate change.
"The voice of cities has to be heard at the COP in Poznan," said the city's mayor, Ryszard Grobelny, referring to the 14th Conference of the Parties which started last week under the auspices of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC).
He was speaking at a Local Government Climate Session co-organized by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the Association of Polish cities.
In a joint message to the conference, they said: "We, cities and local governments, represent half of the world's population; consume up to 80 percent of all energy, implement strong local climate actions; commit to ambitious reduction targets, mobilize citizens around the globe; and offer national-local partnership to limit global warming.
Open City presented at Urban Age South America Conference
On 3 December, Urban Age inaugurated an intensive two-day conference on the future of global cities in São Paulo, the largest city in one of the world’s most urbanised regions. 100 innovators of urban change from 14 countries – half a dozen mayors, renowned scholars and authors side-by-side with architects leading major urban regeneration projects around the globe – offered presentations about urban transformations in 25 cities. Exploring the vast and complex challenge of contemporary city making, the conference offered a platform to investigate the interconnected issues of security, mobility, climate change, governance and urban design. http://www.biennalerotterdam.nl/en/news/38/Open_City_presented_at_Urban_Age_South_America_Conference
Local and regional governments across the world face the financial and economic crisis
On the occasion of the UCLG World Council, the Director of the Turkish office of the World Bank, Ulrich Zachau, confirmed that the impact of the global financial crisis on cities would be profound, hitting the urban poor the hardest. Zachau acknowledged the inclination to cut public spending but insisted that it was imperative that public spending be maintained as its long-term benefits are indisputable.
Local and regional leaders expressed their concerns about the direct repercussions of the financial crisis on cities and regions. http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/index.asp?pag=newsD.asp&L=EN&ID=274
CEMR Policy Committee : "Local and regional authorities can help tackle financial crisis"
The Policy Committee of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) met in Paris on 8 and 9 December 2008. Many speakers focused on the global financial crisis and its impact on Europe's towns and regions.
The host of the meeting, mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë called on Europe's leaders to understand that local and regional authorities can bring solutions. Innovative solutions often emanate from towns and regions; besides our local and regional authorities are the engine that drives economic growth through public investment.
The mayor of Paris also called for local authorities to create a databank gathering the best ideas in terms of local economic development.
The president of CEMR and mayor of Vienna Michael Häupl echoed Bertrand Delanoë's views: This financial crisis is global, but its solutions are first and foremost local. Europe cannot hope to solve it without working very closely with our local and regional authorities.
Mayors, local authorities say urban dimension crucial to climate change talks
Mayors and local authorities representing cities around the world this week urged delegates attending a milestone session of climate change talks to ensure that cities are kept high on the agenda given that they are home to half the world's population and responsible for much of the emissions that cause climate change.
"The voice of cities has to be heard at the COP in Poznan," said the city's mayor, Ryszard Grobelny, referring to the 14th Conference of the Parties which started last week under the auspices of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC).
He was speaking at a Local Government Climate Session co-organized by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and the Association of Polish cities.
In a joint message to the conference, they said: "We, cities and local governments, represent half of the world's population; consume up to 80 percent of all energy, implement strong local climate actions; commit to ambitious reduction targets, mobilize citizens around the globe; and offer national-local partnership to limit global warming
Call for Abstracts: Interdisciplinary Conference at York University
Lumpen-City:Discourses of Marginality | Marginalizing Discourses
Research on marginalized urban residents has been an academic cottage industry throughout the history of the social sciences – addressing social problems related to issues such as poverty, crime, youth, race, ethnicity, gender, health, and employment. To apprehend these notions of difference, conceptualizations of the poor, the underclass, the outcast, the ghetto, exclusion, marginality and others have been developed and applied. Inevitably, research defines and represents a group and, as such, influences everyday preconceptions and politico-administrative strategies, including policies, regulations and laws.
This conference challenges academics and activist-scholars alike to reflect upon the realities and potentialities of research on marginalized urban populations in the context of their struggles. We invite scholarly contributions which illuminate issues of representation by exploring multiple axes of identity such as class, race, gender, ethnicity, age, ability / disability, and sexuality. http://www.lumpencity.com/
Conference on Human Security in the Arab Region
On the 15 and 16 December, a major international conference on human security in the Arab region will be organized in Cairo, Egypt, by the League of Arab States (LAS), the Human Security Unit at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (HSU-OCHA), and UNESCO.
Representatives from Member States of the League of Arab States, academics and civil society actors from the Arab region as well as international researchers and experts, are invited to debate on human security in the region.
This high-level meeting, in which Pierre Sané, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences will participate, will take place within the framework of a wider project conceived by LAS, UNESCO and HSU-OCHA with the financial support of the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security.
Five case studies, commissioned especially from regional experts on subjects such as poverty eradication, democracy and human rights, environment and management of conflict and post-conflict situations in the Arab States will be discussed.
Furthermore, in order to throw light on the debates, a session will be devoted to international experts to enable them to exchange their views and to share the lessons learned in other regions. http://www.unesco.org/shs/philosophy
Renewable energy: CEMR calls for full involvement of local and regional authorities
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) has written to the European Parliament rapporteur, Claude Turmes, asking for the inclusion of a provision requiring the involvement of local and regional authorities in renewable energy national action plans.
In its letter to Claude Turmes, and as the European Parliament and the Council are negotiating compromises on the directive on renewable energy, CEMR states: Given their competences and the decentralised nature of renewable energy, local and regional authorities have a key role to play in delivering the EU's goal of increasing by 20% the share of renewable energy in its overall consumption of energy by 2020.
Earlier this year, the text adopted by the committee Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament called on Member States to cooperate with local and regional authorities in order to reach the 20% goals. CEMR calls for the final version of the directive to include this point.
Biodiversity loss, an economic threat to cities and towns
Biodiversity was the theme of the 2008 UN day (October 2008), which is celebrated in Bonn each year. In her introduction to Bonn UN-talks, Mayor Bärbel Dieckmann once again highlighted the relevance of local action. She requested a special recognition of urban biodiversity and municipal services within the international TEEB-study on the loss of biodiversity, which is the equivalent to Stern-report on climate change.
Pavan Sukhdev, lead author of the global TEEB-study, gave a review on the aims of the study: "We want to use the results of the study to underline the fundamental economic importance of the numerous and different aspects of biodiversity." The first findings over the last months have already proven his statement: loosing biodiversity is so costly that not only the basis of life but also a huge amount of economic operations are at risk or impossible.
In a short meeting ICLEI representatives and Mr. Sukhdev explored options for cooperation: How can the potentials of local governments be best used to reaching out to the public and, at the same time, how can the results of the study provide arguments, facts and figures for local governments to strengthen their work at the local level? Strong economic arguments for protecting biodiversity will bring a new dimension into global and local debates on the importance of intact ecosystems
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=1487&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3426&tx_ttnews[backPid]=983&cHash=ae44569cd5
First high-level UN-HABITAT visit to Iraq in five years
The director of UN-HABITAT’s Regional Office for African and Arab States, Mr. Aloiune Badiane visited Baghdad during the last week of November, marking the first visit by a senior official of the agency since 2003.
The purpose of the visit was to participate in a two day joint review of pilot Governorate Housing Strategies being supported by UN-HABITAT, and to discuss housing and urban sector programme priorities with key Iraqi and donor partners.
Iraq’s housing and urban sectors are in dire need of institutional reform and massive capital investments to combat total breakdown of basic services, increasing unemployment and proliferation of slums. The workshop which included participation from senior central and local government officials agreed on the need for a nationwide scaling up of such strategy formulation with Iraqi funding and UN-HABITAT technical assistance.
A national workshop is now scheduled to take place in January 2009 to be inaugurated by Iraqi Prime Minister, Mr. Noori Maliki.
Espoo, Ghent and Newcastle win EUROCITIES awards
The cities of Espoo (Finland), Ghent (Belgium) and Newcastle (United Kingdom) are the winners of the EUROCITIES Awards 2008. The awards recognise city councils’ success in involving their citizens in local governance. The award ceremony was held at the opening of the EUROCITIES Annual Conference which was held on 26-29 November in The Hague.
Now in its third year, the EUROCITIES Award scheme celebrates new ideas and approaches in local government of European significance. Speaking at the conference, EUROCITIES’ recently appointed Secretary General, Paul Bevan said, “Effective and responsive local government demands the active engagement of citizens in both policymaking and service delivery. These winning European cities are leading by example.”
http://www.eurocities.org/include/lib/sql_news_card.php?id=1428
How governments are propelling urban growth
UN-HABITAT analysis of 245 cities that are experiencing the fastest growth in the developing world shows very clearly that spatial influences of macroeconomic and industrial policies and related investments (or economic development), are the main drivers of city growth in 78 per cent of the cities analyzed. Investments in transport infrastructure (roads, ports, airports) were by and large the most important contributor to city growth. Forty per cent of the cities analyzed experienced high growth rates as a direct result of the diversification, expansion or improvement of regional or urban transport infrastructure. The designation of regions or cities as special economic zones contributed to the rapid growth of one-fifth of these cities. The development of information and services-related sectors, such as banking and financial systems, including different forms of trade, was the third most important contributor to city growth, representing 16 per cent of the cities. http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/presskitsowc2008/How%20gov%20propelling.pdf
The Glocal eCities Network Program
Piloting the program with a coalition of technology partners led by Oracle and with the strong support of the World Bank, the Glocal Network of Cities program will build the capacity of cities in finance, management and procurement processes in order to upgrade governance and citizen services with the eventual objective of poverty alleviation at the city level. The program has two general components: 1) City-to-city capacity-building on both a north-south and south-south level to create and strengthen municipal processes in areas such as urban infrastructure, sanitation, water etc. and 2) Municipal management upgrades at the municipal level in order to provide ICT infrastructure and tools to informatize municipal services and provide transparent, accountable and efficient services. The introduction of strong financial and procurement management tools and services will benefit municipalities by increasing efficiency and transparency while empowering municipal officials with the ability to plan and manage more efficiently. The pilot cities for this program will be Kigali, Rwanda and Gaza City, Palestinian Authority. http://www.glocalforum.org/projects/?id=202&id_p=90&lng=en
Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil
This symposium was held on November 6-8, 2008 at the University of Pennsylvania. Including Peter Head of Arup and Elizabeth Kolbert of The New Yorker, more than 70 scholars and practitioners from around the world discussed how to achieve the new sustainable urban world. An associated interactive exhibit was opened in conjunction with the symposium.
This symposium marked the 50th Anniversary of the 1958 University of Pennsylvania/Rockefeller Foundation 'Conference on Urban Design Criticism.' The participants–Jane Jacobs, Louis Kahn, Kevin Lynch, Ian McHarg, Lewis Mumford, I.M. Pei and others--shaped urban design in the 20th Century. Re-Imagining Cities will set the directions for 21st Century urban design. The University of Pennsylvania School of Design and the Penn Institute for Urban Research, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, were its sponsors.
A Future Within Reach 2008
Regional Partnerships for the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific. This is the third in a series of regional reports on the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia-Pacific region. It assesses the prospects of reaching the goals and targets, highlighting the potential gaps and indicating how these can be filled. It also looks at the potential for adding value to national initiatives through broader international partnerships through which the United Nations and other international organizations 'deliver as one'. http://www.mdgasiapacific.org/a-future-within-reach-2008
Urban Future:The cities of the developing world are spectacularly ill-prepared for the explosion in urban living
'The United Nations estimates that by 2030, the world's population will reach 8 billion. That will be 2.3 billion more than 30 years earlier. The urban population in developing countries is set to rise from 2 to 4 billion over the same period. That means virtually all of the growth in global population in the decades ahead will take place in cities in the developing world.The dash towards urbanization is inevitable. Countries with emerging economies have shown that, while successful development generally begins with agriculture, development cannot be based on agriculture alone. Industry, trade, transport and education are essential, and all of these activities are centred in urban areas.' http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n1s/full/twas08.32a.html
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS – 5th WORLD WATER FORUM, ISTANBUL
On the occasion of the 5th World Water Forum, Action against Hunger, in cooperation with UNICEF/the Global WASH Cluster, organises and coordinates a session on the topic of the right to water and sanitation in emergency situations (session 4.1.4).
Stakeholders from all regions are invited to prepare short responses on any of the following questions, focussing on their work and experience. In all cases, references to national best practices are requested in order to illustrate the points.
· What is the added value of a “rights-based approach” in the field? Are there any field examples demonstrating the added value of integrating rights in emergency response?
· Where have “rights-based approaches” been used in emergency situations and with what result?
· What are the main lines of resistance to the adoption of a “rights-based approach” amongst donors and humanitarian agencies?
· What are the key types of violations of the right to water and sanitation in emergency situations?
· Have other human rights besides RTWS been utilized in emergency responses, and if so, how does this help? What lessons have been learned?
You will find all the information on the Virtual Meeting Space of the Forum at http://www.worldwaterforum5.org
Second announcement of CEMR's 24th general assembly: a glimpse of what you can expect
The second announcement of Council of European Municipalities and Regions' 24th general assembly is now available. It includes a detailed programme of the different sessions and speakers.
CEMR's general assembly.will be held from 22 to 24 April 2009 in Malmö, and over 1,200 local and regional representatives are expected to attend. The first day will focus on a political debate on the international and European challenges local and regional government have to prepare for and adapt to in the best way.
The second day will address issues surrounding democracy and governance, demographic change, public services, cohesion policy and the cooperation between the EU and its neighbours. A session will examine the role of local government in international development and the new kinds of partnerships growing at local government level.
The third day will be organised around two major themes: local solutions to tackle climate change, and twinning in a changing Europe. A final plenary session will be devoted to what local government can do now to prepare for tomorrow. http://www.ccre.org/docs/malmo_second_announcement_en.pdf
Biodiversity loss, an economic threat to cities and towns
Biodiversity was the theme of the 2008 UN day (October 2008), which is celebrated in Bonn each year. In her introduction to Bonn UN-talks, Mayor Bärbel Dieckmann once again highlighted the relevance of local action. She requested a special recognition of urban biodiversity and municipal services within the international TEEB-study on the loss of biodiversity, which is the equivalent to Stern-report on climate change.
Pavan Sukhdev, lead author of the global TEEB-study, gave a review on the aims of the study: "We want to use the results of the study to underline the fundamental economic importance of the numerous and different aspects of biodiversity." The first findings over the last months have already proven his statement: loosing biodiversity is so costly that not only the basis of life but also a huge amount of economic operations are at risk or impossible.
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=1487&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3426&tx_ttnews[backPid]=983&cHash=ae44569cd5
Highlighting the urban dimension at the global climate change talks
UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, will join the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon and other senior officials in Poznan, Poland, to discuss ways of adapting and mitigating against global climate change problems.
Since the last climate change meeting Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, Mr. Ban said the world had seen even more compelling evidence why action had to be taken now. Devastating recent events like the tropical cyclones in Myanmar and the Caribbean, widespread flooding in India and China, and drought in Africa highlighted the vulnerability that people all over the world face, he said in a statement.
“It is clear that those who suffer the most from the increasing signs of climate change are the poor. Those that have contributed the least to this planetary problem continue to be disproportionately at risk,” he said.
http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6064&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0
Cities contribute to UN Climate Change Conference in Poland
Local governments will offer national governments their partner-ship to limit global warming when nations gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland on 1-12 December 2008 to negotiate a new global climate agreement. Municipal representa-tives will present their message at the Local Government Climate Sessions from 9 to 11 December in Poznan, Poland.
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, spoke for local governments at the 2007 UN Climate Confer-ence in Bali: "The world's cities, which account for 80% of humanity's production of greenhouse gases, rec-ognise that inaction is not an option. Mayors of the world's cities are the great pragmatists on the world's stage. Results, not ideology, are what matter to us".
Since 2007, cities have mirrored the UN Climate Roadmap in a process called the "Local Government Cli-mate Roadmap". They advocate for a comprehensive post-2012 climate agreement, which will determine the next phase of what is currently the Kyoto Protocol.
Cities and local governments worldwide have a long track of voluntary local climate action. Nations should recognise and build upon these local contributions via strategic partnerships on climate with their local gov-ernments. Such national-local climate partnerships should include empowerment, capacities, resources and easier
access to funding, as well as enabling regulations and framework conditions for the local level.
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