14/2/2012 - Walkable Neighborhoods a Top Priority.
14/2/2012 - Abu Dhabi Forges Ahead With Plans to Create a Cultural World Capital.
14/2/2012 - Dynamics of deprived neighbourhoods in the URBACT cities.
13/2/2012 - Instant Street Makeovers Put New Spin on Urban Planning.
13/2/2012 - Urban hub "BentoBox" fosters cargo bike deliveries in Berlin.
13/2/2012 - The Threat of Poor Urban Design to Public Health.
12/2/2012 - Citizens, municipalities and cities key to meeting climate goals.
12/2/2012 - Green Building Trends To Watch in 2012.
11/2/2012 - Toronto forges Weather-Wise partnership.
11/2/2012 - 'Shared Space' Streets without Sidewalk Curbs--Safer for Pedestrians? .
10/2/2012 - 'Pathways out of poverty': social mobility in European cities.
10/2/2012 - The Rise of the Megacity.
9/2/2012 - The Green Digital Charter text and infopack now available in six languages.
9/2/2012 - Study Confirms Environmental Benefits of Adaptive Reuse.
9/2/2012 - Crime rates in EU drop slower .
8/2/2012 - Lessons From the World's Great Biking Cities.
8/2/2012 - "Energy Efficiency Watch" Conference on 1st March 2012 in Wels (AT) .
8/2/2012 - A Paradigm Shift in Urban Runoff.
7/2/2012 - Best Practice Award for Coastal Towns: Call for applications.
7/2/2012 - Are U.S. Cities Effectively Desegregated? .
7/2/2012 - Online form to facilitate submission of projects for the DIA Best Practices Award.
6/2/2012 - Arch. Ettore Maria Mazzola to receive the IMCL International Urban Design Award.
6/2/2012 - A Call For Regenerative Cities.
6/2/2012 - Vienna ranks top among Smart Cities.
5/2/2012 - Will Toronto's Mayor Drag the City Back to the Twentieth Century? .
5/2/2012 - Call for cities to join Bologna for a cycling challenge.
4/2/2012 - Better cities, better life in Malawi.

Last week, the city of Berlin presented the “BentoBox”, Europe’s first prototype of a flexible collection station for packages, little packets and smaller sachets. The station was combined with the deployment of innovative cargo bikes to achieve quick, cost efficient, emission free and almost silent distribution of goods.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/164/45/Urban-hub-quot-BentoBox-quot-fosters-cargo-bike-deliveries-in-Berlin/

The Threat of Poor Urban Design to Public Health
Scott Carlson profiles the work of Dr. Richard J. Jackson, chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA's School of Public Health, one of the leading voices calling for better urban design for the sake of good health.
For much of the past decade, Dr. Jackson has been trumpeting the connection between urban design and many of the most urgent public health issues affecting Americans today. Advocating from various platforms including his past position as head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC, books including "Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities" (Island Press, 2004), and a new mini-series for public television called Designing Healthy Communities, Jackson's work has earned its share of critics, from Libertarians to the National Association of Home Builders.
Dr. Jackson is currently focused on efforts to make a much broader group of people aware of their role in public health, not just health providers or health practitioners. "If we are going to change the way we build our communities, it has got to be done because of the demand of the citizenry—a demand that the average, very busy local political leader can understand," Dr. Jackson says. "We humans are so adaptable that we look at the world that we are in and we think, It has to be this way. But everything around us was an idea in someone's head before it was built. In large part, the idea behind the series is to alter what's in our head."
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Scientist-Pushes-Urban/130404/

Citizens, municipalities and cities key to meeting climate goals
Martin Lidegaard, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Buildings, stressed the vital role of local authorities in tackling climate change during his keynote speech at a breakfast policy briefing organised by Brussels-based think thank, European Policy Centre, on Tuesday 24 January.
When asked about the ambitious efforts made by signatories to the Covenant of Mayors initiative, Lidegaard remarked:
“We need a combination of a clear top-down agreement and bottom-up engagement. The objectives of any UN agreement will not be met if we do not engage citizens, municipalities and cities. Without these actors Europe cannot deliver. The potential of the grass-root level should not be underestimated, not in Denmark and neither in Europe. 85% of all capital today is private. It is clear that we need to approach our climate challenge from all angles, certainly also from bottom-up.”
The ambitious Covenant of Mayors initiative engages more than 3,000 local and regional authorities in a voluntary commitment to increase energy efficiency and promote the uptake of renewable energy sources on their territory. Signatories, of which over 100 are EUROCITIES members, aim to meet and exceed the EU’s 20% CO2 reduction objective by 2020.

Green Building Trends To Watch in 2012
Claire Easley talks with the "godfather of green," Jerry Yudelson, about the "megatrends" to watch for in the Green Building industry over the next year.
Green Building will not be immune to the overall trends in the economy and the real estate industry, but the market is still poised for growth, albeit growth that may be focused around "frugal green" amenities.
Trends in the U.S. include continued growth in LEED for Existing Buildings certifications, which will likely exceed registrations for new construction for the second year in a row. Net-zero energy buildings will gain traction and water issues will continue to grow in importance.
Yudelson also sees performance disclosure, which is already prevalent in the European Union and Australia, becoming widespread in U.S. cities as prospective tenants seeks to compare energy costs between buildings.
http://www.builderonline.com/green-building/green-building-megatrends-for-2012.aspx

Toronto forges Weather-Wise partnership
The partnership focuses on the protection of the region's residents, organizations, infrastructure, and environment from extreme weather. Toronto is the first Canadian city to bring together such a diverse group to focus on adapting to climate change.
The WeatherWise Partnership, which includes representatives from the three levels of government and many other sectors, has identified the continuation of electrical power during extreme weather events as its first priority. Future areas of focus may include urban transportation, flooding and extreme heat.
Visit www.toronto.ca to read more about this exciting collaboration!

'Shared Space' Streets without Sidewalk Curbs--Safer for Pedestrians?
A new approach in urban street design, called 'Shared Space,' aims to reduce the dominance of cars by getting people and vehicles to share the road space. This includes removing curbs so that there is no clear physical demarcation between the pavement and the rest of the street. This strategy has arguably made streets safer for pedestrians, with less accidents and slower vehicle speeds.
http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/walkonomics/31709/are-streets-more-walkable-if-pavements-are-removed

'Pathways out of poverty': social mobility in European cities
EUROCITIES has launched a call for tenders from urban researchers to study patterns of social mobility in European cities. Announcing the research call, EUROCITIES secretary general Paul Bevan said, "We know that throughout history poor people have been attracted to cities by the opportunities they offer for work and advancement. We want to find out more about how European cities nowadays provide those pathways out of poverty. Are there still more chances for upward mobility in urban rather than rural settings? Can we distinguish public policy choices that help and hinder social mobility?"
Funded under the European Commission's PROGRESS programme, the research project will run from April to October 2012, with a total budget of up to €20,000.  The deadline for tenders is 29 February 2012.
http://nws.eurocities.eu:8080/MediaShell/media/EUROCITIES%20research%20tender%20Jan%202012.pdf

The Rise of the Megacity
Through the lens of Chengdu and Delhi, Paul Webster and Jason Burke explore how the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live.
In the developing world, where many of the world's emerging megacities can be found, "poor rural families flooding into the world's urban population centres bring challenges that have never before been seen – nor met."
"Optimists see a new network of powerful, stable and prosperous city states, each bigger than many small countries, where the benefits of urban living, the relative ease of delivering basic services compared to rural zones and new civic identities combine to raise living standards for billions. Pessimists see the opposite: a dystopic future where huge numbers of people fight over scarce resources in sprawling, divided, anarchic "non-communities" ravaged by disease and violence."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/21/rise-megacity-live

The Green Digital Charter text and infopack now available in six languages
With the aim of making the Green Digital Charter more accessible to non-English speakers, NiCE proceeded to the translation of the Infopack into five more languages: French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.
The Green Digital Charter infopack consists of all the publications developed under the NiCE project to provide full information on the Charter and the project activities to promote the Charter implementation.
The infopack is now available in six languages and can be downloaded on the GDC webportal: http://www.greendigitalcharter.com/resources/green-digital-charter-infopack.

Study Confirms Environmental Benefits of Adaptive Reuse
Sarah Laskow reports on a new study from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that confirms and quantifies the adage that reuse of a historic building is more sustainable than LEED certified new construction.
As Laskow reports, one item of interest to come out of the report is that renovated buildings outperformed new buildings on energy savings in every category of building type except for one: "converting a warehouse to a multi-family dwelling, which required enough extra materials that creating a new building was the greener choice."
"One goal of the report was to make the case for building reuse as smart development practice, an option that is often overlooked. For green-minded preservationists, the data in the report gives heft to long-held beliefs: As TreeHugger’s Lloyd Alter puts it, 'As a writer about sustainable design [the report] backs up the arguments I have been making for years, and as a preservation activist, it gives me and everyone in the movement the ammunition we need to demonstrate that old buildings are green.'"
http://www.good.is/post/why-historic-buildings-are-greener-than-new-leed-certified-ones/

Crime rates in EU drop slower
Crime keeps decreasing throughout the EU, but at a less steady pace than in recent years. This is one of the main conclusions of the recently published Eurostat report ‘Crime and Criminal Justice, 2006-2009’, in which statistics on various types of crime in the different Member States are monitored and analyzed. Though the trend of a decreasing crime rate is significant, notable differences between countries and types of crime remain.
http://www.eukn.org/E_library/Security_Crime_Prevention/Tackling_Crime/Courts_Justice/Crime_rates_in_EU_drop_slower

Lessons From the World's Great Biking Cities
Christine Grant was fortunate enough to win a fellowship that allowed her to spend six months in the world's most bike-friendly cities. In this article she shares with us the 10 essential lessons she learned along the way.
In addition to the elements planners might intuitively understand about how to provide an encouraging environment for bicyclists in our cities (protected lanes, implement a bike-share program, etc.), Christine has some intriguing findings.
One such recommendation that would-be bicyclists may not consider is Lesson 7 -- You don’t need bike clothes:
"Most of the women and men I saw on bicycles throughout Europe and Japan didn’t wear special clothes. People just wore their usual outfits, heels and all. Women from London to Tokyo looked beautiful, stylish, and feminine while they were cycling. Men frequently pedaled in suits. 'Style over speed,' says Mikael Colville-Anderson, who started the Cycle Chic movement."
http://grist.org/biking/virtuous-cycle-10-lessons-from-the-worlds-great-biking-cities/

"Energy Efficiency Watch" Conference on 1st March 2012 in Wels (AT)
EU energy efficiency policies matter to you? You would like to see what progress has been made in the Member States concerning the policy implementation? If so, the Energy Efficiency Watch Conference, in the framework of the international conference World Sustainable Energy Days, might be of interest for you.
This conference is organised as a part of the IEE-funded "Energy Efficiency Watch 2" project which aims at facilitating the implementation of the "EU-Energy Services Directive".
You will discover the main results achieved by the project so far, including screenings of National Energy Efficiency Action Plans and a comprehensive stakeholder survey on the progress of energy efficiency policies in the EU Member States in the last years.
Besides expert presentations, an interactive voting session will be held.
http://www.energy-cities.eu/Energy-Efficiency-Watch-Conference?pmv_nid=2

A Paradigm Shift in Urban Runoff
Christine MacDonald looks at efforts by everyone from home gardeners to municipal water authorities to rethink and rebuild the infrastructure to handle urban runoff.
As cities across the country seek to improve the quality of their waterways by ending the "scourge of sewerage overflows" and polluted runoff, efforts large and small are contributing to capturing and filtering rain water where it falls.
"Once, cities were built to channel storm water away from building foundations and roadways. But as urban areas have grown, rooftops, streets and other impervious surfaces have disrupted cities' natural hydrology. Today, everyone from water authorities to home gardeners are looking to absorb rain where it falls, eschewing traditional treatment plants and underground sewerage tunnels that effectively neutralize runoff, but don’t do much else.", writes MacDonald.
Beautifying streets, saving money, and providing habitat for wildlife are just some of the benefits of such efforts.
See also our recent feature on moving Beyond Low Impact Development for a more in-depth analysis of the current challenges, and five proposed strategies, for effective stormwater management.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/01/why-you-should-care-about-rain-gardens/975/

Best Practice Award for Coastal Towns: Call for applications
European local communities are invited to take part in a competition for best practices in the regeneration of coastal towns - the Best Practice Award Programme of the Council of Europe. The competition is organised by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, in the framework of the UK Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers and in partnership with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the UK Local Government Association. In the first stage, interested towns are invited to send the completed "Expression of Interest" form latest by 29 February 2012. For more information: www.coe.int/congress

Are U.S. Cities Effectively Desegregated?
Sam Roberts reports on a new study of census results that found the nation’s cities are more racially integrated than at any time since 1910.
The study, published by Edward Glaeser and Jacob L. Vigdor at the Manhattan Institute, finds that suburbanization by African Americans was one of the largest factors in curtailing residential segregation in metropolitan America. Roberts writes that the report concludes that, "all-white enclaves “are effectively extinct” and that while black urban ghettos still exist they are shriveling."
For all of the progress noted by the report, however, caveats and notes of caution were sounded by the author's colleagues, and the authors themselves. "'Residential segregation has declined pervasively, as ghettos depopulate and the nation’s population center shifts toward the less segregated Sunbelt,' Glaeser and Vigdor [indicated]. 'At the same time, there has been only limited progress in closing achievement and employment gaps between blacks and whites.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/us/Segregation-Curtailed-in-US-Cities-Study-Finds.html?smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

Online form to facilitate submission of projects for the DIA Best Practices Award
As the regional UN-HABITAT centre, the Best Practices Hub - Vienna identifies innovation and success in the implementation of urban programmes as part of the UN-HABITAT Best Practices Programme. This worldwide call for proposals is intended to determine, by March 2012, how cities and municipalities deal with the requirements of increasing urban growth, the role of urban systems in climate policy and with planning tasks aimed at creating a sustainable and socially just city, in order to support the objectives of the DIA Best Practices Award, the best practices database and the further work of UN-HABITAT. An online submission form, which is to facilitate the submission of potential projects, has been recently made available at www.bestpractices.at/submission.

Arch. Ettore Maria Mazzola to receive the IMCL International Urban Design Award
Prof. Arch. Ettore Maria Mazzola, The University of Notre Dame, School of Architecture, Rome Studies Program, will be the recipient of the 2012 IMCL Conference International Urban Design Award, to be presented at the 49th IMCL Conference in Portland, OR, May 20-24, 2012.
Professor Mazzola’s work has consistently led the way in envisioning urban environments that celebrate community, and lift the spirit. His designs are hospitable for all, and show special concern for more vulnerable population groups, children, elders and the poor.
His project to replace a monolithic, low income housing block near Rome (Corviale) with a genuinely livable urban fabric, without disrupting the community, provides an exemplary model for urban renewal throughout the world. For more information, please see Regenerate suburban districts – proposal for the “ground-scraper” Corviale in Rome.
Professor Mazzola’s books include: The Sustainable City is Possible (2009); and Architecture and Town Planning, Operating Instructions, introduction by Léon Krier (2006). Please visit Professor Mazzola’s Profile.
The theme of the 49th IMCL Conference is Planning Healthy Communities for All, a theme that Professor Mazzola’s work perfectly exemplifies.
http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/49th-conference-portland

A Call For Regenerative Cities
Sustainability is not enough. Because so much damage has already been inflicted upon the world's ecosystems, Anna Leidreiter argues for the need for regenerative cities that positively enhance 'ecosystem services.'
Writing in The Global Urbanist, Leidreiter calls for the development and implementation of technologies and practices that "re-enrich the landscapes on which cities depend."
"The established horizon of urban ecology should be expanded to include all the territories involved in sustaining urban systems. Urban regeneration thus takes on the meaning of eco-regeneration."
http://globalurbanist.com/2012/01/31/regenerative-cities

Vienna ranks top among Smart Cities
The first global comparison of cities in terms of innovation, technology and sustainability ranks Vienna as number 1 of so-called Smart Cities, ahead of Toronto, Paris and New York. The ranking, which was conducted by the US climate strategist Boyd Cohen and has been recently published by the online magazine Co.Exist, was based on acknowledged criteria and analysed all studies existing in this field. It reaffirms once more the City of Vienna’s leading role in urban development, which was already recognised by the Mercer Study, where Vienna was ranked in the top position for several times, being awarded the title of “most liveable city in the world”, and by the World Smart Cities Award 2011, where Vienna reached a top position.
http://tinavienna.at/vienna-ranks-top-among-smart-cities

Will Toronto's Mayor Drag the City Back to the Twentieth Century?
Just a year into his term, Christopher Hume delivers a scathing critique of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his pro-vehicular policies.
Hume does not believe that the damage caused by Ford's misguided ideas and abrasive tone have mortally wounded the city, but as the city's transit situation "goes from bad to worse", he fears for its future.
"As we’re now beginning to understand, it’s not LRTs that must be removed from streets like Eglinton, but cars and trucks. And if not removed, reduced in numbers. The current arterial imbalance discriminates, often with deadly results, against pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and the city itself.
After decades of such thinking, change won’t come easily. A pseudo-science such as traffic engineering appears as normal as can be, but it’s little more than an organized system for enabling all things vehicular."
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1123305--hume-rob-ford-s-toronto-can-t-keep-up

Call for cities to join Bologna for a cycling challenge
The city of Bologna and the local transport authority SRM will launch a contest of European cities to challenge each other on transport cycling mileage in May 2012. Cities interested  to join should get in contact before 15 February 2012.
http://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicnews/160/45/Call-for-cities-to-join-Bologna-for-a-cycling-challenge/

Better cities, better life in Malawi
The cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and Zomba last week launched Urban Profiles highlighting the priorities for improving life in all four centres of the southern African nation.
“I urge all the cities to utilize these profiles by using them to help in allocating development resources and also to help mobilize resources to address the identified challenges in their respective cities,” Mrs.Ivy Luhanga, the Principal Secretary for Local Government and Rural Development at the Malawi Cities Forum on citywide slum upgrading in the capital 23-25 January 2011. “I appeal to donors, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academia and all city dwellers to work together and to support the efforts of the city councils in reducing poverty in our cities.”
Addressing the root causes of slums and putting in place response and preventive measures are at the top of the agenda for those committed to poverty reduction in Malawi. The Forum was organized by the Non-Governmental Centre for Community Organisation and Development, an affiliate of the Shack Dwellers International.
The conference was the first of its kind to take place in the country, and focused on slum upgrading, during which lessons learnt were drawn from a number of cities Malawi and neighbouring Southern African cities. It also provided an important forum for participants to discuss community led slum upgrading interventions.
http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=10747&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1