by David Lammers, MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Studies, Lund University While the challenges of increasing urbanization are often most prominently visible in the world’s megacities, the fastest growth will occur in medium-sized cities in Asia or Africa, according to the World Urbanization Prospects 2014 report. Finding solutions for the challenges these cities face is –
by David Lammers, MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Studies, Lund University Water systems have a crucial function in many cities. Rivers and coastlines act as veins of life as they provide cities with a plethora of ecosystem services – water supply, income generation, relaxation and many more. At the same time, however, they can be the
by Lauren Stabler, Resilient Cities 2016 social media volunteer This afternoon’s panel session focused particularly on the adverse effects of climate change on local water systems. Hosted by Heidi Braun of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), four climate change adaptation experts and local practitioners were invited to present on IDRC-funded research and intervention projects
by David Lammers, MSc Environmental Studies and Sustainability Studies, Lund University “Resilience is also required to respond to bad policy decisions”. This statement by William Cobbett, Director of the Cities Alliance, opened up a session on a very challenging aspect of urban development: achieving inclusiveness, particularly with regards to the urban poor. Cobbett framed two problematic
By Maddie Rehn, MJ Pickett and David Mitchell, students at Western State Colorado University, Sustainable and Resilient Communities MEM Program Systems thinking utilizes characteristics, tools, and concepts to develop an understanding of the interdependent structures of dynamic systems. When stakeholders have a better understanding of a system, they are better able to identify the leverage
By Daniel Shemie, Kari Vigerstol, Mu Quan, Wang Longzhu The Nature Conservancy What do the Chinese cities of Harbin, Ningbo, Qingdao and Xuzhou have in common? They are all water stressed, but they are also perfectly positioned to lead the country toward a more sustainable water future. While China encompasses almost 20 percent of the
Blog by Chris Pieper We arrived back in St. Paul, Minnesota on a cold December afternoon, after spending a week enjoying the comparatively mild weather of Paris, France. In Paris, we joined tens of thousands of people, including around 150 world leaders, who convened on the quiet Parisian suburb of Le Bourget as part of
This blog post was prepared by UCLG. In line with the dynamic started during the World Summit Climate & Territories in Lyon last July, non-state stakeholders mobilized on the issue of financing the fight against climate change have gathered on several occasions during the COP21, in order to strengthen the synergies between on-going initiatives, and bring