Opinions, ideas and knowledge you can apply to local and regional sustainable development.

Explore this blog to learn from local leaders, municipal staff and experts from around the world.

How to build resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa

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 – 

Continue Reading →

“For the urban poor, nothing trumps location”

More than 200 million people in Africa live in slums, making it a major issue for cities growing at a rapid pace. With the Sustainable Development Goals – in particular SDG 1 and SDG 11 – national and local governments are looking for new ways to build inclusive and resilient cities for all, including the urban 

Continue Reading →

Green and blue infrastructure: a solution with multiple benefits

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 

Continue Reading →

Is communication the greatest barrier to unlocking climate finance?

Financing resilient urban development is an essential tool in achieving global sustainability targets. Yet there is a lack of communication in the sector and an urgent need to bridge the gap between financial institutions and local governments in particular. Hans-Peter Egler, CEO of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), opened the “Financing resilience forum” at Resilient 

Continue Reading →

Trees make cities cooler

From Chicago to Paris, Ottawa or Montreal, cities look for solutions to cope with hotter summers and climate change adverse effects. The solutions might be simpler than one might think. Due to the high building density and surfaces of covered soils, cities have lost the ability to regulate temperature and, in fact, are creating heat 

Continue Reading →

Water resilience: why it’s important and how to fund it

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 

Continue Reading →

Resilience is about people, not technocrats

How to translate resilience theory into actions within urban contexts? This was the main question addressed by Resilient Cities 2016 first Subplenary on “Advancing global frameworks through local action”, which took place on 6 July at 2.30 pm. Matthias Garschagen, Head of Vulnerability Assessment at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security 

Continue Reading →

Resilience-building: how to include the urban poor

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 

Continue Reading →

“Transformative optimism” towards a resilient world

“Transformative optimism” underlies the actions that local and subnational governments are taking to build a low-carbon and resilient world. It also describes the dedication among national governments that has led to significant advancements in global sustainability policy in recent years. This morning, at the opening plenary of Resilient Cities 2016, Ashok Sridharan, Lord Mayor of Bonn 

Continue Reading →

ICLEI Links: 4 July 2016

Welcome to the latest edition of ICLEI Links, our roundup of sustainability-related news and commentary from around the web! City Stories How Cairo’s Trash Problem Becomes Beautiful Fabric The housing crisis no one’s talking about: London’s canals are getting dangerously over-crowded Canberra was the original smart city. It’s time to go further Mexico City’s Invisible 

Continue Reading →