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August 29, 2022

UN-HABITAT WORLD CITIES REPORT 2022 – CHAPTER 5: SECURING A GREENER URBAN FUTURE

Introduction: UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2022- Envisioning the Future of Cities

UN-Habitat recently released its biannual World Cities Report 2022: Envisioning the Future of Cities which examines existing trends, challenges, and opportunities facing urban areas around the world in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The report delves into a range of topics related to sustainable urban development, such as global trends in urban poverty and inequality, the need for resilient urban economies, equitable planning for sustainable urban development, and the importance of adopting environmental policies so that cities can effectively mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc upon the lives and livelihoods of city residents, globally, with marginalized communities disproportionately affected. Cities faced the biggest revenue losses due to COVID-19, leading to significant cuts in infrastructure, education, healthcare, among other vital services.

The COVID-19 pandemic also led to massive job losses, globally, particularly among youth and women. The UN’s International Labor Office (ILO) estimates that the pandemic cost approximately 255 million jobs worldwide, with younger workers disproportionately affected.¹

Yet, valuable lessons for city leaders emerged from the pandemic. According to the World Cities Report 2022, one of the key lessons is that city governments must be prepared for unpredictable and uncertain futures. City governments that invest in preparedness measures to build their economic, social, and environmental resilience can better withstand and respond to future shocks and crisis. Cities that are inclusive and engage marginalized groups in city planning are among the best positioned to be resilient to shocks.

The World Cities Report 2022 is comprised of ten chapters, with each chapter exploring a topic related to urban development. For this article, I will review Chapter 5: Securing a Greener Urban Future, which introduces innovative pathways to achieve equitable, climate resilient, and environmentally sustainable cities around the world.

The World Cities Report 2022 was published by UN-Habitat on June 29, 2022

Chapter 5: Securing a Greener Urban Future

Chapter 5 titled “Securing a Greener Urban Future,” provides recommendations on the ways city governments can achieve net zero emissions, transition to sustainable modes of transportation, build urban resilience to climate change, engage community groups in city-wide adaptation planning, and introduce nature-based solutions to manage climate impacts.

According to the chapter’s section on “The Future of Urban Transportation,” greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector are increasing faster than any other energy sector, with the transport sector accounting for 27% of global carbon emissions in 2019.²

City governments that wish to create sustainable transportation systems can introduce policies that encourage a shift from private cars to public transportation, along with investments in low carbon transport infrastructure, clean energy transportation, and in energy saving technologies.

In addition, traffic congestion and air pollution from transportation represents a significant health challenge for city dwellers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 93% of the world’s children are exposed to toxic air daily, with evidence that exposure to air pollution affects children’s neurological development, among other health risks.³

In order to reduce air pollution in cities, local governments should introduce measures to reallocate road space for non-motorized transport, implement incentives to encourage walking and cycling, and integrate health impact scenarios into sustainable transport planning. Given that marginalized groups, such as women workers commuting to city centers, are disproportionately affected by air pollution, equity considerations must be integrated into transport planning.

The section introduces the “Car Free Sunday” concept as a viable solution for limiting the use of cars on city streets. For example, every Sunday, the city of Bogota, Colombia closes its major roads to cars and opens them up for cyclists, rollerbladers, and pedestrians. It is estimated that every Sunday, a quarter of Bogota’s population enjoy the closed public road space.

Bogota’s “Car Free Sunday” initiative has become so popular that it is now being replicated in other cities across the developing world. On October 22, 2015, New Delhi, India introduced its first “Car Free Day,” with the aim to encourage city residents to use public transport to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. Since then, New Delhi, which is the most polluted city in the world, continues to observe a “Car Free Day” on the 22^nd of every month.

The section “Embracing Resilience for Greener Urban Futures” recognizes that cities around the world will need to introduce policies and initiatives to build their resilience to climate change. According to the latest IPCC report, urban areas are already directly affected by climate impacts such as sea level rise, extreme heat, and frequent flooding.

Building urban resilience will require significant investments in climate resilient infrastructure which can withstand future climate shocks. For example, local governments can invest in improved water storage, sanitation, and climate resilient housing.

Given that disadvantaged groups in cities are disproportionately burdened by the impacts of climate change, city governments should engage community groups in decision-making on urban adaptation planning. Community Based Adaptation (CBA) uses participatory methods to strengthen the capabilities of vulnerable urban populations to address climate-related challenges within their localities. Ultimately, climate planning processes should be highly collaborative, involving not only privileged neighborhoods, but also historically disadvantaged communities.

The section “Nature-based Solutions and Environmental Futures,” provides an overview of the ways that nature-based solutions can address multiple challenges in urban areas, including climate change, food insecurity, biodiversity and human health.

The International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) defines nature-based environmental solutions as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.”

Incorporating nature in cities can not only enhance the health and well-being of city dwellers, but can also reduce temperatures, while cleaning air and water in cities. Given that urban planning policies globally focus on built infrastructure and rarely integrate biodiversity and ecosystem services into urban design, cities should find ways to integrate nature-based solutions into planning processes.

The city of Manizales, Colombia, with support from the University of Michigan and UN-Habitat, is an example of a city which is mainstreaming biodiversity solutions into its climate action planning and urban policy frameworks. In collaboration with city officials, an initial assessment took place which analyzed opportunities for biodiversity solutions to climate mitigation and adaptation planning. A report was then developed using spatial analysis to prioritize locations where biodiversity solutions can potentially mitigate serious climate risks and hazards.

In conclusion, I think city governments are uniquely positioned to tackle pressing urbanization and climate-related challenges. Local governments, in contrast to national governments, are in closer proximity to their communities and thus can design policies and initiatives which respond directly to the concerns of their communities.

Already, globally, we find that cities are implementing innovative climate action plans. Cities like Boulder (Colorado), London, the Hague, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Kyoto, Cape Town, and Barcelona have committed to be carbon neutral by 2050. And cities such as San Jose, Costa Rica and Malmo, Sweden aim to rely 100% on renewable energy by 2030.



While the pandemic presented huge challenges to city governments around the world, it also gave city leaders the opportunity to envision, with optimism, the kinds of urban spaces they wish to create for the future. What kind of cities do you envisage and reimagine in the aftermath of the pandemic?

References

1   https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/statements-and-speeches/WCMS_779257/lang--en/index.htm

2 UN-Habitat, World Cities Report 2022: Envisioning the Future of Cities

3   https://www.who.int/news/item/29-10-2018-more-than-90-of-the-worlds-children-breathe-toxic-air-every-day

[1] "Ambika Chawla is a climate change policy researcher/writer whose work has been published by UN-Habitat, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Worldwatch Institute."