10/13/2011
A number of cities around the world have
pioneered ambitious green policies and trajectories
to improve environmental performance
Significant Slice of GDP Being Lost Through
Poor Urban Planning
Gwangju, 13 October 2011-Improved planning
and more intelligent management of cities
across the developed and developing world
could play a key role in growing economies,
boosting social improvements and reducing
humanity's environmental footprint.
The cities chapter of
the report, released at the Gwangju Summit
of the Urban Environmental Accords in the
Republic of Korea, cites Buenos Aires and
Dakar as two examples where current patterns
of urban development are reducing GDP by
3.4 per cent.
Current models of urban
development in a city like Mexico City may
be undermining the economy by over two per
cent of GDP and in the European Union a
lower but still significant 0.75 per cent
of GDP.
Achim Steiner, UN Under
Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: "Without cities, a transition
to a low carbon, resource efficient Green
Economy as a way and as a means for implementing
sustainable development, will always remain
an aspiration rather than a reality-the
overwhelming evidence is that the decoupling
of economic growth from the consumption
of natural resources will only happen if
cities are committed and on board".
"The evidence from
around the globe, and the case studies from
city delegates in Gwangju, is that this
realization and action to re-define the
urban environment as a catalyst for transformational
change is understood and underway,"
he said.
"Rio+20 in Brazil
next June is an opportunity to scale-up
and to accelerate these transformations
through innovative policy switches, creative
and available technologies and by capitalizing
and adopting the legion of lessons and experiences
that clearly illuminate a path towards a
sustainable future," he added.
According to the report,
cities are facing mounting pressures to
meet the demands of bourgeoning populations
- from unsustainable resource use and energy
consumption to insufficient infrastructure
and health hazards.
While urbanization has
helped to reduce absolute poverty, the number
of people classified as urban poor is on
the rise. Between 1993 and 2000, there was
an additional 50 million poor in urban areas
while the number of rural poor declined
by 150 million.
The UNEP report finds
that the environmental performance of cities
can be enhanced through effective urban
planning and sound governance.
The physical structures
of cities - urban form, size, density and
configuration - can be designed and managed
to limit resources consumption and per capita
carbon emissions.
More compact urban forms,
reduced travel distances, higher density
green residential and commercial buildings
and investment in green public transport
models lead to greater energy efficiency
and reduced environmental footprints.
According to research,
net residential densities of up to 3,000
persons per hectare can be reached without
compromising environmental or social conditions.
Many cities around the
world have recognized such structural opportunities.
Compact urban development models with walkable
urban neighbourhoods and green public transport
have been created in cities such as Copenhagen,
Oslo and Madrid in Europe and Curitiba,
Vancouver and Portland in the Americas.
In high density cities
such as Hong Kong and New York, housing,
commercial retail and leisure facilities
are in close proximity, thus limiting the
lengths of everyday trips. This is supported
by efficient and extensive public transport
networks.
In an urban green economy,
job creation can come in many forms - from
urban agriculture and renewable energy to
green construction and better waste management.
Upgrading to greener infrastructure will
also create more jobs, as will more effective
recycling services. For example, in the
Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Environment
expects the government and private sector
to spend 5.63 trillion won to expand the
country's waste to energy facilities by
2013. It has projected that this project
will create 46,000 new jobs and generate
savings of 1.2 trillion won from reduced
waste disposal and importation of crude
oil, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The most significant
cost savings can be derived from shifting
away from infrastructure for automobiles
to more efficient public transport systems,
such as pedestrian and cycling paths. Studies
have shown that fuel wasted in traffic jams
in well-designed cities such as Curitiba,
Brazil, has cost the city about US$ 930,000
compared to $13.4 million in Rio de Janeiro.
A green public transport
sector also helps create jobs. In many countries,
public transport jobs account for up to
one and two per cent of total employment.
In New York, almost 80,000 local jobs are
connected to the sector and in Mumbai, there
are more than 160,000 jobs involved.
Overall, greening cities
reduces social inequality and improves the
quality of life for its inhabitants. Research
shows that creating green spaces has positive
impacts on public health, as does providing
access to recreational facilities, such
as bicycle and walking paths.
Green Cities: Examples
From Around the World
A number of cities around
the world have pioneered ambitious green
policies and trajectories to improve environmental
performance.
Freiburg, a German city
of 200,000 inhabitants, has reduced its
Co2 emissions per capita by 12 per cent
between 1992 and 2003. The city has a long
tradition of constructing green buildings
and recycling waste.
The city of Curitiba,
Brazil, adopts integrated land-use and sustainable
transport systems. It introduced an innovative
bus rapid transit system that has been in
service since 1970.
Singapore introduced
the world's first road-charging scheme in
the 1980s and it is now at the forefront
of sustainable policies on waste, water
and the greening of the environment.
Notes to Editors
A city is a social,
ecological and economic system within a
defined geographic territory that may reflect
population size, administrative or historic
status.
Greening cities requires:
controlling disease; reducing chemical and
physical hazards; developing high-quality
urban environments; minimizing the transfer
of environmental costs to areas outside
the city and the implementation of sustainable
production and consumption patterns.
Indicators measuring
the environmental performance of cities
include: levels of pollution and carbon
emissions, energy and water consumption,
water quality, energy mix, waste volumes
and recycling rates. Other indicators include:
green-space ratios, primary forests and
agricultural land loss, motorization rate
and modal share of urban transport.
An important measure of humanity's demand
on nature is the Ecological Footprint, which
measures how much biologically productive
land and water area a human population or
activity requires to produce the resources
it consumes and to absorb its wastes.
