Box 1.1 The City-Based Approach Is Bottom-Up

BOX 1.1

The City-Based Approach Is Bottom-Up

In the Eco2 approach, bottom-up actions are those that begin at the most local level: the city or its particular neighborhoods and buildings. Instead of investing in, for example, a remote power station or equipping a regional water utility with oversized pipelines, it is better to fi rst explore bottom-up solutions, such as, for this example, a rooftop rain-water catchment system and a solar water heater. If the most local solutions are insuffi cient, move up one level and consider reclaiming water at the block or neighborhood, or a district heating system. Only when the most localized solutions are impractical, uneconomic, or undependable should the network start to focus on

Source: Author elaboration (Sebastian Moffat). the next level. As we move from the local or city scale towards regional, national and international scales, the need for design and investment is progressively reduced because we are tapping into local creativity and resources. This bottom-up process is possible only if supported from the top down, especially from regional or national utilities, senior governments, and the international community. Top-down support comes in many forms. Most important are enabling policies: those policies that provide cities with the authority, skills, knowledge, and fi nancial resources to implement local solutions. This might take the form of a national group helping successful cities share their experience and lessons learned— what worked and what didn’t—with other cities. Or a regional utility might agree to help set up, fi nance, or operate a local utility for district energy. Top-down support can also consist of clear targets and guidelines that help cities synchronize their designs with, for example, the regional economic development strategy or an international strategy for climate change mitigation. Finally, top-down support can include physical infrastructure systems that are fl exible enough to allow each location to share with others its surpluses of water, energy, materials, and other services. In an action-oriented network, the top-down solutions may be diverse, but they are always city-based. They increase the capacity of cities to solve their own problems by providing them with a coordinated and complementary package of policies, targets, fi nancial mechanisms, guidelines, knowledge, and fl exible infrastructure systems.

A city-based decision support system

The Eco2 approach requires that cities enhance their technical and administrative capacity, particularly with respect to leading collaborative processes and exploring integrated design solutions. Capacity building means adopting methods and tools that help simplify otherwise complex decisions. This is the role of a city-based decision support system (DSS). The city-based DSS is an evolving set of methods and tools designed primarily to help cities take leadership and make the best choices. Each city may develop its own DSS.

Coping with complexity is one of the greatest challenges in Eco2. Cities represent the longest lasting, most valuable, and most complex artifact created by humanity. Even under the best of circumstances, urban planning is a complex task, and the challenge increases if there is an attempt to implement integrated solutions, which may add to the complexity. Of course, the task becomes that much more challenging in developing countries if resources are limited and if urbanization seems to be happening too quickly. Other challenges in developing countries include the lack of experience with computer-based planning tools and the inadequate performance of existing infrastructure. For all these reasons, a citybased DSS is an essential element in each city’s sustainability pathway.

One of the most diffi cult tasks faced by someone trying to apply an integrated approach to infrastructure systems is the dynamic relationship that exists between physical fl ows and spatial form. Physical fl ows tend to be addressed through modeling and calculation, and these typically involve individuals with engineering and technical backgrounds. Spatial issues are usually addressed using mapping techniques, and these involve individuals with a planning or design background. Integrated design solutions incorporate spatial and physical fl ows and an understanding of interrelationships. The city-based DSS can help create a transdisciplinary platform for the purpose of involving all these people and many others. Physical and spatial eff ects are communicated using graphics tools, data sharing, and terms and images that may be easily understood in a multidisciplinary group. (These and other aspects of the Eco2 city-based DSS are described in more detail in part 2.)

Stepping Stones for a City-Based Approach

Review and adapt the Eco2 Cities Initiative

The management of change is most successful if the new ideas are clothed in familiar patterns and refl ect a sensitivity to local concerns and capabilities. An assessment of local strengths and weaknesses helps tailor the Eco2 initiative to local conditions and experiences. This may involve a number of diff erent ways of customizing Eco2:

• Traveling back to the future: Begin by reviewing the history of the city and region, focusing on examples of cases in which city leadership has achieved positive outcomes or in which a more well integrated approach to design or a process of collaboration has already helped generate multiple benefi ts. Use these historical examples to explain the strengths of Eco2. To obtain broad support within the city, the program should be introduced as a return to approaches that have worked in the past and as a reaffi rmation of traditional values and institutions. The history of most cities is replete with stories that may be used for this purpose.

• Talking about trigger issues: Identify the current political issues within the community that are most likely to be addressed through an Eco2 approach. All politicians want to resolve such issues, and media personnel want to report on them, not on a program or philosophy. These are the trigger issues that will build support for the

Eco2 approach.

• Learning to lever infl uence, stand fi rm, and say no: The levers of infl uence and control vary considerably from one location to another, and this obviously aff ects the potential for an Eco2 approach. For example, in some countries, national governments control the fi nancing for urban infrastructure; in other countries, the investment by cities in local renewable energy systems is prohibited by law. Cities that lack control over fi nancing or that lack the authority to develop new policy obviously face a greater challenge. However, the biggest diffi culty often revolves around using levers that infl uence decisions, including zoning, development approvals, hook-up requirements for infrastructure, and so on. An assessment of local strengths should clarify the full extent of infl uence and power available to local government. Almost always, cities have more authority than they realize, and the real challenge is learning to say no to the short-term vested interests that drive so much land development.

Identify local champions

The successful introduction of Eco2 principles usually requires a strong champion who can help motivate the many groups that need to be

involved, sustain the commitment over time, and provide confi dence and leadership. Local champions can put forward key ideas in ways that are acceptable to various stakeholders and thereby broker solutions that are widely accepted. Local champions may also attract other infl uential individuals by virtue of their reputation and infl uence.

The champion may be drawn from any place; everyone has the potential to take leadership. However, the task is easier if the champion is someone possessing recognized authority or infl uence, such as a well-liked retired statesperson, the city mayor, the chief administrator, or the chair of a development committee. Sometimes, leadership may emerge from an advisory group of senior statespersons or elders who are widely respected and support the Eco2 concept.

Wherever the champion is located, a support group of committed and knowledgeable individuals is also necessary. All champions depend on a support groups or change agents to develop networks and the knowledge base. In an Eco2 city, support may arise from a small group of hard-working staff members or an ad hoc group of experts and community activists. Ideally, the support group should be capable of providing its champion with both administrative and technical support. In some cases, a national body may be part of the support group. For example, the support provided by national governments may include an offi ce for supplying cities with technical and fi nancial assistance.

Obtain a commitment from the city council

Much of the land in a city and a majority of the infrastructure may be owned by private sector groups or by the senior levels of government. Nonetheless, democratically elected local councils have a legitimate role in any eff ort to undertake land use planning, especially in making strategic choices that may aff ect the long-term health of the community. These councils are often considered appropriate leaders and are able to bring together regional stakeholders and promote collaborative decision making and integrated design. If a local council is fully engaged, others join in. It is thus critical that support be forthcoming from the council and individual council members with special interests in development issues. The council needs to be engaged in the Eco2 initiative from the start.

With involvement of a council, it helps if the city’s own Eco2 pathway is presented as a means to address the issues of greatest concern to council members. This method is not usually a problem. The integrated approach adds strength to any specifi c issue by providing multiple benefi ts and expanding the base of support for positive change. For example, aff ordable housing may be designed to include a project to treat wastewater for the neighborhood or to increase the space available for small shops and businesses. The multipurpose nature of catalyst projects and the more thorough analysis they represent of the impacts on the whole economy and ecology make the task of brokering them easier.

Obtaining an informed commitment from the council and sustaining this commitment may be diffi cult and time consuming. It is especially important to emphasize the long-term and collaborative elements and to use these features as a means to dissociate the agenda from any one political party or power group.

Work closely with the national government

National governments can play a number of complementary roles in the Eco2 Cities Initiative. They can function as important centers of expertise on and networking for best practices in urban design and planning. National governments can share best practices across cities and develop new policies in support of a city-based approach. They can choose to work with cities on a locally specifi c planning framework (for example, a regional growth management strategy) and contribute expertise on a project-byproject basis.