Leadership for sustainable cities, Nacka, 13 February 2014. Introductory speech by Kristina Persson A very warm welcome to all of you, and a special welcome to Dr. Joan Clos who has come all the way from Nairobi where he serve as Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. Joan Clos also has a background as a former mayor of Barcelona in Spain. The theme for our discussion today is the role of Leadership for sustainable cities, which also is the name of our new report. The report consists of fifteen examples of cities from various part of the world – from Lilongwe in Malawi to Vancouver in Canada – cities that have embarked on sustainable urban development in their own ways and under widely differing conditions. As I see it, Leadership is key to change, be it on a global, national or local level. We live in a time of frictions and lost opportunities in relation to globalisation. Risks, I´m afraid, are accumulating but nation states act predominantly as if business as usual is an option. Sweden is no exception. We know that our growth models and mainstream economic thinking is not compatible with global sustainable development. But, we see no real political activity to find the new answers by government or by major political parties. Our EU governments have taken the decision that by 2050 the net emission of CO2 shall be zero or close to zero. By 2030 our transport-system shall be fossil-independent. It is a little more than 15 years until then. But we see no investment plans or development activity to make this possible. The transition process from an energy system that is 80 % dependent of fossil fuels to almost 100 % renewables is huge, and Sweden has a role to play in this. Many changes have taken place during the last 20-30 years, not everything is negative – but effects on ecology and social cohesion are: Exhaustion of natural resources, effects related to climate change, persistent unemployment, increasing income gaps and unstable financial markets that to do not deliver jobs and wealth are some examples. With increasing income gaps, demand becomes too low to produce activity in the real economy, where jobs and incomes are created. All these factors are signs of an economic system that is not functioning well. We need new models, a new balance between politics and markets. This is a view not only heard from NGOs and the traditional left today, but also in business circles and from the OECD and IMF. National governments often think that there isn´t much they can do alone – others would have to change at the same time. So they exhibit a belief in the so-called Prisoners dilemma, that if only one moves, he or she will be the loser. Another expression for the same syndrome is The tragedy of the commons, made well-known by Nobel price winner Ellinor Oström some years ago. We had a lunch with here when she was in Stockholm and I asked here if her hopeful conclusions of the scope for common responsibility ever could become a global reality. She looked a bit sad, shook her head and said how could she know… But everyone keeps asking me, she said. I may sound a bit pessimistic – and I am, about leadership on the national level. What gives me more hope is the local level – the bottom-up approach to change. There is an increasing interest among business-leaders to contribute to long-term sustainability, and for municipal
leaders to take action without waiting for government decision or support. It is of course also easier to establish trust on the local level and to build the social capital needed for change. When the examples for this report were collected from various cultures and corners of the world it was one factor, that stood out as key for the positive changes and that was leadership: Five aspects seem to play a decisive role for successful leadership, an inspiring Vision for change, a Passion to succeed and the Energy and discipline to endure – in spite of all the difficulties that you meet as a social entrepreneur. The fourth factor is an Inclusive leadership that involves people, bureaucrats and business along the road and the fifth is Courage. It often has a price to be a fore-runner. Governing a city implies striking a balance between many diverging interests, while at the same time pushing forward in the chosen direction. Urban leadership requires an integrated and holistic view of cities, acknowledging the fact that nobody has the full ownership of a city. Good leadership can also be about carrying through changes in small steps and gradually pursuing a sustainable urban development. Leadership can be to create broad coalitions based upon a culture of consensus. Cities are complex in their organization and structure. With the development of increasingly advanced technologies and systems, new ways are accessible for solutions in areas such as transport, energy, waste management, drainage and water supply. This creates new opportunities for sustainable urban development but also a demanding complexity for leadership. The complexity of cities adds another dimension to urban leadership: Cities need to be flexible, and able to adapt to an unpredictable and a fast-changing future. The long-term vision and strategy has to be balanced by flexibility. Mayors can live their visions and drive change, in particular when they succeed in getting good support from citizens and different actors around them. There are several examples of this in the report. From the massive investments in the solar industry in the Chinese city Rizhao, to the integrated planning approach in Curitiba, Brazil, where citizens actively participated in the city development. And very soon we will, I believe, get inside information about the process that made Barcelona such a good example for the world. We think it is important to tell these stories, to inspire others and to develop the new narratives needed. We also hope that the nation states will learn from the action taken on the local level. The nation states that are responsible for most of the regulatory framework, legislation and taxes that has to be changed if development shall become sustainable. Without the right economic incentives the markets till continue to lead us in the wrong direction. Global government is not there and will not be there for a very long time – to be realistic. There is not enough trust in the world for that. What Sweden, Spain and other European states should do is to build a stronger Europe so shat we can be in the frontline and influence the rest of the world to take the right steps and cooperate. For me, who has been involved in political change in almost all my life, the lack of interest to even discuss long-term threats and visions among politicians in Sweden is a great disappointment – and that is actually what made me take the initiative to create Global
Utmaning. And together with other think-thanks around the world we may be able to make at least some difference. We know that cities will continue to grow and by 2050 70 % of the world´s 9 billion people are expected to live in towns or cities. This may create enormous problems, when it comes to transport, sewage systems, housing and jobs… But it also creates opportunities, as so much will be new. Cities and builders can do right from the very beginning. And cities can learn from one another: There are a growing number of city networks existing today, cooperating in finding sustainable solutions, as well as engaging in benchmarking processes. Global Utmaning will continue it´s work. The next step will be a follow-up report with a Nordic focus, where cities in all Nordic countries will be examined and presented – again putting a particular focus on the leadership dimension. Let´s meet again in this process!
Kristina Persson, 13 February 2014, Nacka.