State of the World: Can a City be Sustainable?

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Jaime Jennings, 202-232-7933 x44 Gaelle Gourmelon, 202-452-1999 x510 jjennings@islandpress.org, ggourmelon@worldwatch.org www.islandpress.org, www.worldwatch.org

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State of the World Can a City be Sustainable?

By The Worldwatch Institute Washington, D.C. (April 15, 2016) — Today, nearly 3.5 billion people—half of the world’s

population—live in urban areas. By 2050 that number is expected to nearly double.

According to State of the World: Can a City Be Sustainable? (Publication Date: May 10, 2016), the latest edition of the annual series from the Worldwatch Institute, there is no question cities are growing; the only debate is over how they will grow (www.worldwatch.org).

“Cities are at a crossroads, confronting historic challenges posed by rising populations, accelerating climate change, increasing inequity, and—all too often—faltering livability,” writes Eduardo da Costa Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

Cities have voracious appetites for energy, accounting for about three-quarters of the world’s direct final energy use in 2005—far more than their 49 percent share of global population that year. Cities today must also deal with growing stress on raw material supplies. Extraction of metals, minerals, and fuels is increasingly complex now that the easiest sources have been tapped. A city’s food system—the production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste of its food—has impacts that extend to a city’s host region and country, and often to other countries as well.

“As rural migrants to cities adopt city-based lifestyles, they tend to use more resources as their incomes rise and as their diets shift from starchy staples to a greater share of animal products and processed foods,” writes Tom Prugh, author and co-director of the report.

“This, in turn, drives land clearance for livestock grazing and fodder.”

However, cities today are also in an exciting position to take leadership on the effort to build sustainable economies.

“People care about their cities and often are motivated to protect and improve their urban homes,” says Gary Gardner, author and co-director of State of the World. “Cities can harness that passion to help advance a sustainability agenda, perhaps more easily than national governments or corporations can.”

Perhaps the biggest single step that cities can take toward a sustainable future is to create economies that greatly reduce materials use, (re)circulate most materials, and rely largely on renewable energy. “Green infrastructure”—the use of natural areas to provide economic services—can also help cities avoid building costly new water management facilities, can recharge aquifers, and can provide flood protection. Ensuring that decision-making is transparent and participatory ensures that no community is left behind.

“Building on the new hope created by the breakthrough agreement on climate action achieved in Paris last December, cities stand ready to engage their citizens in building a sustainable future,” writes Mayor Paes.

The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization based in Washington, D.C. that works on energy, resource, and environmental issues. The Institute’s State of the World report is published annually in multiple languages. For more information, visit www.worldwatch.org.

State of the World: Can a City be Sustainable?

Worldwatch Institute Paperback Original 448 pages | Price: $25.00 ISBN: 978-1-61091-755-1

http://islandpress.org/book/state-of-the-world Founded in 1984, Island Press works to stimulate, shape, and communicate the information that is essential for solving environmental problems. Today, with more than 1,000 titles and some 40 new releases each year, it is the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues. Island Press is driving change by moving ideas from the printed page to public discourse and practice. Island Press’s emphasis is, and will continue to be, on transforming objective information into understanding and action.

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CONTACT EMAIL WEBSITE

Jaime Jennings, 202-232-7933 x44 Gaelle Gourmelon, 202-452-1999 x510 jjennings@islandpress.org, ggourmelon@worldwatch.org m www.islandpress.org, www.worldwatch.org

State of the World: Can a City be Sustainable?

TIP SHEET Cities are the world’s future. More than half of the world’s people live in cities, and the urbanization trend is continuing. Will the world invest in shaping livable, equitable, and sustainable cities?

“The path to a sustainable city starts with a vision,” explains Gary Gardner, co-director of the Worldwatch Institute’s new book, Can a City Be Sustainable? “A well-crafted vision can rally public support and mobilize civic energy for a long-term urban makeover.”

Here are Worldwatch’s top 7 tips for cities who want to unlock sustainability: 1. Reduce, circulate, and clean up material flows. Perhaps the biggest single step that cities can take toward a sustainable future is to create economies that greatly reduce materials use and (re)circulate materials. Good examples are car sharing and tool libraries, which reduce a person’s materials footprint.

2. Create space for nature. “Green infrastructure”—the use of natural areas to provide economic services—can help cities avoid building costly new water management facilities, can recharge aquifers, and can provide flood protection.

3. Use compact and connected development. Compact cities generally require fewer resources per person and tend to enhance connectedness of all kinds—physical, social, and economic— generating innovation, economic activity, and social and cultural capital.

4. Make place for creative placemaking. Landmarks, plazas, courtyards, lakes, and parks give urban spaces personality and serve as gathering spots for the public. By investing in these assets and adding to them, cities can create attractive places that advance civic pride and unity and create a strong sense of community.

5. Strengthen cities as centers of well-being. Cities must ensure that all citizens have access to health care. Cities can prevent respiratory and digestive problems linked to pollution by ensuring clean air and water.

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6. Keep people at the heart of development. The fundamental purpose of a city is to serve its people. Yet in many cities, development priorities are set based on the needs of builders, financial brokers, and the city’s privileged, while sidelining the public interest. To be more inclusive, city administrations can weave people’s interests into the very fiber of city initiatives, involving all citizens.

7. Ensure participatory governance. On questions large and small, citizens in sustainable cities find roles open to them in governance, as individual voters and as members of stakeholder groups.

Power is shared between city hall and smaller jurisdictions within the city. And members of civic groups of all kinds are consulted regularly and included in major decision-making processes.

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