Sunday, February 7, 2010

Urban Research Symposium 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009


Sunday, June 28, 2009
Welcome and Opening
Chair: Abha Joshi-Ghani, Sector Manager, Urban Development, World Bank
Special Message by Video
Measuring the Impacts of Climate Change at the City Level
Moderator: Warren Evans, Sector Director, Environment, World Bank
Economics of Climate Change: Finding a Fit with Existing Analytical Frameworks
Moderator: Yves Crozet, Laboratoire d’économie des Transports, CNRS,  University Lyon 2, France
Urban Planning, Design and Architecture: Helping Cities Become Resilient to Climate Effects
Moderator: Yunus Arikan (ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability)
Role of Institutions: Aligning Incentives
Moderator: Corinne Hermant-de Callataÿ, Direction générale "Politique Régionale", European Commission
Towards Energy Efficient Cities: Gaining Traction on the Ground
Moderator: Pierre-Noel Giraud, Professor, Ecole des Mines de Paris, France
Adaptation of Cities to Climate Change: Case Studies of Local Plans
Moderator: Sylvy Jaglin, Professor, Ecole Nationale des Pont et Chaussées, France
Sustainable Development in Chinese Cities: Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Sponsored by AFD (French Development Agency)
Co-chaired by Mr Robert Peccoud, Head of the Research Department of AFD
and Mrs Dominique Campana, Director of International Affairs, ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency)
  • Introductory remarks
    Mr Peccoud and Mrs Campana
  • Global stakes of energy efficiency in Chinese buildings
    Dr Bernard Laponche, Senior Energy Efficiency Expert
  • Energy efficiency policies in China, in particular in the building sector
    Mr Yazhong Liu, Senior Energy Efficiency Expert
  • Brief presentation of two cooperation projects in the field of energy efficiency in buildings
    Mr Nils Devernois, AFD
  • Technical and economic aspects of the two projects
    Mr Michel Raoust, TERAO
  • How to finance energy efficiency investments in the building sector?
    Mr José Lopez, International Conseil Energie

Monday, June 29, 2009
Cities and Climate Change in Public Policy
Moderator: Daniel Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist, World Bank
A Working Partnership on Cities and Climate Change: UN-Habitat, UNEP, World Bank
Moderator : Raf Tuts, Chief Urban Environmental Planning Branch, UN-Habitat
Social Aspects of Climate Change: Understanding and Reducing the Vulnerability of Urban Populations
Moderator: Dr Ian Goldin, Director, 21st Century School, University of Oxford
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Opportunities in the Built Environment
Moderator: Jean-Michel Debrat, Deputy Director General, French Agency for Development (AFD)
Economics of Cities and Climate Change: Modeling and Analyzing Individual Behaviors and Preferences
Moderator: Bernd Hansjurgens, Head of the Department of Economics, Helmoltz Center for Environmental Research, Germany
Urban Planning: Case Studies on Integrating Climate Change Concerns
Moderator: Anne Querrien, Senior Researcher in Plan Urbanisme Construction Architecture, French Ministry for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Regional Planning
Managing Urban Climate Change: Role of Institutions
Moderator: Joelle Chassard, Manager, Carbon Finance Unit, World Bank
Energy Efficient Cities Initiative: Tools and Assessments
Moderator: Ranjan Bose, Senior Energy Specialist, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), World Bank, Washington, DC
Creating Sustainable Infrastructure: Opportunities and Challenges
Moderator: Daniel Zimmer, Deputy Director, World Water Council
Integrated Approach to Climate Change and Urban Development: Contributions from Paris Est research and high education cluster on sustainable cities
Moderator: Régine Brehier, Director of Research and Innovation, High Council for Sustainable Development, MEEDDAT
  • Modeling urban climate: a case-study on the Paris area
    Eric Brun, Météo France
  • Territories, society and cities: urban format the crossroads of geography, economy and sociology
    Anne Aguiléra, Université Paris Est – INRETS
  • Designing, building and operating cities: towards engineering conservancy
    H. Charrue, Y. Montrelay, Université Paris Est –CSTB
  • Paris Est cluster:  providing technical and scientific services on sustainable cities
    J.-M. Torrenti, Université Paris Est-LCPC
Panel of Mayors of Mediterranean Cities on the Challenges of Adaptation
Moderator: Anthony G. Bigio, The World Bank
  • Panel of City Representatives from Aleppo, Alexandria, Beirut, Casablanca, Marseille, Tunis (final list to be confirmed)
  • Presentations by Stephen Coulson, European Space Agency, and Yves Ennesser, Egis Bceom International.
  • Discussion : The Marseille Center programs on urban development and climate change in the Mediterranean
Economics and Climate Change: Financing Mitigation and Adaptation in Cities
Moderator: Marie-Alice Lallemand-Flucher. Head of International Public Relations, DEXIA
Urban Transport: Overcoming Roadblocks
Moderator: Chantal Duchene, Director, Groupement des Autorités Responsables de Transport (GART), France
Linking Urban Governance and Finance
Moderator: Isabelle Laudier, CDC Institute for Research
  • Dominique Lorrain and Frédéric Gilli, Political Science Institute, Paris
  • Claude de Miras, IRD
  • Julien Le Tellier, Plan Bleu, Chargé d'études Villes et urbanisation
  • Aziz Iraki (INAU, Maroc)
  • Morched Chabbi (ATU)
  • Safar Zitoun (Algérie)
Energy Efficient Cities Initiative: Promoting Energy Efficiency
Moderator: Feng Liu, Senior Energy Specialist, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), World Bank, Washington, DC
Adaptation of Cities to Climate Change: Case Studies of Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Moderator: Armando Carbonell, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, USA
Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Examples on the Vulnerability of Urban Poor
Moderator: Raf Tuts, Chief, Urban Environmental Planning Branch, UN-Habitat
Urban Agriculture: Effectively Utilizing the Urban Space
Moderator: Mark Redwood, Program Leader, International Development Research Centre, Canada

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Linking Urban Planning, Design, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Moderator: Thomas Gueret, Project manager, Sustainable cities, DGALN. Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning
Role of Institutions, Governance, and Urban Planning: Improving Management and Planning of Cities
Moderator: Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary General, United Cities and Local Governments
Urbanization and Local Climate: Observing the Relationship
Moderator: Christopher Kennedy, University of Toronto, Canada
Social Dimensions of Climate Change in Cities: Strategies to Reduce Vulnerability of Urban Poor
Moderator: Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, Rockefeller Foundation
Governance of Climate Change in Cities:  Conflicts and Constraints
Moderator: Anne Charreyron-Perchet, French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning
Assessing Local Climate Vulnerability, Impacts, and Assessing Policy Options: Coastal Zones (pdf)
Moderator: Dr. Jan Corfee-Morlot (OECD)
Discussant:  Ms Lisbeth Strandmark, Ministry of Climate and Energy, Energy Agency, Denmark (pdf)
Adaptation of Cities to Climate Change: Overcoming Challenges
Moderator: William Solecki, Hunter College, New York
Sustainable Urban Development in Asia
Moderator: Keshav Varma , Urban Sector Director, East Asia Pacific Region, World Bank
  • China’s urbanization, its emerging Eco-Cities and the World Bank’s Eco2: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities Program
    Hiroaki Suzuki, Urban Sector Leader, East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank
  • The Sino-Singaporean Tianjin Eco-City
    Arish Dastur, Urban Specialist, East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank
  • Challenges and opportunities of spatial development in Asian Cities
    Alain Bertaud, Urban Planner and Land Development Expert
  • Singapore: Its comprehensive approach to urban sustainability
    Belinda Yuen, Associate Professor of National University of Singapore
  • Integrating ecological systems and urban development
    Sebastian Moffatt, Founder, The Sheltair Group
Future Megacities – Energy - and Climate-efficient? Not a Contradiction!
Moderator: Eckart Ehlers, Senior Fellow, The Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn, Germany
  • Future megacities - From political agenda to innovative applied research
    Rainer Müssner, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany
  • Adaptation planning framework to climate change for the urban area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (pdf) (presentation - pdf)
    Harry Storch, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Germany; Nigel Downes, Nguyen Xuan Thinh, Hans-Peter Thamm, Ho Long Phi, Tran Thuc, Nguyen Thi Hien Thuan, Guenter Emberger, Manfred Goedecke, Joern Welsch, Michael Schmidt
  • Energy as a key element of an integrated climate protection concept for the City Region of Gauteng (EnerKey)
    Ludger Eltrop, Institute of Energy Economics and Rational Use of Energy IER, Germany; Maria Coetzee
  • Urban agriculture as an integrative factor of climate-optimized urban development, Casablanca, Morocco
    Silvia Martin Han, Technical University Berlin, Germany; Fattouma Benabdenbi, Azzedine Hafif
  • Sustainable water and wastewater management in urban growth centre. Coping with climate change – Concepts for Lima Metropolitana
    Manfred Schuetze, ifak - Institut für Automation und Kommunikation e.V. Magdeburg, Germany; Ivan O. Rodriguez Cabanillas
Carbon Footprints: The Impact of Cities
Moderator: Stéphane Pouffary, Head of the International Expertise in Energy Management Unit, ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency)
Urban Planning and Land Use: opportunities for Climate Change adaptation
Moderator: Pablo Vaggione, Secretary General, International Society of City and Regional Planners
Urban Risks: Tools for Quantification and Modeling
Moderator: Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies/Columbia University, New York
The Path Towards Carbon Neutral Cities
Moderator: Geneviève Ferone, Head of Sustainable Development, Veolia Environment
Adaptation of Cities to Climate Change: Coastal Cities
Moderator: Konrad Von Ritter, Sector Manager, World Bank Institute
Green Buildings and Green Lessons
Moderator: Rajat Gupta, Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, UK
Empowering Cities: An Array of Tools
Moderator: Abha Joshi Ghani, Sector Manager, Urban Development, World Bank
  • Development of a city-based greenhouse gas emissions index
    Dan Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist, World Bank
  • A city-based carbon finance methodology
    Monali Ranade, Carbon Finance Specialist, World Bank
  • The Global City Indicators Program
    Perinaz Bhada, Junior Professional Associate, World Bank
  • Vulnerability reduction of coastal communities. Tsunami post-disaster recovery program in Tamil Nadu, India
    Saurabh Suresh Dani, Consultant, World Bank
  • Priorities for mayors: the opinion of cities and climate change researchers
    Jean-Jacques Helluin, Senior Urban Development Specialist, World Bank
  • A standard vulnerability assessment tool for cities
    Federica Ranghieri, Environmental Specialist, World Bank
  • Coastal cities and adaptation to climate change
    Poonam Pillai, Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank
  • Establishment of a Practitioners Network on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change
    Alexandra le Courtois, Consultant, World Bank
  • Carbon finance capacity building in cities
    Rutu Dave, Consultant, World Bank
Closing Session:
  • Abha Joshi-Ghani, Sector Manager, Urban Development, World Bank
  • Raymond Cointe, Director: European and International Affairs, French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning
  • Louis-Jacques Vaillant, Head of the Local Governments and Urban Development Department, AFD
 
 




REAL CORP 2009: COMPLETE PROCEEDINGS
REAL CORP 2009: FOREWORD (PDF)
CLICK HERE TO GET TO THE INDIVIDUAL PAPERS
 
http://programm.corp.at/cdrom2009/en/proceedings.html 
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Friday, February 5, 2010

Sustainable Agriculture A-Z

What is Sustainable Agriculture?


lettuce_rowIn 2005, CUESA broadened its mission; in addition to supporting sustainable agrictulture as our name indicates, we are working to improve the sustainability of the entire food system. A food system is the inter-relationship of agricultural systems, their economic, social, cultural, and technological support systems, and systems of food distribution and consumption. A sustainable food system uses practices that are environmentally sound, humane, economically viable, and socially just. Sustainable agriculture uses these same practices.

CUESA’S Guiding Principles of Sustainable Agricultural Production

Environmentally Sound
Producers actively work to create and sustain cultivated landscapes that are complex, diverse and balanced biological systems. Producers use practices that conserve and restore resources.

Humane Animal Management
While being raised, animals are allowed to engage in the natural behaviors that are important to their well-being, and are harvested in ways that minimize stress to the animals and the environment.

Economically Viable
Producers operate within a framework of sound business planning and pursue integrated and proactive approaches to marketing and sales.

Socially Just
Producers and their employees receive fair and reasonable compensation and work in a safe and respectful environment.

Go Deeper
Each letter of our Sustainable Agriculture Alphabet highlights an important concept in sustainable food production and distribution. Under the arcades of the Ferry Building in San Francisco, this alphabet is part of CUESA's Sustainable Agriculture A to Z exhibit - a series of eight by eight foot photomurals that form the doors and walls to our education center. This exhibit was funded by the San Francisco Foundation and photos for the murals were generously donated by friends and colleagues. 

A - Animals Grazing J - Judicious Water Use S - Soil Building
B - Beneficial Bugs K - Kids Participating T - Targeted Fishing
C - Cover Crops L - Labor Rights U - Understanding Ecosystems
D - Direct Marketing M - Mulch V - Vine-Ripened
E - Ecological Mariculture N - Nitrogen Fixing W - Worker Health
F - Free Range O - Open Space X - eXtra Care
G - Growing Heirlooms P - Pollinators Y - Yielding Abundance
H - Habitat for Predators Q - Quality of Life Z - Zones that Buffer
I - Insect Pheromone Disruption R - Restoring Watersheds
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State of the World 2010

All of the chapters in State of the World 2010 (minus endnotes) are available on our website via free PDF downloads. For more information, or to purchase the complete report with Endnotes in print, PDF, or Kindle formats, click here.

Free State of the World 2010 Downloads

The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures by Erik Assadourian
A culture of consumerism has imperiled the environment and a new culture of sustainability is needed. 

Traditions Old and New by Gary Gardner, Robert Engelman, Julie Aubel, Albert Bates, and Toby Hemenway
Traditional norms and practices can be used to enhance sustainable life choices. 

Education’s New Assignment: Sustainability by Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson, Yoshie Kaga, Susan Linn, Kevin Morgan, Roberta Sonnino, and David W. Orr
The shift away from wasteful consumerism must begin in classrooms and school lunchrooms.

Business and Economy: Management Priorities by Michael Maniates, Michael Renner, Peter Newman, Walter Bortz, and Cormac Cullinan
By setting laws and societal priorities to nurture sustainability, governments can be central players in the cultural shift 

Government’s Role in Design by Jonah Sachs, Susan Finkelpearl, Robin Anderson, Pamela Miller, and Amy Han
By entertaining and educating, the media can play a huge role in changing the culture of consumerism.  

Media: Broadcasting Sustainability by Jonah Sachs, Susan Finkelpearl, Robin Anderson, Pamela Miller, and Amy Han
By entertaining and educating, the media can play a huge role in changing the culture of consumerism.  

The Power of Social Movements by John de Graaf, Cecile Andrews, Wanda Urbanska, and Jonathan Dawson

Social movements need to focus their limitless potential on promoting sustainability. 


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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Avatar and its holistic promise


For a box office hit, Avatar is the most successful movie ever. I was one of the last to help James Cameron’s creation reach that tipping point as it took me several weeks to get myself to the movie theater. I have never felt drawn to science fiction because - for reasons not clear to me - such movies always seem to involve a lot of violence. I had not read much about the Avatar phenomenon and I only went after two trusted friends pressed me to go. They were right. Avatar is a beautiful film with an inspiring message. 

However what inspires me most is that a film with this kind of message is able to reach more people in the world than any other movie before. The inspiration of Avatar is that there is another world where love rules and where relationships between people and between people and nature are fundamentally respected. And it is that world that after a violent battle prevails over the destructive disconnected greed of our present dominant culture. Avatar portrays the beauty of holism - that word that has defined the new age movement since the sixties. Holism attracted hippies then. It now attracts masses worldwide. That is the message of Avatar.

To be clear: holism is not some distant dream. It is our everyday reality. We live in an interconnected world. That has always been the case. Ancient cultures were aware of that. Whatever is left of those still live by these principles today. It is only our Cartesian perspectives from the past few centuries that have spread a different message: that we can chop up reality and make a lot of money while selling the pieces. It has been an overwhelming and intoxicating message that still rules the world from Wall Street to the slums of Sao Paulo and from hunger and disease in Africa to environmental pollution. 

It was science that led Descartes and his contemporaries to the fragmented approach of reality. Yet modern science is increasingly telling a different story. In the past decades scientific discoveries in physics and medicine have presented more and more proof of the interconnected reality of our existence. Since Einstein, in the past century, science is telling us that we are living in a holistic world indeed.

It will take more time for that message to increasingly influence political and economic policies. Science is always ahead of the times. But the trend is clear: we are on our way to Avatar’s beautiful world of Pandora. We cannot escape our interconnected reality and that realization will ultimately influence and determine the way we organize the world community and our relationship with nature.

The good news is that the success of Avatar is showing that many millions of us are already - consciously or unconsciously - embracing, or at least feel attracted to, the holistic vision. That is a critical fact as more and more scientific research also begins to prove that mind does influence matter. As Pandora becomes part of the imagination in the minds of millions, we are beginning to shape new realities. In the end we may not need to go to Pandora to find a new and better world. We can create it right here. And, in this case, going to the movies is an important first step. 

posted by Jurriaan Kamp





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Suburban Habitat Restoration

Reimagining Our Yards from the Birds’, and Butterflies’, Perspective


By Sarah Mosko

Honeysuckles attract hummingbirds to the yard.
© Wellsphere
Whether you lament dwindling rainforests or the disappearance of neighborhood cats to hungry coyotes, most of us recognize loss of wildlife habitats as a growing environmental concern. As an alternative to hand-wringing, the National Wildlife Federation offers ordinary citizens the means to take action by establishing a Certified Wildlife Habitat in their own backyards. It’s not only enjoyable, but also easy. I know because I did it in a matter of weeks despite starting out a gardening illiterate. 

Here’s how the program works. A yard has to qualify in all five areas outlined below, but each offers several options. Then there’s a two-page checklist to fill out—works on the honor system—and a $15 processing fee. That’s it. 

Food Sources
 
A diversity of food sources is a must, whether via vegetation-bearing fruits, pollen, berries, or seeds or just man-made feeders. To get acquainted with my yard, I consulted a local nursery and came away smiling after learning the red and white trumpet flowers of lush honeysuckle vines and purple floral clusters on Abelia shrubs are providing nectar for hummingbirds. 

As a lover of butterflies, hearing that dainty tea tree flowers supply them with seasonal nourishment was welcome news, too. It seemed a fitting move then to hang a saucer for rotting fruit, a butterfly favorite, to supplement scarcer times.
That birds and ground squirrels enjoy the fruits of my treasured peach and Japanese persimmon trees was already obvious, but I was surprised to discover that other resident trees and shrubs are abundant producers of tiny fruits or berries also favored by birds—cotoneaster, American pepper, and Indian hawthorn to name a few. 

As four birdseed feeders already dotted the yard, I installed, at ground level, easy-to-open peanut-filled boxes to both support the local squirrel community and entertain my family. 

A word of caution to the squeamish: The food chain can rear its head in unanticipated ways. Red-tailed hawks come around now in search of morning doves for which my yard has become a routine foraging stop. 

Water Sources
 

Tea tree flowers supply butterflies with seasonal nourishment.
© ebay.com
Water sources for drinking and bathing is the category I low-balled because several of the options, like a lake or stream, aren’t in the cards in my seriously suburban neighborhood. An existing birdbath was enough to qualify, but adding a second, placed more strategically to avoid predators, seemed prudent. 
 A "butterfly puddling area" is another easy choice and can be done without spending a dime. Male butterflies apparently congregate on wet gravel surfaces to sip mineral-laden water. Scientists think it enhances their sex appeal. A pie pan filled with gravel and water, buried to ground level, makes an excellent butterfly puddle. 

Places for Cover
 
As my taste in landscaping runs in the less-manicured direction, places where critters can find shelter from weather and predators abounded from the get-go. Perennial shrubs of pittosporum and Indian hawthorn and xylosma trees all provide excellent off-ground cover for birds year round. A shady grove of Boston ferns, in turn, provides ground level refuge for lizards and hordes of insects. Even a long-neglected woodpile has earned new status as a safe haven for ground-dwellers. 

For larger properties, grander scale options are available, like a meadow or pond. However, a humble rock pile, already visited by lizards, and a simple plywood butterfly house, were the only wildlife refuge add-ons I made. 

Places to Raise Young
 
Venues for wildlife to mate and raise young range from commonplace dense shrubs and tall trees to more exotic wetlands and caves. Living in an older neighborhood where multi-story trees are the norm, my assortment of mature California sycamores, Aleppo pines, American peppers and Crepe Myrtles more than sufficed. 

However, an irresistible opportunity presented here to dust off a long-forgotten wooden nesting box my daughter made at camp and tuck it among the patio rafters, awaiting any comers. 

Sustainable Gardening Practices
 
This category covers strategies to conserve soil and water, minimize applied chemicals and encourage native plant species. 

Having abandoned chemical pesticides and fertilizers years ago in favor of composting and mulching was alone more than enough to qualify my yard. Moreover, a largely neglected compost pile serves to recycle leaves and small cuttings on site. 

My yard is now Wildlife Habitat #107457, but the certificate is anything but an endpoint for me. How I perceive landscapes is forever changed. 

Where I once saw just eye-pleasing colors and textures, I now try to imagine my yard from the perspective of a bird, squirrel, butterfly, lizard or honeybee. I want it to be more about them than it is about me. 

I will admit to some pride that I can name many of my plants now. But the flip side is disconcerting awareness that most are non-native species, some even considered invasive or water-thirsty and ill-suited to this dry climate where annual rainfall is short of 15 inches. 

Although I’ve no mindset yet to evict such interlopers, rest assured that any future plantings will be native and drought-resistant. For starters, I’ve broadcasted native wildflower seeds in a sunny spot in hopes of establishing a feeding and breeding ground for local butterflies come summertime. 

Certify by mail or online. Showing off your accomplishment with a small yard sign from the National Wildlife Foundation is optional. 

SARAH MOSKO, PH.D., is an environmental writer and sleep expert living in California who blogs at sarahmosko.wordpress.com.
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