|
Postcard from the Ecocity World Summit: Abu Dhabi, yes. Masdar City, for sure!
by Sven Eberlein, Ecocity Builders
Last month saw the 11th rendition of our International Ecocity Conference Series that was first held 25 years ago in Berkeley and since has traveled to cities on all continents except Antarctica. When Abu Dhabi was announced as the 2015 host two years ago at Ecocity 10 in Nantes, France, I remember feeling a mix of excitement about the prospect of visiting a place I had never been to and mystery about an area of the planet I knew very little about. As it turned out, I wasn't alone on the latter. Almost every time I mentioned Abu Dhabi to friends, the reactions ranged from blank stares to "oh, you're going to the place with the indoor ski resort!" Well, Dubai is not that far off - 80 miles northeast along the Persian Gulf Coast, to be exact - but mentally placing the famed ski resort in Abu Dhabi is perhaps a bit like thinking Disneyland is in San Francisco. Yes, it's all California, but only someone who has never been there would think every city and town is right out of a Beach Boys song. Come to think of it, there were more beach boys (and girls) in Abu Dhabi than in San Francisco... Here's the lowdown: Abu Dhabi and Dubai are each one of the seven constituent emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country located on the southeastern end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf. The more populous Dubai often gets the most attention for its (admittedly) daring architectural stunts, but Abu Dhabi (meaning "Father of the Gazelle" in Arabic) is the largest of the seven Emirates - covering almost 90 per cent of the UAE's total land area, the capital, the country's political and industrial hub, and the historical and cultural center.
|
SAVE THE DATE
Ecocity World Summit 2017 Melbourne
|
| | Lord Mayor Robert Doyle's Welcome Statement |
Melbourne will showcase its sustainability credentials to experts worldwide when the prestigious Ecocity World Summit comes to the city in 2017. Over 1,000 leading international urban planners, architects and environmental specialists will gather in Melbourne to discuss world-leading sustainable city initiatives.
"Melbourne has excellent eco-city credentials, with many positive changes over recent years, such as investment in new technology that is improving the city's sustainability and which we can profile at the Summit," said Karen Bolinger, Chief Executive Officer of the Melbourne Convention Bureau.
|
|
Understanding and Developing Place as Living Ecosystem(Part 2)
by Beatrice Benne
The Pays d'Auray on the Bay of Quiberon in the Morbihan, South Brittany, is undeniably one of the most beautiful regions in France. The fact that the whole area includes an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites (such as, for instance, the Carnac alignment shown on the picture on the right) makes it a unique and mysterious area. More than 3,000 prehistoric stone formations including alignments, tumuli, dolmen and menhirs have been erected there; many more are still hidden underground.
The workshop itself was held on the beautiful site of the 'Ecole Nationale de Voile' (National Sailing School), right on the bay. Despite the frequent rain during the workshop, this site provided an immediate contact with the local natural environment. (We decided at the last minute to incorporate a brief solo nature walk during the workshop to break the rhythm and give people an opportunity to see the site and reflect.)
|
|
Ecocity Insights
Masdar: A Green City or Ecocity? Assessing its Biogeophysical Features
by Jennie Moore, Director of Sustainable Development and Environmental Stewardship, School of Construction and the Environment, British Columbia Institute of Technology
At the Ecocity World Summit 2015 in Abu Dhabi, I had an opportunity to participate in a tour of Masdar, an experiment in sustainable development at the neighbourhood scale. Here is a brief synopsis of first impressions using Ecocity Standards to help assess where Masdar falls on the continuum from Green City to Ecocity.
The most impressive feature of Masdar is its urban design for access by proximity. The streets are narrow and designed for the human body, not the car body. Everything can be accessed within a short walking distance. Masdar seems to achieve Ecocity performance in the regard. Unfortunately, Masdar is located in a somewhat isolated location. So for now it requires a motor vehicle, whether bus or car, to reach it.
|
|
Changes Toward Ecocities
by Richard Register, Founder and Emissary, Ecocity Builders
I'm sitting in a restaurant late in the evening after giving a talk at the San Simon University of Cochabamba, Bolivia, student body 80,000. I'm amazed that what I've been seeing here and, just a few days earlier in Colombia, fits so well with what I was thinking about writing about for this issues of our newsletter, that is, good news: the progress toward ecocities in the last few years. Yes I know we are still - and rather massively - loosing ground to cars and asphalt in the developing world and the move toward seriously curbing greenhouse gasses in the United States and China is glacial. But some serious idea seeds and vigorous sprouts abound. I'm heartened by the overflow crowd for my talk an hour ago here at the University, and back in Bogota just three days earlier, the day I spoke there was "Car Free Day." Thousands of mostly young people gathered in the main square in front of the Mayor's office listening and dancing to reggae music; there must have been two bicycles for every three persons. I'd never seen so many bicycles and such an expression that - hey! - this is totally normal! A rare few carped it had taken longer to get about town. Of course! The city was transformed for the car driver, not the driver him or her self. Generally the citywide event sparked enormous enthusiasm for not having to deal with cars. Fresh air, blue sky, sunshine and no tension among giant hurtling steel beetles, no loud chaotic noise and acrid airs.
Car free street in Bogota. In the whole city no private cars were supposed to move, and in fact I saw none, until, as planned, after sunset. The air over the entire city was unusually fresh, the hiss and rumble of traffic gone except for the occasional taxi and bus. Many streets were blocked off entirely, even to the taxis and off limits to the busses. Bicycles swarmed and collected at street locations and plazas and stopped for free music, bands, jugglers and dancing.
|
|
|
Founded in 1992, Ecocity Builders is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reshaping cities for the long-term health of human and natural systems.
|
 Spaces are still available for individuals and groups at the CoLab. Click here.  |
Become a member of Ecocity Builders
Ecocity Builders members receive benefits including discounts to all Ecocity World Summits and access to special events. Membership is affordable and easy.
|
Ecocity Global Spotlight
Sustainable stories and highlights
Cities Around the World Celebrate International Walk to School Day
This past Wednesday (October 7) marked the celebration of the fifteenth annual
International Walk to School Day. Schools in more than 40 countries across the globe participated in the event-including the U.S., Turkey, Brazil and China-encouraging students to walk with friends or parents to school instead of taking private vehicles. Why Gurgaon's Car Free Day Can Be a Game Changer for India
Ever since its launch in Gurgaon in 2013, Raahgiri Day-an open streets initiative-has become a game changer of sorts. Today, it has become a national rage with Raahgiri Day style events taking place in over 36 locations every Sunday in several Indian cities, seeing over 300,000 people participating in these events. Raahgiri has also shown tangible impacts such as increases in cycle sales, more people walking and cycling over short distances, improved road safety and air quality, amongst others.
Ban Ki-moon urges action on climate change, says caring for planet is "moral issue" 11 October 2015- United Nations Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Bolivia at the Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and the Defence of Life, said that the subject of the conference was both "important and timely."
|
Open Seventeen Challenge
Wanna use public data for good? Pitch a project that tackles the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) using open data!
The Open Seventeen Challenge aims to transform grassroots enthusiasm on the Web into new open knowledge that can help governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations achieve the SDGs by the year 2030. All you need to do is find a data set, define your crowdsourcing goal and pitch your idea.
|
|
