Environment

Event: ECOSOC Integration Segment to focus on SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION
27-29 May New York, USA

Every year, ECOSOC will convene the Integration Segment for three days in May on the main theme of the Council. The outcome will be a summary by the ECOSOC Vice-President highlighting the main policy recommendations arising from the discussions and providing guidance on integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development. In 2014, the Economic and Social Council will focus on the overall theme of “Addressing on-going and emerging challenges for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and for sustaining development gains in the future”. One area that poses both challenges and opportunities for achieving the MDGs in 2015 and for sustaining development gains in the future is urbanization. Recognizing the importance of this issue, in 2012, the Economic and Social Council invited Governments to further promote sustainable cities and the role of local authorities in their national development policies and programs and to consider the environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive and economically productive roles of cities in the post-2015 United Nations development agenda (Resolution 2012/27). In this connection, the Integration Segment could focus on sustainable urbanization to address the main theme in an integrated and focused way. For more information, click here.

Adversity and urban planning: Designing safer, more resilient cities

The overall picture of Delhi's socio-technical vulnerability is extremely complex. The city has a population of 16 million people with about 45 percent living in a combination of unregulated settlements, including unauthorized colonies, villages, slums, and the like. Yet, despite all its challenges, Delhi manages to sustain a remarkable micro-resiliency owing to its resident’s history of resourceful adaptation and state-led social programs. One of the examples, the 'Bhagidari Program,' is an attempt to resolve the various problems faced by the city’s residents through a partnership scheme: Resident Welfare Associations, NGOs, civil society organizations and groups of residents participate in a "process of dialog and the discovery of joint-solutions." Read more.

Submitted by Priyanka Jain — Tue, 03/25/2014 - 00:00

Adversity and urban planning: Designing safer, more resilient cities

The African city should be seen as a stimulating and exciting maelstrom of cultural conflict and transformation. We need to celebrate and dissect the fragments of urban life and empathise with the multiplicity and contradictions experienced in our cities, whilst at the same time understand the daily service needs of the urban inhabitants. Under current conditions of extreme and rapid growth experienced in the majority of South African cities, change manifests itself most evidently through space. The urban poor and the 'space' in which they occupy, define and conduct their activities and their relationships form fundamental, dynamic elements of the building of a city in the context of contemporary urban Africa. Public space (the street and the node) forms one of the most important venues for such transformation. Efforts by the urban poor to appropriate community space (although much contested) are an integral part to a process of self-empowerment and socio-economic networking. In the formation of contemporary urban developments in South Africa (particularly in low-income areas and informal settlements), it seems that less attention is given to the space in-between buildings and how these can function as 'service venues'; the very glue that unites the elements of the positive spatial structure; the shared space. One may question why this is so? Read more.

Submitted by Editor — Tue, 03/25/2014 - 00:00

Adversity and urban planning: Designing safer, more resilient cities

The cost of Dhaka's traffic congestion is US$3 billion a year, and over 8 million hours daily. And traffic is only one of Dhaka's many issues: according to the 2013 Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Livability Survey, Dhaka is ranked the world's second least livable city in terms of crime levels, threat of conflict, quality of medical care, levels of censorship, temperature, schools, and transportation. Read more.

Submitted by Saima — Tue, 03/25/2014 - 00:00

Adversity and urban planning: Designing safer, more resilient cities

Bogotá's location is in many ways privileged, with mild temperatures and 12 hours of daylight year-round. This location, however, also entails risks: it is a seismic area, and torrential rains can result in serious flooding. The "Niña" weather pattern creates especially dangerous conditions, like the 2010-2011 period when much of the city was left under water - especially, although not only - in the poorer neighborhoods. Read more.

Submitted by Jorge Bela — Tue, 03/25/2014 - 00:00

Perbaikan Jalan Rusak Setelah Banjir Melanda

Setelah banjir yang melanda pada pertengahan Januari hingga awal Februari mulai surut, maka mulai terlihat banyaknya kerusakan jalan di ibukota Jakarta. Jalanan rusak dan berlubang jelas sangat mengganggu aktivitas para pengendara, karena selain dapat membahayakan juga seringkali menyebabkan kemacetan. Berdasarkan data Dinas Pekerjaan Umum DKI Jakarta, ada 9.833 titik jalan rusak atau seluas 166.397 meter persegi. Melihat keadaan ini, Dinas PU DKI Jakarta terus bekerja secepat mungkin untuk memperbaiki kerusakan tersebut, Hingga hari Kamis, 6 Maret 2014 data dari Dinas PU menunjukkan sudah 70 persen jalan rusak yang diperbaiki, yaitu sebanyak 9.663 titik dengan luas 161.420 meter persegi. Sedangkan yang belum diperbaiki tinggal 170 titik dengan luas 4.977 meter persegi. Baca lebih lanjut.

Submitted by Nanda Ratna — Fri, 03/14/2014 - 16:13

Banjir Jakarta butuh rekayasa fisik dan non fisik

Genap sudah bencana banjir melanda ibukota Indonesia, Jakarta, selama satu bulan di tahun 2014. Jakarta memang menjadi langganan banjir, bahkan sejak dulu Belanda menjajah Batavia. Banjir Jakarta pertama kali tercatat tahun 1621. Pemerintah Belanda pada waktu itu pun berupaya menangani banjir dengan melaksanakan berbagai mega proyek seperti pembangunan tiga bendungan besar Jakarta tahun 1918, yakni Bendungan Hilir, Bendungan Jago dan Bendungan Udik. Selain itu, pada tahun 1922 Belanda juga membangun Banjir Kanal Barat (BKB) yang membuka pintu air Manggarai-Rawa Angke. Baca lebih lanjut.

Submitted by Rendy A. Diningrat — Tue, 02/04/2014 - 05:38

Urban farms in Lagos – a feasible proposal?

I recently attended the launch of an exhibition at the Goethe Institute's Lagos office, on the "Post-Oil City", drawing on efforts from all around the world to create cities that have tamed the traditional hunger for fossil fuels. Some of them are brand new cities (like Masdar in Abu Dhabi), others are existing cities trying to make changes (Curitiba, Brazil, which in 1974 launched the world’s first BRT system). Read more.

Submitted by Tolu Ogunlesi — Fri, 01/31/2014 - 15:03

Event: EcoWASTE
20–22 January 2014 Abu Dhabi, UAE

EcoWASTE is a new exhibition that aims to become the international leading specialised event for sustainable waste management and recycling, bringing together leading local and international technology and service providers, local and regional buyers, and industry professionals from both the private and public sectors. Learn more.

Zam... Pow... Environmental Justice!

We don't seem to live in an age of reading. But we do live in an age of communication. Ideas, images, manifestos, advertisements, loud TV, tweets and all manner of media bombard us all on a minute-to-minute basis. Put that together with one thing we know from evolving educational theory: each person learns and perceives messages a little differently, and diverse modes of delivering the same information are more likely to reach a wider range of people. What we really want is to get our messages out, to inform, to educate, to create dialog — with whatever media reach people. And this probably means delivering messages and ideas in diverse media: Tweets at 140 characters; Facebook at a few sentences; essays and blogs, books, radio, exhibits, and so on. Read more.

Submitted by David Maddox — Mon, 09/09/2013 - 13:04

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