About this Discussion

Urban centres provide opportunities for a range of social and cultural activities, as well as being critical for innovations in science, technology and education. They are also of critical importance for social and economic development. However, with approximately 40% of global energy use taking place within city buildings, this sector is also the single largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, the design and use of energy and resource-efficient buildings has a key role in climate change mitigation to accelerate the global green economy transition. Although vast savings are possible by constructing new green buildings and retrofitting existing buildings, even greater gains can be achieved by adopting a long-term life-cycle approach involving stakeholders at different stages – from environmentally-minded investors and architects, to sustainable extraction, construction and usage, and the eventual demolition and the recycling or disposal of the building materials.

Cities are well-placed to play a major role in decoupling economic development from resource use and environmental impacts, while finding a better balance between social, environmental and economic objectives. Resource-efficient cities combine greater productivity and innovation with lower costs and reduced environmental impacts, offering at the same time financial savings and increased sustainability.

Cities and Urban Development

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Stephani Widorini commented on Jessika Berns's Post in Cities and Urban Development

A fantastic article from National Geographic Magazine: "Five Trends Influencing the Future of Our Cities: Urban plans balance climate change solutions and the well-being of residents."

The image below shows Google's solar calculator; it can help you map your roof's solar savings potential.

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/design-trends-sustainability-cities-wellness-...

What's the critical role of project preparation facilities (PPFs) in integrating climate action with other development and cooperation objectives?

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https://www.citiesclimatefinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cff-ccfla-report.pdf
World Resources Institute(WRI)

This webinar will highlight findings from a forthcoming World Resources Institute (WRI) issue brief, which focuses on advanced actions that large energy buyers can take to reach a 100% carbon-free grid. It will also feature presentations from Google and the City of Des Moines on how they developed… Read More

New technology could help cities around the world improve people’s lives New technology could help cities around the world improve people’s lives while saving billions of dollars. Urban InVEST, a suite of free, open-source software models creates maps to help decision-makers understand the links between nature and human wellbeing and evaluate the tradeoffs between development and conservation.

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https://gcn.com/articles/2021/06/24/urban-invest.aspx

Explore transformational potential and best practices of nature based-solutions (NbS) from cities around the world in this new UNEP G20 report. Share your municipal initiatives for NbS here!

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https://www.unep.org/resources/report/smart-sustainable-and-resilient-cities-power-nature-based-solu...

COVID-19 has created a critical juncture in the evolution of cities, but there has been limited focus on its urban dimensions in the global South.Therefore, IIED has created a framework that provides a unifying urban vision to inform and resource a transformative urban recovery process.

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https://www.iied.org/framework-for-transformative-urban-recovery