Cities: Steering towards Sustainability

Since 2007, IDDRI and the French Development Agency (AFD) have been working in partnership to produce a French annual publication on sustainable development with the Sciences Po University Press. This 2010 edition led to the publication of a book in English by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), entitled CITIES: steering towards sustainability (A Planet for Life series).

The book has three objectives: taking stock of international negotiations and policies conducted in the field of sustainable development over the past year, providing a series of facts and figures on these trends, and exploring a specific subject. The previous editions thus examined the issues of energy choices in the face of climate change (2007), biodiversity conservation (2008) and sustainable development governance (2009).

For the 2010 edition, we have chosen to focus on cities, approached as both actors and as symbols of the challenges of sustainable development. At a time when over half of the world population is now urban, the evolution of cities in many parts of the world is contrary to environmental, social and economic demands. As they become concentrated in urban centres or even in certain districts, wealth and power contribute to territorial fragmentation. The “legal” city, which is well-equipped, modern and productive, is therefore increasingly distinct from the rest of the city, which is illegal or “informal”, under-equipped and under-connected. This trend, which fosters social segregation and environmental problems, is generally gathering pace.  

The aim of the publication, which was prepared with the support of international experts, is to identify the dynamics that will contribute to the vital change of trajectory, through the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental and social. The first force behind urbanisation is in fact economic. When cities form a bridgehead between the regions and the globalised economy, they become key engines for growth.

The environmental impact of the urban transition underway is proportionate to the scale of the movement. If cities produce 75% of greenhouse gas emissions and consume 75% of global energy, this is primarily because they are home to half of the world population and most economic activity. It is also because the urbanisation underway is reproducing the expansion model seen in cities in industrialised countries, which is resource-hungry and shaped by the development of automobile transportation and low energy prices over the last 50 years. But the pressure on resources that results from this development model is unsustainable. This observation calls for profound changes in terms of transport, investments, industrial and tertiary choices and housing, etc. A tremendous opportunity thus presents itself for identifying new avenues for urban development in cities in both industrialised countries and emerging countries, which are still largely under construction.

Cities also act as laboratories for observing the political and economic dynamics at work and the new approaches being tested, whether technical or institutional. Indeed, the political, social and environmental responses to the challenges of the future are sought on a day to day basis within cities. It is therefore not cities themselves that will determine sustainable development, but rather the nature of urbanisation. The major Southern cities of the future could play a decisive role in this change of trajectory if they develop standards other than those passed down from the last century. It is these avenues for a new governance of sustainable cities that A Planet for Life attempts to explore.

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EVENTS

* Conference-debate "Cities: changing trajectory"
Friday 12 March, Sciences Po (Paris)

On the occasion of the release of the 2010 edition of A Planet for Life, which focuses on cities, the Sciences Po University Press, the French Development Agency (AFD) and IDDRI are organising a conference with Pierre Jacquet (Head of Strategy and Chief Economist at AFD), Laurence Tubiana (Founder of IDDRI and Director of the Sciences Po Sustainable Development Chair), Bernard Barraqué (Director of Research CNRS, AgroParisTech), Sylvy Jaglin (Professor, Research group on technology, territories and societies, Paris-Est-Marne la Vallée University), Djamel Klouche (Architect and city planner, professor at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture in Versailles, consultant to the Elysée for the future “Greater Paris”) and Vincent Renard (Director of the Urban Fabric programme, IDDRI). [Find out more]

* Financing water services in urban Niger, a conference by Vianney Dupont (École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées)
Tuesday 16 March, Sciences Po (Paris)

Since 1996, Niger has been conducting a reform of its urban water sub-sector with the support of international backers. This reform triggered a major investment programme in urban areas over the 2001-2008 period, which led to an overall improvement in water services. However, the very high urban growth the country is experiencing is hampering the progress made since 2001. Vianney Dupont will present the costs of this water supply extension programme along with the respective contributions to this programme by the State, users and financial backers. [Find out more]

* Sustainable development, technology transfer and intellectual property rights, a session of the seminar on sustainable development and environmental economics (SDDEE), led by Claude Henry and Emmanuel Guérin
Tuesday 16 March, Sciences Po (Paris)

Can intellectual property – mainly in the form of patents – help to produce and disseminate the innovations needed for a transition to a more sustainable development trajectory than the one we are currently following? Or is it, on the contrary, a considerable obstacle? What other useful mechanisms for implementing and disseminating innovations can be mobilised? A critical overview of these will be provided. [Find out more]

* Energy transition, social acceptability and regional planning: the case of wind energy in France, a session of the Ile-de-France sustainable development meetings (R2DS), led by Olivier Labussière (post-doctoral researcher CNRS-CIRED)
Wednesday 31 March, Sciences Po (Paris)

In the context of the opening of the EU energy market, France relies on private investors to reach its renewable energy development objectives and to meet its international climate commitments. This results in public policies that are very liberal in nature, tending to redistribute competence in terms of energy policy and regional planning. Using the example of wind power, Olivier Labussière questions this break away from institutional responsibility with respect to a technology of industrial scale, along with the forms of local governance that make it possible to politicise the issues it raises (landscapes, avifauna and social acceptability, etc.). [Find out more]

* Voluntary approaches: how can companies become more involved in climate policy? From self-regulation to co-regulation
3 and 4 May 2010, Paul Cézanne Faculty of Law (Aix-en-Provence)

A seminar organised by the CERIC (Centre for international and European studies and research) and IDDRI.
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VIDEOS

* Biodiversity 2010, and beyond?

To launch the series of biodiversity conferences that they are jointly organising, IDDRI and the Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès organised an event together on 16 February, entitled “Biodiversity 2010, and beyond?”, which brought together over 400 participants at the Musée du quai Branly around a panel of leading international speakers. At the start of the International Year of Biodiversity, this conference was the opportunity to make a scientific, political and strategic review of the 2010 targets, which we now know will not be reached. The debates also helped to reveal some avenues for short- and medium-term action, along with the issues that remain unresolved and must receive greater attention over the coming years.

The videos of the debates and the presentations of the different speakers are available on IDDRI’s web site. [Find out more]

* The "Bottom Billion" and Climate Change in the context of the Global Crisis

On 6 November 2009, FERDI and IDDRI launched in Paris their Initiative for Development and Global Governance (IDGM). This special conference brought together high-level international experts with a view to precisely examining the perspectives for reconciling poverty reduction and climate change mitigation objectives, in the context of the global financial and economic crisis. roducing ideas that are highly relevant for public decision making, understanding and anticipating, debating and clarifying are the goals that IDGM has set itself and which showed themselves to be at the top of the agenda once again.

All the sessions videos are now available online. [Find out more]