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<p>The 21st century will come to be known as the urban century. For the first time in human history more than half of the 6.8 billion people on Earth live in cities. Over the next 17 years, another 1.7 billion people will join our species – what I call <i>homo urbanis</i>. Canada is no different. In 1867, 20 per cent of Canadians lived in cities; now over 80 per cent do.</p>
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<p>As such, getting cities right, and making them as sustainable as possible, is fundamentally important to our survival. Overconsumption of scarce natural capital (water, soil, forests, the ocean’s bounty, oil and gas, coal, minerals) causes major environmental problems – foul air, contaminated water and soil, deforestation and desertification, loss of biodiversity, climate change from human-produced greenhouse gases.</p>
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<p>This is largely an urban problem. The vast majority of the planet’s natural resources are consumed by city-dwellers – by their homes, transportation, energy, food, clothes, businesses, industries, and governments. A smaller but still significant portion of our natural capital is eaten up by mines, mills, farms, and other rural industrial activities that produce products used primarily by city-dwellers.</p>
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<p>North American cities are by far the worst offenders. If China and India’s rapidly urbanizing population of 2.5 billion consumed natural capital the way we do in Canadian and U.S. cities, we would need the equivalent of four Earths’ worth of natural resources. As we only have one Earth, it’s imperative that we imminently abandon our North American urban model of sprawl, freeways, SUVs, and general overconsumption.</p>
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<p>Besides their considerable impact on the environment, 21st-century cities constitute a crucial front in the war against poverty. One billion poor people currently live in urban areas of developing countries, many of whom are forced to inhabit informal and mostly illegal slums. Many more will have to adopt such living conditions if we don’t develop creative, sustainable strategies for building modern cities.</p>
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<p>The impact of cities on the world today and over the next century cannot be overstated. Thus, in an effort to build strategies for creating sustainable cities and to conceive of the tools necessary to implement them, I have invited a group of experts to discuss various aspects of the broad subject of cities: ecological footprints, climate change, demographic challenges, social welfare, and more. I hope you will join in the dialogue.</p>
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http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854146,00.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/civic-leaders-are-struggling-to-meet-big-city-challenges/article1322353/
http://www.fcm.ca/english/View.asp?mp=1055&x=1189
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/16/canadas-best-and-worst-run-cities/
Find out why Montréal's public bike system was ranked one of the best inventions of 2008
Discover why business and civil society organizations will be key to helping cities meet 21st-century challenges
Review politicians' speeches from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2009 annual conference
Check to see where your city ranks on <i>Maclean's</i>' best- and worst-run cities in Canada
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2009-11-10T12:43:00-05:00
Canada has the world's 7th largest ecological footprint, nearly half of which is due to our carbon footprint.
In a recent ranking of the world's most innovative cities, four Canadian municipalities were listed among the top hundred: Toronto (19), Vancouver (48), Montreal (49), and Quebec City (81).
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B.C. cities' budgets outpace real growth
Cities to rebound from recession: economist
Vancouver: North America's greenest city?
Don't rush cities on stimulus: budget watchdog
http://www.theprovince.com/health/Municipalities+spending+outpacing+real+growth/2186197/story.html
http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2142624
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Sustainability+Gaining+Ground/2113857/story.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gU4n_BXswP2RDT40nUKHvfxx9wBA
Vancouver mayor blames recession, provincial downloading for shortfall
Expects U.S. dollar recovery next year will boost export, tourism markets
Suburbs, commuters main obstacles cited at Gaining Ground summit
Warns Ottawa's March 2011 deadline encourages hasty project decisions, forces construction costs up
Cities News
Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89206003@N00/3652525431/">Darrenstone</a> available under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_CA">Creative Commons License</a>
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3652525431_fbf5ff4a2c.jpg
<p>They are pivotal fronts in the fight against climate change, and increasingly vital to the social and economic success of nations. What does a good 21st-century city look like?</p>
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<p>Hosted by:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: rgb(143, 198, 66); font-weight: bold;">Michael Harcourt</span>, Former Premier of British Columbia and Mayor of Vancouver</li>
</ul>
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<p>Featuring:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: rgb(143, 198, 66); font-weight: bold;">Ratna Omidvar</span>, President, Maytree Foundation</li>
<li><span style="color: rgb(143, 198, 66); font-weight: bold;">Colin Jackson</span>, President, Hands at Work Africa (Canada) </li>
<li><span style="color: rgb(143, 198, 66); font-weight: bold;">William Rees</span>, Ecologist; Professor, University of British Columbia</li>
<li><span style="color: rgb(143, 198, 66); font-weight: bold;">John Robinson</span>, Professor, Institute of Resources, Environment & Sustainability, UBC</li>
</ul>
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3297/3652525431_fbf5ff4a2c.jpg
http://www.themarknews.com
The Future of Cities
2009-12-03T00:05:12-05:00
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