{"id":7562,"date":"2018-11-21T09:42:48","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T08:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/?p=7562"},"modified":"2018-11-21T09:51:40","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T08:51:40","slug":"cities-challenged-to-create-sustainable-future-urban-dimension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/cities-challenged-to-create-sustainable-future-urban-dimension\/","title":{"rendered":"Cities Challenged To Create Sustainable Future Within Urban Dimension"},"content":{"rendered":"

16\/11\/2018 Biocities Forum brings nature to Smart Cities\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Cities reflect the good, the bad and the ugly of our world. They represent our greatest challenges – they are the main cause of our human environmental footprint – but also offer our greatest opportunities. As innovation hubs, cities can take the lead in rethinking our economy, to ensure the creation of a sustainable future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"EFIThe 2018 Biocities Forum<\/a> imagined a new urban reality with a symbiotic relationship between economy and biology creating sustainable and regenerative cities. Cities where wood, trees and forests have become their backbone: timber skyscrapers made of renewable resources, vertical forests that tower in dense urban areas, and paradigm shifts that emphasise ecosystem services provided by peripheral forests. These are just some of the ground-breaking ideas \u2013 and real-life case studies \u2013 that inspired attendees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organised by the European Forest Institute as part of the Smart City Expo World Congress on 14 November in Barcelona, the Biocities Forum contributed to the Congress focus on improving urban infrastructure and wellbeing, but with an important twist: nature. G\u00f6ran Persson<\/strong>, former Prime Minister of Sweden, opened the Forum with the hope that we can \u201ctransform the globe into a more healthy and sound way of using our natural resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

EFI Director, Marc Palah\u00ed<\/strong> believes that this requires a \u201crethinking of our economy to ensure it prospers within the renewable boundaries of our planet\u201d. He called on cities to lead this change, \u201cnot only in replacing fossil energy by renewable energy but also by taking the lead in replacing non-renewable materials like plastics, steel or concrete by renewable biobased materials, replacing grey infrastructures by green ones\u201d. Through two dynamic sessions, both moderated by Economist writer James Astill, the Biocities participants explored ideas and actions that might do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The first session brought together academics, planners, and engineers to share the newest innovations in Smart City technology geared towards connecting urban planning with natural systems. Herbert Girardet<\/strong>, a Professor and consultant for UNEP and UN-Habitat, emphasised the need for an ecosystem approach and increased public awareness about successful regenerative cities, which create environmentally enhancing, restorative relationships with the natural systems they depend on. Michael H. Ramage<\/strong>, a Senior Lecturer at Cambridge University, showed how timber is vastly under-imagined as a building material, sharing collaborations with architects from around the world on ever taller, more adaptive constructions in a mission to understand how timber can perform to the requirements of a modern building. Towers for trees, inhabited by humans, were brought vividly to life by Maria Chiara Pastore<\/strong> of Stefano Boeri Architects, with such structures holding the same number of trees as two hectares of forest and forming part of a future vision for cities networked by green corridors, roof-top lawns and community gardens. Green networks are indeed integral to the new vision of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, presented by Eug\u00e8nia Vidal Casanovas<\/strong>, to develop interconnected green spaces in the city, with particular focus on \u201cplanning for the edge\u201d and the flows and interactions in and out of the territory. Social participation, accessibility, demand and cost are crucial factors for successful and widespread implementation, as questions from the audience at the end of the session highlighted.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second session, these sky-high concepts were grounded by the experience of a panel of mayors from cities and regions across Europe – Joensuu, Bonn, Milan, and Catalonia. The officials discussed their efforts to develop Biocities that elevate economic, social, and<\/span><\/em> environmental value, as well as the opportunities and challenges they face. Many of the participants identified access to funding and the difficulty of coordinating policies across local, national, and international levels as key obstacles to transforming urban areas. As Gabriele Klingm\u00fcller<\/strong>, the Deputy Mayor of Bonn, highlighted, \u201ccities cannot do all the work by themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her closing remarks, Joanna Drake<\/strong>, the Deputy Director General of DG Environment in the European Commission, emphasised the need for collaboration, with networks and funding mechanisms to connect cities, compare experiences, and drive innovation. Echoing earlier comments from participants, citizens must be at the heart of this process, their voices should be heard and they must also assume some of the responsibility, so that Europe\u2019s urban areas can push forward to build resilient, sustainable cities in the face of climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Forest Institute has long been a proponent of bio-based development, urging policymakers and practitioners to find ways to integrate natural systems in regional planning. Borrowing the apt words of Economist W. Brian Arthur<\/strong>, EFI Director Marc Palah\u00ed<\/strong> stated succinctly: \u201cour deepest hope as humans lies in technology; but our deepest trust lies in nature.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The participants of the Biocities Forum are finding ways to have both.<\/span><\/p>\n

More information<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

www.efi.int\/biocities<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Contact: EFI Director Marc Palah\u00ed (marc.palahi@efi.int<\/a>) <\/span>
\nHead of EFI’s Mediterranean Facility Inazio Martinez de Arano (inazio.martinez@efi.int<\/a>) <\/span><\/p>\n

The 2018 Biocities Forum was organised by the European Forest Institute in collaboration with the City of Joensuu, Regional Council of North Karelia, Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Diputaci\u00f3 Barcelona, European Commssion, Finnish Forest Foundation. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>About EFI <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The European Forest Institute (EFI) is an independent international science organisation which generates, connects and shares knowledge at the interface between science and policy. EFI has 29 member countries who have ratified the Convention, and c.115 member organizations in 39 countries, working in diverse research fields.<\/span>
\nwww.efi.int<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Press release originally published on European Forest Institute (EFI) website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16\/11\/2018 Biocities Forum brings nature to Smart Cities\u00a0 Cities reflect the good, the bad and the ugly of our world. They represent our greatest challenges – they are the main…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,5,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7562"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7572,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7562\/revisions\/7572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.besustainablemagazine.com\/cms2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}