Making slums history: A global challenge for 2020. Rabat, 26-28 November 2012

Posted on: 14 February 2013
By: mackene
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In partnership with UN-Habitat, the government of Morocco hosted this international conference to enable delegates to share their success stories in addressing slum improvement and preventing the formation of new slums through enhanced delivery of adequate housing. A rigorous exchange of experiences ensued and a declaration was adopted by all the 25 states present, where they committed to “Promoting, … the definition of a global goal of halving the proportion of people living in slums between 2015 and 2030, to be part of the overall formulation of the new Sustainable Development Goals and of the Habitat III preparatory process. A conference report is available online.

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Planning, connecting and financing cities – now: Priorities for city leaders

Posted on: 11 February 2013
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This report from the World Bank provides a policy guide local officials can use to create the jobs, housing, and infrastructure needed to turn their cities into hubs of prosperity for current and future residents. It presents a practical framework for sustainable urbanization, which is organized around the three policy pillars of the title. The  coordination among these pillars is critical, particularly the relationship between land use planning and hazard risk, housing, infrastructure, and urban transport. This framework has already helped to reshape core urbanization policy debates and to integrate action across the urban space in countries such as Colombia, India, Uganda, and Vietnam.

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10 principles for liveable high density cities: Lessons from Singapore

Posted on: 11 February 2013
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This report draws upon Singapore’s successful urbanisation experience. Despite its population density, the city-state has consistently ranked favourably in various surveys measuring the liveability and sustainability of cities around the globe.

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Advancing agroforestry on the policy agenda: A guide for decision-makers

Posted on: 7 February 2013
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the first in a series of working papers on agroforestry. The guide is aimed at decision makers, NGOs and government agencies to promote the integration of agroforestry into national strategies. The guide outlines the conditions for, and barriers to, agroforestry development, as well as key drivers that can improve success. It provides ten tracks for policy action that include: raising awareness of agroforestry systems to farmers; reforming forestry and agriculture regulations; and clarifying land policy regulations.

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Holcim Awards for sustainable construction

Posted on: 31 January 2013
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The Holcim Awards is an international competition that recognizes innovative projects and future-oriented concepts on regional and global levels. A total of USD 2 million in prize money is awarded in each three-year cycle. The competition seeks projects that demonstrate an ability to stretch conventional notions about sustainable building and also balance environmental, social and economic performance – while also exemplifying architectural excellence and a high degree of transferability. The latest issue of Foundations magazine is dedicated to the activities of the Holcim Foundation over the past year including the Global Holcim Awards Gold prize hand-over that took place last December in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The magazine also provides an overview of the five further winners that were acknowledged at global prize handover events held around the world.

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Time to listen: hearing people on the receiving end of international aid. London, 15 January 2013

Posted on: 30 January 2013
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Humanitarian actors have long been concerned to ensure that the voices of affected populations are heard, and there has been a recent increase in initiatives designed to increase communication with, and accountability to, the recipients of international humanitarian assistance. Perhaps the most comprehensive attempt to date to understand the opinions and perspectives of disaster-affected populations has been undertaken by ALNAP Member CDA Collaborative Learning Projects.  Between 2005 and 2009, CDA’s Listening Project held thousands of conversations with aid recipients, government and civil society representatives and aid workers in 20 aid receiving countries. The core themes that emerged from these conversations have now been collected in CDA’s new book Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of International Aid. The ODI organised an event where the authors of the book outlined the main issues identified by the 6,000 people with whom they spoke: what works in humanitarian assistance, and what needs to change. The presentation was followed by an open discussion. Videos of the event are available online.

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Slum tourism and city branding in Medellin

Posted on: 29 January 2013
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Since the 1990s the second biggest city of Colombia, Medellin, is undertaking programmes and projects in informal settlements, to try integrate them both physically and socially to the urban fabric. Public space upgrade and community services such as schools and libraries designed by prestigious architects have enriched the atmosphere and to some extent the quality of life, in these impoverished areas. To the point that the barrios of Medellin are commonly visited not only by Colombians but also by international visitors who want to see first-hand the projects and how the settlements and the city have changed. Medellin, perhaps without noticing or anticipating, has found a role for informal settlements in branding the city, and promoting the tourism to those areas. Read this article for more information.

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Climate and Development Research Review 2012

Posted on: 18 January 2013
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This new report highlights key trends in a growing body of research on the links between climate change and development. Useful for policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers, the Review draws on a meta-synthesis of hundreds of policy-relevant research papers published between January 2010 and August 2011, and a closer review of almost 100 of those papers.

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Design Other 90 Network

Posted on: 17 January 2013
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Design with the Other 90%: CITIES features sixty projects, proposals, and solutions that address the complex issues arising from the unprecedented rise of informal settlements in emerging and developing economies. Divided into six themes—Exchange, Reveal, Adapt, Include, Prosper and Access—to help orient the visitor, the exhibition shines the spotlight on communities, designers, architects, and private, civic, and public organizations that are working together to formulate innovative approaches to urban planning, affordable housing, entrepreneurship, nonformal education, public health, and more.

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European Network for Housing Research Conference 2011. Toulouse, 5-8 July 2011

Posted on: 8 January 2013
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The main theme of this conference was Mixité” (“Mixité”:an urban and housing issue?).While many researchers have reservations about a certain ideal of diversity that is supposed to banish the evils afflicting contemporary societies (segregation, ghettoisation, the disintegration of social ties), they also question the normative or prescriptive dimensions of the injunction for social diversity that inspire a number of public policy acts. Mobilising debate and analysis of researchers from various countries is of quite some interest in that Europe, as a whole, encompasses different views of what it means to live together.  Papers are available online.

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