Urban development with climate co-benefits: Aligning climate, environmental and other development goals in cities

Posted on: 26 November 2013
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Rapid urbanization in developing countries demands a massive provision of infrastructure, public transportation, housing and jobs for their population, as well as a healthy environment. Consequently, urban areas in those countries contribute increasingly to climate change, and suffers its impacts. The climate co-benefits approach in this report refers to the development and implementation of policies and strategies that simultaneously contribute to addressing climate change and solving local environmental problems, which also have other development impacts. Relying on the results of research carried out in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Japan, this report offers lessons to understand projects and policies that generate co-benefits and the factors that influence them.

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Urban planning for city leaders

Posted on: 21 November 2013
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This publication from UN-Habitat provides a valuable source of information, inspiration and ideas on urban planning that is designed for city leaders and decision makers at a critical moment in human history. Predicted human population growth over the next 50 years will have immense consequencesfor all cities, in particular intermediate cities with populations of up to two million people. Developed countries will need to double the amount of urban space they have by 2050 to accommodate the expected numbers of people, whereas developing countries will need to expand their urban space by more than 300 per cent.

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Future Cities Catapult

Posted on: 20 November 2013
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This a global centre of excellence on urban innovation. A place where cities, businesses and universities come together to develop solutions to the future needs of our cities. This is one of seven ‘Catapults’ launched by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board. The aim for each of them is to become a world-leading innovation centre in its own specialist area. These include transport and offshore renewable energy.

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Quality of life in cities

Posted on: 11 November 2013
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This survey was conducted at the request of the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy to get a snapshot of people’s opinions on a range of urban issues. Earlier surveys were conducted in 2004, 2006 and 20091. This survey included all capital cities of the countries concerned (except for Switzerland), together with between one and six more cities in the larger countries. In each city, around 500 citizens were interviewed.

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The metropolitan revolution: perspectives from US cities

Posted on: 4 November 2013
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In this lecture Bruce Katz, author of The Metropolitan Revolution, vice president of the Brookings Institution and founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, explains how ground-up innovations at a city level are solving the toughest economic problems in the US.  Anne Power, professor of social policy at LSE, reflects on the relevance of these developments on UK cities.

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Policies for inclusive urbanization in China

Posted on: 1 November 2013
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After a historical overview of the urbanization process, this report discusses the associated benefits and costs (the environmental challenges stemming from the rapid expansion of cities). It then examines the drivers of urbanization, notably rural-urban migration, and the role played by government in the process. Going forward, the report argues that both land rights and migrants’ access to public services in cities are key for inclusive urbanization.

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City transformations

Posted on: 24 October 2013
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Urban Age, an international investigation of cities jointly organised by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society, has chosen to hold its twelfth conference on 24-25 October 2013 in Rio, a Brazilian city that is both investing and reflecting on the long-term impacts of  intense urban change. Over 70 speakers from 40 cities and 20 countries will be joining local urban experts, policymakers, investors, NGOs and academics to discuss these issues, with a view to improving our understanding of how to design, manage and live in more equitable urban environments. LSE Cities has published a newspaper to coincide with this event.

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What if smart cities of the future are chock full of bugs

Posted on: 24 October 2013
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The author of this essay investigates a largely unconsidered aspect of smart cities: what happens if (or perhaps when) they malfunction?

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Smart cities vocabulary

Posted on: 18 October 2013
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A draft framework (Publicly Available Standard PAS 180) has been prepared by the British Standards Group, commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BSI). It aims to develop a standard for smart cities, and comes in two parts: ‘smart cities framework’, and ‘smart cities vocabulary’. The public consultation period for the second part of the standard (specification of vocabulary) will close on 28 October 2013. Register for free to review and comment on the draft.

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Smart City Framework: A systematic process for enabling smart+connected communities

Posted on: 18 October 2013
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This paper aims to define a framework designed to move the Smart City debate from merely an academic or esoteric discussion to a call for action. This paper proposes a possible framework for how we can begin to define and assess Smart City initiatives and, in the process, capture information consistently and comprehensively.

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