City Matters Bulletin
November 2007
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City Matters Bulletin November 2007 |
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Education and Information Update Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) |
Latest News HeadlinesFull stories can be seen at Urbanicity News Towards Car Free Cities - In June of 2008 Portland, Oregon will be the first American city to host the annual conference of the World Carfree Network. Biofuel Cities European Partnership officially launched - Stockholm, 08 November 2007 - After several months of intensive preparation, the Biofuel Cities European Partnership was officially launched today, 8 November 2007 at the Clean Vehicles and Fuels (CVF) Symposium in Stockholm, Sweden. Cities Alliance Releases 2007 Annual Report - The Cities Alliance is pleased to announce the release of its 2007 Annual Report, which highlights the slum upgrading and city development strategy activities of Cities Alliance members over the past year. New York City commitment on reducing gas emissions - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has signed an executive order that establishes a steering committee charged with reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in City owned buildings and operations by 30 percent over the next ten years. Better urban planning a must in face of rapid urbanisation - The way that cities are growing today is not sustainable, the Commonwealth Association of Planners said in a statement this week calling on governments to “rethink” before it is too late. Cities and climate change – a UN-HABITAT perspective for key European decision makers - UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, warned a meeting of European leaders and experts last week that they had to get to grips with the link between cities and climate change. Mega-cities threatened by sea level rise - The Worldwatch Institute has determined that 21 of the 33 cities around the world predicted to have at least eight million people by 2014 are highly vulnerable to the danger of rising seas and other disasters related to climate change. Young Australians are moving back to fashionable city centres - Young Australians are leaving the suburbs and moving back to the downtown areas of the country’s biggest cities, according to a new population study. New Zealand told to consider urban tolls to reduce car use - Congestion charges must be introduced to reduce New Zealand’s use of cars, a transport expert has warned. In New Zealand, some 91 per cent of people drive to work alone each day. Oklahoma acts tough on illegal immigrants - The state of Oklahoma has begun implementing a new law that is described as the toughest in the US against illegal immigrants. Mayor stresses importance of Indian community to London - London Mayor Ken Livingstone and a top-level delegation are visiting India from 18th-23rd November 2007 to promote closer ties between the capital and India in business, tourism, education and the creative industries. UN-HABITAT established world’s most complete urban archive with Canadian university - UN-HABITAT and the University British Columbia have announced a partnership to create the UBC / UN-HABITAT Archives which will be the world's most complete online repository of information on building sustainable cities. Better urban planning a must in face of rapid urbanisation says Commonwealth - The way that cities are growing today is not sustainable, the Commonwealth Association of Planners said in a statement this week calling on governments to “rethink” before it is too late. Eight English cities promise to reduce carbon emissions - In addition to London, eight other English cities plan to make extra efforts to combat climate change. Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Liverpool and Manchester promised to meet or exceed the goal of cutting carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. How can local government do more for the environment? An EU Commission guide - The EU Commission has released a guide on integrated environmental management. The publication is aimed at Europe's local government and is based upon examples of best practice developed by towns and cities themselves. New UCLG Presidency announced - Attended by almost 2,000 participants from 110 countries, the Second UCLG World Congress entitled ”Changing cities are driving our world” today culminated with the announcement of a new Presidency for UCLG, the world’s largest organisation of Mayors and local and regional government organisations. Bali 2007: Local governments part of the growing political momentum on climate change - ICLEI, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change (WMCCC) and other strategic local government partners are an integral part of the growing political momentum on climate change that will culminate at COP 13 in Bali this December. Cities from around the world meet to plan action for urban biodiversity - 20 cities met in an historic biodiversity workshop in the Croatian capital of Zagreb last week, to focus on programmes and strategies aimed at protecting and developing biodiversity as a natural resource within their municipalities. NYC Mayor calls for national pollution tax - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a US pollution charge that seeks to tax companies directly for the greenhouse gases they release. UN-HABITAT chief executive delivers 55th Annual Beatty memorial lecture - Although climate change has cast a dark shadow on Western countries, it has hit the world’s poor hardest, and population forecasts predict an even gloomier picture, UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka has warned. Saudi Arabia hopes smart cities will attract foreign investment - The Saudi Arabian government plans to build six 'smart' cities, which use huge computing power and smart design to attract inward investment and reduce running costs, reports the technology platform VNU-Net. Call for interest: Host the next conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns! - Cities in Europe are invited to express their interest in hosting and funding the 6th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns (deadline is 15 November 2007). Europe's towns and regions say "no!" to human trafficking - The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and its Italian section (AICCRE) call on local and regional government to support the "No to human trafficking!" (Tratta no! in Italian) project. . To read the full stories and more news, please visit www.urbanicity.org/news.asp
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Conference Calendar
December Home, City, Neighbourhood 2007 World Forum on Sustainable Mobility Built Environment in Developing Countries
January International Conference Think Deep Sustainable Transport and Mobility
February Australian Congress for New Urbanism World Conference on the Development of Cities International Solar Cities Conference
March International City to City Seminar Security of the Citizen and Disaster Management European Ele-Drive Transportation Conference Warwick Healthy Housing Conference
April Intelligent Public Transport Systems European Conference on Bicycle Transport and Networking Small Urban Municipal Conference
For a full listing of forthcoming conferences, visit: www.urbanicity.org/events.asp
The latest edition of the 2008 Urbanicity Events Calendar is now online at: To receive updates for this calendar, please register here |
Last Call to Register - World Forum on Sustainable Mobility
In France, the city of Nantes and the Pays de la Loire Region are backing the organisation of “Governance & mobility”, the 1st World Forum on Sustainable Mobility. This Forum aims at providing a unique platform to carry out worldwide discussions between local authorities, experts and researchers specialised in the questions about mobility and citizens. Join us in Nantes, France - 10, 11 & 12 december 2007- to participate and contribute to the 1st World Forum on Sustainable mobility. Last Call to Register – World Meeting for Participatory Democracy
Call for Papers extended - IAMF and EET 2008
Should you not already have done so, please make paper submissions TODAY. http://www.ele-drive.com/php/login.php For more information, please contact: iamf@geneva-palexpo.ch Call to Register – International Conference on Intelligent Public Transport Systems With the topic "The Passenger Experience & Multi Modal Mobility", the IPTS Conference will bring together representatives of governments, related organisations and public transport operators, as well as industry experts from many countries in the world. This event will provide a platform to exchange ideas on multi modal mobility solutions and discuss strategies and initiatives in this field with a special focus on the passenger's needs and desires.
Key Note speakers include:
For more information on Pricing & Conditions and to Register, please visit the website at: www.iptseurope.com. Call for Papers - REAL CORP 008: Mobility Nodes as Innovation Hubs
The World Conference on the Development of Cities has the main purpose of gathering the diversity of democratic innovation and initiatives for the social change, which have been emerging in the last years, creating a collective thinking environment in order to discuss and present experiences, and allowing to approaching city development issues, such as a more organic and systemic development of the cities, and focusing four main subject matters:
2nd Call for Papers – International Conference on Water and Urban Development Paradigms
First Announcement – World Forum on Human Rights The dates for the 3rd World Forum on Human Rights have been announced - the Forum will take place from the 1st-4th July in Nantes, France, and will will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. More information will be available shortly.
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City Matters Bulletin is published monthly by Urbanicity Ltd 72 Fairview Crescent, Waiheke, New Zealand in conjuction with UN Habitat Best Practices and Local Leadership |
Tel: Intl 64 9 3725115 Email: a.campbell@urbanicity.org Web: www.urbanicity.org |
Following our previous communication regarding the 2008 UrbanWaterConference, which will be held in Leuven, Belgium from 15-19 September 2008, at the Catholic University Leuven, we would like to invite you to submit a paper for oral presentation or an abstract for poster presentation. You are kindly asked to submit a paper or abstract by e-mail to