Infrastructure and Planning

Hello, this is Kes McCormick, and today we'll talk about how we can plan structural
transformations and how urban infrastructure can play a part in greening the economy.

Urban infrastructure is the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the
operation of a city or urban area, as well as the services and facilities necessary for society
and the economy to function. 

This can include infrastructure for water, waste, shelter, energy, telecommunications and
mobility like streets, buildings, sewers, parks and energy systems. Importantly, urban
infrastructure can advance sustainability and green economies, or it can lock in
unsustainable systems and prevent sustainable urban transformation. To learn more about
infrastructure and planning, we will focus on urban mobility. 

Clearly, there are problems with transportation infrastructure in many cities, related to

congestion, accidents, local air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. At the city level
there is the ability to plan, change, and improve infrastructure for mobility. For example,
rules and planning that deter less sustainable mobility options, like areas that are closed to
cars, or congestion charges to discourage the use of cars. 

Urban planning can also encourage more sustainable options, like electric cars, convenient
public transport options, and biking infrastructure. 

In 2013, there were over 5,000 electric vehicles in the urban area of Oslo, in
Norway. Electric vehicles in Norway are powered by hydroelectricity resulting in low
emissions, improved air quality, and less noise. 

The city council hopes to grow the numbers of electric vehicles through innovative
policy and additional infrastructure. 

For example, by continuing to add to the over 700 public and free charging stations already
provided in the city. The city of Oslo leads by example in buying only zero emission electric
vehicles for its municipal fleet. 

Electric vehicles are also encouraged through the city transport rules allowing them to use
bus transit lines. As well as national level taxes on fossil fuels and road charges exemptions
for electric vehicles. Of course, electric vehicles help with reducing emissions but congestion
still remains a challenge.

Greener city planning encourages people to act sustainably, without thinking about the
environment. For example, most people bike in Copenhagen for the convenience, not the
environment. In fact, the top two reasons are convenience and health, and the environment
comes in at number three. 

Making biking as convenient as possible and giving it priority in planning, is what makes this
possible. How can you tell when bicycling is a priority in planning? Let's have a look. 

You see lights changing for cyclers as they approach an intersection and places for them to
stop. You see multiple lanes for different speeds. Waste bins designed for bikes, paths
separated from car lanes, and direct routes via bike lanes making it faster to go by bike than
by car. 

City councils can create these conditions and promote certain behaviors, but it still requires
individuals and businesses to make decisions that help the city in these efforts.

This is a long process. The city of Copenhagen has been implementing sustainable structural

transformation for more than 50 years. In the past the city focused on planning for
increasing car traffic, but in the 1960s they decided to take cars out of their main streets.

Since then, Copenhagen has made continuous changes, with less emphasis on cars, and
more on people. All towards the goal of becoming the best city in the world for people by
2025. The planning choices make sense for the environment, it makes sense for the people
living in the city, but it also makes sense from an economic perspective. 

The city found that the total cost of air pollution, accidents, traffic congestion, noise, and
wear and tear on infrastructure resulted in a net social loss (-0.69 DKK/km) when traveling
by car. By contrast, riding bikes resulted in significant health benefits and an overall net
social gain (+1.22 DKK/km). Through planning and targeted city policies, cycling rates in
Copenhagen have continued to increase. 

In 2011, 37% of people commuted to work in the city every day by bike. In comparison with
just 27% by car. The goal is to continue to increase the number of bike commuters. In fact,
the issue the city must tackle now is congestion of bike lanes. 

Another move towards a more sustainable transportation system is to build and transform

city infrastructure to promote public transport. This can include building new subway lines,
as Copenhagen and Malmö have done, or expanding the existing network as Stockholm
currently is doing. Although this requires major investments, and often several decades
of planning and preparation. 

Once in place, they offer fast and convenient transport for millions of passengers
annually. For instance, in the metropolitan area of Stockholm, with a population of about
2 million people, some 320 million subway trips are made annually. Buses offer another
good alternative. In order to make bus trips more attractive, designated bus lanes can
decrease bus travel times, and improve reliability of bus services. 

In order to make public transport a good and competitive alternative to the car, that can
conveniently take you all the way from your front door to your intended destination. The
connection between different sustainable transport modes needs to be as seamless as
possible. 

An important challenge is therefore to build transport hubs where, for example, bus, train,
and subway stations are located right next to each other. Preferably with access to
convenient bicycle parking nearby. So, as you can see, sustainable urban infrastructure is
possible. 

We see many examples of urban mobility in Scandinavia, like electric vehicles, public

transport, and infrastructure for bikes. But it demands smart and long-term planning,
political commitment and collaboration between local and national governments to make this
structural transformation a reality.

Cities, Nature and Innovation – an introduction

In the face of climate change and increasing environmental, economic, and social pressures,
sustainable development has become a vital issue for cities in Europe and around the
world. 

Nature-based solutions are seen to hold significant promise for meeting these
challenges. They have potential to provide multiple benefits from managing flooding to
securing improved health outcomes for different groups in society. 

Examples include green roofs in city parks that limit heat stress, city lagoons to store
water, and permeable surfaces, vegetation, and rain gardens to intercept storm
water. Despite attracting increasing interest, the use of nature-based solutions remains
marginal, fragmented, and highly uneven within and between cities. 

Gray infrastructure and technology-driven solutions continue to dominate urban

development in the design of waste water systems to efforts to improve energy efficiency in
the built environment. In order to explore how innovative nature-based solutions can make
a contribution to urban sustainability, the NATURVATION project has been funded by the
European Commission. 

Led by Durham University, NATURVATION involves 14 institutions across Europe working in

fields as diverse as urban development, innovation studies, geography,
ecology, environmental assessment, and economics. 

Our project partnership includes city governments, non-governmental organizations, and

business. We will assess what nature-based solutions can achieve in cities, examine the
innovation that is taking place, and work with communities and stakeholders to realize their
potential on the ground. 

NATURVATION will develop the evidence base and tools required to move forwards. We
need to understand the environmental, economic, and social benefits nature-based solutions
can bring. In addition, new governance arrangements, business models, financing, and
forms of citizen engagement are required to make the promise of nature-based solutions a
reality. 

As we move forwards, it is vital that the benefits of nature-based solutions can be shared
across society. We will be working to ensure that nature-based solutions address our most
important sustainability challenges, and benefit those places and communities who need
them most. 

Working with our partners across Europe and internationally, NATURVATION will build our
capacity to work with nature-based solutions so that they can contribute to making our cities
more sustainable for the future.
Cities, Nature and Innovation – international overview

Nature-based solutions are an increasingly popular means for tackling urban sustainability

challenges. The idea that we can use nature to work with us in order to improve our cities is
now seen as vital. 

How the core of this development is the idea that nature is able to provide services and
values that can contribute to wider goals for economic, social, and environmental
sustainability. This belief that cities should become more sustainable is now very
widespread, but it's actually a relatively new idea. 

It was in the 1980s that the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, put cities at the heart
of the sustainability debate. Since then, a central challenge that cities have grappled with is
how they can address climate change, both by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that
contribute to change in the global atmosphere, and by ensuring that they are resilient to the
impacts of climate change itself. 

The Paris Agreement reached in 2015 emphasized the increasing importance of cities

in achieving global targets for climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals that
were also agreed by the global community in 2015 have shown that addressing urban
sustainability also means realizing other important goals like protecting
biodiversity, reducing pollution, and enabling equity and social justice. 

These challenges can sometimes appear to be in conflict with one another and to compete

for political attention, public interest, and resources. But as cities have started to take action
on climate change and sustainability, it has become clear that some of the most effective
responses are those that have multiple benefits. 

For example, reducing greenhouse gases and improving local air quality, or enhancing
resilience and also creating areas of public space in the city, and the importance of finding
approaches that can address multiple urban sustainability challenges at the same time has
led to a growing interest in nature-based solutions. 

The term ‘nature-based solutions’ was coined in the European Union and is an umbrella
term for a number of different approaches that use nature to improve urban
sustainability, like green infrastructure, green space, restoring rivers, ecosystem services,
and ecosystem-based adaptation. 

For the European Commission, nature-based solutions are defined as solutions that are
inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide
environmental, social, and economic benefits, and help build resilience. Such solutions bring
more and more diverse nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes,
and seascapes through locally adapted, resource efficient, and systemic interventions. 

For the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a non-governmental

organization that promotes nature conservation, nature-based solutions are actions to
protect, sustainably managed, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address
societal challenges, effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being
and biodiversity benefits. 
While these two definitions vary, both see nature-based solutions as deliberate interventions
that seek to use the properties of nature to address societal challenges. In both cases, it is
the potential to provide multiple benefits that seems to be key to the value of nature-based
solutions. 

Like for example, managing flooding to securing improved health outcomes for different

groups of society or building green roofs on city parks that limit heat stress, city lagoons
that store water and permeable surfaces, vegetation and rain gardens to intercept storm
water. 

Yet, despite it attracting increasing interests, the usage of nature-based solutions remains

marginal, fragmented, and highly uneven within and between cities, and gray infrastructure
and technology-driven solutions continue to dominate urban development. 

From the design of wastewater systems, to efforts to improve energy efficiency in the built
environment. The NATURVATION project funded by the Horizon 2020 Sustainable Cities and
Communities Program at the European Union is developing our understanding about
how nature-based solutions are currently being used. 

We have developed the urban nature atlas to show just how nature-based solutions are
being implemented in 100 cities in Europe. Our work shows that it is clear that nature-based
solutions are an increasingly popular means of tackling many urban sustainability
challenges. 

But there is more limited evidence that nature-based solutions are becoming mainstreamed

within urban planning, policy, and development. Enabling the wider uptake of nature-based
solutions means tackling four key issues. The first issue is assessment methods. 

Although there is a growing body of evidence about the ecosystem services that nature can
provide, we have a limited understanding of how this works in an urban context. Many of
our assessment tools focus on the ecological benefits of nature, and its economic,
social, and cultural values can be neglected. We therefore need new approaches
for assessing nature-based solutions that are able to also take these different
and sometimes conflicting values into account.

The second issue is business models. The benefits of technologies or behavior changes

to improve sustainability are relatively easy to calculate, and this has led to business
models which can capture these benefits in economic terms and ensure that there is a
return on investment for those involved. 

For example, the rental roof approach has been a popular model for rolling out solar panels
in European cities. But nature-based solutions do not come with ready-made business
models, and often the value created is distributed between different actors, such as the
private firm that instills a green wall for installation, and the local community that benefits
from reduced air pollution. 

We need to experiment with new business models that can work for nature-based solutions
and create the means through which these can be replicated in different urban contexts. 
The third issue is governance strategies. Municipal governments are important for
addressing urban sustainability, yet our work suggests that they cannot act alone. The
capacity to address urban sustainability challenges relies on multilevel governance
structures, as well as the development of different modes of governance. 

This means that municipal governance needs to work with stakeholders and communities to
create the partnerships, resources, plans, and demonstration projects needed to
accelerate the uptake of nature-based solutions. 

We need to examine the different governance strategies being used to advanced nature-

based solutions in cities, and consider the ways in which they are able to address conflicts
and the inequalities that may emerge from their implementation. 

The fourth issue is innovation pathways. Mainstreaming nature-based solutions requires that

we understand the key challenges and opportunities that are facing projects on the
ground. The innovation has to go on a journey from the initial idea and its demonstration to
its wider uptake within policy, industry, and society. 

Along this journey, getting the assessment of the value of nature-based solutions, the

business models required and the governance strategies that can support that uptake will be
critical. But perhaps most important is identifying the combination of measures that supports
successful nature-based solutions. 

We call this combination of measures the innovation pathway. By understanding the

conditions that enable nature-based solutions to become established in our cities and towns
and how those benefits can be shared by society, we hope to contribute to developing
sustainable cities for the future.
WWF Transport

Transport is a major challenge for many municipalities as it accounts for some 30 % of the

Swedish carbon footprint. The transformation of this sector requires not only isolated
measures, but an ambitious and coordinated effort, including city planning, mobility
management, fuel substitution, as well as vehicle efficiency, and the development of
attractive public transport systems. 

Malmö, Sweden's third largest city, is a good example of a coherent approach to sustainable
transportation. With the goal of ensuring mobility and access, Malmö combines city planning
and densification with the development of public transportation, a progressive bicycle
strategy, as well as communication projects for public outreach. 

Framtidskikaren allows citizens to peer into large scale binoculars to view visions of what
Malmö's transport system might be like in the future. 

For example, the possible reintroduction of trams, availability of rental bikes throughout the
city, and better parking garages for bicycles.
The Urban Green - Part 2

Many experts today refer to renewable energy technologies as disruptive. In the sense that
they're radically different from conventional technologies, and are so much better for
consumers and society, that they will very quickly disrupt current paradigms.

>> Once a technology is ripe, they happen very quickly. And I think electric cars and solar
energy and wind energy, they're ripe. A lot of people think they have these forecast for
2040. We're having just a bit more percentage of these. 

I think the transformation is going to happen so quickly that most of these forecasts are
going to be quite short and quite off, because these are disruptive technologies. 

They're better technologies for the consumers, and we've crossed the price points where
they make sense. So once that happens, it's basically a matter of awareness getting
around, word of mouth, the understanding, the experience. And as that grows, it grows
exponentially. And we're going to see a rapid I think a transformation, comparable to the
industrial revolution or such. 

>> So, this is a solar energy installation here in Vancouver, British Columbia. In fact, when
we first started 10 years ago people told us we couldn't do this, that it didn't make sense
here. 

But we recognized that there were some people that wanted to install solar,  that wanted to
do something leading edge, that wanted to do something to reduce their environmental
footprint. So, we started with these panels, this system. 

Since then, the installation growth has been about 40% per year. So, in fact it could be
done here, there was a demand, people want to see more renewable energy installed
locally.

>> The research that we're doing is looking at the transportation sector, because that's a
huge part of our greenhouse gas emissions and about how we can connect our
transportation system to renewables. And we're finding that really electric mobility is an
essential part of meeting our deep greenhouse gas emissions reduction. 

So, to have an 80% reduction by 2050, we need to have a big fleet of electric vehicles really
almost in every city around the world. And the research that we're doing finds that there's a
lot of potential demand. There's a lot of consumers out there who would be willing to pay
extra for some type of plug-in hybrid vehicle or pure electric vehicle. 

But currently, they can't do that because it's not available in the model they want,  or in the
variety, or color, or whatever it is that they want. And so, we're finding that there are
some areas that are showing us a good example of policy that can trigger that change. 

And California has the best example that we found. 

>> California right now is leading the standards. They've said that 10% of the vehicles sold
in California, have to be electric vehicles. They have committed to an 80% reduction in
greenhouse gases. 
If other states, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and nine (9)
eastern states were to adopt that kind of California policy. We would create a demand
for electric vehicles that would make them very common place. 

And we would get to the point where using the weight of states and the weight of cities, we
could begin to transform our emissions. And that's where we need to go, because we
cannot wait for national governments to take us there anymore. 

And once people understand that an electric vehicle is actually cheaper, it saves them
money. All of a sudden, that will turn the market in a massive way. 

>> Like transportation, housing is also a major challenge in the aim of creating sustainable
cities. The Vancouver Convention Centre is a prime example of how buildings can be
designed to minimize environmental impacts.

We're here at the Vancouver Convention Centre's west building which opened in April
2009. And it's actually one of the greenest convention facilities in the world. And just to give
you a few examples, we have really visible sustainable features such as our six-acre living
roof which is the largest in Canada. 

We have a very sophisticated black water recycling treatment plant in house.  As well as we
utilize sea water heating and cooling because we're right on the harbor. Here at the
Vancouver Convention Centre's living roof, this is six acres and it's actually one of the ten
largest green roofs in the world. 

So, what makes this green roof really unique is the fact that we've chosen plants that all are
indigenous to British Columbia. So, we've actually planted over 400,000 plants and grasses
on top of this area. 

It really connects to other green spaces here in downtown Vancouver. So, if you're looking
at downtown Vancouver from an aerial perspective, you're going to see that this space
connects to the park next door, and it connects to the Stanley Park. And it really was part of
the vision of our architects.