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Environmental Strategies for Cities. A Framework for Urban Environmental Planning and Management Course on Urban and City Management, Goa, 9-21 January 2000. “Sustainable Cities”. Cities that, as they develop, meet the social and economic needs of the present population
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EnvironmentalStrategies for Cities A Framework for Urban Environmental Planning and Management Course on Urban and City Management, Goa, 9-21 January 2000
“Sustainable Cities” • Cities that, as they develop, • meet the social and economic needs of the present population • while balancing broader environmental and energy concerns now and in the future • As nature of environmental problems changes with city development • capacity for environmental governance also grows • environmental institution building sustained over time
New Policy Framework Needed • more strategic in nature, linking interventions to environmental outcomes • more focused on market incentives and service pricing than regulations • more flexible in matching political and natural boundaries • more visionary regarding role of private sector • more oriented towards need of citizens and involving them in solutions
Environmental Management Strategies for Cities • The broad question: • Cities -- opportunity or crisis? • The basic questions: • Is there an urban environmental crisis? Whose environment? • What is the nature and extent of urban environmental degradation? • What are the underlying causes? • What options exist to improve the urban environment? • How to choose among and implement options?
Pressure (Growth) Factors Population Poverty Economic Activity wastes & emissions resource use & degradation Enabling/Disenabling Factors Awareness Regulations & Pricing Policies Property Rights/Land Use Institutional Failures political and ecosystem boundaries don’t coincide Urban Environment
The Challenge of Urban Environmental Management • To safeguard the health, productivity and quality of life of urban populations: • in the face of rapid urbanization and economic growth • resulting from their interactions with the physical (built) and natural environments that surround them • and from changes in those environments induced by human activities • To build sustainable cities • balancing the 3 Es -- Economics, Equity, Environment
Approaches to Sustainable Development Economic Efficiency Growth Stability • Valuation • Internalization • Intra-generational equity • Targeted relief/employment Poverty Consultation/ Empowerment Culture/Heritage Biodiversity/Resilience Natural Resources Pollution Equity Environmental • Inter-generational equity • Popular participation
Priority Environmental Issues Facing Cities • Protecting human health from environmental threats through a variety of interventions • Providing basic environmental services to protect health, especially for the poor • Identifying and implementing integrated approaches to urban air quality and watershed management • pollution, resource depletion or degradation • Dealing with environmental disasters • Emerging global environmental challenges such as climate change
Variability in Urban Environmental Problems • Unique natural features of urban areas (ecosystem setting) • Dynamics of the urbanization process -- pace and intensity • Diverse spatial dimensions of the problems • Levels of income and economic development • Range and roles of local stakeholders
Complexity of Urban and Regional Ecosystems • Coastal regions • Arid regions • Humid tropical regions • Cold regions • Mountainous regions • Multiple combinations of these ecological features
Spatial Scale of UrbanEnvironmental Problems SpatialScale Household/Workplace Community Metropolitan Area Region Continent/Planet Shelter Water Storage Onsite Sanitation Garbage Storage Stove Ventilation Piped Water Sewerage Garbage Collection Drainage Streets/Lanes Industrial Parks Roads Interceptors Treatment Plants Outfalls Landfills Highways Water Sources Power Plants Key Infrastructure and Services Substandard Housing Lack of Water No Sanitation Disease Vectors Indoor Air Pollution Substandard Housing Lack of Water No Sanitation Disease Vectors Indoor Air Pollution Traffic Congestion Accidents Ambient Air Pollution Toxic Dumps Water Pollution Ecological Areas Lost Acid Rain Global Warming Ozone Layer CharacteristicProblems
Urbanization in Developing Countries • Within a decade the world will be half urban • In the developing world: • urban population will double, adding 700 million new city dwellers • 1 of every 4 persons will live in cities greater than 500,000 population • 1 in every 10 persons will live in cities greater than 10 million population
Urban Population in Developing Countriesby City Size Class, 1950-2010
Number of Large Cities in Developing Countriesby City Size Class, 1950-2010
Key Policy Messages • Mobilize public support and participation • Look for “win-win” situations • Assess tradeoffs carefully • Use incentives whenever possible • Strengthen local institutional capacity • Encourage public-private partnerships • Close knowledge gap • “Think globally, act locally” -- that is, plan strategically
Priority Actions • Emphasize 3 environmental problem areas common to all cities: • improve management of local environmental infrastructure and services for which cities are directly responsible • correct external policies (national and subnational) that introduce distortions in cities • form cooperative arrangements for dealing with environmental spillovers that cities cause
Priority Actions • Stress “win-win” situations • strengthen general urban management to improve the urban environment and reduce health risks, especially for the urban poor who are without basic services and who form a broad-based constituency • better pricing of environmental resources and services is an essential element of better operational management
Priority Actions • Look for allies to build capacity for better environmental governance: • deal with urban spillovers through • cooperation with neighboring municipalities and metropolitan, regional and sector authorities • water-basin and air-basin management coordination mechanisms and regional approaches to pollution management • build coalitions with CBOs and NGOs for effective participation in improving services for urban poor
Priority Actions • Avoid excessive reliance on integration and regulation as approaches to urban environmental management: • look for instruments and incentives that will • change behavior • relieve conflicts • encourage cooperative arrangements
Priority Actions • Start building up the needed institutions -- the complexity of environmental problems grows with city size and economic development, but so too should the capacity to respond • focus on the simple, immediate priority interventions that can succeed and will lay the groundwork for solving future environmental problems • give priority to sustained strengthening of incipient urban institutions
Key Stakeholders • Those whose interests are affected problems, strategies, plans • concerned residents and community groups, especially the urban poor • private and informal sector enterprises • politicians • Those who control relevant implementation instruments • politicians • environmental protection agencies • planning agencies • sector agencies (public and parastatal) • Those who possess relevant information and knowledge • NGOs • scientific and engineering community • news media • external support agencies
Key Stakeholder Involvement • Each of these stakeholders will have different • roles • concerns • expectations • Therefore, effective solutions require: • participation • consensus building • difficult political and economic tradeoffs
Formulating Environmental Strategies for Cities • Be city specific • Determine local environmental priorities • Develop an urban environmental management strategy • Formulate issue-specific action plans • Implement and consolidate strategies and action plans
Phase 1: Informed Consultation • Carry out rapid environmental assessment and prepare urban environmental profile • Build consensus on issues and priorities through informed consultation • Get political commitment
Phase 2: Formulate Strategy and Action Plan • Urban Environmental Management Strategy (EMS) • negotiate issue-specific strategies for priority problems • set long-term environmental objectives • agree on phased implementation of targets • Urban Environmental Action Plan (EAP) • formulate actor-specific action plans that cut across issues • develop capital investment program • agree institutional strengthening actions and policy reforms
Phase 3: Implement and Consolidate EMS/EAP • Concentrate on priority investments • Initiate institutional and policy reforms on the critical path • Establish sustainable basis for achieving phased targets • capacity for routine strategic planning • monitoring and evaluation
Sustainable Cities Program:Environmental Planning and Management Process Clarify environmental issues to be addressed Involve those whose cooperation is needed Set Priorities Negotiate Issue-specific strategies Coordinate overall management strategy Agree on environmental action plans Initiate priority projects and programs Strengthen EPM capacities Assessment and start-up Strategy and action planning Follow-up and consolidation
3 Sources of Tension(False Dichotomies) • “Integrated” versus “sector specific” approaches • “Analysis” versus “process” • “Centralization” versus “decentralization”
The Track Record (1) • Tried and proven approaches • USEPA Comparative Risk Assessment in US cities and counties + USAID supported cities • EU Sustainable Cities Program • ICLEI - Local Agenda 21 • UNCHS/SCP - Sustainable Cities Programme • Bank experience • UMP/MEIP/MEDCITIES • Rapid Environmental Assessment & EMS/EAP • Strategic Sanitation Planning in Africa • Strategic Solid Waste Planning in LAC & Asia
The Track Record (2) • Variations on a theme • Metropolitan areas (eg, Colombo Environmental Improvement Project) • Urban river basins (eg, Guarapiranga Basin in Sao Paulo) • Urban air sheds (eg, URBAIR, LAC Clean Air Initiative) • Intermediate and small cities (eg, Mexico “100 Cities” Projects) • Sectoral strategic planning (eg, Philippines SWEEP Project - MSWM)
