Climate Action 2014-2015

RESILIENT CITIES
Provides for better community service.
Allows for an improved provision of
public open space.
Mixed land use. Advocates of mixed
land use development seek to develop
a range of compatible activities and
land uses close together in appropriate
locations, in design modules that are
flexible enough to adapt over time to
the changing market. The purpose of
mixed land use is to create local jobs,
promote the local economy, reduce
landscape fragmentation and support
mixed communities. Mixed land use
can be applied at different spatial
levels: city, neighbourhoods, blocks
and buildings. Mixed land use reduces
urban sprawl, car dependence and
traffic congestion, and increases vitality
of urban centres.
HABITAT III: A NEW
URBAN AGENDA
The third United Nations
Conference on Housing
and Sustainable Urban
Development (Habitat III) in
2016 will offer an opportunity
to reinvigorate the global
commitment to sustainable
urbanisation, and for member
states to agree on a New
Urban Agenda. Habitat III
will be the first UN global
summit after UNFCCC COP21
in Paris, and the adoption of
the Post-2015 Sustainable
Development Agenda; it thus
will offer a chance to view
the results of those efforts
through an urban lens. The
preparatory process and the
Conference itself will afford a
unique opportunity to discuss
the important challenge of
how cities, towns and villages
are planned and managed,
in order to fulfil their role as
drivers of more sustainable
development, and leading
partners in the global effort to
address climate change.
"Social mix provides the
basis for healthy social
networks, which in turn are the
driving force of city life."
Social mix. Encouraging the proximity
of rich and poor within the urban
fabric promotes the cohesion of and
interaction between different social
classes in the same community. It helps
to ensure accessibility to equitable urban
opportunities by providing different types
of housing. Social mix provides the basis
for healthy social networks, which in turn
are the driving force of city life. Social
mix is a socio-spatial concept, with the
following objectives, all of which will
increase social resilience within the city:
Promoting more social interaction and
social cohesion across groups
Generating job opportunities
Overcoming place-based stigma
Attracting additional services to the
neighbourhood
Sustaining renewal/regeneration
initiatives.
Social mix and mixed land use are
interdependent and promote each other.
Mixed land use and appropriate policy
guidance lead to social mixing. In a
mixed land use neighbourhood, job
opportunities are generated for residents
from different backgrounds and with
different income levels. People live and
work in the same neighbourhood and
form a diverse social network.
Limited land use specialisation. Providing
for flexibility in land use helps to ensure
the implementation of mixed land use
and increase economic diversity. Limiting
overly rigid land use specialisation is
important in creating mixed land use.
The five principles presented above
for developing more sustainable
planned city extensions are strongly
interrelated and mutually supportive.
Together they offer a basic recipe for
urban development that provides for
more compact, inclusive and connected
cities. This approach can not only help
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and build resilience, but also confers
important other co-benefits.
Dr Joan Clos was appointed Executive
Director of the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) at
the level of Under-Secretary-General by the
United Nations General Assembly. He took
office at the Programme’s headquarters in
Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 October 2010. He is
a medical doctor with a distinguished career
in public service and diplomacy, and was
twice elected Mayor of Barcelona, serving two
terms during the years 1997-2006. He was
appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and
Trade of Spain (2006-2008) under President
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In this role, he
helped rationalise the Iberian energy market
in line with European Union policies. Prior
to joining the United Nations, he served as
Spanish ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United
Nations agency for human settlements. It
is mandated by the UN General Assembly
to promote socially and environmentally
sustainable towns and cities with the goal
of providing adequate shelter for all. UN-
Habitat’s programmes are designed to help
policy-makers and local communities get to
grips with the human settlements and urban
issues and find workable, lasting solutions.
UN-Habitat’s work is directly related to the
United Nations Millennium Declaration,
particularly the goals of member states to
improve the lives of at least 100 million
slum dwellers by the year 2020 (Target
11, Millennium Development Goal 7);
and Target 10 which calls for the reduction
by half of the number without sustainable
access to safe drinking water.
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