24 F R I D AY

I S S U E S

A tale of many citiesHE WORLD NEEDS TO GROW IN A WAY THAT IT

CAN MEET THE NEEDS OF TODAY while preservingthe resources for tomorrow. Global City 2009held in Abu Dhabi recently highlighted some

seminal issues confronting urban development – and theways cities must tackle them. By Feby Imthias

When it comes to introducing dynamicnew concepts, the UAE is probably oneof the most proactive countries in theworld. A top-of-the-mind recall of someof the most progressive projects: FirstZero Carbon, Zero Waste city Mazdar;the tallest building in the world BurjDubai; the world’s most inclinedtower Capital Gate… Thisdynamism has ushered in ahappy chapter in the UAE’sevent calendar as some ofthe world’s top names inpractically every fieldcome to its shoresregularly to discuss,debate, strategise andimplement new visionand wisdom.

‘Global City 2009 –Sustainability: OurVision, Our Future’ isone such example.

The event found itsfirst home outsideEurope in Abu Dhabirecently andshowcased a stunningsweep of intellect andideas on the symbiosisbetween urbandevelopment and itsdwellers in the 21st century.

“Cities have never been soimportant. Over half of theworld’s population lives in cities.They are going to be instrumental inshaping our future,” said FrédéricTheux, president, Reed ExhibitionsMiddle East, which organised the event.With such a massive shift in the living

F R I D AY 25

choices of people and the consequentlifestyle changes, the protean entities ofcities are not only changing by the day,they are being moulded and reshapedby the hour as people and their needs

and wants, environment and itsneeds and wants parry,

adjudicate and eventuallyadjust to their mutual

growth imperatives.The question to ask ofourselves, and of eachother, is: howsustainable is thiskind of anunprecedentedgrowth?

The term‘sustainability’ wasfirst used by theBrundtlandCommission. [TheBrundtland

Commission is theformal World Commission

on Environment andDevelopment (WCED) convenedby the United Nations in 1983. Itwas created to address the

accelerating deterioration of thehuman environment and natural

resources and its consequences oneconomic and social development. TheUN General Assembly found thatenvironmental problems were global innature. It was decided to pursuepolicies for sustainable development inthe common interest of all nations.]

The commission coined the nowubiquitous term ‘sustainability’, basedon the idea of development that “meetsthe needs of the present withoutcompromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs”.

In other words, though not entirelyoutside the scope of comprehension inits basic meaning, it has now matured toinclude the viability of urban places and

their populations in creating a way oflife that sustains generation aftergeneration. Either of the elements, thatis, humans and nature (environmentand other species), in this relationshipshould not dominate the other in orderto survive. Because, ironically, true andhealthy survival of both is dependenton a healthy respect for each other’srole in the evolution of this planet.

However, don’t be fooled by thesimplicity of the term. It carries anextremely complex balance of theconceptual constituents ofenvironmental, economic, cultural andsociopolitical elements that togethermove toward a higher quality ofevolution for mankind.

Who is your city?During the last two decades the pace ofgrowth, both technological and social,has made it seem natural to callourselves global citizens, rename oureconomy as the global economy andstitch up the whole world to fit into asingle concept, the global village.

But according to Richard Florida,even that is not enough to enable us tosimply choose any one place in theworld to live in based on the growingacceptance of the commonality of oururban life experiences.

And Richard Florida should know.He is one of the world’s leading

public intellectuals, Professor ofBusiness and Creativity at theUniversity of Toronto and the author ofaward-winning books, like The Rise ofthe Creative Class and Who’s Your City?

He is also the founder of the CreativeClass Group, an advisory services firm,charting new trends in business andcommunity. “The key to understandingour time,” he said, “is to know thatwealth and knowledge come from ourlatent creativity. It’s the economicengine of our age.”

T From left: Mohammad Rashid Al Hameli, Deputy Director General and Senior Adviser toADCED; Frédéric Theux, president, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, and Gino van Begin,regional director, Europe, Local Governments for Sustainability.

I S S U E S

26 F R I D AY F R I D AY 27

The fact is, though the world hasshrunk to a single point of reference,where all stand on common ground interms of lifestyle references, economicimperatives and technologicaluniversality, the place we choose to livein matters a lot.

Why? Because it parenthesises our career,

social network, family, lifestyle choices,the wealth we accumulate and ouroverall happiness ratio within thegeneral sentence that describes ouroverall modern-day living methods.This parenthetical respite makes us feelcocooned in an otherwise terrifyinglydiffuse modern life.

Speaking of the city in which theconference is being held, he said, “Tocompete and prosper in the new globaleconomy, Abu Dhabi must continue toexpand and foster creativity. Thisextends beyond the Creative Class, to harness the resourcefulness of larger segments of service andmanufacturing sectors.”

Planning a city comes first“Building in sustainability from theoutset is easier than attempting to makean existing city sustainable because youcan plan and design your city in order toachieve the most efficient use ofresources,” said Paul Bevan, secretarygeneral of Eurocities, Belgium. Hebreaks down the formidable, and often fudgy, concept of city planninginto comprehensible ideas like“minimising the need to travel longdistances between home and work;installing collective heating and cooling systems for whole districts;planning neighbourhoods and facilitiesaround public transport routes andbuilding homes and workplaces withthe most sustainable materials andtechniques.” These, he said, are “the[desirable] options”.

Though the numbers and details ofcity planning are monumental, at thecore of it is a very simple consideration:how easy is it to live and work and eatand play in the area you live?

What materials are you wishing touse in building your slice of the city?Will these materials require more thandouble the energy to be maintained orwill they cut down on energyrequirements?

One of the fallouts of modernurbanisation has been theoverwhelming realisation thatsustainability is increasingly being seenas a challenge (at least for today) rather

than a natural byproduct ofdevelopment. For example, today,people often argue that implementinggreen building standards adds to thefinal price of a property.

But one of the strongestrecommendations by green buildingexperts is that factoring inenvironmentally friendly features in a building or a freestanding housereduces operational costs in the longrun due to reduced maintenance andincreased energy efficiency. It isultimately the indisputably cogent logic of all time – ‘A stitch in time savesnine’. Bevan stresses this point, “It islikely to be more costly to 'retrofit'higher standards to buildings at a later date, and in the meantime runningcosts are saved on energy and water, for example.”

World CitiesThe term “globalcity” isbelieved tohave beencoined bySaskia Sassen,who is theRobert S.Lynd Professorof Sociology andMember of ‘TheCommittee on GlobalThought at ColumbiaUniversity’, in her 1991 book The Global City whenreferring to London, New Yorkand Tokyo.

What is a global city?

A ‘global city’ is a central node in theglobal economic system created instrategic geographic locations governedby global operations in finance andtrade. These important spots of globalaffairs, also known as ‘world city’, have adirect effect on all world operationsthrough socio-economic means. Citieslike London, Tokyo and New York arearchetypal ‘global cities’.

“Cities can be shown to be in thefrontline of many of the environmentalchallenges,” said Sassen. “Because ofthis, many cities had to developcapabilities to handle these challenges.Cities like Tokyo and London had

to address environmental issues in the1980s even before the Kyoto agreementappeared (eg, for car fuel efficiency andzero emissions). Cities today areconfronting the environmentalchallenge directly and acting toovercome it.”

As far as the UAE is concerned,Sassen said, “The project of greeningcities should be enabled by the fact thatglobal cities around the world actuallyvalue the specialised differences ofcities. Thus Abu Dhabi marks itsdifference by its environmental aims,compared to all kinds of other citiesaround the world.

“In a huge international study of 70global cities around the world, usingover 60 data measures, a veryinteresting trend that emerges is thateven the most powerful cities, such asLondon and New York, do not get thehighest score of 100 for being a globalcity. In fact London, which has thehighest score, gets 79 – which if youwere grading student work, for example,is not so great a score!

What this tells us is that there is noperfect global city.

“Each city is different in its own way.Abu Dhabi can stand out for its ownspecialised differences, notably itsserious engagement with theenvironmental challenge.”

Think wider“Developing and managing competitiveand sustainable cities in the 21st centuryis more than a planning issue or agovernment issue,” said Maria Sillanpaa,founding director, SustainabilityAdvisory Group, who is one of a small

number of people renownedinternationally as a leading

practitioner in the fieldsof corporate

responsibility andsustainabilitymanagement.

“Ten years back,there was not somuch awarenessof sustainabledevelopment.

Nowadays thepolicymakers

themselves incorporatethis vision into their plan. If

there is a bit morecoordination between thevarious developmentauthorities like municipality,water, electricity and urbanplanning departments at a higher

level, so that plans do not clash orcontradict, it would bring in greaterresults,” said Sillanpaa.

“At the same time, scrutiny ofbusiness should lead to an expectationthat corporate responsibility shouldextend to encouraging responsiblepractices at every step in a value chain –wherever it may be in the world. Ouraim for this region should be to makeprofit stem from responsible businesspractices. A lot of officials from cityplanning divisions willdefinitely list the lessonsfrom Global City leadersand try to implementthem,” she concluded.

Courage to ChangeAccording to Gino vanBegin, regional director,Europe, LocalGovernments forSustainability (ICLEI),“Economic progress hasmoved faster than ourawareness of theenvironment around us.However several eventsin the recent past havealerted us to the risks ourenvironment faces.Previously, businessdistricts did notsuccessfully integrate sustainability intotheir developmental policies. But in thefuture, business districts have tobecome an alternative model of society by laying strong emphasison sustainability.

“Sustainability should be integratedat the planning stage. It should bemerged into mainstream discussions,cross-integrating at all stages ofdevelopment. It cannot be planned inisolation. Each city has its own uniqueway of tackling its development issues.

“We cannot transpose the successstory of one city that works in its owncontext on to another,” noted Begin.

“As far as the UAE is concerned, it isinteresting that the country is eager to

imbibe the expertise available aroundand exchange information. Abu Dhabi isa young city as opposed to cities inEurope and hence in a better position todo things correctly right from thebeginning. Also, having an economicallystable background supplements thepolicymaking towards being a goodglobal city,” said Begin.

He sheds light on one of the mostimportant issues of the day – energyconsumption worldwide.

“Two-thirds of theenergy is consumed incities, two-thirds of CO2emissions are from citiesand 50 per cent of theworld’s population lives incities,” he said. “It is vitalthat young cities like AbuDhabi do not make thesame mistakes thatEuropean or Americancities have made.

“There are several citiesin the world that aspire tobe carbon neutral.Copenhagen, Denmark,dubbed the world’s mostlivable city, has managed toreduce emissions belowthe set standards. They dothis by switchingbehaviour. More than 60

per cent of the people there use bikesnow, even though the weather is rainy.

“Such changes begin withindividuals. If the public is providedwith attractive transport systems, why would one family have two cars?Usage of local building materials thathave lower emissions would suit thatparticular region. It only takes thecourage to start making changes, have a good vision, engage yourcitizens, and be a good example as acity,” he remarked.

Getting from point A to BWith the UAE fast forwarding intotravel time with its state-of-the-artmetro rail systems that come at

From left: Paul Bevan, secretary general of Eurocities,Belgium; Richard Florida, Professor of Business andCreativity at the University of Toronto; MonaSerageldin, vice-president, Institute for InternationalUrban Development and Saskia Sassen, a Robert S.Lynd Professor of Sociology.

A PAT ON THE BACK

The growing status of AbuDhabi as a global hub for busi-ness and tourism received amajor thrust when the world'stop urban planners, decision-makers, mayors and interna-tional media from more than

40 world cities descended inthe capital to participate inGlobal City 2009.

Mohammad Rashid AlHameli, Deputy DirectorGeneral and Senior Adviser toADCED, said that local author-ities played an important rolein the future of Planet Earthand must therefore place sus-tainability at the heart of

urban planning policies. Global City is organised by

Reed Exhibitions Middle Eastas a knowledge gathering, net-working and business plat-form. The organisers decidedto have Global City in AbuDhabi in recognition of thecapital’s inspiring record in theevent’s key themes of sustain-ability, progress and strategy.

‘ Copenhagen,Denmark,dubbed

the world’smost livable

city, hasmanaged to

reduceemissions

below the set

standards.’

absolutely the right time, the aspect of urban transport, which is one of the most important facets of a city’ssustainability ratio, comes under the spotlight.

At Global City, city planners lookedinto the best ways for cities to fullyintegrate their transport systems tobuild a reliable and usable system forthe future. The five key elements inadding life to downtown areas andsustainable regeneration werepromotion, communication, leadership,hospitality and climate.

“City centres should be planned insuch a way that people live close by andcommuting distances are reduced.Public means of transport should beintegrated into mainstream travelimmediately. Pedestrian-friendly roadstructures and bike paths should beplanned at early stages.

“If you give a high-quality serviceand create living spaces rather than justbus or tram stations, the system quicklybecomes integrated into the city,” saidUpendra Tripathy, IAS, Joint Secretaryin the Ministry of Minority Affairs andformer Principal Secretary forTransport and Home in theGovernment of Karnataka, India.

Tripathy reminded attendees aboutan unassailable fact: today urbantransport developments are so highlyadvanced, they are a shoe-in forsustainability.

The idea of broadcasting publictransport schedules to people in theirhomes thereby informing them aboutthe choices and timings of different

modes of transport is not far off interms of possibility andimplementation.

Mona Serageldin, vice-president,Institute for International UrbanDevelopment, is an academic whothinks Abu Dhabi has done a good jobby balancing the older and newergenerations’ lifestyle requirements inboth social as well as cultural contexts.“Thinking about how such massivedevelopments are going to affect thecountry in general, in itself, is a positivestep towards attaining sustainability inthe long run.”

A migrant is anentrepreneurWhile the relationshipbetween peoples andinfrastructure is fairlystraightforward to drawout, what introduces aninteresting andchallenging complexityto this relationship is themigration of peoples inand out of a city. Today,the world over, everycity is seeing an ebb andflow of people as theymove in, settle forvarying periods of timeand move on (or stay onas the case maybe).

This decision isdictated by a host of considerations including personal,professional, social, evenenvironmental, to name a few. Whilethe movement offers food for thoughtfor city planners on an almost yearlybasis, this mass of people also is areservoir of human wealth for a city’sdevelopmental aspirations.

“How beneficial immigrants are to acity is related to the response of thatparticular city to them,” said Kyle Rae,councillor, Economic and CultureDevelopment in Toronto. As a memberof the City Council, Rae has spent

almost 20 years trying to improve co-ordination between cultural andeconomic projects in Toronto.

“Only when migrants feel the cities they work in are their own, willthey contribute earnestly to its growth,”he said. The best way to integrate localcitizens with immigrants is throughsharing of local culture and heritage.

“Cultural projects can expressuniversal values through literature,cinema or art, well rooted in specificcultures. The approach is not turnedtowards the past; in fact, it’s an open-door policy which shows respect tohistory and local identity while

contributing to the creationof future cities throughinclusion.”

Offering a platform forpeoples to showcase theircultural offerings can often channel it all intothe melting pot of a city’soverall holding. “Thecommunities built theircommunity theatres andcommunity cultural centres,which become incubatorsfor the large non-profitinstitutions. This trend hasreceived support from thecity, federal and provincialgovernments [the worldover],” he said.

***No one today can possibly predict

the predicament in which a town orcity will find itself in 20 or 30 yearsfrom now. We as humans must face the implications of the growingpressures on our natural resource baseas well as the human capacity to bearand re-grow.

While it’s perhaps too soon to tellthe results of initiatives in the UAE, on the other hand, the country hasalready taken a huge step on its way tobeing a Global City. That in itself issustainable progress.

– Feby Imthias is a writer based in Abu Dhabi

F

I S S U E S

WHAT CAN WE DO?

What we can do to build asustainable future for our-selves and the world:� Raise awareness: Build ahealthy relationship withnature and environment.� Live simply: Differentiatebetween needs and wants.Consumerism is not based on

real needs, but pushed by aninflated standard of livinginfluenced by clever marketing.� Reduce energy consump-tion: Use energy saving elec-tronic devices. Save water.� Avoid wasting food. Eatlocally produced food.� Drive less, switch to fuel-efficient cars.� Paint your home a light

colour if you live in a warm climate, or a dark colour in acold climate.� Reuse and recycle. � Teach your children sustain-able values.� Avoid using householdcleaners, air fresheners, interi-or paints, carpets and evenfurniture items that containtoxic materials.

‘Five elementsin adding lifeto downtown

areas andsustainableregeneration

are promotion,communication

, leadership,hospitality and

climate . ’