December, 18 2012, 09:55am EDT
With Effective Roadmaps and Political Will, Governments Can Create Healthier, Livable Cities
Worldwatch Institute highlights solutions for more inclusive and sustainable urban development
WASHINGTON
By harnessing an innovative mix of tools and approaches, governments can strengthen the economies of urban areas and improve their overall livability, according to research presented in the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2012: Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity. Today, nearly 1 billion of the world's poor live in urban areas that are dangerously overcrowded and lack adequate access to basic sanitation and clean water, with wide-ranging health and environmental impacts. But even in wealthier countries, governments face serious challenges in making their cities more inclusive, sustainable, and livable.
In 2010, informal urban settlements, known more commonly as "slums," housed approximately one-third of the urban population of developing countries. "Slum populations are often viewed as an eyesore, but few realize that the urban poor are at the core of a city's economy, accounting for a large share of employment and performing essential functions for the city," said Eric Belsky, Managing Director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies and State of the World 2012 contributing author.
In his chapter, "Planning for Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Development," Belsky calls for a new paradigm for urban planning that utilizes all levels of government to promote more livable, environmentally sensitive, economically competitive, and socially inclusive cities. Although there are formidable barriers to inclusive and sustainable development, several bold steps, such as the creation of National Urban Sustainable Planning Commission, national incentive funds, and international academic collaboration on urban planning, can be taken to overcome these challenges. "With deliberate spatial planning, we can mitigate the environmental and health risks of slum dwellers, as well as harness their potential to contribute to economic growth and move out of poverty."
In the United States, meanwhile, more than 200 cities have developed plans for improving economic, environmental, and social sustainability, but few have established specific metrics to monitor their progress. A national indicator system would help cities more uniformly measure their success in moving toward sustainable development, according to the University of Pennsylvania's Eugenie Birch and Amy Lynch, co-authors of "Measuring U.S. Sustainable Urban Development" in State of the World 2012.
Using indicators to monitor sustainable development of urban areas has long been on the global agenda: Agenda 21, developed at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, specifically called for the development of such benchmarks. In their chapter, Birch and Lynch provide three steps to develop a national indicator system that will help U.S. cities achieve sustainability:
Start with a vision. Until 2009, when the government created the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the United States did not have a national sustainable development agenda, much less national standards. To fill this void, the Partnership crafted and released the Livability Principles, six statements that express what is needed to create liveable communities nationwide, including affordable housing and a better mix of transportation options.
Use what already exists.The lack of standardized national indicators in the United States is due not to a dearth of developed indicators, but to a failure to align local efforts with the national vision. Effective local initiatives include the STAR Community Index, created in cooperation with numerous national organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council. Based on 81 goals, the index helps local governments manage their sustainability performance and encompasses broad themes of environment, society, and economy, but it fails to relate directly to any national policy. Other indicator systems in use include Philadelphia's Greenworks 2009 plan, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget's 62 published economic and social indicators, and the Green City Index.
Create a national indicator database. As effective indicators are identified, they should be assessed and culminated into a national monitoring system. In 2010, the American Planning Association and the University of Pennsylvania's Institute of Urban Research identified and analyzed 22 existing indicator systems with the aim of creating a Sustainable Urban Development Indicator Database. Out of the 22 systems, 145 achievable and measurable indicators were identified, with the aim of ultimately developing a national indicator database.
With effective roadmaps and political will, governments can advance the goals of sustainability, inclusion, and poverty alleviation through improved urban planning to create healthier, livable cities.
Worldwatch's State of the World 2012, released in April 2012, focuses on the themes of inclusive sustainable development discussed at Rio+20, the 20-year follow-up to the historic Earth Summit of 1992, also held in Rio de Janeiro. The report presents a selection of innovative ideas and practices to achieve global environmental sustainability while meeting human needs and providing jobs and ensuring dignity for all.
The Worldwatch Institute was a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Lester R. Brown. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts. Brown left to found the Earth Policy Institute in 2000. The Institute was wound up in 2017, after publication of its last State of the World Report. Worldwatch.org was unreachable from mid-2019.
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Rights Group Condemns Texas National Guard for Firing Pepper Balls at Migrants
"In separate incidents this summer, witnesses saw Texas National Guard members firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants who posed no risk to National Guard members or anyone else."
Sep 25, 2024
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned the Texas National Guard for firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants, including women and children, who've presented no danger, citing multiple recent incidents.
"In separate incidents this summer, witnesses saw Texas National Guard members firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants who posed no risk to National Guard members or anyone else," Bob Libal, an HRW consultant, said in a statement.
New from @HRW and me: The TX Nat'l Guard has repeatedly fired pepper spray projectiles at arriving asylum-seekers, including women & children.
#TXLege should increase oversight of TX Military Dept & deny funding requests until this practice ends. 🧵https://t.co/AuXyAGcFbO
— Bob Libal (@blibal) September 25, 2024
Pepper-spray projectiles, which are often shaped like balls, contain chemical irritants similar to pepper spray. HRW documented several instances of their use by the Texas National Guard, which polices the border as part of Operation Lone Star, a right-wing state project that has already cost more than $11 billion and drawn opposition from rights advocates.
On September 7, a Texas National Guard member in a boat fired several projectiles at a migrant who had crossed onto the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, at Eagle Pass, Texas, according to three witnesses who watched from a park in Mexico. The migrant fell down, did not get up, and didn't receive aid, they told HRW.
"I saw a National Guardsman in the boat train his gun on the man and then he pepper balled him," said Josie Rodrigues, one of the witnesses, who is a resident of Eagle Pass. "He shot him four or five times. I saw the puffs of smoke and the man went down, and he didn't get up again. It looked to me like they were aiming at the person, not around him or at his feet. It was disturbing."
On August 5, a group of migrants, including children, alleged that projectiles were fired at them, causing their eyes to burn; U.S. Border Patrol said that the Texas National Guard was in control of the area where the incident occurred, according to HRW.
The Texas National Guard also fired pepper balls at a Venezuelan couple and their 1-year-old daughter in May, Newsweekreported, based on video from Border Report.
International human rights law has strict rules on the use of force—even sublethal force, as the projectiles are designed to be—by law enforcement.
"Chemical irritants should only be deployed where a law enforcement official has reason to believe there is an imminent threat of injury," according to United Nations' guidance.
HRW is calling for the state Legislature to deny additional funding to the Texas Military Department, which oversees the state's National Guard, until the use of projectiles against migrants ends. The funding was on the agenda at a budget meeting on Wednesday.
"The Texas Legislature should respond by increasing its oversight over the Texas Military Department and denying funding increases to the department until these abuses stop," Lidal said.
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Dan Osborn, a mechanic and union leader running to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer in Nebraska, told an Omaha news station on Tuesday that recent polling showing a highly competitive race didn't come as a surprise to him.
"It's what I'm seeing on the ground," he toldKETV of a Survey USA poll showing 45% of respondents supporting him, compared with 44% backing Fischer. "People, I think, are ready for a change."
Osborn describes himself as a "lifelong Independent," and has not sought or accepted endorsements from either major political party.
He does have the backing of the United Auto Workers, which said in June, "It's time for labor to get behind candidates who look like us, talk like us, and know the issues facing working-class people."
Osborn began working as an industrial mechanic for a Kellogg's plant in 2004, and eventually rose to the presidency of his union local, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 50G.
In that role in 2021, he led 500 of his co-workers at the cereal plant in a work stoppage that lasted 77 days, with workers protesting a two-tier hiring system that left new employees with lower pay and no pensions and demanding fair working schedules and pay.
The strike forced the company to agree to cost-of-living raises, no plant closures through 2026, and no permanent two-tier system.
"I've gone up against a major American corporation," Osborn toldThe New York Times in February. "I stood up for what I thought was right, and I won."
The Fischer campaign and its supporters have taken notice of the senator's opponent as multiple polls have shown the two candidates neck-and-neck. Last month, Fischer was up by just one point, with 23% undecided.
Conservative super political action committee Heartland Resurgence has spent $479,000 in a new ad campaign opposing Osborn, repeating the same false claims about his support for abortion care as those Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made at his debate against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this month: that Osborn "supports abortion until the moment of birth."
Osborn told the independent rural news outlet Barn Raiser in March that he believes "a woman's decision on whether or not to have an abortion is between her and her doctor, it's not the federal government's place to dictate those things to people. Deb Fischer believes in a complete abortion ban. I strongly disagree with that position."
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Osborn says in the ad that the Senate is made up of "millionaires controlled by billionaires."
"Deb Fischer is part of the problem," he says. "She's taken so much corporate cash she should wear patches."
Columnist John Nichols said the latest poll numbers in Nebraska suggest "that a willingness to take on millionaires, billionaires, and the politicians who serve them plays well everywhere."
Pro-worker media organization More Perfect Unionpointed to earlier polling in July that showed Osborn and Fischer tied 42-42.
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Deadly Flooding in Central Europe Made Twice as Likely By Climate Change: Study
"This is definitely what we will see much more of in the future."
Sep 25, 2024
The record-setting rainfall that hit Central Europe in mid September was made roughly twice as likely and 7% more severe by climate change, according to an analysis released Wednesday.
The 36-page study, conducted by scientists affiliated with World Weather Attribution (WWA), looked at the causes of the extreme rain that peaked from September 12 until September 15. Called Storm Boris, it hit many countries including Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic, and set off flooding that killed at least 24 people.
The authors, whose work wasn't peer reviewed, warned that Storm Boris was a sign of what's to come.
"This is definitely what we will see much more of in the future," Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-author of the study, told the BBC.
"[It] is the absolute fingerprint signature of climate change... that records are broken by such a large margin."
The floods that killed 24 people in Central Europe were caused by rainfall made twice as likely and at least 7% heavier by climate change 📈🌧️
Floods will become more destructive and costly with further fossil fuel warming.
Our analysis was published this morning 🧵 https://t.co/0rJjYuYnUt
— World Weather Attribution (@WWAttribution) September 25, 2024
The heavy rainfall was caused by a Vb (pronounced "five-b") depression that "forms when cold polar air flows from the north over the Alps, meeting very warm air in Southern Europe," according to a WWA statement that accompanied the study.
The damage came partly from the fact that the storm lingered for many days, with rain falling on saturated ground and overflowing bodies of water. The WWA scientists didn't determine if the duration was affected by climate change; however, in general, the affect of climate change on the jet stream, which normally helps push weather patterns through the continent quickly, could play a role in causing storms to linger, experts say.
"These types of blocking situations and meandering jet stream-induced situations are increasing in frequency," Hayley Fowler, a climate scientist at Newcastle University who wasn't involved in the study, toldNPR.
Other factors in the Stom Boris disaster were more clearly influenced by a warmer planet. The most basic and straightforward factor is that hotter air can hold more water—for each degree celsius that the Earth heats up, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more water, so there's more that can turn into rain.
The WWA study's key findings—a roughly twofold increase in the likelihood of Storm Boris and a 7% increase in intensity caused by climate change—may in fact be underestimates. The findings are "too conservative," the study says.
The analysis does contain good news: European authorities were more prepared for this storm than they had been in the past, likely saving dozens of lives.
Far more people died during extreme flooding episodes in the region in 1997 and 2002—more than 100, in each case—even though the rainfall in those events was less severe and didn't cover such a large area. Governments have since invested in forecasting, early warning systems, and flood defenses like levees. The city of Vienna has been particularly strong on flood preparations, and its investments paid off when Storm Boris did little damage there.
Otto, the co-author, said on social media that early warning systems worked well but flood defenses are, in general, still being put up "way too slowly." She said addressing the climate crisis would pay off in many ways for people on the continent.
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Many observers had assumed that climate change played a role in the flooding before the WWA analysis was released. On September 16, Greenpeace called for fossil fuel companies to pay for the damage caused by extreme weather events. The type of attribution science conducted by WWA helps strengthen the case for accountability, advocates say.
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