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Highlights from the 7th EcoCity World Summit
Holly Pearson, WorldChanging
"In order to transform our cities, we need to move from ego-culture to eco-culture."
-Rusong Wang
President, Ecological Society of China

The EcoCity World Summit (see my intro here) wrapped up on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. An incredible assemblage of the world’s brightest minds that are working to build greener cities and towns gathered for three and a half days of presentations, discussions, city tours, arts & culture, and celebration. As an urban planner for whom the sustainable cities movement is not only a passion but also a raison d’etre, professionally speaking, I found the conference to be nothing short of mind-blowing.

A vast amount of information and ideas was exchanged, and after letting it all sink in for a day or so I’ve summarized what I thought were some of the most interesting concepts and initiatives presented at EcoCity.

The Big Picture for Saving the Planet: Sustainable Cities

Amazingly, somehow I have worked as a city planner in Oakland, California for almost a year without knowing that right here in my own neighborhood is one of the leading green city advocates in the country, if not the world: Richard Register. Dubbed "EcoCity Master" by his conference co-organizer, Rusong Wang of China, Register is the President of non-profit EcoCity Builders.

Looking critically at the environmental movement, Register asserts that humanity is "winning the battle but losing the war." Despite lots of successes - stronger environmental legislation, recycling programs in most metropolitan areas in the U.S., and the like - ecological degradation continues and is, in fact, worsening. That’s because, says Register, we’re not paying attention to the big things. And the big things, first and foremost, have to do with the design and functioning of our cities. Urban population is on the rise the world over, and cities are by far the greatest sources of natural resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and other pollutants. For this reason, a sustainable global future cannot be achieved without re-thinking and redesigning cities to reduce their ecological impact.

An important point that Register makes is that the eco-city concept is not a new phenomenon - it’s actually hundreds or even thousands of years old.
(28 April 2008)
Previous article by the author: The City is the Solution: The EcoCity World Summit.

Transition towns
Paul Willis, CNN-Europe
Imagine a life where you cycle each morning to work, and come home at night to tend your allotment and eat a dinner of locally produced food.

Maybe after your meal you take a walk down the car-free streets to the nearest bar where you buy a round of drinks with locally produced currency and settle down in a corner to watch a troupe of musicians play some local folk music.

It might sound like some kind of fairytale arcadia -- a return to the simple lives of our forefathers, before fossil fuels and consumer culture turned everything on its head. But in fact this is how many people are beginning to envision our future -- a world where we come to terms with inevitable fuel shortages and work towards a less energy-dependent lifestyle.

This vision has found a voice in the 'transition initiative', a movement that encourages towns, villages and cities across the world to begin the process of preparing themselves for a carbon-free world.

The first so-called 'transition town' was pioneered in the southwest English town of Totnes by the inventor of the concept Rob Hopkins 18 months ago.

Since then almost 50 British towns have signed up to the movement, as well as a smattering of towns in New Zealand and Australia.
(30 April 2008)

CCAP's Winkelman says transportation policy should compliment federal cap-and-trade program (transcript and video)
Monica Trauzzi, OnPoint, E&E News
With Americans driving more and more each year, there is a new push on Capitol Hill for legislators to go beyond vehicle efficiency improvements and alternative fuels mandates be developing ways to encourage less driving in the United States.

In his new book, "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change," the Center for Clean Air Policy's Steve Winkelman says this can be achieved through smarter urban planning. During today's OnPoint, Winkelman, manager of adaptation and transportation at CCAP, explains how new urban areas can be developed to maximize the emissions reduction benefits of a cap-and-trade program.

Winkelman explains why urban sprawl could undermine steps being taken on the local and federal levels to combat global warming and urges action in this year's transportation bill.
(29 April 2008)