Climate Positive Cities, better designed for cities for our future.
If we care about people and planet, cities matter. 2, 50, 70 - these three numbers succinctly sum up why. Cities take up just 2% of the land mass, but over half of the global population currently lives in urban areas More than 70% of global carbon emissions are linked to cities and urban areas. A recent report in Scientific American stated that: “Residents of just 100 cities account for 20 percent of humanity’s overall carbon footprint.” It is not an overstatement to say: “In our cities lies the future of the planet”. Over the last decade, there have been some excellent examples of sustainable and caring city design. With the ever more urgent need to address emissions and climate change while sustainably accommodating more people in cities, there is a key opportunity to change the direction of urban design in a way that holistically addresses energy, transport, housing, greening, sustainability, care, and liveability and to create a new positive, low-carbon roadmap for the future of our cities. This seminar will look at cities from Paris to Perth Australian to show how good design can ensure cities perform better in energy, transport, greening, built-form – and the smart intersections in between.