RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND RAPID URBANISATION
GOOD PRACTICE PLATFORM i
To supplement the Call to Action on Sustainable Urbanisation across the Commonwealth, this Good Practice Platform has been created to exemplify the sort of innovative and collaborative work already being undertaken locally to help advance sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth. The intention is to illustrate how, with a sharper focus and appropriate resources, the Commonwealth can come together to more effectively tackle the challenges of climate change, rapid urbanisation and the recovery from Covid-19. These examples have been shared by a number of organisations working in the field of sustainable urbanisation, if you would like to submit an example please email info@commonwealthsustainablecities.org.
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Unplanned growth and the lack of adequate access to secure land for housing are among the main challenges faced in Freetown. More than 30% of Freetown’s population live in informal settlements, and local or national governments do not have any specific policy focused on informal settlement upgrading. There is no coordinated effort to secure tenure for those living in informal settlements or to improve their living conditions. This challenge is being addressed through the development of the Community Action Area Planning methodology (CAAP). CAAP aims to identify key development principles and potential actions for the upgrading of informal settlements in Freetown.…
Sakhipur, is a 33,000-inhabitant town in Tangail District, Bangladesh with very poor sanitation. Sakhipur’s sanitation situation was such that sludge was either left in full pits and septic tanks, or emptied and discharged unsafely, causing environmental contamination and health concerns. Solid waste management was complex due to limited treatment.…
Launched in January 2019, the One City Plan describes where Bristol wants to be by 2050, and how city partners will work together to create a fairer, healthy and sustainable city.…
Lethbridge is located within the heart of Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) Territory and the Metris Nation of Alberta, Region 3. Indigenous partners in the city have long articulated the need for an Indigenous Cultural Centre (ICC), including its ability to contribute to positive health and wellness, education, economic and cultural outcomes, as well as advancing reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.…
The speed and scale of growth anticipated in the next few decades will mean that managing urban areas, and planning for new sustainable urban extensions, will be one of the most important challenges facing cities and societies in the 21st century. The Rapid Planning Toolkit is a simple and practical 4-step tool which intends to assist city leaders and built environment professionals in creating robust and implementable walkable neighbourhood plans in rapidly growing cities or towns. The Toolkit advocates that built environment professionals collaborate with local and national governments, technical specialists and local communities to create effective city planning.…
The 2020 SDGs Cities Challenge began on 13 May 2020 with ten initial cities from Malaysia, India, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Australia. There is a wealth of resources available for cities and business to support the implementation of the SDGs however it is not always easy to find a methodology that best fits a city’s local context and identifies appropriate local solutions. The SDGs Cities Challenge links cities with their urban partners in academia, business and community in a structured process of co-design.…
In Pakistan, the affordable housing challenge is vast with many bottlenecks. One of the main blockages is the lack of housing finance for people on low incomes. These people have been systematically misunderstood or excluded by mainstream mortgage lenders. Reall have invested in affordable housing property developer, the Ansaar Management Company (AMC), who has successfully launched a pioneering new mortgage product in partnership with the semi-state-owned lending institution HBFC.…
Rwanda has multiple, overlapping tenure systems, with no formal or consistent way of accounting for them in a land register or cadastre. This has resulted in a rise in informal land markets as well as associated increase in land prices and conflict. This has been addressed through a large-scale Land Tenure Regularisation Programme.…
Mukuru is a large informal settlement located in Nairobi’s industrial area, with about 300,000 residents. Mukuru residents face several risks simultaneously linked to low-quality shelter, infrastructure, and services, as well as the settlement’s insecure tenure and flood-prone location. About 95% of residents are tenants who rent rooms in shacks, typically built of mud and/or galvanised iron sheets. Residents usually have very limited access to water, sanitation, and hygiene; there is also elevated of tenure insecurity due to Mukuru’s prime location on contested private lands. Residents also face social and political exclusion, as in Nairobi’s other informal settlements. After years of advoc…
Building Capacity of SIDS for Local Economic Development in Kiribati, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands
Small Islands in the Pacific face daunting challenges posed by their small size, narrow production and export bases, limited resources and capacity constraints. These challenges are exacerbated by climate change, urbanisation and now COVID 19. To get out of poverty and hardship people are looking for local solutions to generate economic activities in order to improve standard of living. The overall objective of the project is to create and increase the sustainability of local economic development at the local level through the strengthening of LGAs and Local Authorities and supporting their interaction with communities.…