Tag: Urban planning

Categories
Pacific

Te Ara Awataha – The Awataha Greenway

Te Ara Awataha – The Awataha Greenway in Auckland, New Zealand

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, Housing, Climate, Resilience, Health, Transport, Water

ORGANISATION(S)

Auckland Council, Panuku Development Auckland, Kāinga Ora, Kaipātiki Project, Ngā Mana Whenua ō Tāmaki Makaurau (indigenous leaders)

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

Te Ara Awataha is a 1.5km green infrastructure project linking Northcote town centre to existing parks, schools and homes in Northcote, Auckland. It’s part of the wider urban regeneration of Northcote and seeks to resolve long-standing stormwater issues while creating a valued and resilient environmental asset. The project includes partial daylighting of the Awataha Stream, a shared walking and cycling path, native planting, play destinations and the integration of cultural design elements.

Te Ara Awataha is being delivered in partnership with the city council and its urban regeneration agency, the government housing authority and indigenous leaders from the area (Mana Whenua). The local community has been part of the design and delivery of the project, including a community-led restoration project at the source of the stream.

A key focus of the project is reviving the historic Awataha Stream, confined to an underground pipe since the 1950s and largely built over. This includes physical works to improve water quality and biodiversity, and social interventions that involve and educate the community. This approach instils a sense of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) for Te Ara Awataha.

Physical delivery began in 2020 and the project will be delivered in stages over the next 6 years.

Click here and here to find out more.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “All the Commonwealth member states’ urgent priorities have an urban dimension, and a greater focus on sustainable urbanisation will ensure that people, and improving the quality of life for all remain central to the work of the Commonwealth.”
  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.”
  • “Seeking urgent action to reduce carbon emissions, halt biodiversity loss, strengthen climate resilience and adaptation, while addressing the finance gap and calling for a greater local response to climate change issues.”

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Panku Development Auckland: https://www.panuku.co.nz/

Categories
Africa

Access to Secure Land for Housing in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Access to Secure Land for Housing in Freetown, Sierra Leone 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, land tenure, governance, housing, health, WASH, climate, resilience, community-led 

ORGANISATION(S)

Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) in partnership with Federation of Urban and Rural Poor – Sierra Leone (FEDURP) with the support of Architecture Sans Frontières – UK and The Bartlett Development Planning Unit of University College London.

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

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. Cockle Bay and Dwarzack were the first informal settlements to engage in this process, and its development aimed to recognise and enhance the capacity of local residents to respond to the settlement’s development challenges, support efforts to avoid evictions, and promote community-led in-situ upgrading initiatives. A governance structure to the implementation of the CAAPs was set up, which aimed to build community ownership of the process, as well as institutional avenues to ensure that the outputs would be endorsed by Freetown City Council and relevant national ministries. This resulted in the setting up of a community learning platform (involving key representatives from the settlement) and a city learning platform (composed by key urban stakeholders). Click here and here for more information.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”  

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED): https://www.iied.org/

Categories
Europe

One City Plan in Bristol UK

One City Plan in Bristol UK

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Governance, SDGs, Public service delivery, Urban Planning, Youth, Housing, Climate, Financing, Transport, Health, Capacity Building, Community-led

ORGANISATION(S)

Bristol City Council

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

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. The One City Approach brings together a wide range of public, private, and third sector partners within Bristol. They share an aim to make Bristol a fair, healthy and sustainable city. A city of hope and aspiration, where everyone can share in its success. One of the key messages to the city is that no single organisation can solve the interconnected challenges facing Bristol alone. The One City Approach reconstitutes the City Council as a convening space for the energy and expertise of the city’s businesses, universities, public services, sports clubs, international communities and the voluntary and community sector. By bringing together partners from across the city they can deliver sustainable inclusive development that is integrated and improves connection with communities by including under-represented groups, and allowing them to shape the plans. The One City Plan is structured around six themes; Connectivity, Economy, Environment, Health and Wellbeing, Homes and Communities, and Learning and Skills. All the initiatives within the One City Plan are underpinned by the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which provide an internationally recognised framework to benchmark the city’s aspirations and progress. Click here to view the One City Plan dashboard.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH 

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing”
  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.”
  • “The Commonwealth has the potential to transform the way in which it does business to achieve a uniquely Commonwealth response to the challenges and opportunities of urbanisation.”

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Bristol City Council

Categories
Africa

Rapid Planning Toolkit in Bo, Sierra Leone

Rapid Planning Toolkit in Bo, Sierra Leone 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, capacity building, climate, governance 

ORGANISATION(S)

The Prince’s Foundation in partnership with the Commonwealth Association of Planners, New York Marron Institute for Urban Management, UN-Habitat, Bo City Council, Commonwealth Local Government Forum, Commonwealth Association of Architects and University College of Estate Management 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

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 Toolkit is currently being tested in Bo, Sierra Leone which has a population of 270,000, set to triple to 540,000 by 2040. In just 9 months they completed Steps 1-3, including tree planting and are due to start Step 4 in 2021. An Online Learning Platform which will enable cities to learn about the Toolkit, download resources and access templates will be available soon. Click here for more information about the Toolkit resources and the Bo Case Study. 

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens” 
  • Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing. 
  • Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment. 
  • Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.  
  • Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable cities and human settlements of the future.   

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP): https://www.commonwealth-planners.org/

The Prince’s Foundation: https://princes-foundation.org/

Categories
Africa

Participatory, Scaled-up Informal Settlement Upgrading in Nairobi, Kenya

Informal Settlement Redevelopment in Nairobi, Kenya  

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, land tenure, housing, governance, resilience, community-led 

ORGANISATION(S)

To develop holistic interventions, the partners launched eight consortia with 46 partner organisations, who range from academics and civil society groups to government officials, utilities agencies, and private firms. Each consortium was led by a corresponding department from Nairobi’s County Government. Additionally, Muungano and its partner NGOs SDI-Kenya and Akiba Mashinani Trust (known as the ‘Muungano Alliance’) worked closely with the consortia. 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

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 advocacy by Kenya’s slum-dweller federation Muungano wa Wanavijiji and related action-research, Nairobi’s County Government declared Mukuru a Special Planning Area (SPA) in 2017. This SPA has developed an innovative combination of 1) large-scale, multi-sectoral upgrading, 2) strong community participation, 3) minimal displacement, 4) interdisciplinary consortia, and 5) partnerships between government, civil society, residents, and other stakeholders. The partners also 6) transformed conventional planning standards, while also seeking to enhance physical and social infrastructure. Consortia members found ways to keep nearly all households in place: for Mukuru’s new transport network, the widest road will be just 12m rather than the conventional 48m. The SPA will prioritise improved non-motorised transport and support the construction of narrower roads/paths. Implementation of this multi-sectoral intervention is already underway with various official agencies. Click here for more information.  

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”  

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

International Institution for Environment and Development (IIED): https://www.iied.org/

Categories
Africa Asia Pacific

Urban Data Collection in India

Urban Data Collection in India 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, technology/data, governance 

ORGANISATION(S)

Indian Institute for Human Settlements in partnership with University of Cape Town and Connected Cities Lab. 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In the Indian context, data on urbanisation is not released at an adequate spatial and temporal resolution. While data is collected by various government agencies, however, it is collected relatively infrequently and is not released at a fine-grained resolution that allows researchers to understand urban inequalities, vulnerabilities, risks and exposure. This prevents policymakers, practitioners and researchers from formulating adequate policies and theory to deal with the challenges raised by urbanisation in these contexts. In order to address this, the Urban Informatics Lab and the Geospatial Lab at IIHS have been collaborating to develop open source, scalable methods to generate fine-grained data on India’s cities. This approach combines publicly available administrative data along with satellite data, using geo-spatial analysis techniques to develop new methods as well as new datasets that shed light on urban inequalities and pathways to sustainability. Further, IIHS are developing an Urban Observatory on Bangalore to disseminate this data. This approach is further being amplified through a set of partnerships across the Commonwealth – with the Connected Cities Lab, Australia and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. 

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Universities, research, technology, innovation, and knowledge sharing will be at the heart of ensuring sustainable cities and human settlements of the future.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”   

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS): https://iihs.co.in/

Categories
Pacific

Te Wānanga – Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland)

Te Wānanga – Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland)

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, Transport, SDGs, Communities, Good Health, Wellbeing

ORGANISATION(S)

Auckland Council, Auckland Transport and Mana Whenua (local Māori authorities)

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

Located at the meeting point of Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) city centre and Te Waitematā (Waitematā harbour), Te Wānanga is one of the new public spaces transforming our city centre waterfront. A design partnership with Mana Whenua (local Māori authorities) elevated design thinking to deliver a project that expresses local identity, culture history and aspirations for the future. This thinking brought a strong mauri (life force) focus to improving land and marine-based ecological health through the project. Te Wānanga has been designed as an ‘elevated tidal shelf’ which provides space for human, cultural and natural ecologies to interact. Kutai (mussels) secured below the deck provide habitat and food for marine fauna, improve water quality and provide a tangible means for educating the public on the need to care for and improve the mauri of Te Waitematā. Compact groves of coastal forest restore endemic taonga (treasured/important) species and create beautiful shady spots for people to enjoy as they relax. These groves play an important regenerative role, incorporating plants and associations from the original ecosystem of this area to re-introduce habitat and food for native fauna. Te Wānanga provides a valuable blueprint for future urban public realm development in Tāmaki Makaurau. Click here and here for more information.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.”
  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.”

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

Auckland Council

Categories
Pacific

4°C Cooler – Using Green Infrastructure to Build a Climate Resilient and Prosperous Melbourne

4°C Cooler – Using Green Infrastructure to Build a Climate Resilient and Prosperous Melbourne 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Urban planning, Climate, Resilience 

ORGANISATION(S)

The City of Melbourne 

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In response to the extremely hot weather experienced in Melbourne over several years, the City of Melbourne have developed an Urban Forest Strategy and Open Space Strategy. The aim is to green the city and ultimately reduce the summertime temperatures in Melbourne by 4°C by 2040. The strategies are to double the green canopy over the city up to 40%, increase the network of green spaces and to expand stormwater harvesting to provide irrigation at times of drought. So far $40 million has been invested and since 2010, 15,000 trees have been planted, streets retrofitted for increased permeability and a new stormwater harvesting system contributes to 25% of water required for landscape irrigation. Click here for more information. 

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and where the impacts of climate change are experienced acutely.”
  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.”
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.”

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

UN-Habitat: https://unhabitat.org/

Categories
Africa

Embedding Sanitation and Hygiene in Town Planning in Babati, Tanzania

Embedding Sanitation and Hygiene in Town Planning in Babati, Tanzania 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

WASH, Governance, Planning, Capacity Building, Data  

ORGANISATION(S)

WaterAid Tanzania as project lead; the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) for lead on research; Babati Town Council (BTC) to lead locally and link with communities; the Babati Water and Sanitation Authority (BAWASA) for technical expertise; and Manyara Regional Secretariat to supervise the implementation of research.  

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In 2019, Babati had neither proper wastewater management system nor sanitary solid waste disposal. The main challenge to address this was the reluctance of authorities to invest and work with other actors on sanitation and hygiene. This was partly due to the common misconception that sanitation has to be done with a sewerage system, with very large capital costs, even though the town relied on on-site sanitation. An action research programme took stock of the situation through a formative research, data collection with city authorities and communities, a political economy analysis and a Shit-Flow-Diagram. The results were used for a scenario planning workshop which brought together many town actors to identify which options for sanitation and for hygiene were possible and preferable. Local authorities of secondary cities can find themselves constrained when considering sanitation: their size and the typical engineers’ training seems to mandate sewerage, which is very expensive to install and maintain. This attitude can create paralysis and prevent any meaningful investment in infrastructure improvements. This project has shown a method to accompany authorities in finding out which greater range of options is available to them and prioritise investments. Click here for more information.

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens.”   

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

WaterAid: https://www.wateraid.org/uk/

Categories
Africa

Strategic Planning in eThekwini, South Africa

Strategic Planning in eThekwini, South Africa 

CROSS-CUTTING SECTORS

Governance, planning, resilience, finance, capacity building, SDGs 

ORGANISATION(S)

eThekwini Municipality

PROJECT OVERVIEW 

In many countries across the world the challenge for sustainable urbanisation is that different spheres of government often work in silos which leads to a lack of coherence in planning and implementation at the local level. In an effort to address this South Africa created a District Development Model in 2019. The Model ensures all three spheres of government work together, with communities and stakeholders, to plan, budget and implement in unison. The Model aims to improve the coherence and impact of government service delivery with a focus on 44 Districts and 8 Metros. Alongside the District Development Model, eThekwini has created an Integrated Development Plan (IDP) which takes the vision from the Model to generate implementational mechanisms at the institutional level. It includes capacity building workshops and mentoring for long term strategic development as well as aligning the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the IDP outcomes. In the first year of the IDP there were 60 SDG indicators without associated projects, in the second year there were 48 and in the third year only 40 which highlights significant progress. To find out more about the IDP click here.  

RELEVANCE TO THE CALL TO ACTION ON SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH

These examples have been chosen because of their relevance to the Call to Action, as shown by the direct quotes provided below. To view the Call to Action click here.

  • “Sustainable urbanisation demands collective action – genuine multi-level governance – to empower, enable and support cities and their citizens” 
  • “Cities and human settlements are responsible for ensuring delivery of essential services including water, sanitation, healthcare, education, public transport, and housing, upon which their citizens depend.” 
  • “Sustainable urbanisation requires a commitment to good governance, integrated planning, effective service delivery together with fiscal and political empowerment.”  

THIS EXAMPLE HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY

eThekwini Municipality