Cities & Coasts

Innovation Inspired by Nature

Nature provides key benefits for resilience and can be the foundation for sustainability. It cleans the air and water, it provides food, beauty and serenity for people. The “green” realm provides immense benefits to societies, cities, and their citizens. Perspectives and solutions for creating cities that are resilient, sustainable, liveable and just for everyone.

Looking for Leaders? Look at Smart Cities

With urban populations continuing to grow and contributing more than their fair share of global emissions, cities must step up and fulfil their potential as sources of solutions to the climate crisis. Initiatives such as C40 smart cities can help catalyse ambitious climate action plans in line with science-based targets. The latest C40 meeting in Copenhagen shows that there is a growing drive for cities to take the lead in generating positive change.

830 Billion in Investments: The Mission is Possible

Climate Finance is the key to drive urbanization toward Smart Cities. It also means shifting investments towards building a vision of our common future. And we already know how to do it, on both global and regional scales.

Heat: we have learned the lessons

Summer 2003, the severe heat wave that affected Europe (15,000 excess deaths over August in France, nearly 1,100 of those in Paris) taught our cities that adaptation and preparedness are not an option but a necessity. How are we putting the lesson into practice?

Cities are laboratories - Climate Foresight - CMCC

Cities as climate laboratories for ecological research

A new study attempts to verify if and in which cases cities can constitute proxies to study the effects of long-term climate impacts on plants and animal species. Some peculiar conditions of urban centres, such as high CO2 concentrations, are hard to replicate experimentally; on the other hand, urban variables and characteristics could be misleading for the ecological research.

Cities: pushing for an ecosystem approach

Cities: pushing for an ecosystem approach

Cities as ecosystems? The benefits of this approach are manifold, including water purification, improved public health, reduced disaster exposure, enhanced resilience and social justice. But to move cities – and so the planet – into a sustainable future, this approach must become more integrated and pragmatic, and applied also in the global south, says on Nature Xuemei Bai, professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University in Canberra.