Green Urban Economy: Translating Green Economy to the City Level

Green Economy was one of the two key themes of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012. ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) set out to translate this internationally formulated theme to the local government and city level. ¹³

“Green Urban Economy” is a political and practice oriented concept, which connects the global significance of economic activity in urban centers and metropolitan regions with the challenges of the future (in which an increasing urban population follows an urban lifestyle) and the specific scope of action of their local governments in collaboration with other actors

Greening the Urban Economy consists of a bundle of measures, laws, instruments, mechanisms, which reward ecologically and socially sensible action economically and therewith accelerate the transformation of the economy towards a sustainable urban economy. It relates to the preservation of environmental quality and supporting environmentalism.

• Greening the Urban Economy sets the emphasis on local government as innovator and driver, with the multiplicity of city actors at their side. It is based on the fact that today already more than the majority of economic goods and services are produced in an urban economy. It refers to towns, cities and mega-urban regions as a place of living, activity and administration unit in a period of rapid worldwide urbanization.

• Greening the Urban Economy includes many dimensions:

decent jobs for the many, equitable access to resources and protection from risks, such as the consequences of climate change. It refers to the management of household or private affairs and especially expenses. It also relates to the management of resources of a community, country, etc., especially with a view to its productivity.

Example of Local Action for Greening the (Urban) Economy: Municipalities…

• … use their economic and financial instruments to advance low carbon development and resource efficiency;

Examples: Tokyo Carbon Trade, congestion charge.

• … use their planning authority for designing more eco-efficient, compact cities; Examples: Strategic development plans, EcoMobility and public transport services, by-laws such as buildings codes for renewables and energy efficiency.

• … use their purchasing power to get more and cheaper green products and services on the market; Examples: Green purchasing, joint procurement.

• … use municipal operations and utilities as drivers for eco-efficiency and (green) job creation; Examples: Increasing the amount of local renewables in the energy provision for citizens, facilitating job training on installation technologies.

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Urban Development Policies  Study notes for M. plan Sem-II

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