LMunicipalities and cities are major players in climate policies. Through their investments, they can promote active mobility or revegetation. On the contrary, they can perpetuate development methods that are unfavorable to the climate and to biodiversity, by continuing the artificialization of soils or by reinforcing dependence on carbon-based modes of transport.
To accelerate the urban transformations that are becoming more and more urgent, let’s encourage citizen expertise in the public expenditure of each community. How to act in the face of climate change at the level of municipalities and metropolises? At COP27, a summary for the decision-makers of the cities of the 6e assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)) has been published.
This summary for policymakers highlights priority actions for cities to contribute effectively and positively to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Unsurprisingly, these priorities are: ensuring access to clean energy, promoting walking and cycling, improving water management, creating open and connected green spaces, and even forests, wetlands and agriculture in town.
Designing new resilient urban centers
In the IPCC reports, a sustainable city is defined as a city organized for its inhabitants rather than around the car. It gives everyone quick access to businesses, employment, health and entertainment services on foot, by public transport or by bicycle.
This vision is not declined in the same way according to the regions of the world: in the emerging or rapidly developing cities of the countries of the South, it is possible to think of new resilient urban centers adapted to the challenges of the 21st century.e century from their conception. This is a major challenge since it is estimated that the urban population will grow by 2.5 billion people over the next three decadesas the IPCC pointed out in its February 2022 report.
In already developed cities like most French cities, the solutions identified by the IPCC include both a certain densification to make services accessible and a renaturation of cities to mitigate urban heat islands and promote biodiversity.
Deconstructing myths that are still firmly anchored
Well thought out, this approach can transform our cities into places that are favorable to jobs and businesses, pleasant to live in, less polluted and simply more practical, as the book shows Let’s fix the city! by architect Christine Leconte and urban planner Sylvain Grisot (Apogée, 2022).
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