scholarly journals The CUSSH programme: learning how to support cities’ transformational change towards health and sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Michael Davies ◽  
Kristine Belesova ◽  
Melanie Crane ◽  
Joanna Hale ◽  
Andy Haines ◽  
...  

The Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH) project is a global research programme on the complex systemic connections between urban development and health. Through transdisciplinary methods it will develop critical evidence on how to achieve the far-reaching transformation of cities needed to address vital environmental imperatives for planetary health in the 21st century. CUSSH’s core components include: (i) a review of evidence on the effects of climate actions (both mitigation and adaptation) and factors influencing their implementation in urban settings; (ii) the development and application of methods for tracking the progress of cities towards sustainability and health goals; (iii) the development and application of models to assess the impact on population health, health inequalities, socio-economic development and environmental parameters of urban development strategies, in order to support policy decisions; (iv) iterative in-depth engagements with stakeholders in partner cities in low-, middle- and high-income settings, using systems-based participatory methods, to test and support the implementation of the transformative changes needed to meet local and global health and sustainability objectives; (v) a programme of public engagement and capacity building. Through these steps, the programme will provide transferable evidence on how to accelerate actions essential to achieving population-level health and global climate goals through, amongst others, changing cities’ energy provision, transport infrastructure, green infrastructure, air quality, waste management and housing.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Michael Davies ◽  
Kristine Belesova ◽  
Melanie Crane ◽  
Joanna Hale ◽  
Andy Haines ◽  
...  

This paper describes a global research programme on the complex systemic connections between urban development and health. Through transdisciplinary methods the Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH) project will develop critical evidence on how to achieve the far-reaching transformation of cities needed to address vital environmental imperatives for planetary health in the 21st Century. CUSSH’s core components include: (i) a review of evidence on the effects of climate actions (both mitigation and adaptation) and factors influencing their implementation in urban settings; (ii) the development and application of methods for tracking the progress of cities towards sustainability and health goals; (iii) the development and application of models to assess the impact on population health, health inequalities, socio-economic development and environmental parameters of urban development strategies, in order to support policy decisions; (iv) iterative in-depth engagements with stakeholders in partner cities in low-, middle- and high-income settings, using systems-based participatory methods, to test and support the implementation of the transformative changes needed to meet local and global health and sustainability objectives; (v) a programme of public engagement and capacity building. Through these steps, the programme will provide transferable evidence on how to accelerate actions essential to achieving population-level health and global climate goals through, amongst others, changing cities’ energy provision, transport infrastructure, green infrastructure, air quality, waste management and housing.


2015 ◽  
Vol 747 ◽  
pp. 127-131
Author(s):  
Quintarina Uniaty

The main challenge in the twenty-first century is to work towards a more resilient urban world and sustainable. In the context of a global urban strategy, endurance is the attention to the capacity of urban systems, including the natural environment, the built environment, social and economic elements; to be able to manage change, to learn from a difficult situation and be in a position to rise from urban problems. Globally, the townsfolk face a water crisis within the next ten years, as the impact of climate change in exhaust emissions will affect the quality of air, land and water; which will ultimately reduce the quality of the environment. Sustainability questioned whether certain aspects of the day-to-day activities, and the systems of community life, can be ongoing into the futureonce again from the standpoint of social, economic and environmental. Eco city is a phrase that is often used in ecological issues raised in the concept of sustainable urban planning and green city embodiment of the challenges ahead in sustainable economic development, and the future development of smart green city. The convergence of technology and environmental issues has changed the world economy that offers a green city promising future - a city that appreciates natural heritage and offer all parties involved. This paper will discuss green infrastructure as water management control system in urban development concepts that contribute to build a sustainable green city management.Key words : green infrastructure, water management system.


Author(s):  
Stephens Tim

This chapter examines the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on the oceans and their implications for the international law of the sea. In particular, it assesses the implications of rising sea levels for territorial sea baselines, the seawards extent of maritime zones, and maritime boundaries. It also considers the restrictions placed by the UN Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) upon States in pursuing climate mitigation and adaptation policies, such as attempts to ‘engineer’ the global climate by artificially enhancing the capacity of the oceans to draw CO2 from the atmosphere. The chapter analyzes the role of the LOSC, alongside other treaty regimes, in addressing the serious threat of ocean acidification.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1183
Author(s):  
Vidya Anderson ◽  
William A. Gough

Nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure present an opportunity to reduce air pollutant concentrations and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents new findings from a controlled field study in Ontario, Canada, evaluating the impact of productive applications of green infrastructure on air pollution and carbon dioxide concentrations across different agricultural morphologies compared to other non-productive applications. This study demonstrates that productive green infrastructure applications are as beneficial as non-productive applications in reducing ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide concentrations. Nature-based solutions present an opportunity to build climate resilience into agricultural systems through supply-side mitigation and adaptation. The implementation of productive green infrastructure could be a viable agricultural practice to address multiple climate change impacts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7164
Author(s):  
Aurel Pera

In this systematic review, I cumulate previous research findings indicating that sustainable urbanism and networked public governance can be instrumental in carrying out extensive sustainability and resilience objectives through steering urban transformations in the direction of sustainability and resilience. Urban analytics data infrastructure, multicriteria sustainability evaluation, and sustainable performance assessment display the intricate network dynamics operational within cities, impacting urban resilience decision-making processes and leading to equitable and sustainable urban development. Throughout July 2020, I conducted a quantitative literature review of the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest databases, search terms including “sustainable urban planning,” “urban sustainability assessment,” “sustainable urban governance/urban sustainability governance,” “sustainable urban development,” “sustainable/sustainability behavior,” and “environmental performance.” As I focused on research published exclusively in the past two years, only 301 various types of articles met the eligibility criteria. By removing those whose results were inconclusive, unconfirmed by replication, or too general, and because of space constraints, I selected 153, mainly empirical, sources. Future research should investigate whether the assessment of environmental sustainability performance of heterogeneous urban configurations by shared sustainability policymaking through spatial green infrastructure planning and regulations articulate sustainable urban design and governance for the development of innovative performance.


Author(s):  
Pavla Řezníčková ◽  
Lenka Tajmrová ◽  
Petr Pařil ◽  
Světlana Zahrádková

Natural drying up of streams is not common in Central Europe. Nevertheless, the recurrent drying up of small streams in last decades has shown an urgent need to pay attention to the impact of global climate change. This strong disturbance influences conditions in streams markedly and causes changes in the taxonomical and functional structure of biota. The aim of the study was to compare aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages of one intermittent and one permanent brook in South Moravia. The study was carried out in two stretches with otherwise comparable environmental parameters. Lower densities of macroinvertebrates were found at the intermittent site the difference was statistically significant. The number of taxa and diversity were significantly higher at the permanent site. Functional structure of the assemblages also varied. The shares of rheobionts, grazers and predators differed.


Author(s):  
Dzmitry Kurlovich ◽  
Iryna Usova ◽  
Vera Sysoyeva

In recent years, the Republic of Belarus has developed the practice of introducing elements of green infrastructure into urban development programs. This is a contribution to the transition to environmentally friendly production technologies, the construction of buildings with a low share of energy and resource consumption, the implementation of environmental-oriented transport infrastructure, the use of effective technologies for the collection, disposal and processing of waste, and an increase in amount of green areas in cities. From 2016 to the present, the country is implementing a 5-year project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) “Supporting Green Urban Development in Small and Medium-Sized Cities in Belarus”. The objective of the Project is the growth of development of green urban development plans and pilot green urban development initiatives in the cities of Polack, Navapolack, Navahrudak related to energy efficiency and sustainable transport. An important component in the formation of green urban planning is the operation of spatial information. For this purpose, mapping and geoinformation approaches were applied in the study. They made it possible to identify the modern features of the distribution of green city indicators in pilot cities, carry out their analysis and propose a new development strategy that will improve the blue-green infrastructure. For each city, in the instrumental geographic information systems ArcGIS and QGIS, a methodology was developed and indicators were mapped that characterize condition of residential areas, quality of buildings, population density, location of green areas, proximity of public transport stops and other urban infrastructure, tourism service infrastructure and the distribution of energy users and sources of CO2 emissions. Based on the results of GIS analysis of the obtained layers of indicators of the profile of the green city, a spatial development strategy was formed. The information of the thematic layers on indicators of urban development became the basis for the creation of a series of web maps in ArcGIS Online, which are currently being discussed by residents of key cities. The cartographic materials prepared within the project can be finalized and used to work with city administrations, as well as to inform the population about the state of the city and the decisions taken.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1015-1034
Author(s):  
O.Yu. Patrakeeva

Subject. The paper considers national projects in the field of transport infrastructure, i.e. Safe and High-quality Roads and Comprehensive Plan for Modernization and Expansion of Trunk Infrastructure, and the specifics of their implementation in the Rostov Oblast. Objectives. The aim is to conduct a statistical assessment of the impact of transport infrastructure on the region’s economic performance and define prospects for and risks of the implementation of national infrastructure projects in conditions of a shrinking economy. Methods. I use available statistics and apply methods and approaches with time-series data, namely stationarity and cointegration tests, vector autoregression models. Results. The level of economic development has an impact on transport infrastructure in the short run. However, the mutual influence has not been statistically confirmed. The paper revealed that investments in the sphere of transport reduce risk of accidents on the roads of the Rostov Oblast. Improving the quality of roads with high traffic flow by reducing investments in the maintenance of subsidiary roads enables to decrease accident rate on the whole. Conclusions. In conditions of economy shrinking caused by the complex epidemiological situation and measures aimed at minimizing the spread of coronavirus, it is crucial to create a solid foundation for further economic recovery. At the government level, it is decided to continue implementing national projects as significant tools for recovery growth.


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