Sustainable urban (re)development

Sustainable urban (re)development

Experiences and recommendations for an integral policy approach

Report Delft, March 2010

Author(s): J. H.B. (Jos) Benner (CE Delft) M.C.M. (Marjolein) Koot (CE Delft) W.C.A. (Willem) Braat (CE Delft) L.M.L. (Lonneke) Wielders (CE Delft) D. (Duzan) Doepel (Doepel Strijkers Architects) N. (Niels) Sorel (Doepel Strijkers Architects) N. (Nico) Tillie (TU Delft) Prof. J.D.M. (Anke) van Hal (Nyenrode Business University) B. (Birgit) Dulski (Nyenrode Business University) J. (Joost) van Ettekoven (Nyenrode Business University)

Publication Data Bibliographical data: J. H.B. (Jos) Benner (CE Delft), M.C.M. (Marjolein) Koot (CE Delft), W.C.A. (Willem) Braat (CE Delft), L.M.L. (Lonneke) Wielders (CE Delft), D. (Duzan) Doepel (DSA) , N. (Niels) Sorel (DSA), N. (Nico) Tillie (TU Delft), Prof. J.D.M. (Anke) van Hal (Nyenrode Business Universiteit), B. (Birgit) Dulski (Nyenrode Business Universiteit), J. (Joost) van Ettekoven (Nyenrode Business Universiteit) Sustainable urban (re)development An integral policy approach Delft, CE Delft, March 2010

Publication number: CE-publications are available from www.ce.nl Commissioned by: Further information on this study can be obtained from the contact person

© copyright, CE Delft, Delft CE Delft Committed to the Environment CE Delft is an independent research and consultancy organisation specialised in developing structural and innovative solutions to environmental problems. CE Delfts solutions are characterised in being politically feasible, technologically sound, economically prudent and socially equitable.

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3.142.1 - Sustainable urban (re)development

Contents Summary

5

Samenvatting

7

1

Project objective and approach

9

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Background Problem definition Project objective Key concepts of sustainable urban (re)development Project approach

9 9 10 10 11

2

Definitions and selected cities

13

2.1 2.2 2.3

Definition sustainable urban (re)development Indicators and parameters Selection of the six exemplary cities

13 13 15

3

Analysis of the six cities

21

3.1 3.2 3.3

Physical and spatial quality Socio- economic quality Ecological quality

21 31 34

4

Conclusions & recommendations

39

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9

Policy characteristics and results City profile used to strengthen the approach Compactness and multiple area use Public green Citizen participation The cultural and demographic aspect Ecological aspects Policy implications Recommendations for a successful policy approach

39 41 42 42 43 43 44 44 46

City profiles

49

Amsterdam Copenhagen Ottawa Rotterdam San Francisco Vancouver

49 61 61 61 61 61

Annex B

Definitions

62

Annex C

Total list indicators/parameters

64

Annex D

Ranking lists and systems

69

Annex A A.1 A.2 A.3 A.4 A.5 A.6

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Summary The urbanization process in large parts of the world requires an adequate urban development response. This might be found in the modern concept of sustainable urban (re)development, which adequately integrates spatial planning, socio-economic stimuli and ecological answers. The study provides policy makers with insights and powerful examples of sustainable urban (re)development and of the underlying strategies. Based on numerous earlier exercises, relevant indicators and parameters are listed, clustered and incorporated into a framework that can be used to assess actual situations. In the project the following definition is used: “Sustainable urban (re)development offers a living environment of high spatial, physical and natu-ral quality, where people can well develop themselves both economically and socially and where the environment is considered optimally by low emissions, water management, etc. in such a way that the total system is continuable”. Based on this definition the indicators and parameters are grouped into three qualities; physical and spatial quality, socio–economic quality and ecological quality & flows. Important indicators in the first category are density, mixed area use and morphology. Examples in the second category are prosperity, well-being and the level of amenities. Some indicators in the last category are air quality, energy and water consumption and the travel modes. Six cities are selected and analysed: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Ottawa, Rotterdam, San Francisco and Vancouver. Main reason to select these cities was that the project sits in a Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and the Netherlands. Another reason is that these cities are considered to be exemplary front runners with respect to sustainable urban development. The analyses of the cities were intended to obtain a better understanding for the effectiveness of sustainable urban development strategies in general and not to judge, rank or benchmark the cities in any way. The cities show interesting similarities and differences in their approaches as well as unique pilots, which are elaborated upon in the report. The analyses lead to the following general findings, conclusions and recommendations. A first conclusion is that more integral sustainability approaches yield the best overall results. This might partly be due to the fact that these approaches are generally better integrated in the total policy processes; e.g. some cities use a sustainability checklist for every municipal decision taken on the development of the city. Another general conclusion is that the most successful approaches start from the social and physical health of the citizens; sustainable urban (re)development should be organized around people, rather than around cars or around GHG-protocols etc. In many cases municipalities also have to look further, as they serve a much wider area with e.g. harbour industrial complexes. The development of these areas requires a close co-operation with both the organisations involved and the federal government. From these two angles (the citizens and the wider importance of the city) an integral vision for the future of the city can be drawn-up. The resulting strategy for the urban sustainable development is then laid down in an integral strategy document.

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The strategy will have to be translated into a concrete set of actions. Packages of building blocks will have to be composed for the realisation of the policy intentions. Success factors for this process are leadership and enthusiasm, long-term consistency and citizen participation. Cultural & demographic characteristics

Social & physical health citizens

Vision on city future

Checklist for policy decisions Compact building Greening en.supply

Energy efficiency Waste reduction & recycl.

Strategy Leadership & enthusiasm

Integral strategy document

Citizen participation

Federal policy (economy, etc.)

National importance of the city

Public transport Cycle lanes

Long term consistency

Green areas

Realisation

Compactness and (eco)-density are important, though not sufficient, characterristics of a sustainable city. It is crucial to find the right balance for issues like affordability, liveliness, economic vibrancy, etc. Though good results can be realised by approaches that create conditions and stimulate people, this does not yield sufficient results in all sectors and for all groups of people. This is one of the reasons that several cities additionally tend towards more mandatory measures, to deal with the more difficult dossiers and with the laggards. Also in this field co-operation at regional, federal or even international level is required. The report ends with a set guiding principles and concrete buildings blocks for sustainable urban (re)development policies. These guiding principles and concrete elements can be used to improve the approach in virtually any city. With some extra elaboration, the principles and checklists might be developed into a serious measuring staff for the effectiveness of actual sustainable urban development policies in different cities.

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Samenvatting De sterke mate van urbanisatie, in grote delen van de wereld, vereist een adequate respons qua stedelijke ontwikkeling. Dit antwoord kan gevonden worden in het moderne concept van duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling, dat op een doeltreffende wijze ruimtelijke planning, sociaal-economische stimuli en ecologische antwoorden integreert. Deze studie verschaft beleidsmakers inzicht in en krachtige voorbeelden van duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling en in onderliggende strategieën. Op basis van vele eerdere exercities, zijn relevante indicatoren en parameters verzameld, geclusterd en vervat in een raamwerk dat gebruikt kan worden om bestaande situaties tegen het licht te houden. In het project is de volgende definitie gehanteerd: “Duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling biedt een leefomgeving van hoge ruimtelijke, fysieke en natuurlijke kwaliteit waarin mensen zich economisch en sociaal goed kunnen ontwikkelen (qua voorzieningen en veiligheid) en waarin het leefmilieu optimaal wordt gediend door lage emissies (stoffen, hitte en geluid), waterbeheer, e.d. zodanig dat het geheel volhoudbaar is”. Uitgaande van deze definitie zijn de indicatoren en parameters gegroepeerd naar drie facetten; de fysieke en ruimtelijke kwaliteit, de sociaal–economische kwaliteit en de ecologische kwaliteit & stromen. Belangrijke indicatoren in de eerste categorie zijn dichtheid, meervoudig ruimtegebruik en de morfologie. Voorbeelden in de tweede categorie zijn welvaart, welzijn en het niveau van voorzieningen. Indicatoren in de laatste categorie zijn lucht kwaliteit, het verbruik van energie en water en de reismodi. Zes steden zijn geselecteerd en geanalyseerd: Amsterdam, Kopenhagen, Ottawa, Rotterdam, San Francisco en Vancouver. Hoofdreden om deze steden te selecteren is dat het project onderdeel vormt van een Memorandum of Understanding tussen Canada en Nederland. Een andere reden is dat deze steden worden beschouwd als koplopers en voorbeelden met betrekking tot duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling. De analyses van de steden zijn alleen bedoeld om een beter begrip te krijgen voor de effectiviteit van de duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling strategieën in het algemeen en niet om de steden te beoordelen of onderling te rangschikken op welke manier dan ook. De steden tonen interestante overeenkomsten en verschillen in hun benaderingen en unieke pilotprojecten, die uitgewerkt worden in het rapport. De analyses leiden tot de volgende algemene bevindingen, conclusies en aanbevelingen. Een eerste conclusie is dat meer integrale benaderingen van de duurzaamheid tot de beste overallresultaten leiden. Dit kan deels een gevolg zijn van het feit dat deze benaderingen in het algemeen ook het best zijn geïntegreerd in de totale beleidsprocessen; zo gebruiken sommige steden een duurzaamheidschecklist voor ieder besluit over de ontwikkeling van de stad. Een andere algemene conclusie is dat de meet succesvolle benaderingen starten vanuit aandacht voor het sociale en fysieke welzijn van de burgers; duurzame stedelijke (her)ontwikkeling moet eerder georganiseerd worden rond mensen, dan rond bijvoorbeeld auto’s of emissiedoelstellingen. In veel gevallen moeten de steden ook verder kijken, aangezien zij een veel groter gebied bedienen met bijvoorbeeld voorzieningen en haven-industriële

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complexen. De ontwikkeling van deze gebieden vereist nauwe samenwerking met de betrokken organisaties and de nationale overheid. Vanuit deze twee invalshoeken (de burgers en het bredere belang van de stad) kan een integrale visie worden opgesteld rond de toekomst van de stad. De resulterende strategie voor de duurzame stedelijke ontwikkeling wordt dan verwoord in een integraal strategiedocument. De strategie moet dan nog worden vertaald in een concrete pakketten van bouwstenen om het beleid te realiseren. Succesfactoren bij dit proces zijn leidershap en enthousiasme, langetermijn consistentie en burgerparticipatie. Culturele & demografische karakteristieken

Toekomstvisie van de stad

Sociale & fysieke gezondh. burgers

Integraal strategiedocument

Burgerparticipatie

Checklist voor beleidsbesluiten Compact bouwen

Energieefficiency

Vergroenen en.voorz.

Openbaar vervoer

Afval reductie & recycling

Nationaal beleid (economie, etc.)

Nationaal belang van de stad

Fietspaden

Strategie Leiderschap & enthousiasme Langetermijn consistentie

Groene gebieden

Realisatie

Compactheid en (eco)dichtheid zijn belangrijke, maar geen doorslaggevende eigenschappen van een duurzame stad. Het is vooral van belang de juiste balans te vinden tussen zaken als betaalbaarheid, levendigheid, economische vitaliteit e.d. Alhoewel er goede resultaten bereikt kunnen worden met benaderingen die voorwaarden scheppen en stimuleren, levert dit niet voldoende resultaat op in alle sectoren en alle doelgroepen. Dit is één van de redenen dat verscheidene steden aanvullend inzetten op meer verplichtende maatregelen, als antwoord op de moeilijkere dossiers en met de achterblijvers. Ook op dit terrein is samenwerking op regionaal, nationaal of zelfs internationaal niveau vereist. Het rapport besluit met een set leidende principes en concrete bouwstenen voor duurzaam stedelijk (her)ontwikkelingsbeleid. Deze principes en bouwstenen kunnen worden benut om de aanpak te verbeteren in willekeurig welke stad. Met enige extra uitwerking kunnen de principes en checklists ook ontwikkeld worden tot een algemene maatstaf voor de effectiviteit van het duurzame stedelijke ontwikkelingsbeleid in steden.

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1 1.1

Project objective and approach Background The world is urbanizing. Already more than 3.3 billion people worldwide live in large cities. This urbanization process is caused by an autonomous migration of people towards cities, leaving other regions empty. This process is expected to continue and asks for an adequate urban development response. In addition, the cities themselves are in constant transition too. Old functions lapse, sometimes leaving open areas and new functions have to be integrated. This requires adequate urban development answers too. The solution might be found in the modern concept of sustainable urban (re)development. Sustainability hereby encompasses a wide scope of topics, varying from spatial planning, social and economic strength and ecological issues. Sustainable urban (re)development takes care of an ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy environment. The coordination of the Dutch policy in this area resorts under the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and its Directorate General for Housing, Communities and Integration (WWI). The policy field is trans-disciplinary since it affects the working spheres of the Ministry of VROM (all levels), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (economic development and energy), the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (mobility), the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (social policy), the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (health care) and the Ministry of the Interior (safety). The Ministries VROM and WWI work on the issue, through various programs, particularly at national level. As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ontario Canada, the Ministry of VROM wants to obtain a better understanding for the international experiences with sustainable urban (re)development. This understanding should be based on good examples, on the main parameters and indicators and on the integral policy approach that underlies the positive trends of sustainable urban (re)development.

1.2

Problem definition In assessing sustainable urban development schemes it is always the question to what extent the approach contributes in three key areas: social liveability, economical health and ecological sustainability of the city. This question is difficult to answer since the impact might partly be positive and partly be negative. E.g. compact building in cities has the advantage of limited use of space and concentrated public amenities, while at the same time it challenges the quality of living. Another example is that cities have the positive power to accommodate large groups of migrants, which however also includes the risk of social segregation. On both national and international level many parties are working on answers and solutions to the above mentioned dilemmas. Most of them just focus on one policy component, others strive for an integrated approach, but there is still not a clear crystallized overview of the actual status.

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Consequently, research on the lessons that can be learnt from relevant international exemplary cities could therefore provide valuable insights; e.g. in the underlying success- and failure factors.

Doepel Strijkers Architects Renewable city 2040 – Merwe Vierhavens, Rotterdam

1.3

Project objective The main project aim is to provide policy makers with a better understanding of powerful examples of sustainable urban (re)development and the underlying governmental interventions. The primary target group in The Netherlands encompasses the responsible policymakers at the ministries of VROM and Economic Affairs. A first sub-objective was to develop a set of parameters and indicators that could be used to select the exemplary cities. A second sub-objective was the synthesis of lessons from the exemplary cities into a set of clear images and good practices, which could be used in a presentation for the GLOBE 2010 conference in Vancouver and other meetings in Canada, in the context of this conference. As a consequence the project focus was on exemplary cities in Canada, in the United States and North West Europe. Obviously, good practices from elsewhere in the world were taken into account as well, but only if these offered lessons that were ‘not to be missed’. The end result of the project provides policymakers with a good documented base for the route towards a more sustainable urban (re)development future.

1.4

Key concepts of sustainable urban (re)development Sustainable urban (re)development is ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy. Under these general denominators a large number of more operational principles and issues like space use, health, affordability, feedstock, safety, mobility, environmental impact etc., are included and interconnected. Figure 1 gives an indication of these terms in the shell around the 'core' of sustainable urban (re)development.

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Figure 1

Key concepts of sustainable urban (re) development

Energy

Feedstock Health

Ecological sustainable

Mobil.

Space

Social Econ. healthy liveable Tenable

Safety Affordable

In practice the issues come together in the context of concrete policy questions around the approach of social issues like housing, the restructuring of old urban districts (both residential areas and industrial areas), water, waste and energy management and the objective of a high quality living environment for residents. The issues also play a role in the positioning of new urban areas and the choice for future building concepts, mobility solutions, energy supply, etc.

1.5

Project approach The project was carried out by a consortium, consisting of CE Delft, Doepel Strijkers Architects (DSA) and the Centre for Sustainability of the Nyenrode Business University. The project was intended to be a practical exploration, rather than a scientific research project. As a consequence most data and descriptions in this report have a qualitative character, rather than a quantitative. This approach was inevitable because of the limited running period for the project 1 , but it was also consciously chosen for, based on the notion that a more scientific approach would not automatically lead to a better results. Work on the project was divided into five main steps. The process is described below and the process and report structure are illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Project process and report structure

Chapter 1 & 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Annexes

1

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Introduction and Project approach Definition, indicators and selection cities

Analyzing spatial and physical quality

Analyzing social and economical quality

Analyzing ecological quality & flows

Conclusions / recommendations

Description cities

Basic principles

Analysis

Results

Appendices

Official start project 31 December 2009, the GLOBE 2010 is at 24th -26th March 2010 in Vancouver


1.5.1

Definition, indicators and parameters sustainable urban (re)development

For the project we have defined our own definition of sustainable urban (re)development is captured in a definition. This definition is based on and in line with existing definitions, but goes a little bit further than all well-known alternatives. At the same time a general list of indicators and parameters was drawn up, based on the three basic requirements; ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy. This listing is included in the report and is based on structural analysis of existing ranking lists, desk research and the expert opinions of the three consortium partners. The indicators were clustered in clearly defined categories during a first work session with the consortium partners. Then the list was further operationalized, by the adding of parameters and descriptions. Both the definition and the set of indicators were presented to the ministry of VROM and to several relevant Canadian parties. The results of this first step are listed in Chapter 2.

1.5.2

1.5.3

1.5.4

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Selection of the example cities

For the selection of exemplary cities for sustainable urban (re)development policies, various existing ranking lists for sustainable cities were used. At the same time key selection criteria were formulated. These criteria are derived from the chosen definition of sustainable urban (re)development, the wish to see actual progress in the local development and the wish to select somehow comparable examples in Europe and Canada, supplemented with an exemplary American city. This lead to a long list of potentially exemplary cities in America, Canada and Europe. In a joint meeting with the consortium partners, a short list of the sample cities was drawn-up, based on the key criteria. The preliminary selection was presented to both the ministry of VROM and the Canadian parties for a reaction and based on the comments the list was adjusted. The motivated and definitive list of exemplary cities, was reviewed in a second meeting. In this meeting, the consortium partners, together with a representative from VROM, made a last check on the list indicators and parameters to determine and define them more precisely for the next step. A brief description of the motives to selected each of the exemplary cities is included in Chapter 2.

Analysing the selected cities

In the next step the selected six cities were assessed on their sustainability qualities (physical and spatial quality, socio–economic quality and ecological quality, including resources & mobility flows). The analysis was built up from three angels: (1) data and figures, (2) policy context (targets, actions etc.) and (3) experiences and lessons. The information and trends for the three divisions are based on available public resources and input from policymakers in the selected cities. This analysis on the six selected cities is described in detail in Chapter 3.

The integral approach on policy

From the analyses conclusions were drawn and overall recommendations are formulated for the integral approach of sustainable urban (re)development. The conclusions are supported by graphs. This integral approach on sustainable urban (re)development is discussed in Chapter 4.


2

Definitions and selected cities In this Chapter the definition of sustainable urban (re)development is given, based on existing definitions and the three formulated key concepts ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy. Paragraph 2.2 describes and lists the indicators and operational parameters. Finally a brief background description on the motives for the selection of each of the six cities is given in paragraph 2.3.

2.1

Definition sustainable urban (re)development Our definition on sustainable urban (re)development is based on a combination of existing definitions in the broadest sense of sustainable urban development and on the three, by our self defined, key concepts for sustainable urban (re)development: ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy. In Annex B, a selection of definitions on sustainable urban development is taken up. At the same time the key terms for policy recommendation are derived from the formulated definition. Together with the contractor VROM, the following definition for sustainable urban (re)development is defined and the key words on policy are given: Definition sustainable urban (re)development Sustainable urban (re)development offers a living environment of high spatial, physical and natural quality, where people can well develop themselves both economically and socially (as to amenities and safety) and where the environment is considered optimally by low emissions (substances, heat and noise), water management, etc. in such a way that the total system is continuable. This definition sets the framework for the indicators and parameters on the key concept for sustainable urban (re)development and the selection of the example cities.

2.2

Indicators and parameters The indicators and parameters are composed based on the three key concepts for sustainable urban (re)development (ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy) and on ranking lists analysis. They are grouped into three qualities; physical and spatial quality, social – economic quality and ecological quality & flows. In Annex C this process is shortly described and imaged. Also in Annex C a complete summarized table with descriptions and resources of the indicators and parameters per quality cluster can be found. The overview of the indicators and parameters by the three quality clusters is given in the table below.

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Table 1

Overview of the indicators and parameters

Quality cluster

Indicator

Parameter

Physical and spatial quality

Density

-

Inhabitants per km2 Dwellings per km2

Mixed use

-

Jobs/housing ratio (neighbourhood/district) Dispersion of services (schools, grocery stores, restaurants)

Public green (parks)

-

Area of green per inhabitant Accessibility of green, % of inhabitants living within 500 m of public green

Urban form

-

Typology of building blocks (descriptive indicator) Grid layout (descriptive indicator)

-

Social – economic quality

Energy efficient buildings

-

Number of energy efficient buildings per 100.000 inhabitants

Economic quality (prosperity)

-

City product per capita Employment Distribution of income / average income Economic stability Affordability (descriptive indicator) Demography (descriptive indicator)

Social quality (well-being)

-

Safety ((descriptive indicator) Demography (descriptive indicator) Citizen participation (descriptive indicator) Identity (descriptive indicator) Social equity

Level of amenities

-

Health Education Entertainment

Total GHG emissions (absolute and/or trend)

-

Total GHG emissions of at least two years

Residential GHG emissions (absolute and/or trend)

-

Residential GHG emissions of at least two years

GHG emissions per capita (absolute and/or trend)

-

Total GHG emissions of at least two years Number of Inhabitants

-

Ecological quality & flows

Solid waste production households (absolute and/or trend)

-

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Total solid waste production residential sector of at least two years Number of households

Recycling percentage of residential waste

-

Share of residential waste recycled

Water consumption per capita (absolute and/or trend)

-

Total residential water use of at least two years Number of inhabitants

Travel mode to work

-


-

Share between travel modes to work

Air quality trends

Concentration level of several years Concentration level of several years Concentration level of several years Concentration level of several years

-

PM10 for NO2 for O3 for PM2,5 for

The parameters in italic will be qualitative instead of quantitative data.

A summary of the indicators of the three quality clusters is given in Figure 3. Figure 3

Summary of the relationship of the indicators national regional local (sustainable) Energy CO2, NO x,…

Energy efficient buildings Density Public green Mixed use Urban form

Water

Water (dirty)

Economic quality (prosperity)

Rescources

Social quality (well being)

Mobility

Mobility

Level of facilities

Recycling Waste Social – economic quality Physical and spatial quality Ecological quality & flows

2.3

Selection of the six exemplary cities For the selection of the example cities we used ‘high score’ on sustainability of different ranking lists as initial decisive parameter, the used ranking lists can be found in Annex D. A first selection could be made and formed a long list of example cities. Together with the formulated key criteria for the selection (see textbox below) we selected six sustainable cities as exemplary cities.

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Key criteria for the selection: - Known as an example of sustainability; in general or on specific aspects. - Scale and (institutional) context to some extent similar to the Dutch situation. - Attractive living environment for a wide range of target groups; - Progress; is a strong sustainable (re)development visible at the moment? - On the one side some spreading in geographical position, size and morphology, on the other side the possibility to compose clusters of "similar" cities. The six selected cities are:

Amsterdam Amsterdam is the Dutch capital city with sustainable ambitions that reach a size comparable to the foreign cities. It is also the city that is most recognizable for people outside the Netherlands.

Copenhagen Copenhagen is seen as one of the top class European sustainable cities. The national and local government both have a relative long tradition of focus on sustainable development. Almost all buildings are heated with district heating and the use of bicycles is very high. Much urban development is within the city, but still the city keeps its green character. About 80 % of all citizens live at a maximum of 300 meters near a park or recreational area.

Ottawa The Canadian city Ottawa has embraced a strong, cross-departmental environmental agenda to improve and preserve Ottawa's environment. The Greenbelt is a 14,950 hectare crescent of land within the present-day boundaries of the city of Ottawa, in which real estate development is strictly controlled. Other priorities are the creation of pleasant transportation corridors, the promotion of cycling and walking, and storm water management,

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which amongst else results in green roof plans.

Rotterdam The city of Rotterdam improves the climate for the benefit of people, the environment, and the economy. This challenge is confronted by collective initiators ‘Rotterdam Climate Initiative’ (RCI) existing of parties like Port of Rotterdam and the City of Rotterdam. The ambition is to reduce the CO2emission of the built-up area by 50% in 2025 compared with 1990. RCI is part of the international Clinton Climate Initiative.

San Francisco San Francisco attracts attention as a sustainable city. It traditionally has a ‘green’ focus. For American standards the city has a high density, is well known for being walker friendly and has a high use of public transport. It has a prominent position in the field of waste reduction and -recycling and local food production and consumption.

Vancouver Vancouver is a frequently mentioned city in several sustainable listings and is especially famous for its pleasant living environment. The city has about 25 years of experience with co-operation and understanding between public and private parties in shaping the city. Increasing the density (eco-density!), the revival of the city centre and the redevelopment of water front sites are focus areas for Vancouver. With these focus points the city can compete with suburbs in being an attractive settling place for families. Vancouver profited from the resettlement in their city of prosperous Hong Kong citizens after the return of Hong Kong to China.

The arguments for the selection in summary: − 2 cities in Canada, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in the U.S. and 1 in Denmark − 3 cities have about 750,000 inhabitants (Amsterdam, Ottawa and San Francisco)

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− −

3 well known examples (Vancouver, San Francisco and Copenhagen) versus thee relative unknown examples (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Ottawa) All cities have a link with water, however not all directly next to the sea (San Francisco, Vancouver and Copenhagen pretty close though).

Some additional data on the morphology of the cities Amsterdam is famous for its historic centre with canals forming four concentric half-circles with their ends emerging at the IJ bay. The centre and surrounding neighbourhoods inside the A10 motorway ring road have the highest density. The centre consist highly of row houses, just outside the canals medium high apartment buildings dominate. High rise buildings are rare. Outside the A10 ring road, in the west and south east (‘Bijlmer’) large neighbourhoods build after Word War II, with the characteristic of high rise buildings in a uniform pattern and functional separation. Latest large scale expansion of the city is IJburg, a residential area build on several artificial islands in the IJ bay. From a mono central city Amsterdam transforms in al poly nuclear city. Within the city the Zuidas’ (South Axis) is developed as new business and residential district. Current urban redevelopment area is the borders of the IJ. The relation between the urban and rural land is characterized by the metaphor of fingers or wedges. Copenhagen’s medieval centre lays on the border of the Øresund, the strait of water that separates Denmark from Sweden. Outside the city centre the shape of the city is highly determined by the 1949 ‘Finger Plan’ dividing the suburbs into five fingers. The fingers form the suburban build up area, with a public transport (S-train) connection to the city centre. The wedges between the fingers were kept green and later on used for the construction of highways. Moving outside the city there is a ring of apartment buildings. Further, outside the municipality of Copenhagen start suburbs with detached houses. The city itself is known for its cycle friendliness in providing dedicated lanes, paths and routes. By the opening of the Oresund bridge in 2000 Copenhagen is connected to the Swedish city of Malmö. The construction of this bridge was a boost for the regional development and seen as good practice of polycentric urban development Ottawa is on the border of the Ottawa River and crossed by the Rideau River. Across the Ottawa River is the City of Gatineau. Ottawa’s current spatial form was highly determined by the 1950 Masterplan. This plan designated a Green Belt around the city. Its original purpose included the prevention of urban sprawl (which was threatening the rural areas surrounding the city), as well as to provide open space for the future development of farms, natural areas and government campuses. Although the Green Belt is still in place and conserved, municipalities outside the Green Belt grew heavily. The centre, on the border of the river, is characterized by high rise office and governmental buildings. Outside this CBD, the city consists mainly of detached or semi-detached houses.

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Rotterdam, originally named after the River the Rotte but the river the Maas which is the gateway from the Northsea to the European hinterland. A large part of the municipality territory is taken one of the world’s largest harbours. The Maas divides the city in a northern and a southern part. During the Second World War la large part of the centre was bombed, the rebuilding was based on modern ideas on an city. Rotterdam is the Dutch city with the most high rise buildings. Near the central station in, but also on the waterfront are high apartment en office buildings situated. Large areas consist of medium high rise apartments in closed blocks. As in Amsterdam post war neighbourhoods like Pendrcht and Hoogvliet are characterized by uniform building patterns, with lots of open space San Francisco is part of large urban area (San Francisco Bay Area) with cities like Oakland and San Jose. The (administrative) city itself forms a relative small part of this urban agglomeration, situated on a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco is famous for its hills. There are more than 50 hills within city limits. Nob hill and the financial district form the CBD in the northeast, with high rise buildings. The further from this centre the lower the building heights get. Large part of the city is divided in grid layout, with roads heading east west and north - south. San Francisco has lots of parks. The Golden Gate park and Presidio form by far the largest. Vancouver is located on a peninsula. It lies between Burrard Inlet to the north and the Fraser River to the south. On the west is the Strait of Georgia, it is shielded from the Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island. Just north of the city start the mountains. The northern point of the city is Stanley Park, adjacent to this park, the highest densities are found in West End and Downtown. The rest of the city consists mainly of detached and semi-detached or row houses. Most roads are in a grid layout with an east -west and north – south direction.

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3

Analysis of the six cities In this Chapter we present a selection of the data gathered on the cities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Ottawa, Rotterdam, San Francisco and Vancouver. Much more extensive overviews of data are included in the city profiles and policy descriptions in annex A. We illustrate striking differences and parallels in characteristic figures and try to explain these. For that purpose we briefly describe the relevant policy priorities and initiatives in the six cities. Finally, we draw lessons from the data, experiences and differences for future policy making, anywhere in the world.

3.1

Physical and spatial quality The spatial form of the city influences the sustainability of the city in different ways. The spatial quality is related to the overall attractive-ness of the city for inhabitants, tourists and businesses. Parks, water fronts and a historic city centre are obvious examples. The urban morphology is in this way the physical aspect of the ‘look and feel’ of the city. For a large part this morphology evolved during the city’s history. The morphology and situation is something the city has to deal with. But there is more, the "urban morphology", is an overarching concept in influencing - more indirect - the cities ecological part of sustainabi-lity. As the urban form can be more friendly to walking, cycling and public transport and thereby lets it’s citizens pollute less. Besides GHG reductions in transport, energy efficiency can be made in the building morphology. Finally it is related in avoiding externalities like the loss of cropland. In this section we focus on density, (public) green, mixed use and the smallest part of the city: the building.

3.1.1

Density and sustainability Relevance density for sustainability Density is an intrinsic characteristic of a city; a local concentration of people, jobs, amenities, services is what defines a ‘city’. Nevertheless density is also specifically related to a ‘sustainable city’. It is probably the most determinant factor in the urban morphology’s sustainability. 2 Firstly, high density leads to more efficient use of space and helps to avoid urban sprawl and thereby in avoiding externalities like the loss of cropland. Secondly density supports all kind of services within the city. Public transport, shops etc. need a certain ‘mass’ to be cost efficient. High densities reduce fossil fuel emissions, as people live closer to where they work, shop, and spend their spare time. From a social point of view high density offers more choices for people to fulfil their needs. It adds diversity, safety, vitality, and opportunities for creative interaction. It helps to keep the local economy vibrant and healthy.

2

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Note that density is usually expressed – also in this study – in inhabitants or dwellings per area, this does not cover the complete built environment.


Data

Population

Popul ation density (per sq km)

Dwellings

Dwelling density (per sq km)

S urface (sq km)

Amsterdam

755.605

4.554

391.181

2.358

166

Copenhagen Ottawa (inside greenbelt)

518.574

5.707

295.862

3.362

88

485.497

2.400

210.397

1.040

202

Rotterdam

587.134

2.874

289.405

1.416

206

San Francisco

725.179

6.158

358.504

2.965

121

Vancouver

578.041

4.960

253.669

2.180

117

Neigborhood with highest population density (per sq km) Amsterdam

Stadsdeel de Baarjes

Copenhagen

Ydre Nørrebro

Ottawa (inside Greenbelt)

Rideau-Vanier

Rotterdam (excl. harbours & Hoek van Holland) San Francisco

Delfshaven

Vancouver

West End

Nob Hill

lowest population density (per sq km)

Stadsdeel Amsterdam 21.825 Noord 19.733 Vestamager 6.731 Innes

2.063 558 1.838

Overschie 13.889

1.040

24.510 Seacliff 21.843 Shaughnessy

1.736 1.991

Policy context In the urban (re)development policy of the city of Vancouver there is a strong linkage between density and sustainable urban development. In advance of the World Urban Forum held in Vancouver in June 2006, Mayor Sam Sullivan launched the EcoDensity concept. Vancouver then made environmental sustainability a primary goal in all city-building decisions. 3 However, density certainly is not the only measure in sustainable (re)development. The potential downside of density is too many people in too little space, which can have negative impact on liveability. Even in Vancouver the EcoDensity concept is not about how many dwellings must be built within the boundary of the city; it is about making an attractive city for its inhabitant’s now and in the future and decreasing the city’s carbon footprint. Densification in Vancouver is not only about the downtown area with it’s high rise buildings or large scale brown field redevelopments. The Vancouver EcoDensity is also about densification of suburban areas; e.g. by adding laneway houses (coach houses or units above garages) as ‘hidden’ density or even by ‘invisible density’ such as secondary suites that can fit into an established neighbourhood with minimal or no impact. In the Netherlands bundling of urbanisation is for several decades part of the national governments spatial policy. The concept was elaborated differently in the past Nationals Spatial Strategies. In the current National Spatial Strategy (“Nota Ruimte” in Dutch) the national government works on the principle of a concentration strategy. This strategy is based on the belief that density supports cities in their function as economic and cultural motors. The goal is to realise 40% of the total expansion programme for houses and employment locations in these areas. The national government does not implement the concentration policy itself; that is a task for the local and regional governments. Rotterdam wants to develop 80% of all new houses within the existing city limits. The city is facing a migration of well educated citizens to neighbouring (suburban) municipalities. Rotterdam competes with its neighbouring communities, therefore agreements were made to tune the housing program. The centre of Rotterdam and waterfront area are appointed for the demand for urban lifestyle apartments. Other areas within the city should provide in

3

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www.vancouver-ecodensity.ca


new attractive – ‘suburban’ - neighbourhoods for young families, to limit the suburbanization to the surrounding municipalities. In Rotterdam’s City Vision densification is accompanied by measurements for improving public space and public transport. The combination of solutions for climate adaptation strategies an better neighbourhoods are typical, For example water squares for better public space, new canals for water retention combined with green and attractive housing and floating homes at the waterfront. The opening of new railway stations for the (inter)national level, improving regional and local public transport (light rail, subway) and Park & Ride facilities at the urban fringe should decrease car use despite of the increasing population. Economic strong and Sustainable’ sparse and optimal use of space are ‘business as usual’ in Amsterdam’s urban planning. Quantitatively the city wants to add 70.000 dwellings until 2040. Hereby explicit attention is paid to the possible downsides of densification. Electrifying vehicles is seen as solution for expanding densification possibilities without extra noise and air pollution. Another issue linked to densification is taking care of absorbing and draining storm water, as densification often leads to an increase of the paved surface. In their spatial vision both Amsterdam and Rotterdam point out the high cost densification. They both ask the national government to support their investments. From the six cities included in this research Ottawa is the least dense populated city. In its official plan (2003) Ottawa foresees an ongoing population growth for the next decades. Ottawa's Official Plan directs to "grow in, not out" by concentrating growth within the existing designated urban area. The Official Plan targets for 36 per cent of new dwellings between 2001 and 2011 to be built inside the Greenbelt. In 2006, 23,8 per cent were built inside the Greenbelt There is (some) local opposition against Ottawa’s urban sprawl. In a rally opponents pointed out that sprawl will increase property taxes as providing services and infrastructure to homes located outside the Greenbelt is more costly compared to homes inside the Greenbelt. Thereby it is bad for the environment as for instance commuter distances become larger. It seems that protests were successful: the college councillor decided to withdraw his motion to push urban limits outwards. Copenhagen sets its ambition in becoming an environmental friendly metropolis. CO2 reduction is an important target. A dense city makes a major contribution in achieving that goal. For instance by developing work areas near stations, employees become less car dependent. This strategy fits well in the historic development of Copenhagen. The ‘Fingerplan’ of 1949 has set out the direction of the development of the city along the axes of public transport (and later motorways). During time this plan offered the city a robust concept for its spatial planning as it still guides decisions. Around 80% of new developments takes place on brownfields. The remaining greenfield development is compact with excellent public transport connection. San Francisco continues to grow as it is a job center and a transit nexus. To meet local and regional sustainability goals, more housing and greater density is required, but growth needs to be shaped so that it does not occur at the expense of valued San Francisco qualities. Community plans need to balance these factors to increase housing equitably while still preserving what people love about their neighbourhoods. Besides public transport advantages, San Francisco places densification also in a more social context. In case of smart growth the effort construct more

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housing near jobs, and near transit should also contribute to avoid unintended consequences on low-income residents. So sustainable development does not focus solely on environmental issues. It needs to encompass the way the city promotes economic growth, so that the most vulnerable, disadvantaged residents get an equal share of the benefits of growth Conclusion and policy lessons Density is widely recognised as an important characteristic of a sustainable city. It is something cities can control well by there zoning or land use plans. In their policy Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam focus on large scale brownfield redevelopment projects like transforming (former) harbour areas in multi functional urban areas. Vancouver on the other hand emphasis the possibilities of bottom up small scale densification. In the latter private, individual entrepreneurship can play a role in making a denser city. In our exemplary cities, density, design and land use are aligned holistically and comprehensively with other tools and methods for environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability, to achieve mutual and cumulative benefits. The holistic approach includes transportation, green energy, affordable housing, public realm and community amenities, arts and culture, heritage, health and safety, urban agriculture and local food access, social planning, and economic development. We conclude that compactness and density are important, although not sufficient, characteristics of a sustainable city. In the perspective of Copenhagens city architect Jan Christiansen is “[…] the exact point at which density becomes sustainable [… ] when homes, jobs and day care centres are all within easy reach of one another and when the obvious choice is to use either the bike or public means of transport to reach them”. 4 Densification is used in reducing CO2 emissions as more people walk, cycle or use public transport. Attention needs to be paid to the downsides of densification, like keeping open spaces, and storm water retention. It is crucial how issues like affordability, liveability and economic vibrancy are dealt with. Public participation and individual entrepreneurship can play role in finding the right balance. Close attention needs to be paid to social aspects and housing demands. Critical is the concept of social equity, which embraces a diversity of values such as housing & working conditions, health, educational services and recreational opportunities, and general quality of life. In terms of the housing plan providing affordable housing is an important goal for a sustainable city. Densification should not lead automatically to gentrification. City administration and planners need to seek a balance between (long term) profits of intensified density and the interest of the existing local communities.

3.1.2

Public green Relevance of public green for sustainability Densification asks for open (green) spaces in cities. In our study all six cities clearly want to intensify the use of the city area, so subsequently they have to take care for providing enough open spaces by making new ones and preserving and enhancing the existing ones. Green spaces in a city are not only essential for people's physical and mental well-being. Parks, trees, plants, green infrastructure etc. cleanse the air, provide shade, cool the city, collect rainwater and support biodiversity. Green urban areas are the lungs of a city, and as such instrumental in creating a healthy urban environment - not least in the development of a denser city. 4

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http://www.cphx.dk/index.php?id=346336#/346336/


Data

Amsterdam Copenhagen Ottawa (inside greenbelt) Rotterdam San Francisco Vancouver -

Green area (sq km)

Green per capita (sq m)

Green per dwelling (sq m)

Green (% of area)

18 17 13

24 33 27

47 57 63

10% 20% 7%

Green with buffer 500 m (% of area) 66% 80% 59%

12 14

19 19

39 39

4% 13%

30% 74%

12

20

46

9%

86%

Copenhagen excluding Frederiksberg Rotterdam excluding harbours i.e. neighbourhoods ‘Vondelingenplaats” & “Botlek” [describe methodology in appendix…?]

Policy context The city of Amsterdam recognises that densification will lead to an increased use of parks and public green. A survey among citizens showed that vicinity of green is an important condition in choosing where to live or start a company. For each city wedge a master plan will be developed aimed at integration of urban and rural lands at the urban fringe. One of the objectives of Copenhagen Eco-Metropole (2007) is to increase the percentage of Copenhageners able to walk to a park, a beach or a sea swimming-pool in less than 15 minutes from 60 to 90%. A green city includes more than only the parks: the roofs and perhaps also the facades are also taken in consideration. Furthermore has a green city green streets and corridors, utilises surplus areas for green purposes and for sports fields and playgrounds, and it provides recreational spaces for children and adults alike. Special attention is paid to so called ‘pocket parks’ - part of the Copenhagen Climate plan - small green spaces for recreational purposes and which help cool the city on hot days and absorb rain on wet days. A high quality ‘green’ space can sometimes be blue. The water quality in Copenhagen is a matter of concern for several years and with success: the water quality in the harbour allows swimming. In its strategic spatial plan (2006) the city of Rotterdam chooses the approach of using existing qualities like parks (and also boulevards and monuments) to realise new attractive residential areas. The strategy is to expand existing qualities instead of creating new ones, which spreads out like an oil slick. San Francisco has a large area of parks. The publicly-owned open spaces make up almost 20% of the City’s total land area. San Francisco belongs to the top five cities in the USA in terms of parkland per resident. In addition to the city’s strategic spatial vision ‘General Plan’ the Recreation and Open Space Element is the component that provides a 20 year vision and plan for open space in the city. The city wants to increase open space and improve access and connectivity to the parks. Furthermore it wants to protect and improve the ecological value of parks. Engage public participation and pay attention to

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management for open space acquisition and maintenance. As open space is scarce and pressure on space is high the city started the “Pavement to Parks” project. 5 The project tries to transform wasted spaces mostly found in excessively wide streets into (temporally) plazas and parks. Another initiative focused on small scale grassroots creation of parks is the ‘park(ing) day’initative. A parking space is temporarily transformed into a pocket park. 6 Another way of dealing with the pressure on space and the need for open spaces is regulated by means of a ‘density bonus’ in the zoning plan. If a developer pays for or construct open space (there are other also other rewarded developments) he is allowed to build more than the zoning plan actually allows. This system is quite commonly used in cities across the USA. Vancouver has the intention to create new parks, open space and public places timely and relative to the population levels they serve. The costs for amenities, like parks, are integral part of urban development. Local administration has been extended with an elected Park Board, responsible to maintain, upgrade and expand parks and facilities such as playfields, pools and community centres. In Ottawa’s Greenspace Master Plan Strategies for Ottawa's Urban Greenspaces (2006) the city’s public green policy focuses on networks and connection green. Besides the parks the city is surrounded by green areas like the green belt and Gatineau Park. Urbanization gives pressure on the green areas. The municipality has a large area within its power after the amalgamation of 11 local municipalities and a regional government in 2001; thereby it has the possibility to control the urban developments within a single government. The city sees this as base for executing its Greenspaces’ Master Plan. Conclusion and policy lessons Our conclusion based on the experiences and policy choices of the exemplary cities are that park area and quality should grow along with the city’s growth. Parks provide nearby recreational possibilities for citizens and also contribute to the city’s ecological health. The quality expressed in the use, activities, sociability, access, linkage, comfort and image of the existing parks should be optimised, where redesigning can be necessary for serving the needs of changing neighbourhoods. ‘Linkage’ shows it is not only about the parks as ‘islands’ in the city, but attention needs also be paid to routes. Expanding green areas is costly because of scarce space and pressure from residential and commercial developments. Using land already owned by the city like lands under the freeway, using school yards or giving allotments also a public function are examples of potential interesting areas. The city’s budget is not the only way to finance public green. For instance a Park Improvement District is a public-private partnership in which businesses and/or residents in a defined area an additional tax in order to fund improvements and maintenance for the park. Or let developers pay for green space. The San Francisco park(ing) day movement and “Pavement to Parks” show with creative ideas public space can be made on unexpected places and do not have to sprout only from town hall. Parks should not only be planned and maintained top down, citizens can play an active role.

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5

http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/

6

http://www.parkingday.org/


3.1.3

Mixed use Relevance of mixed use for sustainability Mixed use can be seen as special form of density, namely density in various types of land use. To link mixed use to the cities quality of living goes back to the famous book by Jane Jacobs: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961). In this book she advocates neighbourhoods with a vivid streetscape. Vivid because people live, work, shop and spent their free time there. Mixed use leads to efficient use of space, reduces the vacancy rate and decay and delivers a sense of security. Moreover mixed use neighbourhoods are more flexible and can therefore better be adapted on future needs. Policy context A way of measuring the mixed use of a certain city is presented by www.walkscore.com. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address based on the distance from a house to nearby amenities: the more amenities in different categories are nearby the better the walk score is. According to the website San Francisco has the most walkable neighbourhoods. 7 A program that supports walkable neighbourhoods is the ‘Better Neighborhoods Program.’ 8 Urban neighbourhoods function well when residents can easily meet their daily needs, such as getting to work and shopping. This means having the right neighbourhood mix of housing, retail, open space, and transit, with new housing located near reliable transit lines Another San Francisco program is called HOPE (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere) 9 with the goal of transforming public housing developments from large, disconnected developments into mixed income, mixed use neighbourhoods. Every public housing unit will be rebuilt within mixed-income developments that include new affordable and market-rate homes, as well as parks and other public amenities for residents and neighbours alike. An example of large scale mixed use new urban area is Ørestad in Copenhagen, situated on the island of Amager southeast of the city centre. Critics stated this new urban development lacked human scale and street life. Although such a large scale development needs time to become a thriving city district, the city took the criticism into account. One of the improvements was the opening of multi use ‘park islands’ to add city live to the resendetial and commercial area. 10 The city has learned a lot from the development Ørestad South. In the Carlsberg area in Copenhagen a large, former industrial area will be converted into residential areas, sport and recreational areas and light industry. This is a show case of a planning strategy that recognises that man is not simply a rational being who wishes to move through life efficiently, smoothly and speedily, but also wants to live a life shared with others in the spaces that the city offers. 11 This sounds a bit vague and perhaps it is, but it means mixed use is not about the combination of functions but about the interplay between urban spaces and everyday life.

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7

Of USA cities. The score can be calculated for any address in city around the world, but the algorithm Walkscore uses relies on Google data which is less accurate outside of the United States / Canada and UK.

8

http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=1699

9

http://www.sfha.org/hopesf/index.htm

10

http://www.cphx.dk/index.php?id=344200#/344200/

11

Freudendal-Pedersen (2009) http://www.b14cms.dk/users/cphx.dk/files/upload_2/20090910_104612_why_the_sustainabl e_city.pdf


In the Netherlands mixed use is connected to the challenge cities are facing in the transformation of industrial and business sites to mixed use urban areas. Recently a task force advised the national government - among other things on improving the quality of business areas by means of mixed use. Regulations on environmental standards on national level should be adapted as they are too rigid and pay too little attention to the overall improvements of the quality of living. Amsterdam wants to transform business areas to combined business residential areas. Finding the right mix and dealing with the balance between limiting nuisance for residents and letting companies do their business. Both business areas as residential areas can be taken in consideration in search for mixing opportunities. Amsterdam wants to add for every new constructed dwelling five square meters of new small scaled business units. The expansion of the port: Maasvlakte 2 creates new opportunities for Rotterdam to expand the city. The “Stadshavens” project aims at making a new urban district where people live and work on former harbour sites. As mentioned before the city also wants to build more houses in the city centre as there is an unbalance between residents and workers. In Rotterdam this ratio 1:3, in Amsterdam 1:1. A better balance between residents and workers gives better principles for a strong and attractive urban living environment in the centre. Additional housing in the centre supports facilities and activity. Moreover there is a demand for living in the centre. Conclusion Mixed use is closely related to densification. Every city wants its urban redevelopment areas to be thriving city life districts and taking care of a mixture of houses, commercial space, shop and amenities is the way to go. The ideal refers to the (European) historic city centres, where walking is the natural way of transportation and there is always something happening. More than a matter of program it is about encouraging a city life. Flexibility, temporal functions and literary space for private initiatives can act as a motor for achieving this goal. It is about creating a vibe. 3.1.4 Physical quality of the built environment Relevance of fysical quality for sustainability The final subsection of the spatial en fysical quality is about the lowest scale we consider in this report: the building. Related to more social aspects of sustainability buildings contribute to the look and feel of the city. Landmarks (‘eye catching buildings’) give a city appearance and help people to orientate. This subsection focuses on an other aspect of buildings, more related to the ecological dimension of sustainability. As buildings account for 72% of electricity consumption, 39% of energy use, 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and 40% of raw materials use 12 policy for making building more energy efficient fits well into a strategy for making a city more sustainable. All six cities have set out policies to improve the energy efficiency of their building stock.

12

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United States Green Building Council, USA figures (http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1718)


Data Energy ef ficiënt buildings

Rating

Per 100.000 residents

Amsterdam

590

Residential Label A: 483 Uttility label A+: 61 Uttility label A: 46 Government: label A or better: 0

78

http://senternovem.databank.nl/

Copenha gen

?

Ottawa

10

LEED certified

1

http://www.cagbc.org/smallbox4/file.php?sb4b202eddd6408

Rotterdam

505

Residential label A: 318 Uttility label A+: 62 Uttility label A: 125 Government: label A or better: 0 58 LEED certified + 275 LEED registerd LEED certified Metro (=regio)Vancouver TE WEINIG!?

86

http://senternovem.databank.nl/

San Francisco

333

Vancouver

25

46

http://www.thehdmt.org/indicators/view/219 http://www.metrovancouver.org/BuildSmart/Pages/default.aspx

Policy context The city of Amsterdam has a climate initiative ‘Nieuw Amsterdams Klimaat’. Main targets are that by 2015 all newly constructed building have to be carbon neutral, as all (new and existing) civic buildings. Newly build houses are just 1 percent of the total stock, therefore lots of efforts needs to be put in improving the energy efficiency of the existing stock. Amsterdam is seeking cooperation with the social housing associations. The Rotterdam Climate initiative has set a target for CO2 emission reduction of fifty percent by 2025 in comparison to the 1990 level. Much of Rotterdam’s CO2 emissions are caused by harbour activities, but also the built environment has to lower their CO2 emissions by 50% in 2025. One of the instruments developed is the Rotterdam Energy Approach (REAP, Tillie et al 2009), to consider energy and CO2 aspect in an early planning stage. Energy and CO2 have become a ‘layer’ in urban planning. The step from the level of the building to neighbourhoods and the entire city is made. As all new buildings in the Netherlands, new buildings in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam need to meet up the national building standards and additional requirements on energy efficiency (“energieprestatiecoëfficiënt”). These standards mean the energy efficiency performance of all new Dutch buildings is comparable to (at least) the LEED certified standard, used in the USA and Canada. 13 In Copenhagen new buildings are also influenced by strict national rules on energy efficiency. On top of these regulations the city has a mixed policy of providing information on home improvements and giving as a municipality a good example setting high standards for all public buildings both in new buildings as in renovation projects. All measurements are part of the Copenhagen Climate Plan (2009). An important role in the energy efficiency plays the Copenhagen district heating system as its supplies 97% of the city with clean heating San Francisco has a Green Building Ordinance (2008). Requirements in the ordinance for new buildings contribute to the goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions in the City and County of San Francisco to 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012. In time buildings have to met higher (LEED and other) standards. Projects that commit to LEED Gold certification are eligible for priority in permit processing through coordination with the Planning 13

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Compared on energy efficiency as use of energy and material is only considered in the Dutch system. LEED has a broader scope and takes also for instance green roof tops, public green and bicycle parking in account. The Dutch Green Building Council (www.dgbc.nl) developed a sustainability label based on the English BREEAM methodology which has takes more than solely energy in account.


Department, Department of Building Inspection, and Department of Public Works. The city of Vancouver is actively incorporating green building objectives and standards into the Vancouver Building By-law (VBBL). The Green Homes Program addresses energy and water efficiency issues by requiring that all new building permit applications for one- and two-family homes meet a specific set of requirements. The most significant energy users are the existing buildings. Permits for renovation are tested on energy increasing the buildings energy performance. All new civic buildings in Vancouver are required to meet green building standards known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) at the Gold level. It is discussed to make this standard applicable for all new buildings. The development at Southeast False Creek (Olympic Village) is used as a statement about the direction of future development in Vancouver and be a model sustainable community for the world. All buildings required a minimum LEED Silver equivalency. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is part of Ottawa’s “Air Quality and Climate Change Management Plan” (2003). Besides greening the municipal buildings the city seeks to stimulate private investors like citizens to improve their houses. For instance by informing citizens on cost-effective ways to make homes more energy-efficient. An interesting concept is the use of Local Improvement Charges (LIC). The municipality lends the property owner the money for the energy efficiency improvements and collect the interest through the tax bill with the payments set slightly below the actual energy savings. The charge is attached to the property, not to the owner. This latter point is interesting because investments in energy efficient techniques have their revenue on the long term, maybe longer than a residents is planning to live in the same house which could negatively influence an investment decision. Conclusion and policy lessons We conclude that the cities can, in their building ordinance, influence the energy efficiency of newly constructed buildings. As new buildings represent only a small percentage off the total amount off buildings, much profit can be made by addressing the existing stock. Energy efficiency demands when applying for a renovation permit can be set out. Much can be gained when alliances are made between large institutional home owners like social housing associations. The municipality can give the good example when building new or renovating civic buildings. Business cases can be proved. Energy is not something that should be examined on the building scale only. REAP shows that by exchanging energy waste flows like heat between buildings, profits can be made. The step from individual buildings to clusters of buildings, neighbourhoods, districts and even entire cities can turn existing areas into carbon neutral areas. Newly build CO2 neutral buildings and the superlative degree of complete new CO2 neutral cities like Dongtan and Masdar get a lot of attention which is understandable as they show the state of the art in sustainable design. But the largest profit is to be gained in the already existing build up areas of cities, simply because there is so much more of it. Examples of cities who successfully improve the existing stock deserve attention. The sum of probably less visible actions might be not as ‘glamorous’ as new buildings but the effect in terms of CO2 reduction for instance can be much larger.

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3.2

Socio- economic quality The social economic quality of the city alludes to the different aspects that are contributing and influencing the economic and the social well-being of the citizens. The fact that social economic quality is the result of how different factors are interrelated, makes it hard to measure with one specific indicator and can be different in every situation. However, in this section we will highlight some aspects on the social-economic quality of sustainable cities, subdivided into economic quality, social quality and level of amenities.

3.2.1

Economic quality of sustainable cities The economic quality of a city is subject to macro-economic developments, for example the financial crisis that affects the world’s economy but even so the nowadays ecological crisis (the decline of biodiversity and the scarsening of resources). A sustainable economy is in a continuous state of change and adapts successfully to these factors. Making the right decisions creates a stable situation for the citizens to live and work in. In Amsterdam it is the economic diversity (financial and business services; IT; creative industry; life sciences; trade and logistics; tourism and congresses; food, fish and flowers) that forms the economic strength of the city. The open attitude to new things (as well economic as cultural) is due to the fact that Amsterdam is one of the world’s capitals on information technology (IT). The creative class plays an important role in the ongoing renewal of the Amsterdam economy. Amsterdam has different initiatives for greening up her economy. Amsterdam for example wants to become the leading wind and sun energy city of the Netherlands and wants to supply one third of their energy needs by locally produced sustainable energy in 2025. In order to be able to realize this ambition Amsterdam investigates for example the feasibility of raising a ‘sustainable energy’ enterprise that will invest in sustainable energy production within the city of Amsterdam. This municipal enterprise will in cooperation with businesses and housing associations invest in photo-voltaic, wind-energy and in the construction and transition to a ‘smart electricity grid’ In Copenhagen life science, information technology and shipping are important sectors and research & development plays a major role in the city’s economy. Ottawa, besides offering a lot of government-related employment, has a main high-tech development sector. Ottawa has become known as "Silicon Valley North." In 2020, Ottawa will be a prosperous, entrepreneurial and globally competitive city fuelled by an agile economy that is expert in managing change and reflects the values of innovation, equity and environmental stewardship, thus the ambitions of the city. Rotterdam’s economy is mainly driven by her port and industry, medical sector and creative industry. The highly developed medical sector, which employs both high educated and low educated is an important completion to the other sectors, like port and industry that are more sensitive to economic rupture. Rotterdam intends to change into a clean tech Delta city, with a Climate campus in the Stadshavens-area (a vast former inner-city-harbour area). Rotterdam also shows an inspiring case called Rotterdam Cirkelstad, an initiative in which the city of Rotterdam cooperates with several Rotterdam companies in the construction sector. The aim of this initiative is realizing high-grade re-use of materials that come from demolition. Re-usable materials are extracted from the buildings that are to be demolished and offered as raw material for construction, preferably at the same site.

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San Francisco is a main global financial center. Other sectors are trade and shipping, new media and innovative new technology. Vancouver - The economy of Vancouver is dominated by trade and port, other main economic sectors include, trade, film, natural resources, technology and tourism. To become the greenest city in the world Vancouver wants to be on the long term the Mecca of green enterprises. To reach this goal Vancouver wants to create 2000 green jobs each year until 2020. Vancouver sees the following steps: first, the creation of Low-Carbon Economic Development Zones and secondly a green entrepreneur kick-start program. Low-Carbon Economic Development Zones, featuring green infrastructure and a variety of financial incentives, will enable the City to attract businesses that anticipate a carbon constrained world. The green entrepreneur kick-start program would provide financial assistance, management support, and expert mentoring for aspiring entrepreneurs with bright green business ideas. Capitalizing on these ideas will give Vancouver a leg up on other cities in the race for environmental sustainability.

3.2.2

Social quality of the cities During the last 50 years the main goal in city planning has been creating efficient and easy accessible cities. These planning strategies have had a large number of unintended consequences with impact on the social life of cities. Consequently, social sustainability becomes more and more important. A city is composed of people as well as the places where they live; it is as much a social environment as a physical environment. In creating sustainable cities and communities, citizen participation becomes of great importance since maintaining and supporting sustainability needs the engagement of people. The following examples show the wide scope that citizen participation and social cohesion is about. Amsterdam has the GWL-terrain as a strong example of citizen participation in city planning. Their participation resulted in an oasic green living environment with a strong social cohesion in a high dense environment. At the start of the project high sustainable ambitions were set. The most extreme was that cars were forbidden. Although we nowadays say that this is an odd decision, because we are common to organize our cities around cars, the case of GWLterrain shows us that prohibiting cars created space for a strong social cohesion by realizing a lot of green spaces in the neighborhood, for example in the form of vegetable gardens and public green. Unless or because of these characteristics this part of Amsterdam is still - 10 years later - a very popular high-density neighborhood to live in. The city of Amsterdam is famous for her authentic monumental inner city and art collection. She actively cares for this treasure. This wonderful asset causes at the same time a lot of problems mostly on the field of mobility and the field of energy consumption of the monuments. The policy of the city is handling these problems for years and it seems that sustainability can bring some solutions that are enhancing the qualities of the inner city. In this way Amsterdam has one of the best developed car-share networks of the Dutch cities, which diminishes the amount of cars in the inner city, stimulates a more effective use of the present cars and creates more free parking places. At the moment there is an active policy on warding dirty vehicles from downtown city of Amsterdam and just stimulating all kinds of electric vehicles by means of financial incentives. Public transit is organized efficiently and contains different layers of scale. From fast metro connections to bicycle taxis. A huge investment in the North-South underground has to make the new business district Zuidas better accessible.

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The Copenhagen Wheel is an electric ‘hybrid’ bicycle that is also a smart mobile sensing device that can map real-time flows and environmental conditions in cities. The sensors integrated in the bicycle provide location and environmental information (CO, NOx, noise, temperature and humidity). By collecting these data the city of Copenhagen will be able to improve the cities network of cycling paths, discover obstructions and map the air quality throughout the city. The traveler can track his own mode of cycling by his smart phone. Copenhagen is often called as the worlds no. 1 bicycle city, while Amsterdam does achieve also quite well at this area. Copenhagen even though is much more active in improving their system of cycle lanes and increasing the amount of cyclist in order to reduce CO2- emissions. The biker-friendliness plays a big role in the marketing of a healthy and sustainable Copenhagen. Rotterdam - ‘Opzoomeren’ is the verb that generated from a residents initiative to refurbish the ‘Opzoomerstraat’ in 1981 all by themselves. It appeared to help increase the social cohesion among the residents of that particular street. It also became a lot of media attention and was repeated multiple times. At the moment it is still a satisfying way of improving social cohesion (in Rotterdam 50% of the population is of non Dutch origin). Some examples of Opzoomer-activities are street dinners, cleaning up the street, kids games or adjusting street lightning for a saver environment. The city of Rotterdam identifies itself as a delta city, with a long history of living with water. In line with her experience in this field, the region is one of the worlds leading knowledge centres on sustainable water management, dredging, coastal protection etc. Vancouver - The Placemaking Project in Vancouver Glenville Island is a firstclass example of how a great district can emerge, even in the most unlikely location, because local people identified the area's unique potential and worked hard to create vital public spaces. The island's status as one of Vancouverites' favorite spots isn't due to some ingenious stroke of master planning, but to the steady, patient progress of local organizations and businesses.

3.2.3

Level of amenities Social and physical health of the citizen should be the goal of a sustainable city by implementing and influencing the level and quality of the amenities that is offered. Social health is reached by providing employment, affordable living, safe neighborhoods, citizen participation, entertainment, community building and vibrant and attractive public spaces. Physical health will be reached by providing a healthy and safe living environment, healthy food, affordable healthcare and healthy transport. Both Vancouver and Copenhagen appoint the physical health of the citizen as one of their goals. Social health of the citizen and community is less strongly related to sustainability and thus not translated to policy and actions. The focus of Copenhagen on facilitating health and well-being is closely related to the way of transport. Data collected by the city shows that unless the increase of the amount of cyclist, accidents and severe injuries are steadily diminishing, due to improvements of the cycle lanes and routes. The research also shows that the perceived safety of cycling in Copenhagen depends whether the persons are actually cyclists themselves, non-cyclists perceive it as dangerous, regular cyclists as ‘not without risks’ and continuous

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cyclist perceive it as a safe way of transport. By providing healthy public spaces through the city’s popular parks, beaches and sea swimming-pools the Copenhagen case proves that good environment enhances peoples’ daily wellbeing, as research pointed out. Overall, we can state that the level of amenities in each city is absolutely high and differs to the nature of city formed through time, geographic situation, culture and climate. Vancouver offers a variety of nature related recreation facilities, like fishing, skiing, mountaineering etc. for it is locked in between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. Amsterdam for example offers a big variety on cultural entertainment, like museums, theatre and music and offers an amazing monumental inner city, which is a pleasure to stroll through and a real tourist-magnet. In the end, we recognize a small but increasing concern among the cities on the area of promoting local food and the development of urban agriculture. In the city of Vancouver you see a program launched to increase the use of regional food as a way to lower CO2-emissions, whereas it also diminishes dependency on the world’s total food supply at the same time. Next to this Vancouver indicates to want to become leading on urban agriculture in 2020.

3.3

Ecological quality This section focuses on the ecological sustainability of the six reviewed cities and on the policies that seem to yield effect in these cities. In our analyses we consider the ecological sustainability to be primarily reflected by energy consumption levels, waste volumes, traffic flows and water consumption and by the related emissions of greenhouse gasses, hazardous substances and noise. Additionally we also look at the policy attention for the total life cycle and for a long term environmental vision in the cities and at their self provision level (energy, water, food).

3.3.1

Consumption and emission data Table 2 indicates the volume of the residential green house gas emission per household in the six cities in tonnes per citizen per year. The table also indicates whether the emissions have been increasing or decreasing over the last couple of years. The overall picture aligns quite well with the data we could trace on the use of energy in the six cities. Particularly the city of San Francisco shows a rather high emission figure, but this city also shows the highest reduction speed.

Table 2

Total residential GHG emissions (ton per citizen per year)

Amsterdam

Copenhagen

Ottawa

Rotterdam

San

Vancouver

Francisco 6,3

4,8

5,0

6,5

11,9

4,9

increasing

decreasing

constant

increasing

decreasing

decreasing

We see an overall increase in the emissions per citizen in the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This might be explained by the increasing number of small households, an increasing number of mainly electrical appliances and an increase in comfort standards. On the other hand we see a decrease in the use of energy per citizen in the cities of Copenhagen, San Francisco and Vancouver. In these cases the local energy and environmental policies seem to

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yield effect, since these cities are also confronted with more smaller households, more appliances and higher comfort standards. Table 3 indicates the volume of solid waste per citizen in the six cities and the percentage of recycling or other re-use (between brackets), again with a trend indication. Table 3

Total solid waste production per citizen (kg per year and percentage of recycling) Amsterdam

Copenhagen

Ottawa

Rotterdam

San

Vancouver

Francisco 491 (21 %)

466 (27 %)

310 (32 %)

460 (33 %)

880 (72 %)

594 (53 %)

constant

Slightly decreasing

constant

constant

Strongly decreasing

Slightly decreasing

Again the figure is the highest for the city of San Francisco, but also this city shows the best results in decreasing the yearly production of solid waste per citizen. And San Francisco also has the best percentage for recycling of the waste materials. Table 4 shows the water consumption, with again the trend indicated. Overall the picture aligns quite well with the data on the use of energy. No data are available for the city of Rotterdam at this stage. Table 4

Water consumption per capita (litres per day per citizen) Amsterdam

Copenhagen

Ottawa

Rotterdam

San

Vancouver

Francisco 175

114

340

constant

constant

decreasing

-

275

426

constant

constant

We do not have an adequate explanation for the huge difference in water consumption between the European cities and particularly the Canadian cities. In the project also data were gathered on other indicators like air quality, traffic modalities etc. The data obtained are included in the annexes, but are to incomplete or fragmented to compare the cities or to draw conclusions.

3.3.2

Policy context All cities have drawn-up environmental policies which influence the use of energy and water, waste flows etc. However, the main policy intention behind the policies is quite different. In the three European cities green house gas emission reduction is the primary target, whilst in Ottawa conservation and protection of green areas is the primary aim and in Vancouver the creation of new (green) jobs. In San Francisco there is not one leading principle. Another interesting difference is that the policies in the latter three cities cover a wide, if not the full, scope of the sustainability field. Ecological sustainability for these cities is an element of a wider sustainability approach, where policies instruments have been developed is a more or less parallel way for all tracks within the approach. In the European cities the total approach currently particularly focuses on the ecological track. Rotterdam is the strongest example in this respect, where the Rotterdam Climate Initiative fully started from this track and other elements of sustainability where included in the approach at a later stage. Copenhagen, on the other side, started from a wider sustainability approach but is particularly focussing on the ecological track during the last series of years. In Amsterdam the situation lies in between. The differences are illustrated in the figure below.

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From all policy approaches the schemes in Amsterdam and Copenhagen are the most directly aimed at energy; in Amsterdam particularly through energy conservation in all societal sectors and renewable energy, in Copenhagen through heat grids and also renewables. The different approaches so far do not lead to clear differences in the amount of energy used per household. However they seem to result in differences in the consumption trends over the last couple of years. Figure 4

Sustainable approach of the six example cities

Vancouver

San Francisco

Ottawa

Rotterdam

Kopenhagen

Amsterdam

ecological sustainability track

The policy analyses also reveal that the Canadian and US cities have substantially more individual statutory authority for the implementation of policy measures than the European cities. The cities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen en Rotterdam have to depend in much more situations on national or European directives and regulations. They are also bound to or even limited by these regulations in their actions. An important example in this respect is the city of Rotterdam. 90 % of the energy consumption and GHG emission in this city take place in the huge harbour industrial complex. Apart from some options in the sphere of information, voluntary agreements etc. the city for its policy approach of the industrial sector is depending on national and European regulations and on the willingness of the international managements of the multinational organisations. The city of Amsterdam has been working on concrete technical measures to improve energy efficiency in all its societal sectors. The municipality plays an exemplary role and it actively looks for co-operations with other stakeholders. Long-term consistency is an important characteristic of the Amsterdam policy. Hydrogen is used, as a pilot project, in the city centre busses, municipal vehicles and tourist canal boats. The local Energy & Waste Company (AEB) generates electricity from waste. The district heating grid, which AEB and other plants supply with residual heat, will be expanded. The policy ambitions of the City of Amsterdam in many aspects exceeds the Dutch national ambitions. The city of Copenhagen actively promotes cycling, e.g. by investments in cycle tracks, cycle routes and even new bridges. The city also active promotes the greening of the fuel sources for power plants and CHP-plants, e.g. by geothermal energy. Like the rest of Denmark the city also promotes the application of wind energy. Policy making in Copenhagen over the last decades has been characterised by constant modernisation and new target setting. Like the majority of big European cities, Copenhagen has difficulty in living up to the air quality requirements for nitrous dioxide (NO2) and large particles (PM10). An environment zone has been created with congestion charging and environmentally friendly vehicles. Also in this respect the municipality wants to go further than the law currently allows. National and international limits ensuring improved air quality should be tightened.

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First priority in the sustainable urban development strategy of Ottawa is the conservation and protection of residential green spaces. Other priorities are the creation of pleasant transportation corridors, to promote cycling and walking, and storm water management, which amongst else results in green roof plans. Attention for environmental factors and costs is fully incorporated in the City decision-making processes. For all new developments an environmental impact statements (EIS) is required. The developments should in no way harm the green spaces or human health and resources should be used as efficiently and effective as possible. The intention of the city is to ‘grow in, not out’. With respect to energy the city offers and facilitates an energy audit system. In the City of Rotterdam the local policy targets for renewable energy are fully in line with the national Dutch targets. However, policies for energy efficiency are higher as well as the target for local CO2-emission reduction strongly exceeds the national target, both in volume and in realisation speed. This ambition is motivated by the economic chances it will offer to the Rotterdam harbour area, both as a consequence of new business opportunities and by the possibility for further growth (which would otherwise be hindered). In the built environment the City of Rotterdam is quite active (REAP etc.). The City of San Francisco has an Electricity Resource Plan which includes the implementation of energy efficiency programs, development of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power and energy self-reliance. The ERP is part of a wider Climate Action Plan, which describes what San Francisco can do to achieve its stated goals, improved air quality and reduction of greenhouse gases by 20 percent below the 1990 levels. The city is also active in the stimulation of car pooling and public transport. It has mandatory rules for composting and for the use recycling of materials; e.g. plastic bags are forbidden in groceries and supermarkets, The city also has mandatory rules for the LEED certification of commercial and residential buildings above a certain size. Vancouver sees working on the environment as an excellent opportunity to create new business activities and new jobs. Main targets for the city are the creation of about 20.000 new jobs, clean air and accessible and safe streets. The city intends to reach this by realising green buildings, new infrastructures for walking, cycling, and public transit and local production of food. An additional target is ecodensity. Issues like energy efficiency, the use of renewables, improvement of air quality, waste reduction are circumstantial targets. For most measures the city has adequate power to implement and execute the required actions. However, the city lacks the statutory authority to enforce e.g. a ban on the use of certain materials like plastic bags and polystyrene foam. Figure 5

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Summarising overview of policy angle differences for the six exemplary cities

Obligation approach

Stimulation approach

Full scope of sustainability

San Francisco / Vancouver

Ottawa

Primarily climate angle

Copenhagen

Amsterdam / Rotterdam


3.3.3

Lessons for future policies Based on the policies and the experiences in the six exemplary cities some general observations on the effectiveness of policy instruments can be made. A first general lesson is that the effectiveness of policy measures in the area of energy and ecology is strongly interrelated with the level of ambition on the other aspects of sustainable urban development. The approaches in Vancouver and Copenhagen, and to a certain extend also in Rotterdam, clearly show that socio-economic growth might well go hand in hand with energy efficiency and implementation of cleaner technology. However, we must realise that this observation might be a consequence of the selection of six cities that are doing relatively well. Another lesson is that central leadership, enthusiasm and directorship are important success factors for the realisation of energy and environmental policies. The approaches in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Vancouver show obvious examples of this effect. Good results can be realised by approaches that create conditions and stimulate people, like the successful cycle lanes and public transport systems in different cities. However, this type of approach does not yield sufficient results in other areas and for other groups of people. This is one of the reasons that several of the exemplary cities tend towards a more mandatory approach, aimed at the more difficult dossiers and the who stay behind. Particularly in this field co-operation at regional, federal or even international level is required. This is a complex matter for individual municipalities and it requires a lot of effort, but it also potentially yields the most significant results.

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4

Conclusions & recommendations In this report we have compared the sustainable urban development policies, strategies and results in the cities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Ottawa, Rotterdam, San Francisco and Vancouver. One of the reasons to specifically select these six cities stems from the fact that the project was executed in the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and the Netherlands. Consequently we wanted to include two cities from both countries, complemented with one extra city on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Another reason to select these cities is that they are considered to be exemplary front runners with respect to sustainable urban development, with both relevant experience and interesting topical developments. In this section we do not intend to rank or to benchmark the cities in any way. On the contrary. We just compare characteristics to trace relationships between specific actions and effects and we try to learn from both the differences and parallels in the approaches and from the results that have been achieved. We elaborate on specific types of action that seem to be extra effective and we illustrate these initiatives with practical examples. Based on the policies, strategies and experiences in the six cities we draw a series of conclusions on the effectiveness of policy instruments and come up with recommendations for local and national policy making with respect to sustainable urban (re)development.

4.1

Policy characteristics and results We start with an overview of the policy attention hat is given in each of the cities, as part of their urban sustainability policy, to a range of eleven issues that are related to the sustainability of the city. The level of attention for these issues is depicted in six ‘spider webs’ which offer a compact overview of the city policy focal areas. Below each spider web the scores of the cities on the three studied fields of sustainability (spatial quality, socio-economic quality and ecological quality) are given. Since there are no objective criteria to assess the cities the scores are based on the material that was studied, the contacts that have taken place and the expert opinion of the researchers. However, we fully realise that this is to a high extent a limited and subjective judgement, which is not intended or suited to benchmark the cities. The scores on the different indicators now reflect whether (a) the issue is mentioned in policy documents, (b) ambitious targets and concrete measures are defined, (c) the measures are implemented, (d) there is a long term vision behind the actions and (e) there is an integrated inter-disciplinary policy approach.

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Figure 6

Overview policy character for the six cities Copenhagen

Amsterdam Energy 5

Self supply Transport

1

Economic devel.

0

Inhabitant mix

Health

Physical quality

Spatial quality

socio-economic

physical & spatial

ecological

Facilities

Health

Physical quality

Spatial quality

socio-economic

Energy W ater and waste

4 3

Safety

5


1

Economic devel.

0

Health

socio-economic

physical & spatial

Physical quality

Spatial quality

1

Facilities

ecological

Health

Inhabitant mix

ecological

socio-economic

Vancouver W ater and waste

4

Safety

3

5


1

Economic devel.

0

Health

Physical quality

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Safety

3 2

Inhabitant mix

40

W ater and waste

4

2

socio-economic

ecological

Energy

5

Spatial quality

M ultiple area use

Public green

physical & spatial

Energy

Facilities

Spatial quality

Physical quality

San Fransisco

Transport

Economic devel.

0

M ultiple area use

Public green

physical & spatial

Self supply

Safety

3 2

Inhabitant mix

socio-economic

W ater and waste

4

2

M ultiple area use

ecological

Rotterdam

5

Facilities

Public green

physical & spatial

Energy

Transport

Economic devel.

Inhabitant mix

Ottaw a

Self supply

Safety

2 1 0

M ultiple area use

Public green

Water and waste

4 3

Transport

2

Multiple area use

5

Self supply

Safety

3

Facilities

Energy

Water and waste

4

Public green

physical & spatial

1

Facilities

Inhabitant mix

Health

Physical quality

Spatial quality

M ultiple area use

ecological


Economic devel.

0

socio-economic

Public green

physical & spatial

ecological

The spider webs show that the cities of Copenhagen, Ottawa and Vancouver pay much attention to their spatial planning as part of the overall urban sustainability approach. The cities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Rotterdam give relatively much attention to energy related issue. The attention for water and waste is high in all cities and transport has a fair amount of attention in all cities too. Economic development in relation to sustainable urban development is a central issue in the cities of Rotterdam and Vancouver. Attention to issues like amenities and inhabitant mixing – as part of the urban development strategy – is only found in Vancouver. Safety is another issue that is seldom integrated in the sustainability policies. The attention for specific issues that are related to sustainability does not directly guarantee that the city scores better on the related quality aspects. However in our study we found a clear and significant match, although the level of actual success does differ. A general conclusion, based on the total overview, could be that the more integral sustainability approaches (like in Copenhagen and Vancouver) yield the best overall results, as also might be expected. Approaches that are more fragmented have more problems to remain upright on the longer term and to yield substantial results. This might partly be explained by the fact that the integral approaches are generally better integrated in the total policy processes and in the thinking of all persons and parties involved. As an example; in the cities of Ottawa and Vancouver a sustainability checklist is used for each municipal decision that is taken on the development of the city. Another general conclusion – also based on the socio-economic analysis in chapter 3 – is that the most successful approaches for sustainable urban development do have the social and physical health of the citizens as their ultimate goal, obviously flanked by other targets.

4.2

City profile used to strengthen the approach Another interesting observation is that each of the cities has chosen a strong individual characteristic as ‘signboard’ for the promotion of their sustainability action plans. The city of Amsterdam uses its long history in combination with its topical position as IT-hub. The city of Copenhagen also starts from the need to protect the old city on one hand and the will to innovate on the other. For the city of Ottawa its green character is the signboard and for the city of Rotterdam its delta position and harbour industrial complex. For the city of San Francisco it is the bay area and the city of Vancouver specifically builds on its economic dynamic character. E.g. for the city of Rotterdam its long history of living with water makes that the city region has become one of the worlds leading knowledge centre on the issues about sustainable water management, dredging, sand suppletion, coastal protection etc. Copenhagen intends to be … and We can not conclude that basing sustainable urban (re)development policies on existing recognisable city profile elements is a prerequisite for success, but it is remarkable that all the considered exemplary cities use this approach. We therefore at least recommend to consider the possibility.

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4.3

Compactness and multiple area use Working on city compactness and multiple area use (sometimes referred to as “eco-density”) is an issue in most of the cities that have been analysed. It is motivated by the fact that high densities use space more efficient and avoid urban sprawl. Density also supports all kind of services within the city; public transport, shops etc. need a certain ‘mass’ to be cost efficient. High densities generally reduce fossil fuel emissions, as people live closer to the places where they work, shop and spent spare time. From a social point of view higher densities lead to more choices for people to fulfil their needs. It also adds diversity, safety, vitality, and opportunities for creative interaction. Finally, it helps to keep the local economy vibrant and healthy and enables public health to benefit from more walking and biking. However, high density generally is only widely accepted when it really leads to better amenities and meets certain minimum standards of function mixing and liveliness. E.g. the city of Rotterdam is facing a migration of well educated citizens to neighbouring (suburban) municipalities. Available sites in the city centre and water front area are now appointed for the development of urban lifestyle apartments and should provide for a new attractive and lively city environment. Other areas are appointed for the development of ‘suburban’ like neighbourhoods for young families. These developments will helpto limit the suburbanization to the surrounding municipalities. We conclude that compactness and density are important, although not sufficient, characteristics of a sustainable city. It is crucial how issues like affordability, liveability and economic vibrancy but also the relation rental non rental are dealt with. City administration and planners need to seek a balance between (long term) profits of intensified density and the interest of the existing local communities. Public participation and individual entrepreneurship can play a role in finding the right balance.

4.4

Public green One of the lessons that the cities in our selection seem to have learned is that the volume of public green and quality of parks should not suffer from growth of the city, but, on the contrary, have to grow along with the city’s growth. The quality of existing parks can be improved by optimizing the usability of the park and redesigning it to serve the needs of the surrounding neighbourhood better. Expanding green areas generally is considered to be too costly, also because of scarce space and pressure from residential and commercial developments. Using land already owned by the city like lands under the freeway, school yards or allotments are examples of potential interesting new green areas. Examples show that the city’s budget is not the only option to finance public green. For instance a Park Improvement District is a public-private partnership in which businesses and/or residents in a defined area pay an additional tax in order to fund improvements and maintenance for the park. Another option is to let developers pay for new green space.

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In relation to the citizen participation (see 4.5) we would like to conclude that parks should not be planned and maintained top down; citizens can play an active role.

4.5

Citizen participation A city is composed of people as well as the places where they live; it is as much a social environment as a physical environment. In all six cities we see examples (most of the time still small scale at the moment) where citizen participation experiments are done on the creation of sustainable cities and communities. These experiments show that citizen participation is of great importance for the supporting and maintaining of sustainability initiatives. In the city of Amsterdam the GWL-terrain is a strong example of citizen participation. This participation resulted in an oasic green living environment with a strong social cohesion in a high dense environment. At the start of the project, ten years ago, high sustainable ambitions were set. The most extreme was that cars were forbidden. This created space for social cohesion and a lot of green spaces in the neighbourhood, for example in the form of vegetable gardens and public green. This part of Amsterdam is nowadays a very popular high-density neighbourhood to live in. The Placemaking Project in Vancouver Glenville Island is an example of how a great district can emerge, even on an unlikely location, since local people identified the area's unique potential and worked hard to create vital public spaces. The current island's status as one of Vancouver’s favourite spots isn't due to some ingenious stroke of master planning, but to the steady, patient progress of local people, organizations and businesses. Citizen participation also played a central role in an initiative of the city of Rotterdam to keep high income families in the city and to stop the increasing decay of her districts at the same time. The city launched the so-called Klushuizen-project, in which the local government granted a totally run-down housing block to current and future tenant-owners for free, with the condition that they would invest a substantial amount of money (the minimum was defined) in their houses to make these livable. In one of these projects the tenants even transformed the housing block into an architectonic highlight that lifted-up the image of the whole district, created extra open space and let to relatively low costs of living for the tenant-owners. From this we draw the conclusion that sustainable urban (re)development should be organized around people, rather than around cars or around GHGprotocols etc. The citizens are a ‘hidden’ force in society. A force that is not mobilized easily, but which can play a crucial role in the realisation of most physical policy elements as well in social cohesion, safety etc.

4.6

The cultural and demographic aspect The six cities considered – even though all large Western cities – show substantial differences in their cultural and demographic profiles. E.g. in Copenhagen most citizens are mostly white and from western cultures, while in Amsterdam and Rotterdam almost half of the citizens have a not-western cultural background. In the city of Vancouver population growth is driven primarily by immigration. Immigrants account for 40 per cent of the region’s population. Ottawa is the most educated city in Canada, with a low average age; about fifty percent of the citizens are under the age of 35.

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The cultural background of the citizens to a substantial extent defines how they react on urban development measures. E.g. where generally a high percentage of people prefers a family home for their own, other people (like the immigrants from Hong Kong in Vancouver) have no problem at all with living in skyscraper buildings and a highly compact city centre. All cities are more or less struggling to find the right balance and the right answer to the cultural differences. On top of the cultural differences most of the cities also will have to deal, at increasing speed, with the ageing of their citizen populations, which will lead to new requirements and new conditions. We consider it important that the results of the current urban (re)development policies will hold for a very long period of time. Therefore it is crucial that these policies not just start from the inhabitant mix of this moment but also think about both the likely and potential developments, like ageing of the population and immigration.

4.7

Ecological aspects The effectiveness of policy measures in the area of energy and ecology is strongly interrelated with the measures in the other policy fields. The approaches in Vancouver and Copenhagen, and to a certain extend also in Rotterdam, clearly show that investments in energy efficiency and cleaner technology might well go hand in hand with socio-economic growth and spatial quality. Central leadership, enthusiasm and directorship are important success factors for the realisation of energy and environmental policies. The approaches in Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Vancouver show obvious examples of this effect. Creating room for initiatives of private parties and citizens can lead to very appealing results too. However, even though good results can be realised by approaches that create conditions and stimulate people, this does not yield sufficient results in all areas and for all groups of people. This is one of the reasons that several of the exemplary cities tend towards more mandatory approaches, to deal with the more difficult dossiers and those who stay behind. Particularly in this field co-operation at regional, federal or even international level is required. This is a complex matter for individual municipalities, which requires a lot of effort, but also potentially yields the most significant results.

4.8

Policy implications The conclusions on the different aspects lead to a series of recommendations on both the strategic municipal approach for sustainable urban development and the more operational actions. The interrelation between the different recommendations is visualised in figure @@. The upper part in this picture represents the strategic approach. This approach has to be integral and organized around the needs of the citizens in the first place. However, in many cases municipalities have to look further, as they house e.g. companies and industries that serve a much wider area. An extreme example is the harbour industrial complex of the city of Rotterdam, which serves North-West Europe. The sustainable development of areas like these requires a close co-operation with both the organisations involved and the federal government.

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From these two angles (the citizens and the wider importance of the city) an integral vision for the future of the city can be drawn-up, which takes into account the long-term federal policy intentions as well local cultural and demographic characteristics and expected developments. The resulting strategy for the urban sustainable development can then be laid down in an integral strategy document. The strategy will have to be translated into a concrete set of actions. A tool that might help for this purpose is a standard sustainability checklist for all policy decisions. An example of such a checklist is included in Annex @@. Other success factors that can be mentioned based on the analyses in this report are leadership and enthusiasm, long-term consistency and citizen participation. Packages of building blocks will have to be composed for the realisation of the policy intentions. A set of generally usable buildings blocks is indicated in the figure and elaborated on below. Cultural & demographic characteristics

Vision on city future

Social & physical health citizens

Strategy Leadership & enthusiasm

Integral strategy document

Citizen participation

Federal policy (economy, etc.)

National importance of the city

Long term consistency

Checklist for policy decisions Compact building

Public transport

Energy efficiency

Greening en.supply

Waste reduction & recycl.

Green areas

Realisation

Cycle lanes

In the realisation process the city holds a number of ‘tuning knobs’ that can be operated to obtain results. It is the secret to find the right mix and the right ‘volumes’ for the different knobs. In the tuning prices the following scheme, based on the analyses in this report, might be of help. Independence

Storm water

Living environm.

Air quality

Econ.devel opm.

Safety

Health

Urban planning

Compact building / density Multiple area use / mixing Amenities Green areas / green roofs Public transport Cycle lanes / parkings Storm water reservoirs

Environ. policy

Energy efficiency Greening of energy sources Waste reduction / recycling Water management

In this scheme the different tuning knobs are presented on the lines of the table and the desired results in the columns. The relations between the knobs and their effects in the field of sustainability is presented by different colour intensities. The pink squares indicate a potentially negative effect.

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4.9

Recommendations for a successful policy approach Taking all the experiences and results into account we can draw-up a table with recommendations for the process of sustainable urban (re)development policy planning. The table includes general recommendations based on the analysis of the six exemplary cities, literature research on sustainable urban development in other parts of the world and on the expert opinion of the researchers. The first part of this table gives a series of starting points or guiding principles for the policy approach of sustainable urban (re)development in general. The second part offers a series of more concrete and more physical elements that might be taken into account in any (re)development project.

Sustainable urban (re)development Guiding principles for the general policy approach • • • • • • • •

Take social and physical health of the citizens and the desired future of the city as central aims; This will lead to a practical and balanced synergy of socioeconomic, spatial and ecological quality aspects; Draw-up a sustainability checklist and assess and adjust all future policy decisions, based on this list; Frequently evaluate and innovate the policy targets, but take care of long-term consistency and gradual transitions; Stimulate private initiative and citizen participation; At the same time set minimum mandatory standards, to make sure that laggards have to start moving too; Actively negotiate and co-operate with other regional, federal and international governments on issues that are outside the individual jurisdiction. Try to get an exceptional status; Select a clear ‘signboard’ for the approach and preferably link this to existing strong elements city profile.

Concrete elements to be considered • • • • • • • •

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Compact building, particularly filled-in with multiple area use and function mixing; Energy efficiency, standards for new developments, restructuring projects and new concessions and exemplary role; Greening of energy supply, agreements on the use of renewable energy sources for the production of electricity and heat; Waste reduction and recycling, agreements and standards on the reduction of waste flows and on recycling; Public transport, improvement and extension of public transport systems at local and regional level; Cycling, offering attractive and safe cycle lanes in and towards the city centre; Spreading of green areas, making sure that green areas are available at short distance (different concepts are possible and effective); Exemplary role, the municipality gives a good example, but also uses this to stimulate others and make agreements.


The recommended guiding principles and concrete elements can thus be used to improve the sustainable urban development in any city. However, at all times the guidelines will have to be applied wisely, since obviously they do not provide ultimate truths. In this respect we would like to emphasize once more that the analyses of the six cities in this report was purely intended to obtain a better understanding for the effectiveness of sustainable urban development strategies in general and not to judge, rank or benchmark these cities in any way. Nevertheless, we are convinced that, with some extra elaboration, the findings of this research project can be developed into a serious measuring staff for the effectiveness of actual sustainable urban development policies in different cities. An important step in this direction has been set in this study.

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Annex A City profiles A.1 A.1.1

Amsterdam Goals Reduce CO2 emissions by 20% between 2005 and 2015. The vision is to be the first carbon neutral capital in the world by 2025. Municipal organization −

In 2015, the City of Amsterdam wants to be climate neutral.

City Districts −

A better climate is not a project that can be ‘quickly arranged’ from City Hall. Likeminded partners with shared objectives create the basis for success. The City Districts play an important role in this process.

Sustainable energy

−

Amsterdam has decided how much sustainable energy will be generated within the municipality in 2025. This amounts to 20% of the energy requirements of Amsterdam in 2025, if policy does not change. If there is a climate policy that results in reduced energy demand, the share of sustainable energy could be as high as 30%.

New construction −

Beginning in 2010, Amsterdam will build 32,000 housing units at the major locations. In 2010, four out of ten newly built houses will be climate neutral. in 2015, this will apply to all new houses

Existing buildings −

From the perspective of the municipality, the housing associations are an important group because they own more than 50% of the housing units in Amsterdam. The second and third group are private landlords (22%) and owner/residents (27%).

Small and mid-sized enterprises −

A framework of cooperation involving businesses, SME Amsterdam, the Chamber of Commerce, ORAM and the City Districts gives shape to the SME programme. During the years to come, the partners in this programme will develop dozens of CO2 reduction packages for specific SME groups. Key concept: delegating the task of saving energy.

ICT −

The leaders in the Amsterdam ICT sector and the Climate Office are developing the Green-IT programme. This initiative aims to reduce the CO2 emissions of ICT technology in households and businesses.

Transport

−

The Action Plan for Goods Transport and the Priority for a Healthy City programme have the objective of improving the air quality in Amsterdam. Some of the measures that restrict the emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide also lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions. The aim of the Action Plan for Goods Transport is to reduce the emissions of heavy commercial vehicles by 15%.

Port of Amsterdam −

The Port of Amsterdam is committed to sustainable development, as shown in its strategic plan (Havenvisie 2008-2020). This means that wind energy and thermal storage will be expanded, business clusters will benefit optimally from waste streams and sustainable biomass will be introduced as a motor for business. Road transport must be replaced where possible by rail and water transport.

Education

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−

The education sector comprises a large group of Amsterdam residents: students, pupils, parents and teachers. In this way, education provides the opportunity to inform a large group of people about the climate issue and about the possibilities to contribute to the solution themselves.

A.1.2

Policies and projects Municipal organization − New construction for the Municipality of Amsterdam: In recent years, the municipality has made large investments in energy-efficient buildings. Much of the new construction is more energy-efficient than required by law. Nevertheless, no single building is emission-free. The task is now to design buildings with the highest possible energy-efficiency, but which no longer use natural gas for space heating. − Renovation of the municipality’s own buildings: It is often impossible to renovate existing buildings at an acceptable cost so that they become CO2 neutral. This does not take away from the fact that using existing technologies in older buildings can achieve major reductions. − Making demands as a tenant: The municipality owns only some of the buildings that uses. The municipality decides to rent buildings depending on the preparedness of the landlord to invest in the energy efficiency of the building during renovation. If the landlord is not sufficiently prepared to make such an investment, the municipality will look for an alternative and will cancel the rental contract. As a result, Amsterdam signals landlords that sustainable buildings are the new standard. − Energy Team: An Energy Team for municipal buildings is being established. This team will advise and assist the neighbourhoods and the central services during both new construction and renovation. The team will help map out what is required for all municipal buildings to earn an ‘A label’ for energy efficiency. − Public lighting: Public lighting provides safety and atmosphere in the city. By using intelligent light measuring and more efficient lamps and materials, a great deal of energy can be saved. In concrete terms, the municipality sees the following as the most important possibilities: − For new installations and replacements, the municipality is choosing the most energy-efficient lamps and the most effective armatures. This means, among other things, replacing older lamps with newer types that do not require warm up time (or lamps of a future generation that are even more efficient ) and switching entirely to electronic components (savings potential: nearly 8% energy savings and a longer lifespan for the lamps). − Continue to be critical of the light measurement system that – depending on the degree of darkness – turns on the public lighting. Responsible public lighting will continue to be the motto, but the lamps do not have to burn longer than is strictly necessary. A recent refinement of the measurement system resulted in energy savings of 1.5%. − Due to the geographical location and urban design of AmsterdamNoord, it is possible to turn on the public lighting somewhat later in this section of the city, and to turn it off somewhat sooner. Additional differentiation in other parts of the city (WestelijkeTuinsteden, Amsterdam Zuidoost) is being investigated. − Beginning in 2008, experiments will take place with dimming public lighting for energy savings and to reduce possible light nuisance and light pollution. For example, it is unnecessary to have public lighting at ‘full power’ with low traffic intensities and clear weather conditions.

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−

−

This type of light dimming on thoroughfares can provide an energy savings of 7.5%. Municipal vehicle fleet: The municipal vehicle fleet has approximately 2000 vehicles. And all those lawnmowers, passenger cars, vans, sweeping machines and garbage trucks do not drive themselves. − Energy-efficient vehicles: In 2007, the Mayor & College of Aldermen decided to only purchase passenger cars with an A or B energy label. A car with an ‘A label’ emits at least 20% less CO2 than average; with a ‘B label’ this is 10 to 20% less. This resolution of Mayor & College of Aldermen is an order to the central services and an urgent request to the City Districts. − In addition, a funding scheme from the Air Quality Programme Bureau will accelerate the replacement of polluting vehicles with clean vehicles. − A two-wheel alternative: Electric scooters are potentially a good alternative for cars on short trips with little baggage. Compared with four-wheel transport, they use little energy. Moreover, they create less pollution and noise nuisance in the city and they take up less space. A test is being conducted to determine if the scooters are user friendly, reliable and safe, and if the breakdown service for these vehicles can also be properly arranged. If this pilot project succeeds, a fleet of electric scooters may be purchased. LED lighting: Partly on the initiative of Philips, a study was conducted this year into which additional technological possibilities for energy savings are available, what the effect of these would be and what accelerated investments these technologies require. For example, LED streetlights developed by Philips were tested at the City Hall/Muziektheater. One of the objectives was to enable Amsterdam residents to become acquainted with this new lighting technology. LED streetlights can provide energy savings of up to 51%.

City Districts − Online monitoring: This year the ‘Online monitoring of municipal buildings’ will be expanded to all locations. This initiative of ARC gives the building manager insight at all times into the energy use of the building. − Step2Save: Step2Save is a cooperative project involving Nuon,the Municipality of Amsterdam, eleven City Districts and the Far West and Ymere housing associations. Step2Save aims for CO2 reduction, lower energy bills for tenants and trains unemployed young people to become energy advisers. − Energy Survival: This year Project Bureau ARC, on behalf of the Netherlands Climate Union (Klimaatverbond Nederland) is again holding the Energy Survival programme in Amsterdam. In this programme, children learn about the importance of energy savings and sustainable energy during an exciting and educational discovery expedition. − Solar power on your roof is easy: In the summer of 2007, Project Bureau ARC, together with the province of North Holland and Besseling Installatie/Kapitein, conducted the ‘Zon op je dak’ campaign for the City Districts of Amsterdam. The aim of the campaign was to promote solar energy systems among the owners/residents in the city Private owners could obtain a subsidy on the purchase of a solar energy system. − Climate Cafés: In 2008, fifteen Climate Cafés will be held by WISE on behalf of the Amsterdam City Districts. This is a simple but very effective concept to reach new target groups. In a pub or coffee house, a discussion about climate topics is held while the participants enjoy a drink. The attendees become involved with the theme by means of an exciting climate quiz, among other methods.

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−

−

−

−

−

−

−

−

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Sustainable energy in urban renewal: The Institute for Environmental Studies of VU University, the General Housing Association (Algemene Woningbouwvereniging) and the Geuzenveld-Slotermeer City District are jointly pursuing a broadly supported package of CO2-reducing measures that will be used during renovation projects. Residents, project managers of City Districts and housing associations are working together in a dialogue and workshop programme which emphasizes the importance and feasibility of CO2-reducing measures and provides technologies with which the reduction will be achieved. The aim is to develop a method with which the project leaders can get started in concrete terms. Air curtains: For busy shops, open doors are more the rule than the exception. Usually the inside temperature is maintained by using a warm air curtain at the entrance. This is very costly for the business and is not very good for the environment. The City District Centrum wants to help the shops and the environment by talking with them about replacing the warm air curtains with alternatives that are at least 50% more energy efficient. For this purpose, a pilot study has been planned where selected shops will use an energy-efficient air curtain. Heat pump at the Airport Business park: The Airport Business park Amsterdam-Osdorp (formerly Lutkemeer) aims to reduce its energy consumption by 40% and to generate 10% of the required energy sustainably. To this end, the business park is using a groundwater system with decentral heat pumps and is taking advantage of a subsidy scheme to realise 10,000 m² of solar panels. Companies at the business park are required to connect to the system. Natural gas lines will not be installed – therefore no alternative is available. European demonstration project: Noord Is working on the sustainable renovation project ‘Plan van Gool’. As part of this project, 1,170 houses will be renovated in a sustainable fashion. This will be done, among other ways, by greatly improving the insulation of the houses. Sustainable renovation: In 2006 and 2007, the Far West housing association implemented an environmentally friendly housing renovation project involving a building complex with 192 units (blocks of flats with shared entrance halls and regular flats) on the Piet Mondriaanstraat and surrounding area. Far West commissioned a study to determine which environmental measures would be most effective and also took affordability into account. The resulted in an ambitious package of renovation measures. Laan van Spartaan:”Where football fields were once located, in several years 1000 new housing units will be built, including sports accommodations, a parking garage and social amenities. All houses will be connected to district heating provided by the Waste Energy Company (Afval Energie Bedrijf). Sustainable City District office: This year, the new City District office for Zuideramstel will be completed. The building complex also contains housing units and a parking garage. The project location is the Kop Rivierenbuurt and is part of the Zuidas. Regarding energy and sustainability, a number of measures have been taken that have led among other things to the Energy Performance Coefficient being 33% better than the legal requirement. Energy savings for primary schools: Together with the province of North Holland, the Environmental & Building Department and the school administrations Sirius and Bijzonderwijs, City District Zuidoost has developed an energy savings campaign for 24 primary schools. Schools with a high energy consumption were required to participate in the energy study. The schools were given a 1,000 subsidy and assistance in implementing the very practically oriented advice. Following the completion of the project, the school administrations continued with


−

−

energy management on a no cure, no pay basis. In this way, saving energy becomes anchored in the organisation. Turby-windmills: Since the first of July 2007, a Turby windmillhas been proudly turning on the Flevohuis. The machine stands 12 m high and supplies enough electricity for two households. The installation of the wind turbine is a co-production involving the City District and the Ymere housing association.Each party paid half of the €20,000 cost. As the owner of the Flevohuis, Ymere manages the wind turbine. City District Zeeburg was responsible for the planning and the environmental-legal issues involved with the installation. City District office: Oost-Watergraafsmeer is building a new City District complex in the Polderweggebied which will also house the Centre for Visual Arts,Entrepreneurs Centre Oost-Watergraafsmeer and de Kraal school. The building will be completed this year.Environmental measures: As a result of the measures, the Energy Performance Coefficient (EPC) is 50% better than required in the National Building Regulations decree. This performance can be improved even further if wind turbines and solar cells can be installed on the roof (currently under study).

Sustainable energy − Solar energy: According to the latest insights, after 2016 the price per kWh for solar energy will be equal to the price paid by a private party for electricity from the grid. Profitable exploitation of solar energy is on the horizon. To achieve this, two preconditions must always be satisfied. − First, there must be sufficient space to install solar panels, solar boilers or thin-film PV. In Amsterdam, this is no problem whatsoever: businesses, houses, offices (municipal and private) and schools have several million m² of roof area. There are parties who want to make their roofs available without having the ambition of investing in and managing the solar systems. − A second precondition is therefore that there are parties who install, maintain and manage the solar installations on a contract basis, and sell the generated energy to a power company. New Amsterdam Climate sees possibilities in the roof area of Amsterdam being used by solar power companies. At the national level as well, preparations are taking place for the largescale rollout of solar photovoltaic systems in the built environment. Therefore New Amsterdam Climate, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, financiers and the energy sector, wants to develop a concept that can be put on the market in the foreseeable future. − Wind energy: New wind turbines could be installed at various locations in the city. The available space in Amsterdam for large wind turbines is limited, but the new wind location map shows the potential and the possibilities for initiatives. Installing small wind turbines on roofs is an option that requires further study. This year (2008) Amsterdam will present its vision on this possibility. − The lack of space within Amsterdam can be compensated by participating in wind parks on the North Sea. Amsterdam is taking this option into serious consideration. − Biomass: Amsterdam is already using biomass from municipal waste and sewage sludge to generate sustainable heat and electricity. The trams and the metro, for example, operate on this electricity. The electricity generation takes place at the Waste and Energy Company (AEB), where slightly more than half of the incinerated waste from non-fossil origin can be considered to be biomass. By expanding the district heating network of AEB and connecting more houses and businesses to this network, even more benefits can be obtained from biomass. Increasing the sales of

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−

−

−

− −

−

residual heat is currently being studied. Food supplies and biodiversity must certainly not suffer in order to produce biomass. Another direction in energy production from biomass has been given attention in a study taking place at the Sciencepark, where Waternet is working with Aquaphy to explore the possibilities of producing algae inhouse. Heat and cold: For supplying heat and cold, technologies are available at the household, building complex or district level. At the level of individual households, the solar boiler is one possibility. At the project level, at dozens of locations in Amsterdam companies are using a thermal storage installation for heating and cooling. This is an efficient technology which has been accepted by the market and will continue to grow significantly. At the district level, Amsterdam has a growing district heating grid. Ultimately this grid will form a ring with Amsterdam. To achieve this, it is essential that the new locations of Buiksloterham and Zeeburgereiland are connect to the district heating grid. For project developers, thermal storage is often more interesting in financial terms than connecting to district heating. In order to find a good balance, the municipality will have to start directing this process. To this end, a theme been established for the programme managers in the spatial planning sector. Sustainability is just as important with the delivery of cold as it is with the delivery of heat. However it is more difficult to realise this on a large scale, because deep water (in this case the source of cold) is not always available. The Zuidas and the Zuidoostlob are using a cold grid that is fed with deep water from the Nieuwe Meer and the Ouderkerkerplas. Waternet and NUON are working closely together on this project. For Teleport, a study is being conducted about the feasibility of a cold grid that will use AEB heat for absorption cooling. More and more ‘green’ electricity: In Amsterdam, 37% of the households are already using ‘ green’ electricity (from sustainable sources). This is slightly more than the national average of 33% (source: Milieucentraal). An interesting aspect is the growth during the past two years, especially among young people. The 40 to 60 age group is lagging behind. In 2009 a major campaign is launched in cooperation with energy suppliers to encourage private parties as well as companies to switch to green electricity. Process & Partners: To greatly increase the production of sustainable energy, cooperation is essential. This is why the Climate Office and the parties that can make this possible are coming into contact with each other. The partners in this endeavour include not only energy companies, but also businesses that offer sustainable energy products. Cooperation also means joint pilot projects and experimental projects to learn about the obstacles and bottlenecks that we will encounter along the way.

New construction − Beginning in 2010, Amsterdam will build 32,000 housing units at the major locations. In 2010, four out of ten newly built houses will be climate neutral. in 2015, this will apply to all new houses − At the Zuidas location, ABN-Amro, together with other parties, developed the Dutch Green Building Council. This concept makes it possible to achieve a better sustainability score than is prescribed in the legislation. − A group of eight market parties is working on a proposal to make the Buiksloterham development district as climate neutral as possible. In this context, the Noordwaarts Administrative Consultation Committee has decided that the project will be awarded to the developer with the most sustainable plan, and not necessarily to the developer with the lowest price. To compare the plans with each other, a ‘sustainability meter’ is being used. The first experience with this approach is being acquired in

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− −

the Buiksloterham. The intention is for many more projects in Amsterdam Noord and other parts of the city to start using this method . In the Spaarndammerbuurt, the De Key housing association is starting to build climate-neutral houses and is bringing existing houses to that level during renovation. New approach: It won’t happen by itself! The entire process of land allocation, development and construction must be based on the new standard. During the development of areas, an energy strategy must be formulated at the earliest stage, which indicates what the best measures are.

Existing buildings The first steps have already been taken: − Since February of 2007, the municipality has headed the leaders alliance in which the housing associations are challenged to achieve the best performance. As a result, the attention for energy savings in existing housing has increased. In addition, the leaders alliance has led to concrete initiatives such as the Step2Save project − Joint initiatives create a strong network. A good example is the presentation of a joint case study – during the BouwRAI – by the housing associations Ymere, Het Oosten, De Key and the Climate Office. Another example is the Network for Energy Savings, an initiative of the Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations. As part of this network, all the housing associations exchange expertise about energy savings in existing housing and new housing. − In the meantime, the first housing associations have formulated their sustainability policy. − This year, the municipality and the housing associations will jointly realise three model houses. These models houses show what is possible to reduce CO2 emissions. The plan is to deliver these houses to their new residents at the beginning of 2009. − The Climate Office and a number of financiers are jointly seeking possibilities to aid owners associations when taking energy saving measures. This concerns advice, implementing the measures and providing the financing for the measures. More steps to take: − Every year, the municipal housing service and the housing associations make agreements about the contributions that each of the associations will make to the aims in the housing policy agreement. Climate will be an important aspect in these agreements. − In 2008, the housing associations will assign energy labels to most of their housing inventory. This process provides a lot of information about the current state of affairs and the steps that still need to be taken. It is important to share this new expertise with each other. − A number of housing associations need to acquire more understanding of the energy quality of their housing and must begin developing a sustainability policy. − All the housing associations together sell approximately 2000 housing units per year Generally speaking, the new owner/resident does not invest in energy saving measures. If a housing association implemented these measures before the sale, it could include the investment in the sales price, and the reduction in CO2 emissions would then be assured. − Approximately 6% of the households in Amsterdam are still receiving unmetered heat (central heating and warm water). With a meter and an individual account, energy and water consumption is reduced by 10 to 15%.

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The demands of the building code hamper far reaching energy savings especially in houses from the pre-war era. Due to its role in this process, the municipality must find a new balance that does justice to both the beauty of the city and the necessity for energy savings.

Small and mid-sized enterprises − Delegating the task of saving energy In cooperation with several financial institutions and energy companies, a concept is being developed that will make it easier for companies to benefit from energy savings. For example, a business that requires a new lighting installation will not have to invest in this installation itself; it will repay the financed amount from the savings on its energy bill. This concept will be tested in the near future and – if successful – will be structurally included in the other projects and expanded. − For three SME groups, packages of measures are already being compiled. The strategy here is to bring businesses who are looking for buyers for their sustainable products into contact with businesses who want to make their operations more sustainable, but don’t know exactly how to do this. − Offices, warehouses and manufacturing: A brief series of business scans brings sustainable savings and benefits into the picture and links these to the best investment moments. Businesses, business associations, parties involved with business park management, suppliers and the municipality all contribute to the realization of pilot projects. The successful approaches used by the leaders will be carefully adapted to a solution which will be interesting for a large group of businesses. − Hotels: In this sector, CO2 reduction concerns the buildings, the technical installations and the hotel room facilities. Here as well, innovative suppliers and Green Key hotels are developing concrete CO2 reduction options that are being applied. These options will then be made available to a large group of hotels. − Shops and cafés/restaurants/catering: Several innovative retailers and suppliers will determine which possibilities are available to reduce CO2 emissions. They will do this, among other ways, by reducing unneeded lighting at night. In another project, all businesses in the Utrechtsestraat will be advised about simple measures and supported during their implementation. With the experience acquired during the pilot project, street managers can encourage larger groups of shops to implement the solutions. Additional expansion will take place in cooperation with the City Districts ICT − The leaders in the Amsterdam ICT sector and the Climate Office are developing the Green-IT programme. This initiative aims to reduce the CO2 emissions of ICT technology in households and businesses. In addition, Green-IT is looking for possibilities to use ICT elsewhere in the economic system to achieve CO2 reduction. The programme will gradually comprise initiatives focusing on various issues, target groups and effects. In 2008, the focus will be on reducing the CO2 emissions of data centres: Green DC. Green DC: − companies will be provided with knowledge about the necessity of sustainable energy consumption and about the available possibilities (technical and otherwise); − together with the sector, it will be determined how the municipality can help businesses contribute to the municipal CO2 target; − initiatives of leaders will be put in the spotlight for the sector; − data centres and the municipality will make voluntary climate agreements. − The Climate Office participates in the annual Innovation Award ICT & CO2 of Digikring; this award aims to challenge the ICT sector and the creative

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− −

ME in Amsterdam to come up with solutions for energy issues. The Office assigns one project leader and one communications officer to help organise the event and provides the prize money. The energy performance of municipal ICT is examined: energy criteria for purchasing; using ICT technology to save energy within the municipal organisation; energy savings in the municipal infrastructure. Connected Urban Development: As part of the Clinton Global Initiative, Amsterdam is working together with Seoul, San Francisco and Cisco on making cities more sustainable (climate-friendly) with the aid of ICT (the ‘Connected Urban Development’ programme - CUD). ICT plays a role in monitoring and in finding solutions, such as creating green buildings or smarter transport methods. In principle, the measures developed in the programme must be reproducible in other cities and countries. Therefore, in addition to developing, testing and implementing measures, the dissemination of the acquired expertise also has a high priority.

Transport − The Action Plan for Goods Transport and the Priority for a Healthy City programme have the objective of improving the air quality in Amsterdam. Some of the measures that restrict the emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide also lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions. The aim of the Action Plan for Goods Transport is to reduce the emissions of heavy commercial vehicles by 15%. An environmental zone for such heavy vehicles will restrict the most polluting ones. The implementation of the quality network for goods transport and promoting other forms of goods transport such as City Cargo, Mokum Mariteam, and bicycle couriers will also make a significant contribution to CO2 reduction. − The Priority for a Healthy City programme is an ambitious plan to reduce the air pollution caused by traffic within the Ring A10. An environmental zone for passenger cars and vans and a maximum speed of 80 kph on the major road network will also make a substantial contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. Discussion is still taking place about the implementation of this measure with the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. − Making vehicles more environmentally friendly Various pilot studies, initiatives and projects will lead to cleaner mobility during the years to come. First of all, the existing means of transport in the city will be made more sustainable. This means more electric scooters, tuktuks and tour boats operating on hydrogen. − Beginning in 2009, CityCargo will be operating a goods tram. The municipality is consulting with TCA about the possibilities of using cleaner taxis to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions. − Waternet recently began generating biogas from wastewater treatment plants to supply green fuel for the municipal vehicle fleet. Over the longer term, Waternet aims to convert the biogas into hydrogen. − Electrical transport on the path to hydrogen Hydrogen is a ‘third wave’ solution, a fuel for the long term. As an interim step on the path to hydrogen, Amsterdam wants to promote electrical transport. Electrical vehicles have zero emissions; this is good for the air quality and therefore good for the health of the residents. Electrical transport has many similarities with hydrogen transport. Both are driven by an electrical motor, in the first case with a battery and in the second case with a fuel cell. The developments in this area moving fast. More and more manufacturers are producing an electrical or hybrid vehicle for the market. In addition, electrical vans and trucks are going to be driving through the city. And on the canals, there are more and more electrically powered pleasure boats. Electrical scooters can be recharged in the

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−

−

−

parking stalls. As a result, the street landscape is going to soon become quieter and cleaner. Important role for hydrogen: Three Amsterdam city buses are already operating on hydrogen. In hybrid cars, the use of hydrogen improves the efficiency of the motor; and the first Amsterdam hydrogen boat is waiting to be christened. Fewer vehicles: As the municipal parking policy becomes more stringent, and mobility becomes more expensive, more people will start sharing a car. Greenwheels, Wheels4All, Connect-Car en Mobility Mixx have already discovered this opportunity. It is known that people who share cars drive 30 to 50% less than car owners. Waterways as blue carpets: As a node in the water transport network, the waterways of Amsterdam offer more transport possibilities that are currently being used. City District Centrum wants to improve accessibility by utilising these possibilities. It plans to encourage and facilitate market parties with a network of public docking facilities and quays. Cooperation between the municipality and hotels, museums, cafés and restaurants and tour boat operators appears to be an obvious step. One initiative that is outstandingly compatible with the plans is Mokum Mariteam, a framework of cooperation of interested organisations that focuses on the transport of goods and the removal of waste using environmentally friendly vessels on the canals of the inner city.

Port of Amsterdam − Cleaner transport: Since 2003, the Westpoort Bus has been operating in the Port of Amsterdam; this is a private initiative for collective transport. Every day, between 500 and 600 port workers take the bus instead of their cars. − Nearly two-thirds of the containers from ocean vessels are transported during the next phase via rail or inland waterways. With better transport links, this share can be increased even further, thereby reducing the use of more polluting road transport. − One innovative example is the AMSbarge, a specially designed ship for inland waterways with its own heavy container crane that provides a daily pickup and delivery service for companies on or near the waterways. A second ship is now on order. − The Port of Amsterdam organisation uses hybrid cars. − The CO2 emissions of business trips on aeroplanes are compensated with the restoration of 30,000 ha of forest in Malaysia. This region in Malaysia is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). − Source of energy: At the end of 2008, wind turbines with a capacity of 65 megawatts will be installed at Westpoort, which is enough to supply 40,000 households with clean electricity. − The Energy & Waste Company (AEB), which generates electricity from waste, is also located at Port of Amsterdam. In the years to come, the district heating grid, which AEB supplies with its residual heat, will be expanded so that other businesses in Westpoort can also supply their residual heat to the grid. − In April 2008, construction began on the new facility for the Greenmills company. This innovative company produces biodiesel, bioethanol, compost and green electricity. Greenmills operates as a closed system, where the residual heat that is generated during the fermentation and composting process is used for the rendering plant. The Westpoortbus operates on biodiesel produced by Greenmills. The Port of Amsterdam aims to take a leading position in the blending and distribution of ‘green’ fuels. − Port of Amsterdam Fund: Businesses that want to make sustainable, innovative investments that exceed their direct commercial needs, or

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−

−

−

−

−

which exceed the applicable legal requirements, can apply for financing to a Port of Amsterdam Fund (Havenfonds), in formation. The Environmental Policy Plan 2008-2012 calls for a baseline measurement of the CO2 emissions of Westpoort and the Port of Amsterdam. This measurement is necessary to map out the effects of later CO2 reduction measures Another useful study concerns the possibilities for providing electricity to moored ocean shipping vessels, thermal storage for offices and distribution centres, and CO2 capture, storage and reuse in the port area. The Port of Amsterdam also wants to further optimize the transport connections to the hinterland. After 2010, the Port of Amsterdam will commit itself to the development of sustainable business clusters in which products such as heat, electricity and CO2 will be used (or reused) by the businesses. The Port of Amsterdam holds a strong position on the energy market and has a great deal of expertise in this area. The application of more sustainable energy is therefore a logical step. This philosophy is compatible with businesses that focus, for example, on hydrogen, sustainable biomass, algae production and wind energy. 2020 and beyond: Thanks to the first and second wave, in 2020 the Port of Amsterdam will be a sustainable port in which CO2 emissions are minimised, sustainable energy is generated and cycles are closed whenever possible. Taking CO2 to the sea: Rotterdam aims to store CO2 in an empty gas field in the North Sea. For Amsterdam, this is also a possibility. The Climate Office commissioned an exploratory study concerning the possibilities of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Education − Primary education: Based on the condition of many of these buildings and their technical installations, and considering the possibilities to manage energy and behaviour, it is absolutely clear that the consumption of gas and electricity can be reduced. − Higher education: VU University, the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, InHolland, Amsterdam Regional Community College and Amarantis provide education to more than 150,000 students in approximately 180 buildings. The CO2 emission of these institutions amounts to 2.5% of the total for Amsterdam. We are going to change this situation. These parties endorse the climate of objective of the Municipality of Amsterdam and want to contribute to the reduction of urban CO2 emissions. − Towards 2010: In 2010, the institutions for higher education will have formulated energy savings plans that are more ambitious than the multiyear agreements. Every four years, these plans will be renewed with new climate initiatives. Every year, it will be determined whether the interim results are sufficient for achieving the ultimate targets. At the very least, large-scale energy savings measures will be implemented that can pay for themselves within five years. All institutions will have switched to green electricity. Sustainability will be the basic principle for the operational management and new construction plans for the institutions.

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A.1.3

Data Amsterdam General parameters Population

2009

756.000

1990 - 2000

5%

1990 - 2009

9%

Household growth

2000 - 2009

3%

Density (inh./m2)

2009

4550

Growth

2000 - 2009

3%

Total GHG emissions

2006

4,7

Growth

1990 - 2006

15%

Residential GHG emissions

2006

1,9

Growth

1990 - 2006

6%

GHG / capita

2006

6,3

Growth

1990 - 2006

7%

Residential GHG / capita

2006

2,6

Growth

1990 - 2006

-1%

Residential energy use share

2007

73%

Gas

2007

21%

Electricity

2007

5%

Heat / renewables

2007

482

kg / year

2003 - 2007

-3%

Recycling

2007

21%

Residential water use

2008

172

Growth

2004 - 2008

-3%

Travel to work

2000 – 2008

-15%

by car

2001 – 2008

-7%

by public transport

2002 – 2008

5%

by bicycle

2003 - 2008

-23%

by foot

1999 – 2008

0%

Background concentration

1999 – 2008

-22%

Local concentration

1999 – 2008

-10% , -20%

Background concentration

1999 - 2008

15%, 22%

Local concentration

Growth

inhabitants / km2

Ecological parameters

Solid waste production

Air quality - PM10

Air quality - Nox

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million ton / year

million ton / year

ton

ton

liters / day

61

A.2

Copenhagen

A.3

Ottawa

A.4

Rotterdam

A.5

San Francisco

A.6

Vancouver

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Annex B Definitions “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Brundtland Commission (1987) "a form of societal change that, in addition to traditional development objectives, has the objective or constraint of ecological sustainability". That is, "ecological sustainability is, of course, not independent of the other (traditional) objectives of development. Trade-offs may sometimes have to be made between the extent to and rate at which ecological sustainability is achieved vis-à-vis other objectives. In other cases, however, ecological sustainability and traditional developmental objectives (such as satisfaction of basic needs) could be mutually reinforcing" (Lélé, 1991) Health, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition is ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO 1992). “Sustainable urban development seeks to create cities and towns that improve the long term health of the planet’s human and ecological systems.” (Wheeler, 1996) Definition of ‘ecological footprints’ Its premise is that each of us has real areas of the earth’s surface dedicated to our consumption of food and wood products (footprints of the same name); to our use of land surface for buildings, roads, garbage dumps, etc. (degraded land footprint); and to forests necessary to absorb CO2 produced by our burning of fossil fuels (energy footprint). The sum of these footprints can be calculated and constitutes our ecological footprint. (Palmer, 1999) "Improving the quality of life in a city, including ecological, cultural, political, institutional, social and economic components without leaving a burden on the future generations.” URBAN21 Conference (Berlin, July 2000) Definition of ‘urban metabolism’ This model asses sustainability, but rather than calculating the amount of land required to sustain the resource consumption and waste discharge of any given population, it measures the flow of resources into and waste outputs from settlements. (DoI, 2002) Definition of ‘industrial ecology’ Industrial ecology is an emerging field of study that aims to improve the sustainability of industrial metabolism by applying an ecological metaphor to the design of industrial systems. Industrial ecologists attempt to address the need for an urgent yet practical revision of conventional industrial system design. (Verstegen, 2003) “A city — or, better, even, a metropolitan area — that does not rob the earth of fixed, nonrenewable resources, or, if it does, it does so at only a minimal and a decreasing rate.” (Hall, 2005) "Het op zodanige wijze ontwerpen; bouwen en inrichten, gebruiken en beheren van de stedelijke omgeving dat de schade voor de gezondheid en het milieu in alle stadia van het bestaansproces, van ontwerp tot en met sloop,

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zoveel mogelijk wordt beperkt voor nu en in de toekomst." (Nationaal Pakket Duurzame Stedebouw) “(…) duurzame, steden zijn flexibel. De stadsplattegrond gaat lang mee en is door de decennia en eeuwen heen elke keer opnieuw in staat om ruimte te bieden aan nieuwe functies en te voldoen aan nieuwe eisen” (Dubbeling 2009) As economic development can only be sustainable when it is accompanied by measures designed to reduce poverty, social exclusion and environmental problems, the integrated approach not only encourages growth and jobs throughout Europe, but also pursues social and environmental objectives (Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion – Turning diversity into strength, COM (2008)) “The real question is whether the notion of sustainable urbanism is a mythical beast.” “(…) we have to start with what has become almost conventional, even commonplace, nowadays. This is the much-quoted, perhaps now over- quoted, statement from The Brundtland Report nearly 20 years ago. We all know it almost by heart. "The real question is, in any context - not least the urban context - "how to make it operational." (Sir Peter Hall, 2005)

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Annex C Total list indicators/parameters Process of formulation indicators and parameters From two basic principles is started with the drawn up of the indicators: 1. Key concepts on sustainable urban (re)development: ecologically sustainable, socially liveable and economically healthy. 2. Analysing used indicators in different ranking systems for sustainable cities. Especially we looked at indicators where high ranking cities score very high on specific indicators. The first basic principle is used to clustering the indicators on what is the thread and what are the distinguished groups? The second principle provides the following information: − the criteria of some ranking systems are unclear (like EuropeanCitiesMonitor of Cushman& Wakefielden and The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities) − at others ranking systems, the available information differs − so totally 10 ranking systems left with more than 250 indicators (a lot of overlaps) Then we clustered all the different indicators and parameters and make some head groups, see Figure 7 and

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Figure 8.

Figure 7

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Clustering the indicator “cloud”


Figure 8

Making head groups of the indicators and parameter

Overview indicators and paramters physical and spatial quality @ Overzichtstabel Niels, nog aanvullen met 2 kolommen Indicators

Parameters

Density

Inhabitants per km2 Dwellings per km2

Mixed use

Jobs/housing ratio (neighborhood/district) Dispersion of services (schools, grocery stores, restaurants).

Public green (parks)

Area of green per inhabitant Accessibility of green, % of inhabitants living within 500 m of public green

Urban form

Typology of building blocks (descriptive indicator) Grid layout (descriptive indicator)

Energy efficient buildings

Number of energy efficient buildings per 100.000 inhabitants

Overview indicators and paramters social and economic quality @ Overzichtstabel Joost, nog aanvullen

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Indicators

Parameters

Economic quality

City product per capita

(prosperity)

Employment (descriptive indicator) Distribution of income / average income Economic stability Affordability (descriptive indicator) Demography (descriptive indicator)

Social quality (well-being)

Safety (descriptive indicator) Demography (descriptive indicator) Citizen participation (descriptive indicator) Identity (descriptive indicator) Social equity

Level of amenities

Health Education Entertainment

Total overview indicators and paramters ecological quality & flows Indicators

Parameters

Relation with the sustainable city

Total GHG emissions

Total GHG emissions of at

GHG emissions gives an indication of

least two years

the absolute emissions of a city. This can be determined by certain core industrial activities, the climate or typical consumer behavior (VS versus Europe). Useful to compare with population growth or economic shifts.

Residential GHG

Residential GHG emissions

Residential GHG emissions indicate

emissions

of at least two years

whether the energy demand of the residential sector is provided by relative clean energy, or that houses are relatively energy efficient. Trends in this figure are useful to compare to the trend in population growth or total GHG emissions.

GHG emissions per

-

capita

Total GHG emissions of

This figure makes cities more

at least two years

comparable. And also gives an indication of the energy intensity of a

-

Number of Inhabitants

city, which can be determined by numerous factors as described for the above indicators.

Residential GHG

Since household size is stable a change

emissions per capita

in this figure indicates that the energy supply becomes cleaner, energy efficient measures are taken or consumer behavior changes.

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Residential energy use

-

Share of electricity use

The shares between different

share

-

Share of gas use

residential energy sources provide an

-

Share of

overall view on the pollution intensity


Solid waste production

renewable/heat use

of household energy use.

Total solid waste

Solid waste production is a challenge

residential sector per

production residential

for a city’s self sufficiency. Although

capita

sector of at least two

waste can be recycled or used as

years

energy source, the remainder goes to

Number of households

growing landfills. Less waste is always

-

-

better to this respect. Landfills emit GHG. Recycling percentage

Share of residential waste

Indicates the share between recycled

of residential waste

recycled

waste and waste with no solution (although this figure does not differentiate between landfill waste and energy source waste).

Water consumption

-

per capita -

Total residential water

Water consumption is important for a

use of at least two

city’s future self sufficiency. Regional

years

water levels and periodic draughts can

Number of inhabitants

have a profound impact on the water supply.

Travel mode to work

Share between travel modes

Travel mode share is an important

to work

indication for the mobility flows of a city. All modes have a distinctive pollution factor related to GHG emissions and air pollutants.

Air quality trends

-

Concentration level of

Air quality has a profound impact on

PM10 for several years

human health and the natural


environment. It is directly linked to

NO2 for several years

mobility and local electricity


production. It is also determined by

O3 for several years

factors which cannot be influenced,


like sea salt and meteorological

PM2,5 for several years

conditions. Compact cities are likely to experience air quality problems, since pollutants need to disperse in order to diminish their health and environmental impact. The receptor density is also a determinant of air quality problems.

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Annex D Ranking lists and systems @ vertalen!! Figure 9

Overview of the 12 ranking systems for 'most sustainable cities’

These ranking systems are aimed at the broadest sense of ‘sustainability’ but also the approximation to more ‘green’ and ‘economic’ Figure 10

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Impression of ranking systems


Proceeding these rankings list of sustainable cities we made the next long list of sustainable cities.

Table 5

Long list of sustainable cities @vertalen en in een table zetten?

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