Delivering on the New Urban Agenda

Urban Pathways project launched in Berlin

  • News 23.11.2017
The Urban Pathways team met for a training week in October. Source: Wuppertal Institute

The "Urban Pathways: Supporting Low Carbon Plans for Basic Services in the context of the New Urban Agenda" project was launched in Berlin with a training week from the 16th to the 20th of October 2017. The project is funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Environment (BMUB) and conducted by UN-Habitat, together with its partners – the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, UN Environment and a network of cities and regional experts.

"Urban Pathways builds on partnerships such as the EU supported SOLUTIONS project and will build on this taking an integrated approach to urban energy, mobility and waste management systems", says Andre Dzikus, Coordinator, Urban Basic Services Branch of UN-Habitat. He highlighted the changing landscape in provision of basic services with the advent of technology, and remarked that there are more options than before to choose for cities. The Urban Pathways project will provide informed decision-making to the project cities in conceptualising, planning and implementing basic urban services.

"As a key technical partner the Wuppertal Institute will support UN-Habitat and build on a vast body of research in the areas of energy, resources and sustainable urban mobility," said Uwe Schneidewind, President of the Wuppertal Institute. He also added that the current work of the institute with cities in Germany and internationally to an active exchange of knowledge in the Urban Pathways project. Oliver Lah (Head of Research Unit Mobility and International Cooperation, Wuppertal Institute) from the Urban Pathways team introduced the project and its activities, which focus on integrated urban energy, mobility and resource management solutions and on capacity building, city learning partnerships, policy advice and the development of implementation concepts for cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Secretary of the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements, Bhutan, Phuntsho Wangdi, reminded the audience that sustainable urban development strategies need to be people centred, protecting nature and aiming to preserve the unique character of a city.

The training week focussed on the barriers and opportunities in the transition to low carbon development while experiences from South Africa, Fiji, Malaysia, Nepal and India were shared. Options for implementing low carbon development and various cases where such strategies are being applied, have been discussed. Another focus lay on the development of initial implementation concepts for urban energy, mobility and resource management projects, which were followed by discussions on indicators for urban access and the tracking of those. Thematic eLearning modules will also be launched soon.

Creating synergies between urban development initiatives is one of the core aims of the Urban Pathways project. Additionally, it will work on concrete steps towards low-carbon mobility, energy and waste management systems in cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Through the process of capacity building, city twinning, policy advice and implementation, the project will actively contribute to achieve global climate change targets to a 1.5 °C stabilisation pathway.


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