Urban Environment: Challenges to Sustainability
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 From small towns to megacities of more than 10 million people, the developing world is irreversibly urbanizing. As rural migration into cities escalates, municipal infrastructures are struggling to find efficient, less polluting ways to meet the water, sanitation, transportation and power demands of its residents. By 2030 60 percent of the world’s population is projected to live in settlements larger than 2,500 people. It is urgent to consider now the kinds of cities in which we want to live, and the critical issues that affect them; from air pollution and lack of clean water, to adequate financing and effective civic engagement, urban sustainability presents a host of challenges and opportunities.
Two major international events underscore how closely interrelated urban development is with the environment. World Environment Day on June 5 brings to the forefront urban challenges with air pollution, lack of clean water, and energy shortages. The World Urban Forum3 (WUF3), an international meeting held biannually by UN Habitat, brings together urban experts in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from June 18-23, 2006 to discuss critical issues for urban sustainability, such as municipal financing and effective civic engagement. This Special Report assembles our own roster of experts to discuss these issues.
Posted June 5 2006 | |
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The Development Gateway surveyed members on the most pressing issues for urban areas in developing countries, including accountability for urban environmental sustainability. Read below to see what members had to say. |
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How can cities be made more inclusive?
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How can technology and the private sector advance urban development?
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| Regional views on sustainable cities |
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- WB
Development Marketplace: Innovations in Water, Sanitation, and Energy Services
for Poor People (Washington, DC, May 8-9, 2006)
- Global
City, May 17-19, 2006
- World
Environment Day 2006: Deserts and Desertification (Worldwide, June 5, 2006
- World Urban Forum
(Vancouver, June 19-23, 2006)
- World Urban Festival, June
21-25
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