My My Digital Artifact focuses on three issues about Cities and Climate Change: 1- How cities contribute to climate change. Cities have become awesome in size, and also greenhouse gas emissions. Larger cities have a ravenous appetite for energy, consuming ⅔ of the world's energy and creating over 70% of global CO2 emissions. 2- Impacts of Climate change on Cities Almost 50% of cities are already dealing with the effects of climate change, and nearly all are at risk. Over 90% of all urban areas are coastal, putting most cities on Earth at risk of flooding from rising sea levels and powerful storms.The financial effects of climate change can be just as devastating as the physical ones. Unexpected expenditures from storms, flooding, snow removal and drought can lead to major disruptions in business operations and city budgets. 3- How cities also have the opportunity to be integral to its solution. Urban density can actually create the possibility for a better quality of life and a lower carbon footprint through more efficient infrastructure and planning. City mayors are directly accountable to their constituents for their decisions, and are more nimble than state and national elected officials to take decisive action—often with immediate and impactful results. What our cities do individually and in unison to address climate change can set the agenda for communities and governments everywhere. We believe that a better global future lies in urban innovation and action. As the majority of future humans will live in cities, it just makes sense that our solution to climate change will reside there too.

1. CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE

2. Cities’ contribution to Climate Change.
In terms of size, cities occupy only two percent
of the world’s landmass. But in terms of
climate impact, they leave an enormous
footprint. Cities consume over two-thirds of
the world’s energy and account for more than
70% of global CO2 emissions.

3. IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON
CITIES.
• Almost 50% of cities are already dealing with the
effects of climate change, and nearly all are at
risk.
• Over 90% of all urban areas are coastal, putting
most cities on Earth at risk of flooding from rising
sea levels and powerful storms.
• Port cities in developing countries (such as
Kolkata, Shanghai, and Guangzhou) are as
vulnerable as such cities in developed countries
(Rotterdam, Tokyo, or New York City)

4. Figure 1 Urban Population in LECZ zone

5. • Approximately 360 million urban residents live
in coastal areas less than 10 meters above sea
level and are vulnerable to flooding and storm
surges (Satterthwaite and Moser 2008).
• Fifteen of the world’s 20 megacities are at risk
from rising sea levels and coastal surges
• The financial effects of climate change can be
just as devastating as the physical ones.
Unexpected expenditures from storms,
flooding, snow removal and drought can lead
to major disruptions in business operations
and city budgets.

6. CLIMATE-ACTIONS
• As part of the climate change problem, cities also
have the opportunity to be integral to its
solution
• Cities are on the frontlines of global climate
change and are also well-positioned to play a
leadership role in driving global action to address
climate change.
• Urban density can actually create the possibility
for a better quality of life and a lower carbon
footprint through more efficient infrastructure
and planning.

7. Climate-smart growth requires the
following:
• Act now.
This is essential or options that exist now will
disappear and costs will increase as the world
commits itself to high-carbon pathways and
largely irreversible warming trajectories. Even
if we keep climate change to 2* C above
preindustrial levels, an “energy revolution” is
needed.

10. Act together
This is key for adaptation and mitigation and
keeping the costs down, to protect the most
vulnerable, and to open space for developing
countries to grow.
You will consider three different types of
collective action:

11. • Finance Partnerships that help cities access
the resources necessary for mainstreaming
climate action
• Learning Networks that help cities learn
continuously from the experience of others
• Collaborative platforms that help stakeholders
coordinate plans across different departments
and jurisdictions.

12. Acting together = Climate Action Planning + Climate
Finance
• Most climate actions require incremental
capital resources for implementation
• Climate finance includes many programs that
effectively transfer funds from developed
countries to developing countries
• Climate action plans can attract climate
finance partners

13. Act Together – Improve your capacity for climate action by
working closely with others
• Partnerships to take advantage of new climate
financing
• Networks that help cities benefit from the
experience of others
• Platforms that enable long-term collaboration
with other groups

14. Act Together = Collaborative platforms
Collaboration on climate action can take place on
three distinct tiers, or scales:
• at the scale of the city as a corporation,
collaborating across departments;
• at the scale of the city as service provider,
collaborating among key stakeholders; and
• at the scale of the whole urban region,
collaborating with every other group that has
significant impact on the region’s performance.

15. Act Differently
Acting differently means ‘Mainstreaming’ a slow
integration of climate action into all decision-
making.
Mainstreaming means guiding a renewal of the
built environment for decades
Three key elements to managing the changes:
– LEADERSHIP
– INNOVATION
– CREATIVITY

16. Leadership
Leadership requires a strong team, an effective
administrative structure, positive attitudes
and a pro-active, self-reliant approach. Much
of this is common sense. The biggest
challenge is paying attention to all these
aspects, as you move forward.

17. Innovation
• Innovation is the second element of what we mean by acting differently.
• Innovation generally refers to a process of renewal.
• The renewal process requires that we think and behave differently, and
that we invest in different technologies.
• Since the renewal process for cities and climate change must continue for
two or three decades, leadership means leading your city along an
extended Pathway of Innovations.
• The pathway typically begins with small steps, in no particular order.
• After several years, you are ready to intervene strategically – investing
time and money where change is most needed.
• Over time with mainstreaming, the city will adopt transition technologies
in all sectors. Transition technologies help you bridge to the future.
• Finally we can imagine the city adopting very different, advanced
possibilities. At this stage the city is fully renewed – it is both a low-carbon
and a resilient city.

18. Creativity
Acting differently also can refer to actions that
encourage creativity. For cities, the most effective
method for increasing creativity is the integrated
design process (or IDP). Integrated design is a big
change in standard practice for most cities. Typically
departments and utilities operate independently most
of the time, with separate budgets, plans, and
timelines. Projects are led by a small team under a
senior architect, planner, or engineer, and
supplemented by experts at the detailing stage. For
reasons of expediency, or out of habit, most projects
use a standard set of technologies, and focus on a
single positive outcome.

19. What will the future for our Cities look like?

20. If the right investments are made in energy,
transportation and green buildings, the cities of the future
could look very different than the cities of today. Our
communities could be cleaner and more sustainable.
Our quality of life could be better.
We face great challenges, for sure a changing climate, a
rapidly growing population, a scarcity of resources. But
we also face great opportunity the opportunity to
redesign and transform cities, the opportunity to harness
the power of human innovation, the opportunity to live
more sustainably, the opportunity to live better lives.

21. A GOOD NEW
All of organizations such as C40, World Bank
Group, I.C.L.E.I etc are working to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions significantly and
provide proven models that other cities and
national governments can adopt.
The future is bright. And its cities are green.

22. Video

23. REFERENCES
• Green Cities campaign
http://www.earthday.org/greencities/
C40 cities
http://www.c40.org/cities
World Bank Group
IPCC
WRI