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Trevor Houser

China’s 12th Five Year Plan includes an array of energy targets that it hopes to achieve by 2015. The targets, such as increasing the share of non-fossil energy to 11.4% of the total energy supply and cutting the economy’s carbon intensity by 17% by 2015, are part of a larger plan for China to reach a 40-45% reduction in carbon intensity by 2020 relative to 2005 levels. ChinaFAQs expert Trevor Houser has crunched the numbers provided by China’s National Bureau of Statistics and come up with a report card on the country’s progress towards achieving its climate and energy goals.

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2013 STA winner Mexico City impressed the committee with its extensive BRT system, Metrobús. Photo by ITDP.

EMBARQ, together with the rest of the Sustainable Transport Award (STA) Committee, invites you to nominate your city for the 10th Annual Sustainable Transport Award. Nominations open on Monday June 17th and will be accepted online until September 13th, 2013. More info and nomination form here.

The award

Established in 2005, the Sustainable Transport Award recognizes profound leadership and vision in sustainable transportation and urban livability, and is presented to a city each January for achievements in the preceding year. Nominations are accepted from any interested parties, including government, non-profit/NGOs, community groups, academic institutions, who have a working knowledge of the city’s projects and can provide verifiable data and contact information for the city.

The award is given each year to a city or major jurisdiction that has is implementing innovative transportation strategies. These strategies should improve mobility for all residents, reduce transportation greenhouse and air pollution emissions, and improve safety and access for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The selection committee

The STA Committee includes the most respected experts and organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation. Committee members are:

• Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP)

• EMBARQ at the World Resources Institute

• GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)

• Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center (CAI-Asia)

• Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation in Developing Countries

• Clean Air Institute for Latin America

• United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)

• Transport Research Laboratory

The award winner and honorable mentions will officially be announced at an evening reception at the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Conference in January 2014. Finalists will be notified by November 2013.

Last year’s winner

Last year’s winner, Mexico City, implemented many projects in 2012 that have improved livability, mobility, and quality of life for its citizens, making the Mexican capital a best practice for Latin America. The city expanded its BRT system, Metrobus, piloted a comprehensive on-street parking reform program (ecoParq), expanded its successful public bike system (Ecobici), and revitalized public spaces such as Alameda Central and Plaza Tlaxcoaque.

For more details on the Sustainable Transport Awards, and to nominate your city or any city, visit staward.org, or contact Jemilah Magnusson, Communications Manager at ITDP.

Cover for the newly released publication “Vida e Morte das Rodovias Urbanas“. Courtesy of EMBARQ Brasil.

EMBARQ Brazil and ITDP Brazil officially launched the Portuguese version of “Life and Death of Urban Highways” last week, during the III Congress SIBRT: Best Practices in Latin America conference.

The publication is the result of a collaboration between EMBARQ and ITDP (Institute for Transportation and Development Policy), and brings together examples of cities that have managed to revitalize and restore urban space for the people by removing or altering the construction of urban highways.

Cities included in the publication are Portland, San Francisco and Milwaukee in the United States; Seoul in South Korea; and Bogotá, Colombia, all of which have effective strategies for projects and investments that resulted in better quality of life through urban transformation.

The publication was written in order to show that a focus on cars is not the best option. Cities are built for people, while highways serve to move vehicles. The five cities mentioned are examples of revitalization through removal of cars, and opening of spaces to people. EMBARQ’s goal with this publication is to demonstrate the numerous ways in which cities benefit from these changes.

The example of Portland

In the case of Portland, the problem involved Harbor Drive, a stretch of road almost 5-km long along the banks of the Willamette River. Organizations in the city supported the creation of more open spaces and an increased public access to the river’s shore. After a time of discussions, the city agreed to close Harbor Drive along the river, and return its use to residents.

Once the road was closed, a park called Tom McCall Waterfront Park was created, which became the focal point for the renewal of the city center and the only direct access for residents on the banks of the Willemette River. Removing the stretch of Harbor Drive road created safer and more pleasant spaces for pedestrians, improving the overall quality of life in Portland.

Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland was built after the removal of Harbor Drive. Photo by Joel MannRead more with the digital copy of the publication here. Check it out!

This post was originally published on TheCityFix Brasil by Priscilla Pacheco.

On 30 May 2013, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations’ Secretary-General, received a landmark report from the High-level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Established by the Secretary-General in 2012, the 27-member Panel is co-chaired by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron.

The report outlines a universal agenda to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and deliver on the promise of sustainable development.

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Mexico City’s April 2013 Cyclotón. Photo by Benoit Colin/EMBARQ.

Implemented in 2010, Mexico City’s Ecobici bike-sharing system has grown from 90 stations and 11,000 members  in its first year of operation to 271 stations and over 75,000 members today — covering new ground and reaching more residents. TheCityFix interviews Julie Clerc, Gisela Mendez, and Awen Southern — three cycling experts from Mexico who guide us through ins and outs of life on two wheels in Mexico City and beyond, and enthusiastically share their insight on the country’s cycling future.

Interview:

1. What are some of the unique benefits of cycling as a form of transport in Mexico?

Awen: Bicycling in Mexico City is in many cases faster than using a car or even public transportation. The city is a gigantic, a sprawling city of 20 million inhabitants, yet most trips are no further than 7 kilometers (4.3 miles), or a 30 minute bicycle ride, and largely concentrated in the center of the city, where the land is flat, and public bicycles are available.

2. This February marked the third anniversary of the Ecobici bike-sharing system — the largest year-round bike-sharing system in North America. What’s next for bike-sharing in Mexico?

Awen: While the Secretariat of the Environment, which has been leading Mexico  City’s Bicycle Mobility Strategy since 2007, has concentrated its efforts on improving the maintenance and quality of Ecobici service, the first months of 2013 brought a new focus on infrastructure development of the City’s main arteries.

Gisela: Cycling is not exclusive to Mexico City; every major city in Mexico is promoting cycling as a transport form, but no national policy, nor a local policy, currently exists that allocates public funds for it. The small bike-sharing system called @Bikla, in Guadalajara,  is run by a private company formed by young activists, industrial engineers, and entrepreneurs. The system still runs privately without government support. Next for bike-sharing is the goal to establish the recognition required to scale up as a public policy with a budget attached to it.

3. Can you identify one big step and one small step cities can take to make cycling safer on Mexico’s streets?

Julie: Changing the transport culture in a way friendlier to both pedestrians and cyclists is one of the major goals, but one small step cities can take would be to provide the appropriate infrastructure for biking, such as the implementation of road space dedicated to cycling lanes.

Gisela: Cities need to talk to citizens and show that the urban space is built for all, with equity and safety in mind. The next frontier for the cycling movement in Mexico has to prove that a safer infrastructure needs to be designed and implemented. One big step would be to budget funds for cycling as a public institutionalized policy.

Awen: Mexico City is now developing a series of communication campaigns to raise awareness regarding road safety, including the OJO al Rebasar, Cuida al Ciclista (“Watch Out for Cyclists”)  campaign, led by the Secretariat of the Environment, and La Calle es de Todos (“The Street Belongs to All”). However, no campaign will ever be effective if they are not supported by a concrete investment in bicycle infrastructure improvement and car-use regulations.

A bigger and necessary step to take would be to train bus drivers to provide them with a more holistic vision of urban mobility, in which transportation is not conceived as a fight of interests opposing different modes of transportation or technologies, but rather, as an integral system where intermodality is valued and prioritized to serve the changing and flexible needs of the community. EMBARQ Mexico is already taking a step in that direction by training all Metrobus drivers on road safety this year.

4. The 6th anniversary of Muevete en Bici, Mexico City’s Sunday  closure of its main avenue  to motor vehicles– was May 12th; in the last six years, has Mexico City’s cycling culture, or the public perception of cycling, evolved? If so, in what ways?

Awen: To my knowledge there is no study that has measured or analyzed the perception of cycling in Mexico City before and after the implementation of the Muévete en Bici initiative. However, a recent survey of Muévete en Bici participants revealed their largely positive perception of and support for urban cycling in Mexico. Muévete en Bici provides a sensorial experience of the city we want to live in. The bicycle is but one tool to articulate a vision of the city as an ecological system: a place where public health, social cohesion, economic activity and the balance between the natural and built environments are all intrinsically linked.

Gisela:  The culture has evolved because cycling proved to be possible in the city. Most of all, children are learning that our city is bike-friendly, and that is the most valuable lesson our generation can give to the generations that follow.

5. Are there ways in which cycling could be better integrated with other forms of public transport? Where do you see potential?

Gisela: Cycling infrastructure has to be seen as feeder for public transit and not as competition for users. Our cities need to show that integration allows security in mixed modes for complete journeys. The same city has other cities within, people move differently and the strategies to meet those needs can be made through different integration approaches. Shifting our travel preferences can be possible only through flexibility, security and variety of choices for everyone.

Julie: The best way of supporting further transport integration would be to provide the infrastructure in metro, bus, and train stations to park a greater number of bikes — not simply two or three areas.

6.  Is there an additional topic you would like to discuss?

Awen: The interest of Mexico City’s government for urban cycling in the past few years has opened new roads of collaboration between the public and private sectors and the civil society. In that process, new cycling associations have emerged, such as Mujeres en Bici, who organizes training classes for women within the city programs Muévete en Bici and BiciEntrénate. The award-winning Manual of the Urban Cyclist is also a joint product of Bicitekas and the Secretariat of the Environment. New independent movements are starting to emerged, such as the successful Paseo de Todos, a pacific critical mass organized by a group of citizens every first Thursday of the month, attracting between 1,000 and 2,500 riders to each event. Mexico City’s cycling culture is infused with multiplying groups and ramifications that are increasingly connected through national networks such as Bicired. The travelling exhibition Por mi ciudad en bicicleta, launched by several organizations in 2012, aimed precisely at connecting different cycling cultures across the country, while identifying local needs and favoring information sharing among cyclists organizations.

Mexico’s cycling culture is also reinforced by an increasingly technical civil society that actively participates in the shaping of the public debate and public policy, releasing strategic reports such as Hacia ciudades saludables y competitivas: Moviéndose por un aire limpio (“Towards Healthy and Competitive Cities: Moving for Clean Air”), submitted in June to President Enrique Peña Nieto by a collective of organizations including cyclists associations like Bicitekas and Fundación Tlaloc, and organizations such as El Poder del Consumidor, the Mexican Institute for Competitivity, and EMBARQ México, among others.

For more information on cycling in Mexico City, check out EMBARQ Mexico or read the recent report.

Awen Southern is a consultant in Urban Mobility Communications and an active member of the Americas Ciclovias Network. Based in Mexico City, she collaborates with the Pan-American Health Organization in partnership-building and city-to-city facilitation. Awen has worked with both government and civil organizations, including the Secretariat of the Environment in Mexico City and EMBARQ Mexico, to promote sustainable urban development and active transportation.

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Gisela Mendez is an architect, specializing in an urban planning and the evaluation of urban policies. She has worked for local governments and helped to harness the  power of cities to change everyday lives, especially through public participation and community design in the creative planning processes. She considers planning as the most important momentum for knowledge sharing among actors and key to affecting change. She joined EMBARQ Mexico last year to coordinate the National City Network.

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Julie Clerc returned to EMBARQ Mexico as a  junior analyst in urban public policies, after working as an intern on EMBARQ Mexico’s Guide for Sustainable Communities in Mexico. She is interested in questions of urban mobility and urban poverty in Latin America, specifically in Mexico. Everyday she commutes 18 kilometers (11 miles)  by bike to go to work and loves it!

 

 

 

Thank you to Yasmin Khan for her assistance in facilitating this interview.

ChinaFAQs

The following is a press release from the White House:

Today, President Obama and President Xi agreed on an important new step to confront global climate change. For the first time, the United States and China will work together and with other countries to use the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), among other forms of multilateral cooperation.

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Cloud Gate, a public sculpture in the US city of Chicago. Photo by Marshall Segal.

Have we designed our communities in such a way that we are contributing to the obesity epidemic and other health problems? The infographic designed by Chris Yoon (below) asks this question and illustrates some of the findings from a recent Pew Research study entitled, “Measuring the Health Effects of Urban Sprawl: A National Analysis.” Some of the findings include these eye-opening figures:

• 71% of parents of school-aged children walked or biked to school when they were young, whereas only 18% do so now.

• +6.3 pounds = the difference in weight between the average person living in the most sprawling county in the US vs. the most compact (Geuga County, Ohio vs. New York City, New York)

• The odds of having high blood pressure were 29% lower for residents of compact cities.

• 65% of the adult population in the United States is overweight, and almost one in three is obese. Over the past 25 years, the portion of children, age 6 to 11 who are overweight has doubled, while the portion of overweight teens has tripled. 15% of teenagers 6-19 are now overweight.

How Our Cities Are Shaping Us: Urban Sprawl And Its Impact On Our Health infographic by chrisyoon.

 

Thank you to Ryan Schleeter for providing the inspiration for this post.

Manish Bapna

This post originally appeared on Forbes.com.

When President Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping meet in California this week, they will be seeking to build trust and chart a course for improved relations. While tensions abound over various issues, clean energy and climate is one area where cooperation can work.

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Car and motorbike traffic on the narrow streets of Rio’s favelas creates a safety hazard for cyclists and pedestrians. Photo by EMBARQ Brasil.

By Paula Santos and Nicolae Duduta

Hosting major events such as the World Cup or the Olympic Games can serve as a catalyst for cities to carry out infrastructure upgrades and urban renewal projects. Back in 1992, Barcelona set the example by using the infrastructure investments for the Summer Olympics — to plan not only for the event, but for how these areas would be used long after the games. As a result, the city was able to redevelop its waterfront and revitalize entire neighborhoods. Though the Barcelona example is often cited by cities planning for major events, its lessons are not always followed; Beijing’s famous Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium is currently under-utilized.

Rio de Janeiro, which will host both the World Cup and the Summer Olympics over the next three years, has taken a dynamic approach by using the infrastructure investments made for these events to also address some of its major, ongoing infrastructure, environmental, and social issues. For instance, the city is planning a major overhaul of its public transportation network, adding 150 kilometers (93 miles) of bus rapid transit (BRT) lines and extending a Metro line to connect major Olympic sites with the downtown area and the international airport. During the Olympics, the new BRT lines will address crucial transport needs between major Olympic sites; but even after the events, these new transit routes will amount to key improvements along some of the main commuting routes in Rio, considerably reducing travel times for millions of Cariocas.

Introducing the Morar Carioca initiative

Another one of Rio’s flagship projects is Morar Carioca — a major initiative to improve accessibility, health, education, and the environment in the city’s informal neighborhoods, known as favelas. Favelas are most commonly built on hills or suburbs and consist of one to two-story brick houses, along narrow, and often unpaved, alleys and streets with considerable cars and motorcycle traffic — corridors sometimes lacking basic infrastructure such as electricity and sewage. While estimates of the number of favelas in Rio can vary considerably — due at least in part to the fact that some favelas have grown into larger complexes — most sources place their number at around 1,000, and the number of inhabitants at close to 1 million, or roughly a fifth of the city’s population. Traditionally, policies related to favelas have focused mostly on combatting crime, though recently, the city has also focused more on improving quality of life and providing better infrastructure.

Through the Morar Carioca project, Rio has pledged 8 billion Brazilian reals ($USD3.76 billion) to upgrading favelas across the city, and some of the results — building on previous favela improvements — are already visible. An architectural competition was held in 2011, allowing Brazilian architects to offer different visions for how favelas could be turned into healthier, more sustainable communities.

The city has added public spaces, including public open-air gyms and soccer fields aimed at improving physical activity and health. It has paved streets and conducted vaccination and public health awareness campaigns. It has also improved garbage collection and sanitation and built landmark projects such as the Pavão elevator, connecting the top of a hilly favela directly to a Metro station.

But there is still a need to better integrate considerations for transport, accessibility, and safety into the Morar Carioca program. In 2011, EMBARQ Brazil commissioned the first ever household travel survey in several of Rio’s favelas, revealing the travel patterns of favela residents and helping better understand their needs. As most favelas are relatively small in size, 90% of trips within them are made on foot. But for trips outside the favelas, residents rely mostly on public transit for 70% of their trips.

Making favela roads safer for cycling and walking

The remaining problem, however, is that while most favelas are within walking or biking distance of a major transit station, walking or biking that short distance can be extremely difficult and dangerous. Major thoroughfares in Rio de Janeiro are extremely wide, often upwards of 100 meters (300 feet), and speed limits are commonly as high as 80 km/h (50 mph). Rio’s cycling infrastructure is mainly designed for recreational use rather than transportation. Pedestrian infrastructure is also poor, especially further away from the downtown. It is not uncommon to have intersections where some approaches lack a pedestrian crossing or protected pedestrian spaces, making it nearly impossible to cross them on foot.

Vehicle ownership, overall, is low in the favelas, as can be expected in any low-income community. The survey results indicate that bicycles are the most common vehicles owned by favela residents. Of the survey respondents, 17% reported owning a bicycle, while 11.8% owned a car, and 5.8% owned a motorcycle. Despite the higher rates of bicycle ownership, favela residents rarely use them for traveling to destinations outside their community. In addition to the generally unsafe road environment that cyclists would have to cope with, another major hurdle to cycling is the lack of bike-parking facilities, especially at bus stations. While some of the newer Metro and BRT stations offer bike parking, favela residents rely largely on public buses when using public transit.

Previous favela upgrading initiatives in Rio have focused exclusively on making improvements within these neighborhoods. In the case of Morar Carioca, on the other hand, one of the keys to the program’s success lies in thinking at a larger scale and in finding better ways to connect the favelas to the city’s rapid transit system.

Ensuring a brighter future for residents of Rio

Finding the right solutions, in terms of infrastructure design, is relatively straightforward. The key challenge lies in implementing them, as this will require extensive inter-agency coordination. The Morar Carioca program is currently managed by the city of Rio’s Housing Secretariat. Improving cycling and pedestrian infrastructure on routes connecting favelas to major transit stations will require input from and coordination with the Secretariat of the Environment, which oversees bike routes in the city; the Secretariat of Transport, which oversees street infrastructure and signage; and potentially the different agencies in charge of conventional buses, the BRT, Metro, and Supervia commuter rail system to install bike-parking facilities at stations. Overcoming these challenges is the key for ensuring that Rio can build a lasting Olympic legacy which can serve as a model for future host cities.

Yingzhen Zhao and Clifford Polycarp

This post originally appeared on WRI Insights.

It’s well-known that China ranks first in the world in attracting clean energy investment, receiving US$ 65.1 billion in 2012. But new analysis from WRI shows another side to this story: China is increasingly becoming a global force in international clean energy investment, too.

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