85th UNEP/UNESCO/BMUV International Short Course - Sustainable Cities (SC85)

Duration: 29 August - 30 September 2022 (online)

Motivation

The future of our planet and its people rests significantly on cities. Today, 55% of the global population lives in urban areas, and this share is projected to rise to 68% by 2050. Cities are at the heart of the climate agenda as they are generating 70% of global greenhouse gases. Due to their high concentration of people, infrastructures, housing and economic activities, cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. Therefore, building urban resilience is crucial to avoid human, social and economic losses while improving the sustainability of urbanization processes to protect the environment and mitigate disaster risk and climate change.

The ecological footprint of cities as an indicator of sustainability continues to grow and demands urgent rethinking of current urban development practices. This decade, we must transform how cities operate to drive global efforts on sustainable development, climate action, and recovery from COVID-19.

Course concept

This course offers a unique opportunity to explore how cities can be planned and managed, in order to fulfil their role as drivers of sustainable development, and how they can shape the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

During the course, we will jointly explore the following key topics:

• Transformative urban governance – How can cities be governed to harness their transformative potential to drive sustainable development? The New Urban Agenda provides a blueprint on how all people, groups, and communities can be engaged. Also, the need for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource based businesses. For this reason, there are a large variety of rural development approaches used globally.
• Localizing the SDGs as the process of taking into account subnational contexts in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, from the setting of goals and targets, to determining the means of implementation and using indicators to measure and monitor progress. Localization relates both to how the SDGs can provide a framework for local development policy and to how local and regional governments can support the achievement of the SDGs through action from the bottom.
• Nature-based solutions (NbS) as defined in the UNEA-5 “Resolution on Nature-based Solutions for supporting sustainable development” are increasingly deployed as cost-effective approaches to address the multiple challenges urban areas are facing and to accelerate sustainable urban development. They constitute ‘smart’ green infrastructure solutions aimed for example at increasing the resilience of a city with regard to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. As opposed to single-purpose grey infrastructure options, NbS are multi-functional and offer numerous co-benefits in terms of public health, social cohesion, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, etc. creating win-win solutions for society, the environment, and the economy. In the course, we will be exploring the Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, and how can it be operationalised. We will be looking at the governance implications from local to global, and best practice examples.
• Sustainable mobility planning – In this part, we will follow the 'Avoid Shift Improve' approach, which is recommended by the high-ranking UN advisory group on sustainable transport as a useful framework for assessing traffic measures and for measures to support sustainable passenger and freight transport. Applying these principles will promote a combination of multimodal, collective and shared mobility solutions and sustainable transport systems. The concept of enabling is an important addition to the framework.

As a cross-cutting aspect we will be looking into the interaction between all stakeholders in local processes & public participation in urban environmental governance (social sustainability). Strategies for technical infrastructure development for energy, drinking water, wastewater and solid waste in line with the SDGs and the Paris Climate agreement will also be addressed.

Participants will develop a post-training action plan (PTAP) for a challenge in their field of work, applying the course contents and considering inspiration received from facilitators and fellows during the course. This plan shall be implemented autonomously upon return and facilitate the transfer of the newly acquired knowledge into the day-to-day activities.

Objectives

After completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Identify and explain the importance of urban sustainability strategies towards the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs,
• Distinguish and use key elements of effective policy planning to promote sustainable urban development,
• Embrace a more holistic, programmatic approach to decarbonization of urban areas and identify synergies between different projects, assets, and stakeholders, to create opportunities for collectively reducing emissions on a neighbourhood, district, or city scale,
• Assess the main challenges/opportunities for advancing NbS in urban territories and apply the NbS approach in the development and implementation of measures/strategies in urban areas,
• Pursue an integrated, holistic approach to political and investment decisions towards sustainable mobility planning,
• Apply gained knowledge on environmental communication and mediation skills, and
• Develop long-term visions for sustainable urban infrastructure systems, informed by the SDGs, and derive adaptable plans towards these visions.

Target groups

This course is aimed at experts who prepare and implement political decisions and practical measures towards the goals of sustainable cities in ministries, authorities, local government and non-governmental institutions of developing countries (including emerging economies).

We expect a high motivation to explore concepts for urban sustainability and to work towards implementing them. A first university degree (e.g. BA, BSc) in a related field is essential. Adequate communication skills in the English language and the nomination by the delegating institution for this full-time course are mandatory.

What makes participating in this online course transformative?

• Experience of the CIPSEM team in conducting engaging, meaningful online trainings considering the challenges in developing countries and emerging economies
• A full-time, 5-week learning experience combining live videoconference sessions and group work with guided self-study units and exchange on our online learning platform
• Renowned international and German facilitators
• Financial support towards good internet access and living costs (640 €)
• Participants become part of a large international network of environmental experts and leaders (more than 2 500 alumni from 145 countries).
• Transfer of the gained knowledge and skills though mentored development of post-training action plans
• Alumni of this course can apply for one of several innovation fellowships supporting the implementation of the post-training action plan with 2000 €.

Application and participation

Qualified professionals are welcome to apply for this training from 8 March until 5 May 2022 on CIPSEM’s online application portal. The Steering Committee selects 22 participants of this course by July 2022. Only selected participants will be informed via email. Successful participants are awarded a Certificate of Proficiency in Sustainable Cities.

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