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In This Update:
UN-Habitat Introduces Urban Resilience Hub
The Shenzhen Success Story
Brookings Institution on Leaving No One Behind
Zimbabwe Government Shuts Off Water in Harare
Violence Breaks Out Against Migrants in Johannesburg
Youth Protest Climate Change in African Cities
The Evolution of Urban Wildlife
Washington, D.C. Homeless Shelters Create Transitional Maternity Housing
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UN-Habitat Introduces Urban Resilience Hub
At the United Nations General Assembly this week, UN-Habitat introduced its new Urban Resilience Hub designed to support the urban resilience of a city - or its ability to maintain continuity through shocks and stresses and continue to progress towards sustainability. According to UN-Habitat, unplanned cities are more vulnerable to shocks and stresses like environmental changes, rapid immigration, and cyber-attacks. The Hub provides tools and guidance, such as UN-Habitat's City Resilience Profiling Tool, knowledge including best practices and challenges from local governments, and advocacy and partnerships in engaging a wide-range of stakeholder involvement. UN-Habitat explains that resources for the development of urban resilience are especially important given increasing urban populations and risks to cities.
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The Shenzhen Success Story
At the United Nations General Assembly this week, UN-Habitat presented findings from a study commissioned in 2018 on the four decade transformation of Chinese city of Shenzhen. In a newly published book, "The Story of Shenzhen: Its Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation," UN-Habitat explores how Shenzhen developed from a small fishing village in the south of China into China's "Silicon Valley." UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif says the history of Shenzhen is "truly a remarkable success story." The book examines and offers lessons learned from eight aspects of Shenzhen's urban development including culture, environment, city services, financing, and the economy.
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Brookings Institution on Leaving No One Behind
This week, Brookings Institution previewed its edited volume Leave No One Behind: Time for Specifics on the Sustainable Development Goals,
for the United Nations General Assembly. The volume, available online now and in paperback on October 29th, offers insights into how countries can address a range of development challenges, including a valuable chapter on the importance of city leadership in leaving no one behind. Pipa and Conroy explain the importance of cities for all of the sustainable development goals: that it is in cities where development policies and goals are "translated into progress felt by real people living in real communities." Pipa and Conroy suggest that in order to reach the furthest behind first, countries must clarify not only who the furthest behind are, but where those people live.
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Zimbabwe Government Shuts Off Water in Capital City
The government of Harare has shut off water in the city and its surrounding towns because it cannot afford to import the necessary chemical treatments. Drought has also lowered water levels in Harare's already polluted reservoirs. The water shortage and Harare's dilapidated sewer infrastructure are forcing its residents to collect unsafe well water and defecate in the open, increasing the spread of diseases like typhoid. The shortage has had multiple levels of social and political impact on Harare, forcing people to stand in long-lines for water starting in the middle of the night and preventing children from attending school. Frustrations have also led to protests which have frequently incurred a violent government response.
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Violence Breaks Out Against Migrants in Johannesburg
Sporadic anti-migrant violence in Johannesburg underlines the potentially destabilizing effects of rapid unplanned urbanization. South Africa's large and highly-developed economy is attractive for migrants especially from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Lesotho. But, a lack of government planning is exacerbating local fears that the migrants are stealing jobs and basic services. The South African International Relations Minister asserts the government needs to provide education and skills to its citizens to enable them to find jobs and not see migrants as outside competition. But, it may prove a difficult task. Migration expert Loren Landau says: "If I was a mayor of a city in Africa today, I would be scared...because we don't have the resources or capacity to absorb the populations that are coming and all the projections show that cities- whether it is Lagos or Nairobi or Accra or Johannesburg - will continue to grow."
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Youth Protest Climate Change in African Cities
Last Friday, youth participated in protests for climate change policies in cities around the world, including Africa. Youth in major urban centers like Nairobi, Cape Town, Kampala, and Lagos called on national leadership to help mitigate the effects of climate change. At Quartz, Abdi Latif Dahir reports that Africa is disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Extreme droughts, flooding, and famine with rapid population growth and urbanization strain natural resources, especially for coastal cities like Lagos and Dar es Salaam. Environmental activists in Africa also worry about the effect of climate change on inequality and violent conflict. Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton asserts: "There can be no human rights, dignity, or safety on a dead planet."
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The Evolution of Urban Wildlife
The evolutionary path of urban wildlife increasingly occupies scientific researchers, writes Brendan Koerner at Wired. Urban evolution seeks to understand why certain animals, plants, and microbes survive and even thrive despite transformations to their environment, and rapid urbanization is a process of dramatic environmental transformation. Researchers have found a number of genetic variants in urban animals: finches able to communicate above the noise of traffic, pigeons that are able to digest sugary garbage allowing them to feed on food waste, and even moths that have "shed their species' fatal attraction to artificial lights." According to Koerner, this branch of scientific inquiry has the potential to help urban species that lack the adaptability to flourish in megacities and in turn gain knowledge on how to engineer a more hospitable world for city dwellers, both animal and human.
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Washington, D.C. Homeless Shelters Create Transitional Maternity Housing
In Washington, D.C., a city with infant and maternal mortality rates among the highest in the country,
a number of homeless shelters and nonprofits are now offering transitional maternity housing. Pregnant women who are homeless often face difficulty finding housing in women's shelters, explains Susan Gallucci, Executive Director of Northwest Center: "A lot of times...if [women are] pregnant, they're kind of stuck between the women's shelter that doesn't want them because they're pregnant and the family shelter that doesn't want them because the baby's not here yet." But, stable and safe housing for pregnant women and new mothers experiencing homelessness is especially important, to guarantee access to prenatal care, healthy food, baby items, transportation, community, and childcare. The new facilities offer a home and a care team for pregnant women and new mothers up until eighteen months after birth.
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In the News and Around the Web
- Cities Feature Prominently at UN General Assembly: At a UNGA panel this week, Michael Bloomberg spoke with the mayors of Montreal, Copenhagen, and Subaray about cities and climate change.
- The Storm of the Century Could Happen Every Year: A new UN report says that extreme storms could effect coastal cities annually.
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German City Offers Workers a Free One-Month Stay
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The city of Görlitz is testing a program to help inform a national urban development policy to help revive Germany's smaller cities
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Singapore's Water Shortage:
CNN Business explains how Singapore is using technology to address its water shortage.
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Youth in Nairobi protest climate change last Friday. (Photo Credit:
Quartz)
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