{"id":2360,"date":"2017-02-08T10:21:32","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T09:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/?p=2360"},"modified":"2017-02-14T16:50:24","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T15:50:24","slug":"city-lights-and-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistaitransporte.com\/city-lights-and-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"City lights (and shadows)"},"content":{"rendered":"
The world is increasingly urbanised, and in just a few decades it will be even more so. Cities only make up a tenth of the world\u2019s land, yet today more than 55% of the total population (7,800 million people) live in them. By 2050 this percentage will have reached 70% of the world\u2019s population, estimated at 10,000 million. These are the figures handled by UN-Habitat, the United Nations programme devoted to housing and sustainable urban development, i.e. to ensuring that human settlements are adequate and decent for people and that they respect the environment.<\/p>\n
The process of urbanisation \u2013with all its social, economic and environmental repercussions\u2013 is happening on a global scale, at an increasingly fast pace and spontaneously, giving rise to urban settlements that lack the minimum infrastructure and services to ensure the quality of life and development of their inhabitants. Adequate planning of both urban growth and transport networks \u2013especially in large metropolitan areas\u2013 is one of the keys to making cities into habitable environments that are sustainable, safe, fair and friendly for their inhabitants.<\/p>\n
We cannot talk of city planning from one sole point of view or one sole model: we have to consider what makes each urban area unique in order to offer effective solutions that respond to specific problems.<\/p>\n
For this, we require political will, commitment from all actors (state, private and civilian), as well as availability of economic and financial resources, which will enable policies and actions to be agreed to achieve a sustainable development model.<\/p>\n
In the current context of rapid urbanisation, planning has new challenges to confront, such as slowing down climate change, backing sustainability and fighting against growing social inequality. For this, it is necessary to ensure universal access to basic services such as transport, water, sanitation, energy, communications and equipment.<\/p>\n
A highly organised urban model with sufficient equipment and public spaces, affordable housing and sustainable mobility offers people more opportunities of employment and training as well as access to essential services like healthcare and education, among others, thus minimising urban imbalances and inequality.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, held in Quito, Ecuador, from 17\u201320 October 2016, brought together over 35,000 participants and covered all these topics through numerous conferences and events in which the various agents debated and presented their proposals to tackle the urban problems of the future. Among its main conclusions were the pursuit of social inclusion and eradication of poverty, sustainable and inclusive urban prosperity, and the assurance of a sustainable, resilient environmental balance through city planning.<\/p>\n
The result of this meeting, translated into the so-called New Urban Agenda, gathered and took on the conclusions and commitments made by the international community in another two global forums of colossal importance for the planet\u2019s development: the historic Paris Agreement on Climate (COP21) in December 2015, in which 195 countries signed the first binding global agreement to reduce global warming and slow down climate change, and the 17 goals of the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.<\/p>\n